jmac Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Is anyone doing this? If so what product are you selling? I live in Canada and want to try vending 1" at $1. Im having problems finding product, that be suitable. The only thing i have come up with, is capping earbuds into 1" caps. All the product I have seen is either too cheap or too expensive. I know there is another canadian vendor on here that sells 1" for $1, but he custom makes his own product. Anyone else have any ideas? i am shooting for 50% cog max. I just feel better scooping out loonies and toonies than quarters, from my machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 50% cogs??? Holy cow can't make money that way, you need to be at 20% average for your product line. Btw the key here is the word average, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GagesVending Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 I would say there is no 1" worth vending at $1. I don't even vend any 2" at $1. At 50 cents on 1" you're good. What's wrong with that? You can sell nice items no problem at 50 cents with max 25% COG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherdsflock Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Where are you buying your product from that you're spending 50% on COG? As Musser stated, you should be around 20%. I have a few items, usually licensed items, that might hit 25%, but otherwise I can stay under 20% on most products selling for 50 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 The key word is Canada guys. That's all extra shipping cost. This is why a Canadian vending forum would be helpful is many of these topics are apples and oranges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Indeed Rick. You guys fail to acknowledge we not only pay shipping from the top suppliers but we also get dinged with Outrageous import fees which many times is equal or greater than the actual shipping fees. So 20% is not reasonable from most suppliers you guys use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 It's there any way around the dues? I'm surprised you guys aren't already using Loonies for 1". It's ad common there as the quarter here. I think if you used a watered down mix of earbudsyou could. You might have to look and get creative. I would look on Alibaba. You might find someone that imports stuff in and cap it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Indeed Rick. You guys fail to acknowledge we not only pay shipping from the top suppliers but we also get dinged with Outrageous import fees which many times is equal or greater than the actual shipping fees. So 20% is not reasonable from most suppliers you guys use. Yea, I would agree that Canada is a different animal for sure. Been to Toronto and Ottawa many times when I had my corporate job. Seemed like everything was "on the expensive side". So maybe a one dollar one inch toy could work in Canada. Income taxes are high coupled with a goods and services (consumption) tax as well. Installed a payroll system up there and saw that people with a "reasonable" income paid at least 50% to the tax man in order to support the government's social service agenda (which includes universal health care). Well not to get off track here, but staying within your own border for supplies may be the most feasible and cost effective approach. Allstar and Actionmatic are two known Canadian bulk toy suppliers. (Actionmatic is not in the supplier pipeline) Maybe check with some Beaver reps to see if they know of other Canadian toy suppliers. Also maybe do an internet search to see if there are any novelty toy suppliers in Canada (similar to Rhode Island Novelty). Consider capping your own bulk toys to save money as well. Check out toy sections of discount stores or dollar stores (do dollar stores exist in Canada?) for potential capping candidates. Chinese suppliers will most likely not be feasible for smaller vendors with smaller orders. Maybe the Canadian bulk vendors can form some type of alliance for larger purchases in the future? Maybe Allstar or Actionmatic could even create a nice one-inch Canadian dollar toy mix - approach them about it. Maybe get creative and create a quality mystery toy mix (I hate calling it a junk mix!). Maybe even add a nice chaser item. Test the mix in different locations (with and without a chaser item) to see if the chaser makes a significant difference. Also obtain or create a flashy mystery mix toy sign, And of course be sure that your toy products are child-safe and comply with Canadian government consumer standards and laws. IMHO the Canadians got it right with their currency. No dollar bills - only dollar coins that the citizens have accepted and actually use! Use that to your advantage. IMHO, coins are not considered as "significant" as paper bills to many consumers - the term "chump change" comes to mind. So if the consumer does not value the dollar coin (or any coin for that matter) as much as a paper bill, they may throw that coin(s) into a machine without thinking too much about it. Probably better to stay away from 75 cents since that would involve needing 3 coins that the consumer may not have in their pocket (similar problem here in the US with 2-inch). But there is a good probability that the consumer would have at least one dollar coin in their pocket - just waiting for the right impulse. One dollar/one coin seems so much simpler and cleaner. So test out the dollar coin one-inch toy capsule and give it a shot up there in Canada. Heck, maybe even try 50 cents gumballs in Canada as well. Of course, I don't live in Canada, just my humble opinion. Best wishes for those vending north of the border. And of course.. O Canada! Where pines and maples grow, Great prairies spread and Lordly rivers flow! How dear to us thy broad domain, From East to Western sea! The land of hope for all who toil, The true North strong and free! God keep our land, glorious and free. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmac Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Thanks for all the input everyone. I talked to Allstar and they recommended selling there most expensive 1", which i currently vend at 50cents lol. Also Allstar told me they dont do custom mixes. I dont buy pallet loads, so Actionmatic will rarely, return my phonecalls. I checked dollar stores here,( yes we have them) and the options were limited or too expensive. I am debating trying tnt's midnight shimmer, but would rather not vend a female specific toy, as this will be a single head, not on a rack. I jumped the gun buying a machine setup with a loonie mech. Might swap it out for a 50 cent mech, or a double gumball wheel to vend 2 round capsules for $1. Anyone have a Beaver one for sale? And yes 50% cog is way too high, because i forgot about commision when i posted that. That takes my earbud idea out, because they would be around the 50% cog once they were capped + 25% commision = not worth it. We do need a Canadian section on Vendiscuss. Are you listening Caserri? I even offered to rough someone up for you, what else do i need to do lol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmac Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Im also going to talk to Racheal at TNT about 1" kerplink, which might work. If its valid for us canucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 It would work if you can access the web no mastery where your at. Go to kurplink.