What Brand of water do you vend, what size, what price? It looks like I can get Aquafina and deer park at sams.

Thanks for any input.

Aside from 20 oz Aquafina and Dasani, I also vend 16 oz Poland Spring. Their new "jam free" style bottles are working great. Those I vend for 75 cents at most places (a few for a dollar). They cost me $4.94 for a case of 24.

Aside from 20 oz Aquafina and Dasani, I also vend 16 oz Poland Spring. Their new "jam free" style bottles are working great. Those I vend for 75 cents at most places (a few for a dollar). They cost me $4.94 for a case of 24.

My biggest problem is that the only way I can vend w/o jamming is to only fill it halfway. I have Dixie Narcos 368 machines that can vend 16oz bottles. I would be interested where you got Poland Spring.

Lee

My biggest problem is that the only way I can vend w/o jamming is to only fill it halfway. I have Dixie Narcos 368 machines that can vend 16oz bottles. I would be interested where you got Poland Spring.

Lee

I may be wrong but I think that poland spring and deer park are made by the same company.

Jeremiah

I may be wrong but I think that poland spring and deer park are made by the same company.

Jeremiah

They are both part of Nestle Waters

Ted

Here is some information on vending water you may find useful. It is from a general pop machine vending manual by Vending World.

"Water vending 16 oz bottles
(1) Use single column for water vending whenever possible.
(2) Move back spacer forward to allow water bottles to have about ½” play from the back of the
bottle to the rear of the spacer.
(3) Remove motor cover and find ‘disk’ on motor of column that you want to change to water.
Rotate disk to have only one notch open on a two deep can machine or two notches open on
a three deep can machine.
(4) Install water bottles 16 oz in column and prime column. When loading be sure that bottles
face (caps) towards the rear of the machine. Make sure water vends properly out of the
installed column.
(5) Some water bottles have a tendency to get soft when cold. Try to avoid these soft bottles or
jamming could occur. Brands that have bee tested and are known to work in vending
machines are Arrowhead and Palomar. If you experiment with other brands remember that
jamming could occur.
(6) Should a jam occur be sure to unplug machine to clear the jam. Do not clear the jam with
your hand when powered up as the motor could begin to spin after the jam is cleared and
your fingers could become pinched in the cup as it turns.
(7) Vendo and Dixie Narco have water vending ‘kits’ that include in some cases rods, shims, and
other parts that say should be installed for proper water vending. We have found that these
‘kits’ not to be necessary in our past experience with vending water. Please note that if you
do not use the proper ‘kit’ recommended by the manufacturer we do not warranty the
proper operation of water in your vending machine.
We hope that the above suggestions have been of help in setting up and maintaining your
machine. The above troubleshooting and guidelines are only answers to basic service questions.
Should the answers in this book not solve your problem then you may have to consult with a
vending machine serviceman for more detailed problems. Thank you-Vending world"

Ted

I currently use arrowhead water. The bottles get soft when cold and when it is full it tends to jam. Since water is not my biggest seller, I only fill it half way.

Lee

That's exactly what I do with Deer Park. It sells pretty well. I have to stock two columns with it, halfway, at one of my locations because they buy so much of it. I love it because it is so profitable. Costs me $0.25 and I sell all day long for $1.00.

Just to be clear, but is everybody using the 16.9 oz bottles or the 16 oz bottles? Small difference one would think, but it somehow makes a big difference in jamming problems. I use to use 16.9 oz bottles and they would get stuck all the time, then Poland Spring earlier this summer introduced their new "jam-free" 16 oz size. And these have been working great. No jamming issues!!

So I'm just curious if everybody is using 16.9 oz or 16 oz. Poland Spring is the only one that I know of that makes the new 16 oz style. They're slightly shorter and thicker than the more common 16.9 oz size.

Just to be clear, but is everybody using the 16.9 oz bottles or the 16 oz bottles? Small difference one would think, but it somehow makes a big difference in jamming problems. I use to use 16.9 oz bottles and they would get stuck all the time, then Poland Spring earlier this summer introduced their new "jam-free" 16 oz size. And these have been working great. No jamming issues!!

So I'm just curious if everybody is using 16.9 oz or 16 oz. Poland Spring is the only one that I know of that makes the new 16 oz style. They're slightly shorter and thicker than the more common 16.9 oz size.

