I am planning on buying a few used snack machines and trying to place them in a promising office, but I know the manager is going to want to discuss kickbacks.  Any help on where I should start or what is too high to give away?

Also does anyone know how different states handle placing machines at highway rest stops?

KjS

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

First of all, they're not called "kickbacks" they're called commissions. Take the monthly depreciation of your machines (your purchase price divided by the number of months you feel they can remain in service) and add to that the cost of your product, the cost of any sales taxes and refunds you have to issue, your labor costs and any other overhead. Finally add in in what you want as a profit margin. The percentage you have left of estimated gross sales through your machines shows you how much you have to offer in commissions. It's all a moving target based on your costs, your product mix, your prcing, etc.

Most states give first crack at their rest areas to the blind. The federal government, as well as most states, have what they call the Randolf Shepperd Act. That act guarantees the blind the right to operate vending in federal and state locations where the public has access. If there is not a blind vendor in the area that can cover a location, then you could cover it. (Keep in mind we're talking about legally blind here. The vendor does not have to be completely blind to take advantage of this program.) Rest areas typically have very high vandalism rates so be carefull whatever you do. Check with your state highway department for any possible opportunities.

hi, i just started in vending and would like to know if any of you are using telemetry for controlling the machines. i've heard it is awesome, but i'm not sure if it's really profitable.

i heard something about alarms in one of the chatrooms, i think that you can know the alarms of the machine in the moment that they're happening too, so that sounds like cool.

please, if anyone is using this method, know about costs or if you know any good company that can inform me about it, i'd really appreciate if you can give me a hand.

thank you all. jay.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try calling USA Technologies @ 800-633-0340 or InOne Technology @ 800-426-1487. I think you'll find that, for high-producing machines, the hardware costs are tolerable if you look at the cost as spread over the term of your contract but the ongoing monthly communication charges can be a little stiff unless you're monitoring really high volume machines.

Good luck!