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Showing content with the highest reputation since 03/28/2023 in all areas

  1. Hi everyone. I wanted to give you guys some exciting news. I was allowed to participate in a beta testing of some new InOne boards. I only got to use them on a CB500 and Royal 650 but the boards are interchangeable with all of them. I didn't use all of the features but it basically works just like every other InOne board. Personally, I think it's a bigger deal with the USI 3189s because they were completely incapable of using card readers despite often being very nice looking and good working machines. I have no idea when they are going to be ready to ship out but if you have any 3189s or Royal 650s with older boards that you can't get cash data for, an upgrade kit will be available! PS. The upgrade for the USI 3189 was pretty easy. The Royal 650 upgrade was a little more complicated but still pretty simple.
    4 points
  2. You'll need to call their "tech support."
    3 points
  3. Below solution came from a tech friend of mine who also does warehousing on occasion. See attached image. @AZVendor @AngryChris @tblake05
    3 points
  4. Selling it as a route is indeed so much easier. Through the years I've bought out at least 12 of my smaller competitors and it worked just as you described. These days, the problem is trying to find anyone who has the capital to buy it outright, even at fire sale prices. That leaves you with selling it on contract which is often fraught with problems or selling it piecemeal. In regards to full line I believe it is just on a different level than bulk vending when it comes to selling/buying routes. There are several locally owned full line companies in my area that will still buy out competitors with decent equipment/locations to beef up their existing routes. That just isn't the case with bulk vending anymore, at least in my neck of the woods.
    3 points
  5. I've known Jason Greene since he was a teenager. I've done business with him and his father, Don, since the mid 1980s. There are few young people that aspire to be vending techs these days. Micromarkets have changed the way equipment moves. There is a glut of old equipment because Markets typically go into larger accounts with newer vending machines. These newer machines get shuffled down to replace older equipment. With the growth of cashless vending, older equipment needs $500 worth of upgrades, and newer equipment sells at premium prices. Parts is where it's at, especially parts no longer available from manufacturers.
    3 points
  6. July 2018, My wife and I, green as could be, bought 9 Vending Machines over 4 locations. Since then we built ourselves up to 25 machines, upgraded some old worn out machines, and added cashless to most. Today I put in our weekly cash deposit and am happy to report we have just passed our break even point. Completely paid off all equipment and initial investment. I've learned so much from here and hands on its amazing. Funny how fast you lean how to repair machines when a standard service call is around 250.00. Anyway, thank you for all the help everyone over the last 5 years. On the horizon for us is to upgrade a few older machines, then re-invest the profit into new accounts and just continue on. Thanks again everyone!! ~Tim
    3 points
  7. Formulas do not work in vending. They are just wild guesses used to suck people into buying machines and locations. This is a scam friendly industry and unless you just get into vending and muscle through it you won't learn how it really works. Every location is different, every machine is different, every account is different, and all of those can change week by week. There is no way to make the money you want at the hours you want to work. Just no way, no how. We have all been there and done it. Anyone that tells you different is either lying or had a single kick-azz account and those barely exist now.
    3 points
  8. Hi all, I have been away from the forums for a good long while - very uninteresting reasons why. Anyway, we are selling a large portion of our assets in NW Atlanta metro: up to 100 machines (from Rowe 548’s to a USI Combo still on shipping skids); a big assortment of parts; micro market fixtures, coolers (Imbera G319, one brand new), and kiosks; warehouse assets, including walk-in cooler and freezer, straddle stacker, and hand trucks; office equipment, including Cummins coin sorter and bill counter; and OCS (including Azkoyen Vitro S5’s with stands). Send a DM if you are interested in getting a list of items available, or if you are interested in visiting our storage warehouse. I would rather deal locally - I definitely do not want to get in the way of knowledgeable people on here who spend their valuable time answering questions as part of their parts and service businesses. I have not been much of a contributor for a few years, so I am not presently trying to make big bank from the community. I would rather try to deal with some of you guys, rather than sell to someone on CL or FB who got excited watching TikTok videos on vending. You can sometimes sell machines to those guys for a great price, but I feel bad if I do not spend most of my time with them trying to first talk them out of vending. If they are still interested after that, I gladly take their money. Btw, is there any interest in jump-starting the Classifieds section? It would take some time to write up and post some of the hundreds of items we intend to sell, but I would be happy to start posting stuff there, if it would help. LB
    3 points
  9. What he said... I spent several years testing different readers and companies before I finally settled on USAT (now Cantaloupe) about 5 years ago. I will keep using the G11 for as long as I can, paired with ParLevel VMS. Nayax is good but I had too many hardware failures with their older models; Crane is too expensive and prone to back end issues; the early parlevel box (now discontinued) was just OK and the payment processor makes you jump through too many hoops.
