Is there certain criteria that a new vending business has to meet in order to lease machines from Coke or Pepsi?
And are there other product manufacturers beside Coke and Pepsi that lease machines?
Mahalo,
Mary Coppin

So many questions....
I am determined to jump into this business come the New Year.
Thank you so very much to those of you out there who are so generous with your advice and direction.
I'd like to start small and learn and then build from there. i would think that is best as I am certain to make mistakes about things I don't even know about right now.
I just need some extra income, and I love people and fixing things and driving.

Are Soda and snacks the best way to go?
I have a degree (4.0) in electronics and I worked as a remote (worked from home) field service technician for a huge company's printer division for over 10 years so I have great customer and self management skills and I have a knack for electro mechanical trouble shooting and repair (I can solder too, lol).
How is the best way to be trained in this business?
Will I need refrigeration training?
What are your favorite kinda of locations for soda and snack machines?
Are locaters worth their fees?
What factors make a great location?
How many employees should I shoot for at a location?
Should I automatically give the location a piece of the pie in order to have their loyalty?
Are any sample contracts online?
Instead of a commission to the location, will some sign a contract guaranteeing they will keep me if I agree to keep my product prices at what they consider a reasonable price?
What are the number top things locations are looking for in a vendor?

Just to let you know, I am in Southern California, wanting to build this business in the Inland empire and Orange County.
I don't want to be anyone's competition, I feel that there are plenty places needing good service and products, for everyone. I would much rather just compete with myself to deliver the very best product and service that I can.

I would love to intern (work for free) for a repair shop for the training and to better understand the pros and cons of the individual models available, but I hsve yet to hear back from repair shops that don't even sell routes, just repair. They weren't hiring but darn, I thought just having a good tech for FREE that can learn quite quickly would be appealing to them. I must not understand their business yet.

I want to buy used do you think that is best?
What are your favorite machines and why?
What are your least favorite machines and why?

I really love those DVD disk vending kiosks but the start up and upkeep cost (to keep current inventory) seemed daunting.
Pepsi never gets old to Pepssi drinkers.

Anyone else had success in DVD area though?

Where is the best priced product to fill the soda and snack machines found? Costco?
Are Monster or Red Bull machines good to have since they are so popular or will them limit what I can stock?

Any idea what I should pay for a used machine?
Or how old of a machine I should buy?
Is there a Kelly Blue Book for vending machines like for cars?
At what age or usage history do most machines start to have serious problems?
What range of cost are normal, common repairs?
What range of cost are serious repairs.

Should I at least tentatively nail down a location first and then go out and find the machine or machines that can best service that customer?

I have no problem just cold calling and creating rapport with people, because I genuinely like and care about people and thankfully they can sense that.

Okay, enough questions for now.
Mahalo again for any questions you can answer or questions I don't even yet know i should ask,
Mary Coppin

Is anyone on here acquainted with the company AVT and their machines? Are their machines releiable? The inventory can be checked remotely on them which sounds interesting.
Their website says they also sell routes. For someone brand new in the business does this seem like a good idea? Thanks