Vending industry glossary
MDB, DEX, par, shrink: the words that run a route.
A vending industry glossary of 50 terms for operators, location hosts and anyone who just inherited a vending contract. Each one is defined the way people use it on the route, in the breakroom and in the console.
Same words, different meanings, expensive misunderstandings
Unattended retail borrows words from vending, grocery, payments, food safety and machine learning, and each camp uses them a little differently. A driver's "out" isn't a forecaster's "out". One vendor's "shrink" includes spoiled food and another's doesn't.
This glossary defines each term the way it's used on routes, in breakrooms and in contracts. Where 8Kava hardware or Kava OS attaches a specific number to a term, we include it, so you can compare like with like.
- 50 terms, alphabetical.
- Short, plain definitions you can quote.
- Missing a term? Ask at hi@8kava.com.
Unattended retail terms, A to Z
- Autonomous micro-store
- A small walk-in store with no staff and no checkout line. Shoppers enter with a card, phone, QR code or badge, take what they want and are charged automatically, based on ceiling cameras and shelf sensors. Kava Box B160 is a 160 sq ft example.
- Bill validator
- The device in a vending machine that accepts paper currency and checks that it's genuine. On many legacy machines, the space behind the bill validator panel is where retrofit modules are mounted.
- Cashless reader
- The payment device on a machine that accepts cards, phones and other non-cash payments. On legacy machines it talks to the controller over MDB.
- Censored demand
- Demand you never saw because the item was sold out. If a coil empties at noon, the sales record shows what was on hand, not what people wanted, and a forecast trained on it learns to under-order.
- Coil
- The metal spiral in a vending machine that holds products between its loops. One full turn pushes the front item off the shelf; one turn, one vend.
- Cold holding
- Keeping time/temperature control for safety (TCS) foods at or below 41 °F (5 °C), the limit set in the FDA Food Code. Any cabinet that sells fresh food is built around this number.
- Contactless payment
- Paying by holding a card, phone or watch near a reader, using NFC radio. In unattended retail it's faster than inserting a card and has fewer moving parts to fail.
- Conversion rate
- The share of shopper interactions that end in a purchase, such as door opens that become a sale or kiosk sessions that reach payment. A low rate points to assortment, price or layout problems.
- Cost-center allocation
- Charging each dispensed item to the department, line or project that used it. It moves PPE and tool spending out of one overhead line and into the budgets that drive it.
- DEX/UCS
- Data Exchange / Uniform Communication Standard: the protocol a machine uses to hand over its audit data, such as sales by selection, cash collected and error events, usually formatted to the EVA-DTS standard. Traditionally read with a handheld during a visit; a telemetry module reads it remotely.
- Dwell time
- How long people stay in or near a location. Long dwell, like a breakroom on a long shift, supports bigger assortments; short dwell, like a train platform, favors speed and grab-and-go items.
- Dynamic pricing
- Changing prices based on conditions such as remaining shelf life, time of day or demand, within rules the operator sets. In unattended retail, its most common use is marking down fresh food before it expires.
- Dynamic routing
- Choosing which sites a driver visits, and in what order, from current inventory and alerts instead of a fixed weekly schedule. Machines that don't need service get skipped.
- Edge inference
- Running a machine-learning model on the device itself instead of sending raw data to the cloud. In a smart cooler, it means product recognition happens locally and only the result, what was taken, leaves the device.
- Employer subsidy
- An amount an employer pays toward what employees buy, such as a set amount off each meal or a free item per shift. It's applied at checkout, so the employee pays the subsidized price.
- EMV
- The global chip-card standard, named for Europay, Mastercard and Visa. EMV contactless lets a shopper tap a card, phone or watch, and each tap generates a one-time code, just as a chip transaction does.
- Expiry-aware markdown
- A price cut triggered by an item's remaining shelf life, so a sandwich that expires tonight sells this evening instead of going in the trash after close. Across 8Kava deployments, expiry-aware pricing cut fresh-food waste 33%.
- Food-safety auto-lock
- A control that locks a refrigerated unit when its internal temperature has stayed too warm for too long, so unsafe food can't be sold. Kava Cooler locks and alerts if it stays above 41 °F for 30 minutes.
- Guaranteed vend
- A feature that uses drop sensors, typically infrared beams across the delivery area, to confirm a product actually fell. If nothing is detected, the machine retries or refunds automatically.
- HACCP
- Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points: a preventive food-safety system that identifies where hazards can be controlled, sets limits for each point and requires monitoring records. "HACCP-style logs" means continuous, timestamped temperature records you can show an inspector.