I understand why vendors would use 16 or 16.9 oz water, because of cost, but what we find is 20 oz bottles are trouble free vends, customer friendly, and which in my opinion leads to more sales.Too me on top of everything we do, do we really have time to figure out how we going to vend 16.9 oz bottles, most customers want the 20 oz, give them what they want, and they normally buy more, not knocking anyones decision to use the 16's, just trying to save you time and money in the long run.

I understand why vendors would use 16 or 16.9 oz water, because of cost, but what we find is 20 oz bottles are trouble free vends, customer friendly, and which in my opinion leads to more sales.Too me on top of everything we do, do we really have time to figure out how we going to vend 16.9 oz bottles, most customers want the 20 oz, give them what they want, and they normally buy more, not knocking anyones decision to use the 16's, just trying to save you time and money in the long run.

The Deer Park water I vend is the 20 oz size. If I stack an entire column full of them, I can expect a jam to occur almost immediately. The bottles get very soft when they get cold and they get stuck where the column begins to narrow at the bottom. So, I only fill the column up halfway.

I have also tried the 16 oz Fruit2-O which has the same problem when it gets cold, but it vended so bad I had to abandon it. Jammed no matter what I did. Too bad, because Fruit2-O was popular.

The Deer Park water I vend is the 20 oz size. If I stack an entire column full of them, I can expect a jam to occur almost immediately. The bottles get very soft when they get cold and they get stuck where the column begins to narrow at the bottom. So, I only fill the column up halfway.

I have also tried the 16 oz Fruit2-O which has the same problem when it gets cold, but it vended so bad I had to abandon it. Jammed no matter what I did. Too bad, because Fruit2-O was popular.

20oz Dasani waters are the best bottles for vending,yes you have to charge 1.25, but they sell for $ 1.39 plus tax at any convenience store which with tax is a 1.41 here with our tax base.People are willing to pay these prices,why, cause it's the market, there paying nearly $4.00 for a cup of coffee at most specialty coffee shops.Water, energy drinks and coffee is the hottest tickets as of now.

20oz Dasani waters are the best bottles for vending,yes you have to charge 1.25, but they sell for $ 1.39 plus tax at any convenience store which with tax is a 1.41 here with our tax base.People are willing to pay these prices,why, cause it's the market, there paying nearly $4.00 for a cup of coffee at most specialty coffee shops.Water, energy drinks and coffee is the hottest tickets as of now.

$1.25? How much do you pay? I have them at 80 cents at some places and still make a good profit. I think Dasani is about $4 cheaper then other 20oz's. I have an account that I supply machines with Dasani for free to their emp's and charge the company 75 cents. THey also go through about 30 cases a week though . Not a bad deal even though its only for the summers.

I get my 20-oz Dasani water for $10.20 per case of 24 (that's $0.43 per bottle) and sell for $1.00, but only in my 3rd party Coke machines. I put Deer Park in my generic machines and make extremely good margins.

I agree with JBL, though, the Dasani bottles can be stacked clear to the top and they do not jam. The plastic bottles are thicker and Coke adds a small bit of nytrogen? to puff them out a bit which helps even more.

$1.25? How much do you pay? I have them at 80 cents at some places and still make a good profit. I think Dasani is about $4 cheaper then other 20oz's. I have an account that I supply machines with Dasani for free to their emp's and charge the company 75 cents. THey also go through about 30 cases a week though . Not a bad deal even though its only for the summers.

We pay .60 a bottle we have to get 1.25, coke and pepsi is no friend of the snack vendors, trust me.Now if I was Walmart, they jump thru a ring of fire to take care of me, but size matters in vending, as it does so in retail.We just got a deal on coke at 5.75 a case with another Grocery store that has 7 chains here, it's sad that Coke want sell it that cheap to us.

$5.75 is outstanding. I get Coke products at Sam's for $0.265 per can, they come in 32-can cases now for $8.48. I sell for $0.55, so it's still pretty good margin. I finally got a system worked out for picking my orders up on pallets there, and my orders have been correct for the past 3 weeks, so they are saving me some work and some money and I'm happy.

$5.75 is outstanding. I get Coke products at Sam's for $0.265 per can, they come in 32-can cases now for $8.48. I sell for $0.55, so it's still pretty good margin. I finally got a system worked out for picking my orders up on pallets there, and my orders have been correct for the past 3 weeks, so they are saving me some work and some money and I'm happy.

