VENDINGCHAT.COM

I am brand new to the vending machine business, and have found this site to be the absolute best source for information available!!

In reading the post on tracking profits it seems to me that many people over think this and/or make it too complicated.

some people even subtract the amount of gas they use to service their route. I don't think anyone subtracts the amount of gas they use driving back and forth to their day job from their salary,

It is simple economics.

Lets say you have $1200.00 what can you do wit it:

1) put it under your mattress = 0 ROI
2) Put it in a savings account = 0.09% ROI
3) put it in a mutual fund = Potentially 5% ROI but that fluctuates and you have to be in it for the long haul
4)Buy something you want, but don't need = your money is gone and you have something you eventually will never use and can't sell
5) etc, etc, etc

OR

6) You buy 8 or 10 bulk vending machines = you get a monthly 10% ROI IN CASH, you can grow your business and add more machines. Also, you can always sell the USED machines eventually. Sure, if you put the $1200.00 in a mutual fund your initial investment does not devalue as fast, but their is inflation and the dollar devalues


It is really that simple. sure it is work, but it should be fun to you.


Anyone else want to chime in on this??

of course u have to factor gas, do you not count the cost of the product either?
return on investment is calculated after costs. a job is a job not an investment

do you think I should have a provision in the sale agreement that if I am not able to continue the operation of this route business that I am not liable for the unpaid balance of the seller-financed Note?

sure why not, i doubt u will get it

In short a company we were doing vending for implemented a employee wellness program in conjunction with their group insurance company. It was a pilot program that rewarded the company for implementing a wellness program that would cut down on health insurance claims. Every employee was required to maintain wellness guide lines to continue receiving matching contributions to their health insurance. We originally estimated and loss 42% in gross sales. The company agreed at the start to subsidise the difference to help keep the cost of "healthier" items affordable. We worked directly with the company nutritionist who set the guidelines. Only diet soda,teas,water, juices, milk, energy drinks. Snacks could only be single serving packaging, 10 grms fat or less, only 35% calories from fat, all the fruit, nuts, and protein we want. No restrictions on cold food items. Of course at the start it was shakey without the subsidy we would not have made it. That was 5 years ago and today the program is a success saving the company thousands of dollars. Every year we are graded and get a B+ only because the cold food has no restrictions the average for the country is a C- for the companies on the program. Because of the inventory we had to have we do 30-40% nutritional products in all of our locations and use that as a selling point we can even go higher % if need be. Other than the soda if you check what you are putting in snack machines now 30-40% of your inventory now will meet these requirements.
As of March 19 2012 all of my park and recreation accounts have set the same nutritional guidelines except they only allow 30% calories from fat. They do not subsidise BUT I only have to be 35% compliant by 3/19/12, 50% compliant by 9/12, 75% compliant by 1/13 and 100% compliant 6/13. The good part is no non-compliant product can be sold for less than a compliant product. Which means I'm getting a 300% profit margin on the items that sell. Right now on a 10 select soda we only have to have 4 items compliant we already carry 2 gatorades 20oz and a water 20oz we've added tea 20oz and changed soda back to cans @ 2.75 we get 2.50 for the 20oz bottles pissed the customers off but made client real happy. We will revaluate at each change to see if it is profitable we will probably do a 10-15% price increase at each change to make 100% compliant profitable.
I recommend that you educate yourself on "more nutritional items" and when someone says they want more "healthier" items then you will be ready. People assume that anything in a vending machine is junk food which is far from the truth. Anybody that uses the term "healthier" do not know what they are talking about if you have a nutritional plan that is 30-40% compliant then you will sound like you know what your talking about. The key to this is only 40% of a vending machine is sellable anyway. Example: On a 8 select soda machine only 3 selections are sellable meaning if any 1 of those three selections are out they are calling you to fill the machine. So if you have at least 3 selections compliant (2 diet and a tea) your 40% more nutritional and still have your best 3 sellers. On a 4 wide snack 32 select you will need 12 selections to be compliant. Doritos, Sunchips, double salami, beef& cheese stix, cashews, pistachios,peanuts,sunflower seeds shelled and unshelled, pretzels, cheez-its, 3 musketeers, granola bars, special k bars, snackwells cookies, all 100 calorie pastries, single serving pop tarts, tator -skins tgif, pork skins,trailmixes,animal cookies, the new sunmaid trailmix and apple raisin cookies big seller. etc.etc.etc. I can go on and on there are multiple flavors of all those chips. These are all items that sell I have never lost any of these items because of dates. Set your guidelines study the products educate yourself and when a customer says we need "healthier" items you'll be prepared and you will amaze them with your preparedness. If you already use these items you can say we're already at 40% nutritional or you can say "well you do know that healthier items are more expensive" then raise your prices 20%. Just my thoughts. I hope this helps.
Vend1ng

this is a hall of fame post

very nicely explained

thank you.

By your post it sounds like you have already bought in your mind and you are hoping for someone to validate what you have already convinced yourself of. If its such a great deal why are tey selling a biz op and not just doing it themselves.

No

I believe u can on a rowe5900

Stay away!

I agree with vend1ing get a quality machine. I got a 3 wide usi machine from craigslist with ivend
For 1100 recently. Just keep an eye on cl or call local dealers.

