I'm new to the vending business and new to this forum as well. I did some reading and what not and found that the U-Turn machines are quite popular and very efficient with the space they use. Much to my surprise I saw a local ad for a vending route for sale which involved 13 U-Turn machines total (the ones with 8-selections, not 4), 8 of the machines were already in commission free locations, and 5 of them were not placed yet. The total cost of the deal was $1500 CAD, needless to say I bought because I thought it was a great deal (a little over $100 per machine plus 8 are already located).

So we exchanged ownership. It was a lot of work for me to get my own inventory up and running because I didn't have much pricing experience with bulk foods, and I didn't believe my operation was big enough to begin ordering bulk straight from the internet. So I shopped around: Costco, Superstore (Loblaws), and Wal-Mart Supercentres. I ended up buying about half of my product from Costco and half of my product from Superstore. Some huge differences in prices between the two places, but on average I am paying about $0.80 per 100gram of product. My list of product includes Pistachios, Choc Almonds, Tiny Gumballs, M&M Peanuts, Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales, Jelly Bellys (the legitimate ones, real flavors... 0.88/100g I thought it was a steal--it's also a market monopoly because I see nobody else offering them), Smarties, and Skittles.

If anyone is experienced with the U-Turn machines, I have mine set on the maximum setting to increase value for the customer (don't want to make them feel ripped off) which is the '10' setting.

My ultimate question: is paying on average $0.80 per 100g of product too much?

Secondary question: does anyone have recommendations of places to buy bulk foods? Keep in mind I live in Alberta, Canada...So shipping to Canada must be available.

Thanks.. I love the forum =)