Most profitable vending machines

[caserri]

I think this topic is getting out of hand. Let's wrap it up.

I'm through.

[davco1]

Great discussion. I think if you say a portion of the proceeds go to xyz... Your not telling a fib because what does it matter what the amount is!!

What about all the crap accounts that don't do anything....you pay the charity anyway don't you...in fact the one I pay gets their payment UP FRONT and THAT HAPPENS NO MATTER WHETHER I MAKE A PENNY OR A MILLION!

AND THE CHARITY DOESN'T HAVE LIFT A FINGER which is awesome because they shouldn't have to I just want them to help people with the money.... We just pay'em!

[sherlock]

Havending,

 

As both a charity vendor and a commission vendor I no longer know what to make of your contradictory posts.

 

On another thread recently you recommended a vendor should lie to a location by offering to pay a high commission then wait a few months before going back into the same location and pulling his equipment without ever paying any of the promised commission.

Yet, in this thread, you question the ethics of charity vendors?

 

Your advice on the other thread telling a commission vendor to lie and cheat makes your statements here seem like a joke.

[Arqangel13]

Hi all.  Great replies and food for thought.  I was already planning to affiliate with a charity as I have two that are near and dear to my heart.  A few years ago, I had a friend lose his child to cancer and for that reason, I always try to help out when it comes to children with cancer.  Also, I know several people, including a family member, that have children with various forms of autism.  Autism seems to be a growing problem amongst children today...I don't know if it has to do with the chemicals in our foods or just the deteriorating environment, but it has become a big concern of mine.  I would truly like to help these two charities out and had always planned on affiliating with them.

That being said, I still want to run a for-profit business, where I would donate a portion (10-20%) to charity.  The rest, I would want as my profit.  As I am not a non-profit business, I do not think that my books should be subject to government inspection.  Also, since I will be giving a portion to the charity, I am hoping not to also have to pay a commission to the location.  I will try to explain to them that a good portion of the profits already go to charity.  However, if it seems like a killer location, I would probably give a commission, providing that it is a fair one and I could still make some money.  After all, I'm doing all of the work. 

I am not worried about the owner wanting to put in his/her own machines.  If that is the case, they are going to do it anyway and there is nothing I could do about that.  However, I don't think most people would want to bother with buying and servicing machines and that is where we come in.  As I said, I am planning to use the two to three headers as a hook and hopefully move into more profitable racks and other stuff.  Thanks for all of your comments and help.  Take care. Mario

[sherlock]

Arqangel13,

 

I wish you all the luck in the world.

Just keep a few things in mind.

 

Make sure you have complete and open communication with your charity if you are putting out machines on behalf of an organization that does not have an official vending program.

You can contact your charity of choice and let them know what you would like to do.

They can instruct you from there.

 

If you decide on a charity WITH a vending program, then simply follow the rules to get contracted on the program and you are good.

 

As far as the other details you have shared I have some suggestions:

Do not use triples. For charity, go with mostly singles and occasional doubles.

Many locations willing to allow a charity bulk machine are not going to provide enough business to support a triple.

With a triple, more selections for the customer, do not often translate to more quarters for the vendor.

What it usually amounts to is more WASTED/STALE product for the vendor.

 

Also, you mentioned racks in your last post.

Those will absolutely require commission.

It is VERY rare to find a location that will allow you to install a rack on behalf of a charity.

It can happen, I know, because I have had my share.

But, they are so rare that to expect to find one is unrealistic.

 

On that subject, also keep in mind that almost EVERY high-volume location is going to require commission.

It is near impossible to find a high sales location that will allow you to do charity.

I point that out to help you realize that in charity vending, it's the quantity of locations that allows you to make money.

Don't expect for charity stops to each earn you a ton of quarters.

More often, with bulk charity, you make a little bit of money at each stop.

So you must build a route with a lot of stops in order to make good money.

 

If you are of the mindset to maximize your earnings but minimize the size of your route.