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmac Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 It would work if you can access the web no mastery where your at. Go to kurplink.com Just wasnt sure if they would ship the prizes to Canada. Just looked at the website and they will, for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReillyNoFun Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I'm the vendor jmac mentioned on here that is vending 1" caps for $1 and $2, so I thought I'd bump this post back up. The key to what makes vending at that price possible is that I do make my own product and cap by hand. Also the fact that we're in Canada where we always have have loonies and toonies kicking around helps. Like someone mentioned earlier - that is "chump change" for a lot of people. Another reason I'm able to get away with charging that much for 1" is the product I put in. The pin-back buttons I make retail in stores starting at $1+, so getting one from the machine for a loonie/toonie is a fair deal. I agree though that there is not much on the traditional market from distributors in 1" caps that would move at a loonie. I have also been struggling with that and am considering getting a 2" capsule / $2 vend head setup for that reason alone. I think it opens the options up for what "suitable" items will fit into a cap. Just haven't seen a good deal on a used super80 come up yet.. Usually I can fit either one or two buttons plus a fortune cookie style fortune I had printed up into a 1" capsule. I've also been able to fit my own products in along side some .25 cent items (ie a sticky hand + one of my pins) for a loonie or toonie vend, making "No Fun mixes". They do fairly well I think because it's not something that you see in every other machine - only on my route. Same with flat vending - my background in printing and design allows me to produce high quality stickers for my flat machines with designs that aren't cheesy and I think it catches peoples' eye. To stress again - being in Canada where shipping and duty fees kill the margins on any products ordered from distributors in the USA, being able to get my hands on my own product without a middleman has been the only way that makes my 5-machine route viable and profitable. If people are voicing their opinion about whether or not there should be a CANADA FORUM on here - my vote is a very big yes! Casseri? I know I'm not the only one who'd be on here a bunch more if there was some place for Canadian content. Like Rick said, answers to many vending questions are apples and oranges north and south of the border. Many times I've searched only be able to find a USA-centric answer to a question I have, or on the flip side, not be able to answer a post because I only have the Canuk version to someone's question. I've noticed many times a "canadian" thread pops up and everyone just refers us to Actionmatic, Allstar, or Beaver, which is fine and good, but there has got to be more than that! right? It would be great to be able to pool all the Canadian info in one spot, the few 'north of the border' threads that are find-able with the search are pretty scattered.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Agreed Reilly. However, to play devil's advocate, I can understand why Caserri has been slow to move on it. Honestly, if there was a Canada forum I'd never visit it and I'm sure I'm not alone. And if that forum did exist, there's probably Canadian folks who would ONLY visit that forum. Therein lies the rub for a forum owner is that the more sub-forums you develop the thinner you spread the members and the weaker the discussion. That said, I think there's a solid enough Canadian contingient on here that forum could be HUGE for you guys up North, especially if the topics were kept specific to Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I am in favor of one. Pretty much all supply questions and pricing on this site is not applicable to us. It would be nice to have a common ground where we to could discuss what works up here. I understand rock's points as well though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmac Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 A canadian post thats stickied in the bulk section, might be a good start. Canadian info and questions could be posted there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Be careful what you wish for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Good idea jmac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReillyNoFun Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Jmac and Musser are right - careful what we wish for - it hadn't occurred to me about a sticky thread, which is maybe a better idea. I don't think there are thattt many Canuks lurking on here. But whatever, I don't make the rules around here. Anyone have any other on-topic thoughts about 1" items at a higher pricepoint? I pulled enough loonies and toonies out of my machines yesterday to feel like Scrooge McDuck, so the pin-back buttons I'm making seem to still be moving. Always looking for new options though! I produce lapel pins for my other business as well that retail for $5-10 in-store/online and put a few into the mix as "bonus prize". I know people are spending way more than $5 at a time trying to get them out of the machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmac Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 I totally agree, its depressing servicing a 25cent machine after pulling $100 out of a machine with a toonie mech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Are you making a mix? So that they don't get a pin every time? People will try obey and over to get something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReillyNoFun Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I haven't done business with this company - but noticed their logo in a machine at a flea market last week and did some googling. Looks like they have some $1 & $2 items, but it isn't clear to me from the site which items come in which size caps... http://www.matovend.com, seem to be located in Kenora, Ont. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaguedude Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I see what u mean about the sizes. Probably have to call the 800 number. Looks like they have a good selection for for Canada. I wonder what their prices are like? Thanks for the link, I will be keeping an eye on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 If only the us congress had something other than manure for brains we would have intelligent coinage also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 When you guys talk about aiming at a 20% COGS, does that cover all types of bulk vending, i.e., candy, gum, capsules, etc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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