The dollar validator won't give u much trouble the ones that give me probs are outside locs or shop floors places like that hwere it gets dirty. Inside I really rarely have probs. Also they are modular replacing is easy u just open the door
Unplug the old one unscrew it and replace . Takes 5min no skills or training needed

wrong forum

national entertainment network and coinstar are big bulk vending co's

What do you all think about Healthy vending machines?

Can you make money with vending machines?

are you kidding?

What about healthy snacks vs junk food?

junk food makes more money hands down ,why do you think mcdonalds is the largest real estate owner on earth

does a vending machine make in a day in a good location?

hard to say $100 a week per machine gross is a solid account in my book but it also depends soda or snack... drink machines tend to make a little more than snacks.

How many employee's is considered a good location?

it really depends on what you're trying to do. for a snack machine i want to see at least 30 people to even consider it, for a drink machine a blue collar [place like a lube shop can be good for $30-60 a week with only 10 or 15 guys , those are nice low hassle accounts but you cant make a good living doing those kind of accts only.

Is there a book about vending? I have soooo many more questions! HELP!

RJTs book and also vending machine fundamentals by steve woodbine, if you have questions why did you already buy the machines?!

I just bought 5 healthy vending machines from Healthy You, a division of 800 vending. Did I buy "junk". What about healthy vending machines? I'm new to vending and feel very lost and alone

try to get your money back

Yea their are no pics on my machine looks worn off would he nice to see a pic of a loaded machine with bottles. Know the part numbers for the bottle shims

go to the dixie narco website
go to "package setup" under technical support

this will give you everything you need to set up any dixie machine for any can or bottle type

This is good info for everyone people!

Delving even further, do you monitor which product is more profitable - 355ml cans vs 591ml bottle, etc. In our neck of the woods a Coke can has the following cost info:

355ml can of Coke:

cost $0.47 Cdn
price $1.50 Cdn
gross profit per unit sold $1.03

591ml bottle of Coke:

cost $1.21 Cdn
price $2.50 Cdn
gross profit per unit sold $1.29

Intuitively I would assume that for Coke cans are the way to go, as I'd expect that the volume for cans sold would be much higher than bottles because it has a much lower price point and thus should have greater demand (but I'd imagine that there are many other factors that come into play when the client makes a purchasing decision).

The gross profit per unit has only a difference of $0.26 cents between $1.50 cans of coke and $2.50 bottles of coke...but bottles do have more gross per unit.

Do you people monitor the demand and know which is more profitable for you when you make your product mix decisions?

it depends on a few things, the account first and foremost. in some accounts they want a low price point so you have to go with cans . also the size of your route and how fixated you are on squeezing an extra buck or two. for example i have a small biz i do all my buying at sams, i regularly clean out the supermarket or walmart if they have a sale on cans which often undercuts sams by 10c a can, so you are earning a buck or two per case more profit. also if your accounts are lower volume cans are a good choice because of the expiry.

overall tho its going to come down to the account and waht they want.

dew , coke , hawaiian punch, pepsi, rt beer

They are right. $100/month is hardly enough to justify a snack machine. Dealing with short-dated product will be more trouble than its worth. Also, if this is your only snack machine, then even if you get a 19 selection and double up on them, that's till 9+ different kinds of snacks that you have to fill the machine with. At 60 ct cases of snacks, that's a lot of wasted snacks just to keep a customer happy.

An alternative would be to suggest to them an honor based system. Then you save money on the snack machine and don't have to worry about having so much selection.

even with an honor box its a question of volume u still only have 1 location ... its a good idea but only if you are prepared to put out 10 boxes, ive found 10 boxes u can turn every 2wks is the point where u do enough volume not to deal with stales. also use wise chips not lays if u can get away with it

yes

I would call 100/month the upper side of low volume. It may be worth a try but if the best you can do is 100/month/machine, I'd keep my eyes open for a better location.

the stales will kill you slowly unless its a very limited capacity maybe a 19 select...even then its probably pushing it.

i have seen usi 3015s in good shape for 500-600 bucks, thats a solid machine

1 . yes

2. make sure it cools (have them plug it in beforehand) make sure the mech and validator work ( this will require some nickels in the mech and some product in the machine ) . make sure all the motors are working either by using the motor test function (if it has a control board) or by actuating the switches manually on the motors. If you put nickels in the mech but you still get "use exact change" try hitting the interlock switch on the door to reset

3. if it does 20oz then most likely,yes

rowe and polyvend are both out of business and parts are not always easy to come by for these machines.

that said i would not put a snack machine at a location that is only grossing $100/month in drinks

oh which model of rowe btw?

its not unusual

hmm could be a bad compressor too, if its clicking on and off.

you can test the compressor by unplugging it and plugging it into an extension cord pluged into the wall if it cycles on and off its bad.

if it seems to work good, check the gas by checking the tube on the righthand side of the condensor, it should cool very quickly if it doesnt gas may be a bit low.

if the gas seems ok and the compressor runs while in an extension cord it could be the thermostat.

also you can cehck out the outlet the compressor plugs into in the machine with a multimeter make sure it seems working properly, but i'd replace the thermostat first before bothering to even check that.

If its just the white female connector you need, and no pins or wires or anything, we may have some, or I have a supplier that I could get them from.

yeah i jsut need the connector

I have a bill validator i need to make a custom harness for where can i buy the female end like this?

craigs list has tons around here

if not try a resturant supply company though the price will be higher than craigs list

also try calling vending repair a few local places here buy sell and repair beverage coolers too