Commission is the way to go.

[wildmanne39]

Arqangel13: you said, "My plan is to start out with doubles an tripples.  I guess these are the hooks get you into a location."

IMO, and it is just my opinion and experience, the hook to getting into any location or at least the best hook and the fastest is affiliate yourself with a charity. Most restaurant owners/retail owners could care less about vending machines and in reality, would rather not want them in their location unless it was their own or a family/friend's machine. They have a business to run and a product/service to sell and the last thing they want to deal with is a vending machine. That is the main reason you run into a lot of turn downs and also the issue of space, or past negative experience with a previous vendor. However, if the location owner has space, your best hook to get into the location is to become affiliated with a recognized charity like Children's Cancer or Missing Children or even a local charity (Habitat 4 Humanity, etc...). The main reason they would let a machine in their is to help the charity unless you are offering a great commission. But who wants to split the commission when you can make more money affiliating with a charity and get your machines out their faster. Just food for thought. When you start splitting the commission, as the location owner, I would begin to think to myself, "Self? Why am I splitting a commission with this outside vendor who I am letting him/her use my space, when I can put my own machine in here in my own space and keep all the money?" They will think this especially if they see the machine cranking out quarters. Affiliating yourself with a charity decreases the likelihood of this happening even though it will still happen but just not as much as well as awesome customer service on your part and building a relationship with the location owner and get him/her to like you.

 

This is exactly right!!! I use a charity but I have split to get into some locations and splitting runs into trouble like the owenr getting way to involved in your servicing of the machine, asking how much did the machine make and wanting to watch you the whole time you are in the location.

 

Also it opens the door for other venders to offer more percentage and get you kicked out. That is to name a few reasons to avoid splitting if at all possible.

[pjvend]

Think of the gross per collection period and not be stuck so much on monthly.  Maybe every 2 weeks or every 4 months.  It is not unreasonable to have a skipper and collect every half year or once a year.

[iwannaapple]

I know I'm a bit too late to respond to this question but it kinda relates how I got into gumball machines. When I was in college taking a couple of statistic courses, which one of my questions to figure out was "What are the odds of getting a yellow and a green gumball with six different kinds of other colors?". That question made me take a different look at gumball machines. But getting on with it. Those very courses help me to know the answer of why the national average is 7$. It goes like this: Your in a huge neighborhood shopping around for a house to buy. Most of the houses are in the $200,000 range which would make you think that the average house in the neighborhood is $200,000. But, you have a street or two with houses in the $500,000 range. Even though that is raising the average that is not raising the mode.

In other words, in a very large area the average might be low, but the closer it gets to your vicinity, the higher your average could be.

Another puzzle for you to consider is this, "Did you know that if you asked people 'How many gumballs are in my machine' the more people you ask, and average those numbers together, the people will be exactly right!". It seems as if singly we are stupid people, but clump us together and we can figure out anything. Thats one thing I like about this site.

 

I know I'm a bit too late to respond to this question but it kinda relates how I got into gumball machines. When I was in college taking a couple of statistic courses, which one of my questions to figure out was "What are the odds of getting a yellow and a green gumball with six different kinds of other colors?". That question made me take a different look at gumball machines. But getting on with it. Those very courses help me to know the answer of why the national average is 7$. It goes like this: Your in a huge neighborhood shopping around for a house to buy. Most of the houses are in the $200,000 range which would make you think that the average house in the neighborhood is $200,000. But, you have a street or two with houses in the $500,000 range. Even though that is raising the average that is not raising the mode.

In other words, in a very large area the average might be low, but the closer it gets to your vicinity, the higher your average could be.

Another puzzle for you to consider is this, "Did you know that if you asked people 'How many gumballs are in my machine' the more people you ask, and average those numbers together, the people will be exactly right!". It seems as if singly we are stupid people, but clump us together and we can figure out anything. Thats one thing I like about this site.