26 replies to this topic

[BVI]

I recently set up a Vistar account and got a price list. Since I started offering snacks, I have been getting it all from Sam's. I gotta say, Vistar's prices were more expensive on everything - a little on some things, like chips, and lot on others, like Gatorade. I'm at the stage in my business where I can still manage buying all my snacks from Sam's, but it is getting tougher. However, if I buy from Vistar, I'll either make less money, or I'll have to raise some prices, which will not go over well. My pricing is commensurate with what my competition is charging.

Does Vistar have a tiered pricing structure based on your anticipated purchase volume? Or do they charge the same prices to everyone? Is anyone else out there using Vistar, or an equivalent snack distributor that delivers?

[jblvending]

I recently set up a Vistar account and got a price list. Since I started offering snacks, I have been getting it all from Sam's. I gotta say, Vistar's prices were more expensive on everything - a little on some things, like chips, and lot on others, like Gatorade. I'm at the stage in my business where I can still manage buying all my snacks from Sam's, but it is getting tougher. However, if I buy from Vistar, I'll either make less money, or I'll have to raise some prices, which will not go over well. My pricing is commensurate with what my competition is charging.

Does Vistar have a tiered pricing structure based on your anticipated purchase volume? Or do they charge the same prices to everyone? Is anyone else out there using Vistar, or an equivalent snack distributor that delivers?

Vistar bought VSA, and just about everybody esle in the country, why, so they can control prices, buy from Sam's as long as you can, buy enough to last the whole week, use there Discover card and get an addtional 2% savings in a form of cash at the end of the year.

[BVI]

I'm really glad you answered this one, JBL. I have several credit cards that I've used to buy equipment, and have a few more I haven't used yet, but I have enough open balances now that I can't get a Sam's Discover. Unfortunately, I didn't check into it soon enough before I started getting as many credit cards as I could qualify for.

I've tried their Fax N' Pull service, and ended up with items I didn't ask for, and they gave me several cases of Diet Pepsi that were already expired. They had it all wrapped up on two flatbeds, so it wasn't like I could sort through everything before checking out. I wasted time having to take back the items I didn't want. So now, I just go in and pull it myself. That's the hard part because I can't navigate more than one flatbed without asking for help, then it takes forever to load my truck.

Vistar would make things a bit easier, but I can't deal with their high prices right now.

[kevin]

I'm really glad you answered this one, JBL. I have several credit cards that I've used to buy equipment, and have a few more I haven't used yet, but I have enough open balances now that I can't get a Sam's Discover. Unfortunately, I didn't check into it soon enough before I started getting as many credit cards as I could qualify for.

I've tried their Fax N' Pull service, and ended up with items I didn't ask for, and they gave me several cases of Diet Pepsi that were already expired. They had it all wrapped up on two flatbeds, so it wasn't like I could sort through everything before checking out. I wasted time having to take back the items I didn't want. So now, I just go in and pull it myself. That's the hard part because I can't navigate more than one flatbed without asking for help, then it takes forever to load my truck.

Vistar would make things a bit easier, but I can't deal with their high prices right now.

I buy chips, coffee, sugar, cream and all office coffee stuff from Vistar. I buy all my candy and some of my cookies from Sams. The reason I do it this way is because Sams is very little difference in price on chips and the dates from vistar are alot better. Also I carry a huge verity and the local sams does not. Last year Sams saved us around a grand and this year we have added alot more so hopefully we will be saving alot more.

[BVI]

Kevin, that's a great strategy. I need to get bigger before I can buy $400 worth of chips to hit Vistar's minimums. I'm not doing office coffee (yet), so I'd have to find some other things that they are competitive with Sam's on so I can reach their minimum order amount. Sam's is kind of a pain to deal with, but they are definitely cheaper.

[kevin]

Kevin, that's a great strategy. I need to get bigger before I can buy $400 worth of chips to hit Vistar's minimums. I'm not doing office coffee (yet), so I'd have to find some other things that they are competitive with Sam's on so I can reach their minimum order amount. Sam's is kind of a pain to deal with, but they are definitely cheaper.

Im not sure what Vistars minimums are anymore but I believe $400 still has a delivery fee. We buy alot of coffee from them and have for years since thats what we started out as. Vistar is a bit of a markup but it saves you alot in gas over time and the rebates save us in coffee.

[drifter73]

I use Vistar. The one near me (Philly area) has a 1500 dollar minimum for deliveries. Anything less and there's a 75 dollar delivery fee.

