12 replies to this topic

[railtrailed]

Hey ladies and gentlemen,

Okay, so quick biopic tale. I got a bit #*(@(#$ by the Hurricane last month, house got #**@(@!#(, had to move, so a bit short on paper to say the least. I need to buy a Snack machine for a location though, don't want to lose the account. I would say the location is going to do solid mid-volume, I have a Soda machine going there this week and I would say from employee numbers it should do about 100.00 a month in soda, possibly more, but prob. 100 a month. The cheaper machines that I have found are Rowes, I also found a Polyvend PV640. What are your thoughts on this, my top price is around 600. I have to rent something to move the thing as well (though I have pretty good commercial rates).

Thanks all-

[railtrailed]

I should say that this will be my very first snack machine, I have never operated one, filled 1, collected from 1-

[ultimatevend]

I use rowe and national snack machines very reliable and easy to find parts

[dogcow]

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?

[H4UV]

I would go with a National or an AP (Automatic Products.) Those branded machines would be the easiest to find, and the easiest to get parts for. I would go with an AP 7600 for an account like that. A National 147 would be good, but is a little expensive. Unless you find a cheap, not in the greatest condition machine off Craigslist or eBay, you certainly won't end up paying $600 for one. I'd say $1000 at least for a good one. We sell them for $1395 plus shipping. For $600, the best you could get is an older or REALLY used machine somebody just wants to unload.

[dogcow]

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

[railtrailed]

Thanks guys, so no on the polyvend, check- usi 3015s, and APs, anyone on here live in N.Y.?

[Steve Fischer]

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.

[dogcow]

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.

[For The Kids Vending]

I'd go with a 4 wide or even a 3 wide. I have a Polyvend at a location and it has treated me very well. With that said it will be hard (but not impossible) to find motors and for the coin mech / bill validator I'd probably have to go to ebay but it has treated me well so far. Been there going on two years now without any troubles. Unless you can drop the $1,000 to $1,500 on a machine just see what your local classifieds have and/or craigs list and get what you can. I also have a 3015A like dogcow and other than the shelves being plastic and sometimes coming off the rail a little it has treated me well also. Relatively easy to find parts.

If you can get your hands on a AP7000 for a good price everybody seems to have parts and/or upgrades for that machine so you'd do well there. I'm not a huge fan of the interface there with mine but it is solid and works

I don't have experience with National but see parts advertised for it as well.

[H4UV]

Okay. Here is the problem with USI machines, particularly the 3015A.

1. Parts are available almost only from USI. They are extremely expensive. I had to pay $125+ at one point for just the main control panel harness. The boards cost $300+ dollars rebuilt, more for new, and USI is about the only place you can get them.

2. While the 3015 is a good machine, and is about the same age as the AP-7600, tech support is hard to find. USI is helpful to a point, but often leaves out important details when assisting you. Their lack of detail and reasonable explanations for problems has cost me $100s in the past.

3. Many electrical parts for the 3015 are going to soon be harder to find then ever. USI is discontinuing most of the parts, and you will pay a premium price for those parts anywhere else because of their rarity.

We are about to discontinue that machine out of our refurbishing options because of the cost of parts. Next summer will probably see us no longer selling 3015A machines.

My advice:

Buy an AP or a National or even a GPL. Buy AP-7600, or National-147 and newer. Those models and brands are good machines that will LAST. Parts are 10 years from becoming unavailable, and the machines made by those manufacturers have an excellent track record of performance. It is worth the extra money for a good machine. Just my opinion.

[Cttomasso]

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

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.

[dogcow]

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