9 replies to this topic

[alberta canada]

Hi there, I have been gathering information about several different kinds of testors, and the vaste majority of them seem to run around $2500. Without seeing them firsthand, I have no idea how to judge one as a better/worse than the others. Has anyone worked with these yet, they seem a great investment (no product cost for increadible profit margin) and with the way many states and canadian provinces are trying to research into solving the drunk driving situations, this could be a very marketable consept. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[coinvestor]

Hi there, I have been gathering information about several different kinds of testors, and the vaste majority of them seem to run around $2500. Without seeing them firsthand, I have no idea how to judge one as a better/worse than the others. Has anyone worked with these yet, they seem a great investment (no product cost for increadible profit margin) and with the way many states and canadian provinces are trying to research into solving the drunk driving situations, this could be a very marketable consept. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This was actually my first idea of getting into vending in 2000. I looked into a couple of manufacturers. I can't remember the brand but the guys name was Ken Stoll (going from memory) that owned the company. I liked his machines the best just looking at the quality and design standpoint, but never actually tried his machines.

I spend hours writing a business plan and making logos and a marketing plan. One day I got a call from a friend in a neighboring city that said he knew where one of these machines were placed in a bar (the brand I can't remember but it is the most popular). I loaded up some friends and went drinking I had two drinks, my friend had many, and my girlfriend (later my wife) did not drink. We headed over to the machine where all of us blew into the machine. The machine said that all of us, including my wife who didn't drink, were over the legal limit of .08. This was not acceptable to me. If I was going to claim to help people to make the call to drive a car I didn't want a machine with questionable accuracy. I never did find out if that particular machine was just defective or if they are all like that. I dropped the idea and moved on to a new one

They are hard to find, but there are used ones around if you are thinking of giving it a try.

JD

[VetTechJess]

This was actually my first idea of getting into vending in 2000. I looked into a couple of manufacturers. I can't remember the brand but the guys name was Ken Stoll (going from memory) that owned the company. I liked his machines the best just looking at the quality and design standpoint, but never actually tried his machines.

I spend hours writing a business plan and making logos and a marketing plan. One day I got a call from a friend in a neighboring city that said he knew where one of these machines were placed in a bar (the brand I can't remember but it is the most popular). I loaded up some friends and went drinking I had two drinks, my friend had many, and my girlfriend (later my wife) did not drink. We headed over to the machine where all of us blew into the machine. The machine said that all of us, including my wife who didn't drink, were over the legal limit of .08. This was not acceptable to me. If I was going to claim to help people to make the call to drive a car I didn't want a machine with questionable accuracy. I never did find out if that particular machine was just defective or if they are all like that. I dropped the idea and moved on to a new one

They are hard to find, but there are used ones around if you are thinking of giving it a try.

JD

One thing to consider for the false positive: how long since the machine had been serviced and had the Breathalyzer re calibrated? Sometimes lack of calibration will do a false positive.

[Vending_General]

One thing to consider for the false positive: how long since the machine had been serviced and had the Breathalyzer re calibrated? Sometimes lack of calibration will do a false positive.

One of the really good things about these new machines is that they will probably be going into bars everywhere in the next 5 years or so. It's a great idea, the machines just need to be fine tuned

[andyflynn]

How do you earn a profit on these machines?

[HooseFoose]

Anyone heard of Alco-Checkpoint? (http://alcocheckpoint.com/). They have some pretty interesting articles on their page. Their unit is only $1,300. It is $1 per use. It accepts both change and bills.

This machine looks better than some of the others on the market (namely alco-mate). I would think it would be fairly simple to place these on location. Anyone have any experience on running a business like this?

Any insight is appreciated!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[kansasdog]

Anyone heard of Alco-Checkpoint? (http://alcocheckpoint.com/). They have some pretty interesting articles on their page. Their unit is only $1,300. It is $1 per use. It accepts both change and bills.

This machine looks better than some of the others on the market (namely alco-mate). I would think it would be fairly simple to place these on location. Anyone have any experience on running a business like this?

Any insight is appreciated!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

This is being sold for around $1400 and you csn buy it through spain by a company called alcomatic for around $400. I did some research

[HooseFoose]

KansasDog,

Thank you for your response! That is only a third of the price! I checked out the website you listed, it looks like it is exactly the same product. This makes a big difference when considering ROI. Please share anything else you learned on your research.

Have you talked to any operators of these units? Do you have any kind of numbers at as far as what people are seeing for performance? I spoke with an operator from California and he said he has about 35 of these units. He said that the majority of his accounts average $100-200/mo and he has a few that are doing $500/mo. I am not sure how much stock I put in his numbers, as he was also selling the units, so his numbers may be a little biased.

The units on the website look like they only have coin acceptors. The guy out in CA said he had been able to cut a larger hole in the front and install a bill acceptor. I would think that a bill acceptor would do much better than coins. Thoughts?

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[Bill Pullman]

[wooowooo]

This was actually my first idea of getting into vending in 2000. I looked into a couple of manufacturers. I can't remember the brand but the guys name was Ken Stoll (going from memory) that owned the company. I liked his machines the best just looking at the quality and design standpoint, but never actually tried his machines.

I spend hours writing a business plan and making logos and a marketing plan. One day I got a call from a friend in a neighboring city that said he knew where one of these machines were placed in a bar (the brand I can't remember but it is the most popular). I loaded up some friends and went drinking I had two drinks, my friend had many, and my girlfriend (later my wife) did not drink. We headed over to the machine where all of us blew into the machine. The machine said that all of us, including my wife who didn't drink, were over the legal limit of .08. This was not acceptable to me. If I was going to claim to help people to make the call to drive a car I didn't want a machine with questionable accuracy. I never did find out if that particular machine was just defective or if they are all like that. I dropped the idea and moved on to a new one

They are hard to find, but there are used ones around if you are thinking of giving it a try.

JD

Did the owner of the machine also own a cab company? lol! That would be a good trick!