I was in your situation about a year ago. I was starting to get a little too big to keep running to Sam's for my product (and yes, frequent mistakes on my orders too), so I set up a Vistar account and after some hesitation about the higher prices I finally decided to start getting deliveries from them. What I found is the time I now save by having them deliver right to my garage is WELL worth their higher prices on goods. For me, in this business, time saved is also money earned. And at some stops I was able to slightly raise prices (like a nickel on candy) to help offset my price increases. And as stated, Vistar's variety is much, much bigger than the club stores. You need variety in your machines to keep people using them.

I now get one big delivery from Vistar every 2 weeks (usually around $2500). Coke and Pepsi I get direct, everything else in my vending needs I get on that bi-weekly Vistar order. Also, Vistar does have a teired pricing structure, their prices aren't the same for everyone. When I first started buying from them, after a couple of deliveries my sales rep noticed I wasn't buying candy (I was still getting that at Sam's). So he was able to get me a better price on candy. Not as cheap as Sam's, but cheaper enough to start buying from them. So if they gave you a sales rep, talk to him or her about prices, they might be able to work with you.

Sam's is great when you're small and just starting out. But if you wanna grow it eventually becomes a big hassle. Just think of the time and gas money you'll save having the products you need delivered right to your house or place of business.

[coinvestor]

Can you pickup from vistar without a minimum purchase? I know this defeats alot of the benefits, but I would like to use some of there products that I can't get at Sams.

Jeremiah

[drifter73]

Can you pickup from vistar without a minimum purchase? I know this defeats alot of the benefits, but I would like to use some of there products that I can't get at Sams.

Jeremiah

Which Vistar would you go to? They have several Cash & Carry's around the country. No minimum for pick-ups. I shop at the one in Bristol PA when I need stuff and can't wait for my delivery.

[Eman]

I use Vistar. The one near me (Philly area) has a 1500 dollar minimum for deliveries. Anything less and there's a 75 dollar delivery fee.

I was in your situation about a year ago. I was starting to get a little too big to keep running to Sam's for my product (and yes, frequent mistakes on my orders too), so I set up a Vistar account and after some hesitation about the higher prices I finally decided to start getting deliveries from them. What I found is the time I now save by having them deliver right to my garage is WELL worth their higher prices on goods. For me, in this business, time saved is also money earned. And at some stops I was able to slightly raise prices (like a nickel on candy) to help offset my price increases. And as stated, Vistar's variety is much, much bigger than the club stores. You need variety in your machines to keep people using them.

I now get one big delivery from Vistar every 2 weeks (usually around $2500). Coke and Pepsi I get direct, everything else in my vending needs I get on that bi-weekly Vistar order. Also, Vistar does have a teired pricing structure, their prices aren't the same for everyone. When I first started buying from them, after a couple of deliveries my sales rep noticed I wasn't buying candy (I was still getting that at Sam's). So he was able to get me a better price on candy. Not as cheap as Sam's, but cheaper enough to start buying from them. So if they gave you a sales rep, talk to him or her about prices, they might be able to work with you.

Sam's is great when you're small and just starting out. But if you wanna grow it eventually becomes a big hassle. Just think of the time and gas money you'll save having the products you need delivered right to your house or place of business.

Drifter 73 --- do you use the Vistar cash and carry in bristol as well ? I was wondering if the pricing is different between the two ? Obviously I am in the philly area as well

[drifter73]

Drifter 73 --- do you use the Vistar cash and carry in bristol as well ? I was wondering if the pricing is different between the two ? Obviously I am in the philly area as well

Yeah I go there too. The prices at the cash & carry actually appear to be alot better for some reason. I guess it's because the stuff is being picked up, not delivered on a big rig.

My route is big enough now where I need to get a delivery. But I do go to the Bristol cash & carry when I urgently need product. I usually end up going there for 20 oz Pespi and Coke bottles. Their prices on these are really good. And shopping at the place is very convenient.

[BVI]

Hold on there for just a minute. Drifter73, are you telling us that you can get 20-oz bottle Coke and Pepsi products in a cash and carry? Am I reading that correctly? In Kentucky, the only place you can get 20-oz CSDs are directly from Coke and Pepsi, and my cost is $0.65 for Coke and $0.71 for Pepsi products. How is your pricing there through Vistar?

Vistar here does not stock CSDs at all. Neither bottles nor cans.

[drifter73]

Yeah. Vistar's cash & carry in Bristol has a full line of Coke and Pepsi products. Both bottles and cans. Canada Dry too.

Their pricing for the 20 oz is the exact same you're getting yours for.

[coinvestor]

I called Vistar wednesday. It looks like they set the min to purchase with out delivery fee based on your volume. They asked me how many machines I had, they told me a sales rep would call me. I'm still waiting............