- Honor-system market
- An open-shelf market with no locks and no tracking at the moment an item is removed; shoppers are trusted to scan and pay. Cheap to start, and the format where shrink is hardest to control.
- Interchange-plus pricing
- A card-processing price structure that passes the card networks' interchange and assessment fees through at cost and adds a fixed, disclosed markup. Kava Pay is priced at interchange-plus 0.35% + $0.05 per transaction.
- Load cell
- A sensor that turns force into an electrical signal, used to weigh a shelf. Kava Cooler uses per-shelf load cells with ±2 g resolution to confirm what left.
- Location commission
- A share of sales an operator pays a location host for the space and access to its people. Terms vary widely, and some hosts trade commission for lower prices or a better amenity.
- Location host
- The business or organization where an unattended retail point is placed: an employer, hospital, campus, residential building, hotel, transit site or public facility. The host provides space and power; an operator, or the host itself, runs the program.
- MDB
- Multi-Drop Bus: the serial communication standard that connects a vending machine's controller to its payment devices, such as coin changers, bill validators and cashless readers. Maintained as MDB/ICP by NAMA and the European Vending Association; an MDB-compliant machine can accept a new reader or retrofit module without rewiring.
- Micro market
- An unattended open-shelf store, usually in a workplace, where shoppers pick items from shelves and coolers and pay at a self-checkout kiosk. Without locking doors, it relies on cameras and trust, so shrink is the main risk.
- Offline buffering
- Storing transactions and events on the device when its connection drops, then sending them when it returns, so sales never depend on signal strength. Every 8Kava device buffers 72 hours offline.
- Operator
- The company that owns or manages vending and micro-retail equipment, stocks and services it, and collects the revenue. Route-based operators serve many location hosts from a warehouse with a fleet of vehicles.
- Out-of-stock (OOS)
- An item or slot with no sellable inventory when a shopper wants it. An OOS loses the sale and can lose the next one, because shoppers learn a machine is unreliable.
- P2PE
- Point-to-point encryption: card data is encrypted inside the reader and decrypted only in the payment processor's secure environment. A PCI-validated P2PE solution can reduce the scope of an operator's PCI DSS assessment, because the operator's systems never handle readable card numbers.
- Par level
- The target quantity for an item in a slot or on a shelf after a restock. Fixed pars are set by habit; forecast-driven pars move with the demand expected before the next visit.
- Payroll deduction
- A payment method in which purchases are charged to an employee's account and deducted from a later paycheck, under the employer's program rules.
- Pick list
- The item-by-item list of what to pull from the warehouse for each machine or route. With pre-kitting, it becomes the packing list for each tote.
- Planogram
- The map of which product goes in which slot or shelf position, how many facings it gets and how many fit. In vending, each position usually has a coordinate such as A1 or C4.
- Pre-authorization
- A temporary hold placed on a shopper's card before an open-door purchase, so the device knows the card is good before releasing the lock. The final charge, for what was actually taken, replaces the hold after the door closes.
- Pre-kitting
- Packing each machine's exact restock, item by item, in the warehouse before the route starts. Drivers carry one tote per machine instead of loading by guesswork at the site. Paired with dynamic routing, it cut service visits 27% across 8Kava deployments.
- Restock reconciliation
- Matching what a restocker says they loaded against what the device's sensors detected, so inventory counts stay true and mistakes surface the same day instead of at the next audit.
- Retail media
- Advertising at the point of purchase, such as a cooler door display or vending touchscreen. Because the same device shows the ad and records the sale, results can be measured closed-loop.
- Retrofit
- Upgrading an existing machine with new electronics instead of replacing it. A telemetry retrofit typically connects to the MDB bus and DEX port and adds remote data, price changes and cashless passthrough.
- Sales velocity
- Units sold per item per day or week at a given location. Velocity sets par levels, slot allocation and how often a machine needs a visit.
- Sensor fusion
- Combining independent sensors so each checks the other. In a smart cooler, cameras identify what moved and shelf load cells confirm what left, which resolves look-alike items that either sensor alone would get wrong.
- Service visit
- Any trip a person makes to a device to restock, clean, collect cash or repair it, also called a truck roll. Visits cost driver hours, fuel and vehicle wear, which is why telemetry and routing focus on removing the unnecessary ones.
- Shrink
- Inventory that leaves without being paid for: theft, checkout errors, restock mistakes and unrecorded damage. Some operators count spoiled food as shrink and others track it as waste, so ask which definition a number uses.
- SKU
- Stock-keeping unit: one distinct product in one size and flavor. A 12 oz cold brew and a 16 oz cold brew are two SKUs.