    3 points
  10. There are way too many success stories to pretend that there is not a considerable boost if the market is done correctly and at the right location. AZ is right about theft. MicroMarkets are not a good fit for every account but can be a great move at the right ones. Just remember that you're opening yourself to sale products that wouldn't necessarily fit or vend well in a standard bank of drink/snack machines. Not unlike vending, your competition is still the cstore across the road but now you're able to level the playing field a bit by offering many of the same products but at a competitive price vs that direct competitor. If your intent is to just sell the same bags of Famous Amos and bottles of soda but from a snack rack and cooler, then there's really no point in making the move. You'll want a captured market like a call center or something where the employees don't leave often and the market is not open to public use. Also, you'll want a company that will back you if theft becomes an issue. Generally the argument "if they steal from me, they will steal from you" is a logic that most will agree with. Like anything, there's an investment in capital and time along with a learning curve but nothing worth doing is easy.
    3 points
  11. Try going into the inner cities. Small mom and pop stores/restaurants. Moving forward, stick to single or double head machines. I started out with triples many years ago and quickly realized it was basically overkill for most locations. Double heads with gumballs and bouncy balls or gumballs and 1" capsules at 50cents. Very good locations you can upgrade to 4 or 5 head racks. Keep it simple and use quality equipment...plenty available on facebook marketplace or craigslist. Oak, Northwestern, Beaver or Eagle are quality machines. Locating equipment is a numbers game. I personally love locating. I tend to have the gift of gab...Become their friend first and then pitch them. Good luck!
    3 points
  12. You have 3 possible issues. Bad changer, bad acceptor or bad harness or connection between them.
    2 points
  13. Good timing! We will begin shipping USI kits on Monday 9/4/23 for CB500/700 machines. We are still in the process of adding drink upgrades to our website so give it a few days to order online. Kits include new controller, display assembly and any necessary cabling/parts.
    2 points
  14. Don't worry about the snack capacity - it's the drink capacity that will really hurt you.
    2 points
  15. I hope you make us look stupid because of crazy success on your part but the most successful vendors I know, and most here on this forum, are honest and we feel sorry for the ones that come on here asking how to go about making their business profitable after overpaying for poor quality equipment that they placed in poor performing locations and now they understand that they were deceived and mislead by distributors and course sellers alike.