BVI, did are you still using Vistar? How is it working?


JD

[BVI]

I called Vistar wednesday. It looks like they set the min to purchase with out delivery fee based on your volume. They asked me how many machines I had, they told me a sales rep would call me. I'm still waiting............

BVI, did are you still using Vistar? How is it working?
JD

I haven't bought anything from them yet. What I found is that I would have to buy more than I need of most items due to larger units of measure, and that in turn would stretch my open-to-buy too thin for all the other items I need.

Plus, I'd either have to raise my prices in order to accomodate the higher cost, or take a big hit on my GP, and I just can't do either. I'm already slightly more expensive most of the time compared to my competition, which has not hurt me at all, but I'd rather not push the limit right now.

Lastly, it's so much easier and faster to order everything I need right from my Click & Pull List (Sam's Club), and I save a lot of money in the process. I actually tried putting an order together using Vistar's price list, and it got so cumbersome and time-consuming that I abandoned the effort.

I think you really have to be of the size of JBL, or Kevin's company to realize any benefit from using Vistar.

If you're as big as these guys, you probably have the support of someone who can do the ordering for you and manage the larger inventory levels and variety of products as variety is a main benefit of ordering through Vistar because they do have just about everything. I'm just one person and do not have the time to do that kind of stock-keeping.

[kevin]

I haven't bought anything from them yet. What I found is that I would have to buy more than I need of most items due to larger units of measure, and that in turn would stretch my open-to-buy too thin for all the other items I need.

Plus, I'd either have to raise my prices in order to accomodate the higher cost, or take a big hit on my GP, and I just can't do either. I'm already slightly more expensive most of the time compared to my competition, which has not hurt me at all, but I'd rather not push the limit right now.

Lastly, it's so much easier and faster to order everything I need right from my Click & Pull List (Sam's Club), and I save a lot of money in the process. I actually tried putting an order together using Vistar's price list, and it got so cumbersome and time-consuming that I abandoned the effort.

I think you really have to be of the size of JBL, or Kevin's company to realize any benefit from using Vistar.

If you're as big as these guys, you probably have the support of someone who can do the ordering for you and manage the larger inventory levels and variety of products as variety is a main benefit of ordering through Vistar because they do have just about everything. I'm just one person and do not have the time to do that kind of stock-keeping.

Its funny you say that because one thing we dont buy from vistar is candy due to the prices, and I was talking with the girl that was doing the taxes and she said in the past 3 months we sold over 25,000 candy bars. My jaw about dropped becuase taht is almost double what we've been doing. I have noticed that the bags are coming in fuller and we seem to be taking more to the bank everyday. I guess Im finally starting to feel the "boom" that is happening in my area. Now I just wish I could add 3-5 new mid size accounts before a democrat gets into office :-p

[BVI]

Its funny you say that because one thing we dont buy from vistar is candy due to the prices, and I was talking with the girl that was doing the taxes and she said in the past 3 months we sold over 25,000 candy bars. My jaw about dropped becuase taht is almost double what we've been doing. I have noticed that the bags are coming in fuller and we seem to be taking more to the bank everyday. I guess Im finally starting to feel the "boom" that is happening in my area. Now I just wish I could add 3-5 new mid size accounts before a democrat gets into office :-p

I hear ya because you know if a democrat gets into office everyone's taxes will go up. That's the reason my state has such a high sales tax... 6%.

[kevin]

I hear ya because you know if a democrat gets into office everyone's taxes will go up. That's the reason my state has such a high sales tax... 6%.

Its not that, its the war. If a democrat goes into office we will pull out of the war. I have mixed feelings about taht whole situation because theres alot I don't agree with and some I do and I wont go into taht because political views should never be shared on a board :-p. Though the area Im in is thriving due to things happening overseas. It should last a few years even after the presidency changes, but it will get bad. Right now you cant find help here even if you offer upwards of $15/hour. Our sales tax is already high here, 8.25% and its hard to compete with some of the smaller vending companies because I know they dont pay sales tax and theres nothing you can really do since they do it out of their garage or the use coffee sales to shadow their vending(coffee is not taxable here, not sure how it works everywhere else). I know 3 companies that do this but only one I could actually prove. YOu can tell when they have prices that are 10 cents cheaper then ours and we are barley making money and get it cheaper then them because we buy in bulk. These are also the companies taht use 3rd party machines from coke and fill them with MT dew and Pepsi, not exactly the type of people that are on the up and up.