- Smart cooler
- A refrigerated cabinet with an electronic lock that opens after a tap, lets the shopper take items directly and charges for what was removed. Recognition uses cameras, weight, RFID or a combination.
- Smart locker
- A bank of individually controlled compartments for pickup or exchange: online orders, hot meals, IT assets or loaner tools. Compartments can be ambient, refrigerated or heated, and open by code, QR, badge or app.
- Telemetry
- Data a device reports remotely and continuously: sales, inventory, temperature, door events, errors and connectivity. Telemetry is how an operator knows a machine needs service before driving to it.
- VaaS
- Vending-as-a-Service: a monthly agreement that bundles hardware, software and service so the host or operator pays no capital up front. 8Kava VaaS runs on a 36-month term and includes Kava OS Pro.
- VMC
- Vending machine controller: the main board that runs the machine, drives its motors and acts as the master device on the MDB bus.
Six pairs people mix up
MDB vs. DEX
MDB is the live conversation between a machine's controller and its payment devices. DEX is the machine's sales and audit record, read out on demand. A retrofit uses both.
Shrink vs. waste
Shrink left without being paid for. Waste never left and had to be thrown out. Ask which one a reported number includes before you compare two vendors.
Par level vs. capacity
Capacity is how many items a slot holds. Par is how many you want in it after a restock. Filling every slot to capacity is how fresh food expires on the shelf.
Telemetry vs. a DEX read
A DEX read is a snapshot taken when someone connects. Telemetry is a continuous feed. One tells you what happened since the last visit; the other tells you whether to visit.
Operator vs. location host
The operator owns or runs the equipment. The location host provides the space and the people. Some hosts are their own operator.
Pre-auth vs. charge
A pre-auth is a temporary hold to check that a card is good. The charge is the final amount for what was taken. Only the charge settles.
Learn the terms in the order the work happens
Formats and sites
Smart cooler, micro market, autonomous micro-store, location host, dwell time. Start with where the store goes and who it serves.
Machines and data
VMC, MDB, DEX/UCS, telemetry, retrofit, offline buffering. How a machine tells you what's happening inside it.
Payments
EMV, contactless, pre-authorization, P2PE, interchange-plus, payroll deduction. How money moves without a cashier.
Inventory
SKU, planogram, par level, sales velocity, censored demand, out-of-stock. What goes where, and how much of it.
Operations
Pick list, pre-kitting, dynamic routing, service visit, shrink, cold holding. How a route stays full, safe and profitable.
Where these terms live in Kava OS
Fleet Command
Telemetry, DEX/MDB data, remote price changes and alerts for every connected device.
Vision AI
Sensor fusion, edge inference and restock reconciliation inside smart coolers.
Forecasting & Replenishment
Sales velocity, par levels, censored demand, pre-kitting and dynamic routing.
Dynamic Pricing
Expiry-aware markdowns and time-of-day pricing, inside guardrails you set.
Payments & Loyalty
EMV, pre-authorization, employer subsidies and payroll deduction.
Maintenance & Energy
Cold holding, food-safety auto-lock and HACCP-style temperature logs.
Does everyone on your team mean the same thing by "out of stock"?
To a driver, it's an empty coil. To finance, it's a sale that didn't happen. To a forecast, it's the most dangerous number in the dataset, because it hides how much people wanted; that's censored demand. Ask three people on your team to define three common words, then compare the answers. The disagreements show you where your reports have been quietly misleading you.
Questions about the terms
What's the difference between a micro market and a smart cooler?
A micro market is an open-shelf store with a self-checkout kiosk; shoppers pick items and scan them. A smart cooler is a locked cabinet that opens after a tap and charges automatically for what was taken. Our format comparison covers when each one fits.
Is DEX data the same as telemetry?
No. DEX is the audit record stored in the machine, traditionally read with a handheld during a visit. Telemetry sends data continuously. A retrofit module like Kava Link reads DEX remotely and adds live events, which turns a visit-time snapshot into a live feed.
What does "MDB-compliant" mean for a retrofit?
It means the machine's controller talks to its payment devices over the standard Multi-Drop Bus. Most modern vending machines are MDB-compliant, which is why a retrofit module can connect without rewiring. Fully mechanical machines without a controller can't be connected this way.
Can I use these definitions in my own documents?
Yes. Quote them with a link back to this page. If you think a definition is wrong or missing, tell us at hi@8kava.com and we'll review it.
Where to go next
Now that we speak the same language, let's talk about your sites.
Bring the terms you care about most, whether that's shrink, par levels or P2PE, and we'll show you how Kava OS handles each one.