    2 points
  16. Just when I was getting ready to jump into this one... Am I too late? Never stopped me before... tl;dr There is no course, even if you found one. I could be wrong, but I am not wrong. (I started typing before I saw AngryChris' post, so maybe some restating things.) As stated from time to time here, some people are in vending (or similar businesses) and do not know how much they are making. Some do not care, as long as the bills are paid (living lean, as AZ said). Sounds weird, but it is true for a few smaller vendors. Some of us do not net much (and we know it), so, why would we choose to "live lean"? A few reasons: flexibility to make a little bit of extra income around life (e.g. full-time job, family, et cetera); semi-retirees trying to keep busy or stay married (funny saying, but retirees have a high rate of divorce b/c two people are not used to being around each other all day and all night); or, slowly build up assets by reinvesting as much as possible (a common theme on these forums - AngryChris, same with me, many others). The numbers are different for most of us b/c of several factors: size of vendor business; location of vendor business; vending location variables (large mall w/huge rent/commission vs. rural welding shop breakroom); type of vending (cost of goods for snack ~50% vs. ice cream ~150%). I love and am educated in numbers, analysis, and analysis-based decision-making. My spreadsheets could conquer nations. I was like Junior with Foghorn Leghorn ("Little Boy Boo"). Number analysis can be powerful in the right situations. However, I learned in life (and vending) to not let numbers analysis dictate decisions where there are a lot of soft variables. I could spend a lot of time on assigning values to the soft variables, but, to what end? The paralysis of analysis is real - pencil-whipping forms all day long results in a lot of data and little work (Work = Force x Distance). At some point, someone has to shovel the ____. Anyway, rehash, rehash. Vending is right for some, but not most. We are not saying we are awesome - we just worked hard, and avoided enough pitfalls along the way. You may be the next one who jumps right in, as tblake05 said, and gets it right. If so, great people on here will answer questions, if you have some along the way - I, myself, am still learning. -LB
    2 points
  17. I'm sorry if my post may have come a bit harsh (if it did) but you said you didn't have time and already had a good career. Let me tell you, it CAN be excellent. It CAN be better than being a doctor. But it will likely never scale the same way people can scale real estate. That's something you can grow endlessly. Although there are huge companies that have been scaling that way, they have done so by buying other vending companies all over the country as AZvendor mentioned. Those companies already have tens or even hundreds of millions in sales so they can swallow up a 5 million dollar vending company like it's a snack. You mentioned how real estate is a about analyzing numbers. The reason is because rent will often be a fixed amount. That's your income. Your expenses may be somewhat predictable. In vending, although some repair expenses are also somewhat predictable, the income is not. Although we do analyze numbers to estimate sales initially, we also have to analyze sales on an ongoing basis as well. Find out what sells and what doesn't. In other words, it's labor intensive IF you are serious. Now, as a side hustle, it's not bad. A lot of people do well with just a few soda machines in specific places. It's easy while it's small, you can use your own vehicle, etc.. and that's how the YouTube videos mislead you. As a large serious business, it's also not bad. You can make a good amount of money but ONLY if you put a LOT of money, TIME, and effort into it. It's simply not something you can do remotely. I started in the industry in 2006, but I started my own company in 2010. I bought 2 snack machines. It wasn't until the end of 2014 that I decided to finally quit my full time job to focus on vending. Then, I had maybe 40 machines and a small old step van. Mind you, I basically reinvested all of the profits up to this point in ADDITION to funding it from my full time job in order to grow. About 2015 my step van broke and I bought a 1999 Chevy express box truck. It has so much more space and allowed me to really stock everything I needed on it to get through the week. I did t actually need that much vehicle for daily deliveries, but it was a rolling warehouse as I couldn't get product delivered to my house. It was a lot of work to pick product up in the truck and drop it off at home just to load it back in the truck later, so I kept it on the truck instead. To do everything, at that time, it took maybe 20-25 hours pee week. I netting about 18k. By 2019,I had already upgraded to a brand new Ford Transit van. The box truck was working but I didn't want to work without AC anymore. I think at this point I had grown to about 150 machines but I was netting about 45k while working about 45 hours per week. And I could have made it closer to 30-35 hours if I was willing to make some sacrifices. COVID came and ruined everything. It nearly broke me.alot of companies suffered or went belly up. I made it out but not without a ton of debt. A decent sized local vendor sold out and I got the scraps that the big dog didn't want. And, after landing a lucrative contract, I started making some real money. Today, I can call a distributor up right this minute and let the owner know I need 10 machines ASAP. Believe me, if they aren't here Monday, they will be here by the following Monday of it weren't a holiday. Just to put things into perspective, I pay somewhere in the realm of 120k/year in expenses NOT including the cost of goods sold. That figure is more than double that. I work at least 55 hours on any given week. My wife helps 3 days per week and a part time driver also helps a couple days each week. And even though I could probably afford to hire a full time driver today, the amount I would realistically have to pay would mean that I wouldn't have the funds to continue growing. And THAT is why I had to ask you what your goals were. I'm in decent shape and it's exclusively because of the work I do. It's not a laid back thing. In vending, you either want t to do it as a small side hustle with less than maybe a dozen machines and no snacks, or you want to be prepared to be in for the long game where you can get the golden number of about 3 routes (3 full time drivers worth). The side hustle can easily make something on the side while barely requiring any other big investments. Having 3 routes is something you and your wife could manage and it can generate a lot of profit. If a surgeon ever came here to say he wanted to quit his job so he could work less hours and make more money with vending, I'd tell him he was an idiot.
