Sorry if this has been asked. I have searched the forums and could not find an answer. I am new and someone has given me a broken vending machine for free. I am good at repair work so I'm going to be fixing it up and getting it fully functional. I was wondering how would I go about finding a location to set it up.
Do I just go to a business and ask them to set it up? What do they get out of it, a percentage or how does this work?
Thanks so much guys if you can help me.
1 reply to this topic
#2
mikepn
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Newbie
Posted 11 January 2009 - 01:38 PM
Simple enough questions. Yes, you can just go to a business and ask them if they want a vending machine in their snack room, or if they have a public waiting area, in there. (In the snack room, there will be fewer people, but the people will probably be more honest because they don't want to get fired for trying to steal from a vending machine.) In general, most locations, especially those that only want one machine from someone new in the business will not ask for any money (commission). Instead, they will let you put your machine there for free, since it is a perk for their employees/customers to have easy access to snacks, and they don't have to do any work to have it there.
Bigger locations may ask for a percentage of your sales, but I'd be surprised if you got a bigger location if this is your only machine.
It seems like a bit of a hassle to just have one machine, however, since economies of scale really come into to play with vending.
As far as setting prices, the rule is:
2*product price+commission+sales tax (if any) rounded to the nearest reasonable looking amount. For example, a product that costs $.28 sold at a location asking a 10% commission and 5% sales tax would be $.29*2=$.58 as your base price. 5% sales tax would be $.03 and the commission would be $.06, so that brings it up to $.67, which could either be $.65 or $.70 or even $.75 (depending on your competition in the area, etc).
Good luck. Hope that helps. (By the way, I'm relatively new to vending, so take other people's advice before you take mine.)
-Michael
Bigger locations may ask for a percentage of your sales, but I'd be surprised if you got a bigger location if this is your only machine.
It seems like a bit of a hassle to just have one machine, however, since economies of scale really come into to play with vending.
As far as setting prices, the rule is:
2*product price+commission+sales tax (if any) rounded to the nearest reasonable looking amount. For example, a product that costs $.28 sold at a location asking a 10% commission and 5% sales tax would be $.29*2=$.58 as your base price. 5% sales tax would be $.03 and the commission would be $.06, so that brings it up to $.67, which could either be $.65 or $.70 or even $.75 (depending on your competition in the area, etc).
Good luck. Hope that helps. (By the way, I'm relatively new to vending, so take other people's advice before you take mine.)
-Michael
