WayneB Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 So this is my first account: These "things" sit outside my office door in the hallway. Basically our building has a front entrance where the lobby is then behind that is the owners office then mine with our hall way leading from the lobby to a back break/bath room. We have three people in the office, two in our garage and 50 drivers. Maybe 20 vendors a week visit us. I am pulling 30-50 a week depending of a few factors. Things I have noticed: These mechanical beasts require quarters and without a changer people will bail on a buy real quick. By sitting them outside my door I can provide change but I think the same thing makes people second guess those extra trips to the machines because I will know (a) how much they mess off at work and (b( how unhealthy their eating habits are. While I could care less, the impact is there. I could add a change machine, too expensive and I could upgrade to a dba type machine for the same cost or not much more. The prime spot would be the lobby where the drivers/vendors have to wait to see the owner or myself. I guess my question is... On an account with 5 in house empoyees, 50 in the field and 20 vendors, where I currently pull 30-50 a week, should I leave it sitting in the hall and get rid of the two mechanical snacks for an honor box - OR Should I convince the owner to let me put bigger better more up to date equipment in the lobby? Could I increase the business or the 70 visitors will not convert because the are not trapped at the location? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Buy a quality full size soda and snack machine used off craigslist and watch the gross increase rapidly. Looks like more than enough room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 This could be a tough situation. Don't risk your job just to make a few more bucks from vending. The honor box idea might lead to shortages and lost trust between you, your coworkers, and your boss(es). There really aren't too many people that can vouch for this... but upgrading from mechanical equipment to electronic equipment might not increase sales a great deal. It would probably make things a lot easier, but as long as you have a changer somewhere, a regular vending machine might not make a huge impact in sales. It might though.... it's just very difficult to say. One advantage with full-size equipment is an increase in selection. More selection usually means more sales (but not necessarily a great deal, depending on what sells and what does not sell). Another advantage with full-size equipment is the capacity. Going from what you have... to 2 full-size machines might triple your capacity (just guessing). One disadvantage to full-size equipment is that they take up a lot of space. They might not take any more space than you already take up, but they will need to sit directly on the floor. You can't put a machine on a table and you probably can't put it on a carpeted floor. I would normally never do this, but I am going to tell you that you MIGHT be better off keeping what you have. Those mechanical machines have their disadvantages (and many of them), but they can be kind of reliable. You never have to change boards or anything. The cost of the investment in full-size machines, the cost of the installation, the cost of the additional product (to fill the empty selections), and the cost of future repairs may make it impossible to increase your long-term profit. Now, if the compressor on the soda machine goes out, then definitely try to replace it with a full-size soda machine. I just think you are in an odd spot because all your boss has to do is say "no" and you are probably in your best interest to not push the issue lol. If your employer is all happy about the idea, then you might go for it. An important thing to note is that you MIGHT increase your sales quite well with larger equipment and better varieties, but you might not! If you did increase sales significantly (sales doubled for example), then it would warrant larger machines. In your situation, I look at things like this... most of us are all about making a living. When you are an employee, your income is just called "gross income" and when you are a business owner, your income is called "net profit." It is probably not worth it to try to chase the source of a few extra bucks AT THE POTENTIAL COST of your relationship with a source of hundreds of bucks. I WOULD bring it up to the person in charge though. It is important to get their opinion first! Just don't risk your relationship with your employer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrCorey Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 oh, the horror wait until they start to break down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneB Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 Man Chris, hard to argue with your assessment. The owner would not be all happy about it, in fact it took a long time to weasel these things in. We still haven't settled down on the "deal". I want to pay commission and put my daughter as the front person of this "business" as a way to teach her something and be involved with her. She is only 14 but never too young. The problem with this is arrangement is she is lazy and the money is trivial so neither the owner is motivated to collect nor is she motivated to service it. Since I am handing out quarters I find I am recycling my money with IOU's that I do collect but not the way I want to. After reading your post I think the best bet for this account would be to add a changer and MAYBE move existing equipment to the front lobby for more exposure. Bill changers seem to be $400 on the cheap end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 So this is my first account: These "things" sit outside my office door in the hallway. Basically our building has a front entrance where the lobby is then behind that is the owners office then mine with our hall way leading from the lobby to a back break/bath room. We have three people in the office, two in our garage and 50 drivers. Maybe 20 vendors a week visit us. I am pulling 30-50 a week depending of a few factors. Things I have noticed: These mechanical beasts require quarters and without a changer people will bail on a buy real quick. By sitting them outside my door I can provide change but I think the same thing makes people second guess those extra trips to the machines because I will know (a) how much they mess off at work and (b( how unhealthy their eating habits are. While I could care less, the impact is there. I could add a change machine, too expensive and I could upgrade to a dba type machine for the same cost or not much more. The prime spot would be the lobby where the drivers/vendors have to wait to see the owner or myself. I guess my question is... On an account with 5 in house empoyees, 50 in the field and 20 vendors, where I currently pull 30-50 a week, should I leave it sitting in the hall and get rid of the two mechanical snacks for an honor box - OR Should I convince the owner to let me put bigger better more up to date equipment in the lobby? Could I increase the business or the 70 visitors will not convert because the are not trapped at the location? This is one of the few situations where a good combo machine might be best. Try something like a Crane 474. It won't take a massive amount of room in the lobby and will hold about ten times as much product and take bills. Since you work there, servicing more often should not be a challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 This is one of the few situations where a good combo machine might be best. Try something like a Crane 474. It won't take a massive amount of room in the lobby and will hold about ten times as much product and take bills. Since you work there, servicing more often should not be a challenge. I agree that a combo machine (a LEGITIMATE combo machine) such as an AP or National combo would work well in this situation but those things often run for $1500+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneB Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 $40 pull today. I really think this is $80 account if I had a changer and moved them up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneB Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Good deal or not... http://louisville.craigslist.org/for/4636063113.html No dba and price set at .50 Not really helping my change issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Dba is 100$ Price is easily changed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Too high a price for a good machine without a bill acceptor. I think $300 would be more appropriate, especially since it's been unused for 2 years and could be low on freon now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneB Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 UPDATE So I brought the idea of letting me put a full line snack and soda in the lobby of this account and the push back was this... Make cans .50 and chips .50 and do whatever you like as it would be a convenience to the drivers and staff to get cheap snacks/sodas. COG is about .30 for those two items around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Nope. If you've been reading the thread about when to raise prices, you will be putting yourself behind the 8-ball with unrealistic, below market prices. Don't do it if those are the prices they demand - you won't turn a profit or ever pay yourself back for the machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 This is the kind of thing that I was getting at. As an employee, your superiors may feel as though their "control" over you spans even beyond your employment. In my opinion, you are better off sticking with what you have. If the relationship between you and your employer isn't FANTASTIC.... should you ever leave your job, your full-size equipment would probably end up leaving with you (at the company's discretion). Even if you ever exited on good terms, the idea that they might think they can control your pricing is a problem. You are doing them a FAVOR by providing this service. I think you are better off forgetting about the whole full-size thing and keeping what you have. If you really want to expand in the vending world, you should probably do it with some other locations. If I were their vendor and they tried to tell me to put my soda at 50 cents so it would be a "convenience to the people that work there" I would say no... because that is an inconvenience to my bottom line. Remember that the idea is that people PAY for their service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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