    2 points
  18. Only if you don't need 50K per year. It's a good business for those who are mechanically inclined, like to talk to people, want to run their own business their own way, not be in the same place every day, and either have other income or don't mind living lean. There are newbies on this forum all the time. Most aren't heard from again though some do actually jump in. We never really know how things are going for those newbies as they probably don't even know how to quantify it. Then there are lots of members with varying degrees of experience. Some have passed on (I still miss Roger Morris - we were like cousins) some have just disappeared from the forum so you don't know how they are or if they are. But we are still the most active vending forum on the interwebs and you'll get the best advice here. I've been here since 2013 but that was toward the end of my career in vending as I transitioned to a real job that paid me better than the cheap vendors I did service work for at the time. I can't tell you how many stiffed me after the depression hit.
    2 points
  19. At least we can rest easy knowing that the teenager that hands me a $13.00 "value meal" at McD is making "a living wage". For that price though, maybe they could go ahead and give me the food at the 2nd window instead of asking me to pull even further forward so their drive thru timer doesn't account for the entire 10 minutes I'm waiting for "fast food". ...venting session paused...
    2 points
  20. Good for you. Keep up the good work.
    2 points
  21. If this is a gym, as in where people go to work out, they certainly are not going to buy snacks, and they usually bring their own water or other beverage. You're losing money and you haven't started yet. Even glass front drink machines do not make money at these locations.
    2 points
  22. In the pic it looks like there is an asset tag from Coke on the machine. It may not be his machine but a Coke loaner. Also it is a can only machine so don't think of converting it to bottles. I weould get the asset number from the tag, call Coke to see if it belongs to them before offering to buy it.
    2 points
  23. I've been in this industry for 43 years, most of it in the equipment service side. I've never heard of that company. Search this forum for combo machines and you'll discover that full time vending operations use combo machines to supplement a larger account, such as a small office area in a large manufacturing facility. Additionally, the combo machines do not hold enough product to be profitable. Our vending operation has almost 3,000 machines and I can count on one hand how many are combos.
    2 points
  24. I'm not recommending you buy the location necessarily but if he would sell them for $6800 without the readers I think that is better than $8000 with the readers.... The reason for that is that it can be difficult to transfer readers and sales will continue to flow into the previous owners account until the transfer is complete. The downside is that, despite being pretty simple to an experienced vendor, you probably don't know how to install the readers. Perhaps you could ask him to install them if you reach a deal. You'll still be out 8k but 1200 will be in readers you bought direct and 6800 will be to him. I think 8k is a reasonable price IF his figures are accurate. To make 250 profit requires about 500 in gross sales. That's about 6,000/year per location or 12,000 combined. Now, do they generate that much? I don't know... but 6,800 for equipment (not including readers) is pretty fair I would say, even if the locations are bad. You don't want bad locations, but the fact that this guy has decent equipment with decent prices (from what I can see) and with card readers on tells me he's a serious vendor. Going totally on my gut here, he sounds honest and fair. And, if he is honest, you should make your money back in less than 18 months which is good. It's not enough sales to allow you to do much but it's a good way to get started.
    2 points
  25. Just mix them into your coin deposits. Instant US currency.
    2 points
  26. If they have been abandoned for a long time, most likely they are 3G and are going to be worthless anyway.
    2 points
  27. The message should say "get yourself a better machine." Make sure you have all prices set and that the coin mech is working. Honestly, get a better machine - not from Seaga.
    2 points
  28. I'm in several Vietnamese restaurants and grocery stores and most do very well. One grocery store in particular has two locations.....one is in my top 5 locations and the other is mediocre at best. Similar geographic demographics, foot traffic and both gumball machines are in prominent spots in the respective stores but one just does head and shoulders above the other. I have no clue why. As far as nail salons go I still locate in them. Like SSVEND said "Nail salons for the most part are duds, but once in awhile you get some that do really well.". I will always roll the dice because I know that the machine isn't making any money sitting in the warehouse.
