Hey fellow vendors,

Okay so I purchased 2 double head bulk vending machines from someone over the net, the machines came with cheap plastic bases and all 4 of them cracked during shipping. I found sturdy metal bases at a pretty reasonable price to replace these 4, however they need some touching up. I have to repaint the outsides which should not be a problem (though if you guys and gals have some suggestions for the type of paint you use that would be great).

The main problem I have is how to get the oxidation off of the shoot, it is in plain site and no self respecting person would buy a product with a shoot like that.. I know I cannot paint it because that would obviously wear easily and I would risk the paint coming off on the product (not good for the customer or myself). So any ideas or solutions from someone who has dealt with this problem before?

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-

I am going to put my first 2 honor boxes into operation this week, I did not buy them and to be honest I did not even really build them. I just took some boxes with compartments that were about to be trashed at a local store. I bought product, etc. and will put the first one in tomorrow morning. They are crude but they will do the job. My question is do I just make a compartment with a slot within the box for money deposits? I was going to go with that for this week and then on my 1st collection a couple weeks from now I was going to buy metal money boxes with a lock or suggestion style boxes with locks and just gorilla glue them to the soda machines I have at those locations- Is that a bad idea? Makes the money more secure and it does not leave management at these locations responsible for anything. I just do not want the money walking off into the wilderness. Where the boxes will be located, in main employee areas of course, are sometimes sparsely populated so I do not want someone to be tempted..

Good Afternoon all my fellow money makers,

I want to start a thread about goals. What are your goals going forward concerning your business? Let us talk about realistic goals, ways to motivate yourself when things are not going so well, and basically just business growth.

I currently have 3 bulk candy machines and 7 soda machines on location. I am placing another bulk candy machine and another soda machine in the next 2 weeks; the candy machine is going to a Bagel Shop (though I might put it somewhere else if I can find a better spot) and the soda machine is going to a gas station/service station with 8 selections, 4 12 oz cans, and 4 20 oz bottles at 3 price points, 1.00, 1.25, and 1.75(something for everyone). The candy machine is going to be triple headed, skittles, gumballs, and regular m&ms. So then my route will be bulk candy and 8 soda (not bad considering I started the business on 18 August 2010).

I have also been inspired by a few of you about honor boxes, so I am going to add 2 this week to existing soda accounts, I will update how that goes in the future.

My rough goals by years end is to add 5 more soda machines and 4 more bulk candy machines. Is this realistic seeing as this is not the only thing I do? Is my goal too low? The reason I ask if my goal is too low is that eventually I want vending to be the only thing I do. Should I be more aggressive with expansion? Everyone who is thinking of expansion please post what your goals are. Those who have built nice routes in the past please put how you outlined your goals and your future plans as well. My goal by next August is to have added 15 Soda machines and 10 bulk candy machines. Input, input, input guys- WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

Okay, let me start out by telling you about my vending background. As a kid in summer camp I made extra money by selling candy at about triple markup to kids at camp (I bought the candy at a store 2 blocks away in Manhattan, a bodega). Fast forward to August 2010 when I actually bought my first machine, a double head Seaga. After 1 year I have 3 bulk candy machines in a pizza place, a dry cleaners, and a chinese restaurant and 7 Soda machines, 2 of which are doing quite poorly at the moment, I will be looking to move them somewhere soon (I did just get a new account as some of you know at a gas station but I am putting a new machine in there).

Here finally is my question, as the above obviously points out I do engage in other activities to pay for life, I am a realtor and emergency organ transporter. After just having finished transporting a box of bones a few weeks ago I realized I was in the neighborhood of 1 of my machines (at a cemetery -- that is true, I have a machine at a cemetery). I was leaving a parking lot and noticed a guy unloading some snacks out of the back of a van so I pulled alongside. I asked him if he knew where the nearest Stop n Shop was since they sometimes have killer deals on Soda. He told me where it was and I asked him if he too was a vendor, he answered yes. I then asked him if he too took advantage of deep sales at supermarkets and he said no since he buys 800-1000 cases a week delivered to him from a warehouse. I was absolutely blown away. I know there are many people out there who make more money than me at vending but this guy has to be at the very pinnacle(I should have gotten his number). By the way he mentioned he does have some people who work for him, though he obviously does too.

As I was driving home I did some rough math in my head and at the low end 800 cases would bring him $19,200 a week in revenue and at the high end $24,000 assuming all 12oz cans sold at 1.00(which is probably not accurate so his soda revenue alone could reach toward $30,000 a week); this does not even take into account his snack business. Rounding down to $20,000 and assuming his business sees a 40 percent drop in revenue during the winter months this is roughly about $885,000 in revenue a year just off soda. Also a rough estimate, he would need about 650-900 machines to generate this revenue. Is this possible?

I am not saying this is a bad thing, this guy is obviously a killer, a giant monster in the vending world. I hope to ascend to a fifth of his height However, at such a point why not buy 40 or 50 buildings, collect the rent and sail around the world a few dozen times?

Do you guys think this was BS or what?