Press Release

Union Leader Newspaper, Manchester, NH
130,000 points of sale point to NH

Paul Stump, President of Telequip Corporation, Salem, NHManchester, New Hampshire - May 2, 2005 - Union Leader Newspaper, feature story on Telequip Corporation by Courtney Paquette, Union Leader Correspondent.

A Salem company is turning a profit by giving money out at supermarkets and quick-serve restaurants all over the world.

Telequip Corp. makes coin dispensers, the box-shaped mechanical device that dispenses change at quick-serve restaurants and self-checkout aisles. By customizing for each client and turning a once unreliable product into one that works, Telequip has made the change dispenser a growing presence in stores and restaurants and has become a world leader supplying the product.

"I see us as more than a coin dispenser company," Paul Stump, Telequip president, told the New Hampshire Union Leader. "We're really involved in the transaction business."

Paul Stump, president of Telequip Corp., has put 130,000 of his change-dispensing machines at retail locations around the world. (COURTNEY PAQUETTE)
The company started in 1974 in Hollis. Stump said the company struggled for its first 15 years as it focused on developing a better product than the dispenser of the 1960s. Sales were slow as they tried to overcome perceptions of the old dispensers — clunky mechanical coin boxes that often produced the wrong amount of change, or no change at all.

"Because of the quality of the product, retailers got fed up and it went out of fashion," Stump said.

Automatic payments are certainly not out of fashion any more. Computerized payment systems and self-checkout lanes are rapidly spreading as electronic systems are brought closer and closer to points of sale. Telequip developed a product with fewer movable parts so that coins would not get caught, which plugs into a computerized cash register system much the same way a computer mouse plugs into a computer.

The reliability of the modern version of the coin dispenser is evident: Telequip has more than 130,000 of the products in retail locations worldwide — with only two maintenance technicians and a 1 percent failure rate.

The products cost about $1,000 apiece and hold about $110 in change.

Marketing associate Cristine Burke said maintenance issues "are virtually non-existent."

The company, with about 40 employees, also customizes dispensers for their clients — from their computer system's needs to their color choice.

"We started with McDonald's in the early 1990s," Stump said. "We took what they had to work with and adjusted to their needs."

Since then, the company's profits have increased tenfold and the product, known as Transact 2+, has become a fixture at McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway, Home Depot and B.J.'s Warehouse. Stump declined to discuss revenue figures.

The company says the dispenser saves six seconds off each transaction, and Stump translates that to the company's pitch for the potential to increase the growth rate for certain businesses by 1 percent.

Stump said the Midwest and the South have been much better marketplaces for Telequip than New England. However, he said a "very large doughnut chain in New England" was looking at the product.

"It's quite a challenge to get people to buy their first one," Stump said. "But once they have them, they can't do without them."

Beth Good, who opened a Quizno's sandwich shop in Manchester in February, is one of those people.

"It's very helpful and it does save time," she said. "You don't have to count all the coins."

About Telequip

Telequip coin dispensers are installed in national retail chains, quick service restaurants, self-checkout and kiosk systems as well as banks and casinos.