    2 points
  29. Yes you would swap the motors around to see if the problem follows. my next step would be to use an ohm meter and test continuity between the motors plug and control board. if that checks out, try a new motor. They’re only like 40.00 and easy to change.
    2 points
  30. Part of me is just reacting out of spite. Schools can be so difficult to work with... and the fact that they seem more concerned about commission than anything else can lead you to believe they'll cut your throat in a heartbeat for just a little more commission. I want to make money due to good service but I don't want to feel like I have to walk on eggshells because someone else might offer just a tad bit more commission. If I am correct, your margins would be about maybe 20% in the end. I have no idea how much that school would generate in sales but I have to price things with the idea that I need to pay an employee to service them. Let's assume you can make $1500/week in sales and you have to service twice and it takes a driver 2 hours of their week to service that location. That nets you roughly $300 before labor costs. That same driver can easily collect $800 from two blue collar factories in a week (once per week) and net you roughly $400 before labor costs. Not only may it be easier to make your profits with blue collar locations, but they are open year round usually whereas schools are usually closed during summer and winter break. Plus you have to worry about someone offering more commission. I'm not desperate enough to go after those locations to be honest. There are so many small factories around here that need better service and they want nothing except fair prices and to be stocked regularly. That's why I don't like schools. Oh, and the teachers can often act like they are above you and somehow own you. I just don't think they deserve commission frankly. Schools should be there to educate kids.. not to find creative ways to make more profits just to waste it away on overpriced computers and new books every year because a new version came out that omitted one word from the previous one.
    2 points
  31. Why would anyone pay 40% commission? That’s ridiculous. No way you survive keeping prices that low and paying 40% The bag of chips you’re selling costs .71 cents from vistar and you’re giving doofus .50 cents of that. That leaves you with .04 cents. You then have to pay (according to the Google 6% sales tax). That’s another .07 cents, so every time someone buys a bag of chips it costs you .03 cents.
    2 points
  32. Even vending machines are dwindling to some degree. Slowly, but surely. I don't think they will fully disappear for quite some time if at all but the weird part is the big guys are pretty much focusing entirely on markets from what I see and the really little guys can barely tap into anything of substance because the costs of machines. So that leaves the guys like myself with more than one route but not huge that can afford to do things. I mean it's kind of nice because I feel like I am in a niche right now but the point is that everything is changing. People used to trade with gold way wayy back in the day and here we are now..
    2 points
  33. If you adjust your pricing and add sales tax you can see up to a 60% increase. Shrink is a problem.
    2 points
  34. SII had a two button controller while the SIID is single button and much easier to use. The SII is probably hard to come by now since it's about 10 years older than the SIID. While the SII could do MDB, that tech was in its infancy and the MDB harnesses are made of unobtainium.
    2 points
  35. Your situation is different than most. You are approaching this like a challenging hobby that you can potentially make some income off of. I get it. You have the time, you have the interest, you have the start up capital, so I say more power to you. Unlike yourself, most people enter bulk vending as a side gig because they need more money to live on. They also see it as a possible way to break free from working for someone else by growing the business into a full time operation. Unfortunately for those who have such dreams, bulk vending is slowly dying and that is the primary reason people have questioned why you have chosen this business as an investment vehicle. I think you have made your point as to why you want to do it, so again, I say more power to you. Couple other thoughts...... Projecting vending sales is a crap shoot at best and actual gross sales often fall short of what you were hoping for. You will probably have a few locations that do great, some that do as expected and many that will be completely disappointing. To be successful, you have got to be willing to pull machines from slow locations and find new homes for them immediately. Failure to do so will just result in stale product and a delay in getting your ROI. Buying machines, product cost, stales, replacement parts, storage, gas, insurance, car maintenance, taxes, out of cycle service calls for broken equipment, licensing (if necessary) are just some of the things that affect your bottom line so keep track of all expenses so you can be sure you are making progress with a positive cash flow. I know you had asked about liability insurance earlier. Just some possible scenarios where liability insurance would be beneficial: Someone cracks a tooth on something they got out of your machine. Someone chokes on a piece of candy. A person knocks your machine over and it lands on someone's foot or clocks a kid. Someone tips your machine and it breaks a plate glass window. You in particular should have liability insurance because you have tangible assets that someone could come after through a legal claim. You should consider at least establishing an LLC or incorporating in addition to liability insurance as it can possibly provide additional liability protection. Talk to a lawyer and/or a tax professional for the best fit for you. Good luck with your endeavor and keep us posted on how it goes.
