NAMA Financial Management & Pricing 4

Question 1

What financial metric best helps a vending operator evaluate profitability on a per-machine basis?

Accepted Answer

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) per machine

Answer

EBIT per machine isolates each machine's contribution after direct costs but before financing and taxes, enabling accurate comparison.

Question 2

A vending operator notices that a cold drink machine's sales dropped 20% after raising prices 15%. This indicates:

Accepted Answer

Elastic demand where higher prices reduced volume significantly

Answer

When a price increase causes a proportionally larger drop in sales volume, demand is elastic.

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of a variable cost in vending operations?

Accepted Answer

Cost of goods purchased for resale

Answer

Cost of goods is a variable cost because it changes directly in proportion to the number of products sold.

Question 4

A vending operator uses DEX data to reconcile sales. Which scenario indicates a potential theft or accounting problem?

Accepted Answer

DEX-reported sales significantly exceed cash collected

Answer

When DEX reports more sales than cash collected, it suggests cash theft, skimming, or cashier errors.

Question 5

What is the purpose of a 'location profitability report' in vending management?

Accepted Answer

To rank locations by net profit after all direct costs

Answer

A location profitability report ranks each location by the net profit it generates after commissions, service costs, and product costs are deducted.

(NAMA) National Automatic Merchandising Association Certification Practice Test