[BVI]

Its not that, its the war. If a democrat goes into office we will pull out of the war. I have mixed feelings about taht whole situation because theres alot I don't agree with and some I do and I wont go into taht because political views should never be shared on a board :-p. Though the area Im in is thriving due to things happening overseas. It should last a few years even after the presidency changes, but it will get bad. Right now you cant find help here even if you offer upwards of $15/hour. Our sales tax is already high here, 8.25% and its hard to compete with some of the smaller vending companies because I know they dont pay sales tax and theres nothing you can really do since they do it out of their garage or the use coffee sales to shadow their vending(coffee is not taxable here, not sure how it works everywhere else). I know 3 companies that do this but only one I could actually prove. YOu can tell when they have prices that are 10 cents cheaper then ours and we are barley making money and get it cheaper then them because we buy in bulk. These are also the companies taht use 3rd party machines from coke and fill them with MT dew and Pepsi, not exactly the type of people that are on the up and up.

Yeah, I know there are companies like that out there and in my area too. It really sends me through the roof when I think about how I pay my sales tax when I'm supposed to and some of my competitors don't. Vendors like that will get caught sooner or later. Just like they will also get caught putting foreign product in their 3rd party machines because they will call for service and forget about what they have in those machines or they won't be able to make it back in time to switch out product before the tech gets there, and if they do switch out product they will have upset customers, so they will get caught and lose their machines.

If the democrats take the white house in 08, they won't pull out of the war. Hillary has already said so. They want out of the war right now because a Republican is in office and a pullout and subsequent defeat would be blamed on Republicans. But if they take the white house, you can bet they won't pull out because they won't want to own the defeat that a pullout would indicate. Either way, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

That's all I'll say about politics here. There are other forums to talk about politics and this isn't one of them.

[kevin]

Yeah, I know there are companies like that out there and in my area too. It really sends me through the roof when I think about how I pay my sales tax when I'm supposed to and some of my competitors don't. Vendors like that will get caught sooner or later. Just like they will also get caught putting foreign product in their 3rd party machines because they will call for service and forget about what they have in those machines or they won't be able to make it back in time to switch out product before the tech gets there, and if they do switch out product they will have upset customers, so they will get caught and lose their machines.

If the democrats take the white house in 08, they won't pull out of the war. Hillary has already said so. They want out of the war right now because a Republican is in office and a pullout and subsequent defeat would be blamed on Republicans. But if they take the white house, you can bet they won't pull out because they won't want to own the defeat that a pullout would indicate. Either way, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

That's all I'll say about politics here. There are other forums to talk about politics and this isn't one of them.

If you fix your own machines then 3rd parties never see them. We personally fix our own and we supply parts for our own machines alot. I have used a compressor once of cokes but cokes machines have a ton of my own in their machines. I have at least 20 machines with my own DBV's and coinmechs in coca colas machines and they are all MEI validaytors because I dont like that Coke only uses coinco in this area.

[BVI]

If you fix your own machines then 3rd parties never see them. We personally fix our own and we supply parts for our own machines alot. I have used a compressor once of cokes but cokes machines have a ton of my own in their machines. I have at least 20 machines with my own DBV's and coinmechs in coca colas machines and they are all MEI validaytors because I dont like that Coke only uses coinco in this area.

Yeah, I prefer MEI over Coinco as well. Coinco coin tubes seem to never fill up on their own, and it's a pain to have to do it when I'm in a hurry.

[tedk]

Yeah, I prefer MEI over Coinco as well. Coinco coin tubes seem to never fill up on their own, and it's a pain to have to do it when I'm in a hurry.

BVI
I'm sure you know this but sometimes a reminder helps. The Coinco has a high and a low coin sensor. Make sure you sensors are set up to divert the maximum number of coins. I only have problems with low coin levels when the customers are using my machines to make change for the bulk machines nearby.
Ted

[BVI]

BVI
I'm sure you know this but sometimes a reminder helps. The Coinco has a high and a low coin sensor. Make sure you sensors are set up to divert the maximum number of coins. I only have problems with low coin levels when the customers are using my machines to make change for the bulk machines nearby.
Ted

I guess I assumed the high and low sensors were already set up. Maybe they're not. Especially on my 3rd party machines. I'll have to dig into it to find out out to make sure the sensors are set. Thanks!!

[tedk]

I guess I assumed the high and low sensors were already set up. Maybe they're not. Especially on my 3rd party machines. I'll have to dig into it to find out out to make sure the sensors are set. Thanks!!

No problem. Let me know if you need the blurb from their manual to help set it up.

Ted

[BVI]

No problem. Let me know if you need the blurb from their manual to help set it up.

Ted

If you have it handy and don't mind getting it, it would be great if you could either post it here or PM me. Otherwise, I'll have to scour their website for tech support in hopes of finding it. -- Thanks!