    2 points
  36. I was once told that Insurance is to CYA....Cover YOUR Assets, @ $ 300.00 a year hard to pass up, I would never do business without it, although no one has ever asked me if I carry it!
    2 points
  37. Junk. I know it looks nice but the quality is always sub par. Buy used Oak, Northwestern, or Beaver. You can still buy Eagle machines new.
    2 points
  38. 2 points
  39. It sounds to me like your coin mech is disconnected or not working. Try swapping in a different one.
    2 points
  40. Nope…. Good way to piss him off then you will never get in. Keep dropping in periodically you will catch up to him. I’ve been doing bulk vending for 24 years and here’s what I can tell you. Everyone you approach at these businesses think they are experts at the vending business and will tell you how to run it. The first thing they say is… put M&M peanuts in here and you will get rich. So… a 3lb tub of mmp is up to 15 bucks. That $15 might make you 20-25 bucks if it sells out completely. A lot of the time they get destroyed by the sun, bugs or just get old. Not to mention it will cause you to lose locations. On the other hand, a $25 case of 850 gumballs will yield $240.00. low maintenance, long shelf life. If you have triple heads run gumballs, chiclets and toy capsules. You will have much better luck. If you get in that pizza shop with a commission whatever you do don’t drop mmp in there.
    2 points
  41. Single head gumballs are the best way to go. You drop em off and tell them that’s all you sell. As soon as you involve M&M peanuts you loose your profit margin. In most cases it will kill the gumballs if your running triple heads. so here’s how I locate… load 10 or more machines in your truck. Head to the town where you want your machines and go door to door. Don’t be selective. You never know where your good locations will be. Start on the right side of the road just like you would go to service them. Drop them, check back in 60 days. Let the poor performers sit there for a few cycles to see if they pick up. If not then pick them up and relocate them. Sometimes I leave them out just because I don’t want to bother relocating and they hire a new employee and it takes off. You never know. If you are vending gum and hard candies you can allow them to sit for a while to collect money. The chocolate you have to stay on top of it. It will go bad and cause you to loose the location.
    2 points
  42. I would start with a different coin mech and see if the issue comes back. If it does then the logic board would be next. But, be sure you have a good florescent lamp in it that doesn't flicker and isn't burned out. One flicker will cause issues in the machine. Also make sure your power cord has the ground pin in it.
    2 points
  43. Glad you got it going. Vending is a business that is very "learn as you go". Now you have a somewhat better understanding of what to look for but there will be more issues. Such is the way when dealing in used equipment.
    2 points
  44. What kind of machines are they? Singles, doubles, triples? Candy? Gum? $400.00 per month from two bulk vending machines is quite a bit but I assume that a casino has insane foot traffic so it could indeed do that much with the appropriate service cycle. He's the issue......Let's say it is indeed doing $400.00 per month and you pay 4k for it. Then out of the blue, let's say 5 months into the deal, the casino says we don't want the machines anymore. What then? You lose half of your investment with no recourse. In years past when I would buy competing businesses, I would only pay asset value, meaning that I would only pay what the machines themselves were worth. I didn't care if it was a great location or not because in bulk vending there are no contracts like you see in full line vending. Bulk vending, especially these days. is very transient. I am constantly moving equipment and looking for better locations. I also lose locations consistently due to closure, management changes, ownership changes, space issues or they just plain don't want it anymore. For that reason I can't buy existing locations based on sales performance plus equipment value like you see them do in full line vending. If people didn't like my valuation method I just didn't buy it. Nine times out of ten though I would get a call back from them within a few month saying they would go ahead and take my offer. The only way verify his sales numbers is to ask the guy to let you come with him to service the machines for a couple of months to see for yourself. I would also ask to see him count/weigh the money and if he balks at that it would definitely raise some suspicions. I have know and done business with some of the greatest people and some of the worst people in this business over the last 20 years. One of the worst was a guy who customers absolutely loved but he would cheat people on commissions without a second thought. He also sold equipment and routes to unsuspecting newbies for ridiculous prices primarily by overstating sales figures. Morale of the story...do your due diligence any way you can and sadly you can't trust people you don't really know no matter how nice they seem. Take your time, ask a lot of questions, ask to shadow him on his route and if he is pushy or non transparent you can always just walk away with your money in hand.