Man... I wish I had your volume

Lee

Man... I wish I had your volume

Lee

3rd party is my friend for sure. Im in the 15% rebate margin so if I buy my mins, I get a certian rebate on how much over. Im usually at least 2 pallets over min so I get 15% the max rebate. So I pay as little as 6.25 a caseof cans(24/cs). Thats cheap seeing as how I get as many as 12 pallets of cokes from Coca Cola and around 5 or 6 from Pepsi. Sams is to hard to get that much product nor do they carry my variety, since I carry over 400 differnt types of prodects between my snacks and drinks. It would cost me too much for a truck taht size and the gas/maint to keep it up. I do buy all my candy from sams though and about a pallet of Ozarka(another nestle brand) from them about every 2 weeks. I have a special account that once a month I have to buy an extra pallet of water just for them. I do wish I had more paper that our company pushed, but I dont have time to build up a route or the nessisary handhelds and software to do it.

Oh... let me clarify that... I read that post again and do not want to mislead anyone... when I say pallets, that also includes all the snacks, food items and Gatorade I buy at Sam's. When you factor all that in, it can be 2 or 3 pallets a week, but it really isn't all that much compared to some local vendors in my area and some on this board.

3rd party is my friend for sure. Im in the 15% rebate margin so if I buy my mins, I get a certian rebate on how much over. Im usually at least 2 pallets over min so I get 15% the max rebate. So I pay as little as 6.25 a caseof cans(24/cs). Thats cheap seeing as how I get as many as 12 pallets of cokes from Coca Cola and around 5 or 6 from Pepsi. Sams is to hard to get that much product nor do they carry my variety, since I carry over 400 differnt types of prodects between my snacks and drinks. It would cost me too much for a truck taht size and the gas/maint to keep it up. I do buy all my candy from sams though and about a pallet of Ozarka(another nestle brand) from them about every 2 weeks. I have a special account that once a month I have to buy an extra pallet of water just for them. I do wish I had more paper that our company pushed, but I dont have time to build up a route or the nessisary handhelds and software to do it.

I'm trying to keep my product offering mostly within the product range that my local Sam's Club offers. Sure, there are some things that only can be gotten from Coke and Pepsi, but that's okay, that helps me meet my minimums so I can buy big sellers like Mt. Dew at Sam's where I can get some big discounts.

I'm trying to keep my product offering mostly within the product range that my local Sam's Club offers. Sure, there are some things that only can be gotten from Coke and Pepsi, but that's okay, that helps me meet my minimums so I can buy big sellers like Mt. Dew at Sam's where I can get some big discounts.

Its just to much product to get on a pickup that holds only 2 pallets. That would be over 20 pallets a week, in gas alone it would kill me
Thats between coke, pepsi, frito lay, all candy, coffee ect.

One thing I'd like to add... being one person right now, I'm trying to keep my product range consistent with all my accounts because if I get too broad by offering too much variety, I think it would be very difficult for me - being one person - to manage it well, and maybe too expensive also (like not having a tried and true account to transfer a slow moving snack to that they have had before and I know it will sell there) due to a greater potential for waste.

However, I can see how that kind of variety would be a great selling point, especially if you're good at managing your inventories.

Its just to much product to get on a pickup that holds only 2 pallets. That would be over 20 pallets a week, in gas alone it would kill me
Thats between coke, pepsi, frito lay, all candy, coffee ect.

Wow. You're doing a lot more volume than I am. That would be difficult for me even with a box truck.

However, when I do get a lot bigger and have more than one box truck out there, I will make separate orders for each box truck and hopefully alleviate that problem down the road for when I am ordering 20 pallets at a time.

Wow. You're doing a lot more volume than I am. That would be difficult for me even with a box truck.

However, when I do get a lot bigger and have more than one box truck out there, I will make separate orders for each box truck and hopefully alleviate that problem down the road for when I am ordering 20 pallets at a time.

Yea we seem alot bigger then we are, but Im extremly fast when it comes to filling machines and my wife, even though pregnant, helps alot with the snack machines some days. I usually push around 80-110 cases a day off my truck and I have a part time route guy that does around 40-50. We have a coffee guy that runs a very large route. My mother does all the ordering and some of the putting up along with a part time stock person. I also have a less then part time book keeper taht I hardley pay at all except once a month. We use to ahve a full time route guy as well taht runs the truck I run, ut when my dad got sick he tried to get "alot more" money out of us so I got rid of him and do all that myself. Its a nasty buisness but when you get to my size you will be making around 100,000 a year if your not buying machines left and right like we do

That's where I want to be for sure. Right now it's a struggle to grow and pay myself just a little bit. The next couple of what I call "anchor" accounts will really help make things easier as far as the money goes. It's also a struggle because I'm doing absolutely everything myself and that makes it tough to prospect new accounts.