    2 points
  45. Spare parts for??? It has a brand new coin mech, brand new bill validator, would never need to replace the motherboard because it was gutted. The only part that could possibly ever need to be replaced is the motor. I re-wired every motor, and cleaned them completely.
    2 points
  46. That's too bad. I always push people their way. The old guy must have retired and they foolishly didn't have someone learn the trade from him. Just another industry supplier letting us all down. The brain drain is tremendous in the business now.
    2 points
  47. If it's not clearing the credit, it would be the motor cluster or vend relay sticking. If it immediately vends from a particular selection once the credit is met, it would be a sticking selection switch.
    2 points
  48. Eityher the selection switch is stuck or your motor is not stopping properly at the end of a vend. Take cover off the motors and vend that selection. Watch to see it the motor stops immediately when the arm of the switch falls into the valley of the cam on motor.If it drifts past that and goes back onto the rim of the cam, it will vend that column as soon as a credit is established.
    2 points
  49. I started this as a separate thread so as not to hijack the thread in which I mentioned it. Here is how I was taught to calculate cost to service. I do this on a monthly basis and it does change from a little from month to month but with nothing else changing in your business it will remain pretty consistent. In short, its the total of all your costs to run your business except for COGS, sales taxes, commissions and debt service. This would include your vehicle expenses, insurance, phone, office expanses, warehouse, repairs, labor and payroll taxes. Then you take that total amount and divide by the number of stops you run for the month. As a generic example lets say your revenue for the month is $25,000.00. The sum of your expenses that fit into your cost to service calculation is $4,250.00 and you run 200 stops for the month. Your cost to service is $21.25 per stop. Your avg. revenue is $125.00 per stop. So for the month, on average, you make $125.00 every time you stop the truck and get out to fill a machine. Of that $125.00 $21.25 is your cost to service leaving you with $103.75. How I use this information: Lets say I am looking at a potential account and I think it will generate $200.00 per week. 52 weeks X $200.00 = $10,400.00 / 12 months = $866.66 per month avg. I anticipate servicing 2X per week = 104 service stops per year and avg of 8.66 service stops per month. 8.66 stops X $21.25 = $184.03 My COGS for my business is 52%, sales taxes are another 5% and 10% commission. That’s a total of 67% of revenue = $866.66 X 67% = $580.66 Adding Cost to service and the fixed expenses, $184.03 + $580.66 = $764.69 leaving a net profit of $101.76. If my equipment investment is $5,000.00 then it will take me 49.2 months to make my money back. If, instead, I service 1X per week 52 weeks / 12 months = 4.33 service stops per month. Take 4.33 stops X $21.25 cost to service = $92.02. Adding cost to service and fixed expenses of $580.66 + $92.02 = $672.68. Subtract that from the estimated monthly revenue of $866.66 - $672.68 = $193.98. So now my time to payoff the equipment is reduced to 25.78 months. So now I look at the potential location and get an idea of what I can do for them. If they want more service then I will reduce my commission offering to “recover” my additional cost. If they want the commission then I know I need to go in with prices that are higher than my average to keep my return on investment down. If I can’t get the higher prices then I will seek a longer term agreement to give me the best opportunity to at least make enough profit to get back the cost of the equipment. Hope this all makes sense. Let me know if it doesn’t I will try to clarify it.
    2 points
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