If you had to do it over again....

[jb5580]

I wanted to start a new discussion centered on the ins and outs of getting started in the bulk vending business. I am brand new at this and have not even placed a machine yet. I have my LLC started and insurance as well as charity coming(NCCS). I am excited to get started and every part of me says rush out and buy 20 machines and place them. However, I am not going to do that. I think I wiIl buy 2 machines and use a locator to place them, wait a month or 2 and buy 1 or 2 more and place them, so on and so forth until I build up a nice route. I want to do this right and that is were you guys and gals come in. Could you let us newbies know how you would do it if you had to do it over again to avoid mistakes you may have in countered along the way? What machines, what products, what locator's, singles, doubles, triples, etc. This would make for a nice topic for us green vendors. Thanks in advance, Jim 

[dsimms]

I would have not done it at all..instead I would have put the $3500 i have put

into this, into a retirement account, and let it grow, if i am to piss money

away like I have been doing on machines/candy/gas/locator, then I would rather

piss it away into a retirement account....

[alyssamma]

JB, first, welcome to the forum. Second, you are doing this the correct way - taking your time. Don't rush into things. Read what is on this forum and *learn*.

If you do that, you will most likely be successful.

To answer your question, yes. Although I would have done things differently. The two "big" mistakes I made were buying a full line route (it make $, but was too difficult to service) and buying new machines. My first 17 machines I bought for $145/ea. Now I spend about $20 on used Vendstars.

If you read the posts here you'll see the mistakes we've all made and you can avoid them.

Resist the urge to "rush out and buy 20 machines". You'll be happier and richer if you a) read, follow the advice of people here.

Good luck!

Kevin

[jb5580]

Thanks Kevin, and good advice. I will read and learn and take my time. As far as the vendstars, should I even get used ones of these or are they alot of trouble? I was thinking of investing in quality machines from what I've read so far like NW's so I don't have as many mechanical issues and they last for me.

[dsimms]

Thanks Kevin, and good advice. I will read and learn and take my time. As far as the vendstars, should I even get used ones of these or are they alot of trouble? I was thinking of investing in quality machines from what I've read so far like NW's so I don't have as many mechanical issues and they last for me.

I just purchased a good size lot of used vendstars...its a risk...some of them appear to be good..

some of them are not...I serviced a machine that had a broken coin mech that was working

just last month...I would not recommend used unless you get a super deal...you might be

just buying someone else's problems or temp fix up junk, which I have been seeing lately...I have to borrow

from peter to pay paul, then from paul to pay jack, etc...Vendstars are light weight, and come

apart at the base or top of the poll...1800 and NW are all metal, and I doubt they will come

apart as easy as you would like, and I bet they are much heavier to haul around...

[alyssamma]

JB, all of the machines used, including Vendstars, have been reviewed to death here. Read the pros and cons and decide for yourself.

Personally, I love Vendstars...others do too. But there are others who hate them

I will say that buying lots of any machine should not be a "risk". If you buy from CL, you can see the machines before you pay. If you buy from eBay, check the seller's rep and pics of the machines.

Kevin

[new2this]

Hello,

If I had to do it all over again?  My fantasy would be to buy 10 single head Oak machines and use just one product(gumballs).  My reality, however, is I wouldn't change a thing. I've learned from my mistakes and with the use of this forum I will continue to grow at a steady profitable rate.  I personaly dislike Vendstar, I've lost good locs because of how poorly made these machines are, but you have to use your own judgement.  I only advice you to spend your money wisely.  Buy two Oak machines(well made reasonably priced) or NW machines from Sams and see if you like the business.  It may or may not be for you.  I tried the one product idea but that limit me too much and just was not profitable, however, you may have a different experience.  I hope  this helped.

Good Luck

[joebob051977]

...I'd listen to my wife more. If I had it to do again there are some things I would do differently. The first thing is that I would buy Oak Vista 300's and set them up as doubles. I would buy them either on Ebay or Craigslist. But, I'd probably buy my first one new. I think it is a confidence booster when you have a nice new machine to locate. The 300 indicates that the globe holds 300 gumballs. This globe size is plenty big for most applications. If the globe empties out in one month then you will be extremely happy with the location and will probably want to put a rack there anyhow. I personally like Oak. Everyone seems to have their own brand of preference. I like Oaks because they are so versatile. You can upgrade or downgrade easily. The spare parts are cheap and easy to find. Oak offers pretty much everything you would want and I think that is nice.

The next thing I would do is relocate my poor performers sooner. It wears on you when you have a machine that isn't doing well and you have done everything you can think of to get your numbers up. You have a nice machine sitting at a lame duck location when it could be at another place making a lot more. I've had a location for over 2 years doing only 7 dollars a month on average. If I had relocated it where it was bringing in $12 a month I would be $120 ahead of where I am now.

My initial fill of candy would onlly be one bag of candy and maybe a half globe of gumballs. This was small mistake I made, but it was costly. The location I had was not a very good location and the candy just sat there. I ended up changing the product, but I had several bags of candy in the machine. This meant I had lost several dollars worth of candy over a not so hot location. Even the candy that did sell got old and started to crack. Then, it stopped selling well.

The next thing I would do is use a locator every once in a while. It isn't something that has to be done, but it can be very helpful. I don't have much time anymore since I am going to school full-time and have a 3 year old and a 6 month old at home. I get 4 hours a month to do vending. I use that time to locate and service my machines. A machine that sits in your garage or basement isn't making any money.  I do think that self-locating your machines is a very good thing to do and you should do the best you can at self-locating. This leads me to my next point.

Being a person with little time on my hands, I would establish a regular time to do vending. I know that this may sound a little fruitless when you only have a few machines. If you plan for your vending time, then you know what you are doing and you will be more efficient at it. It is also good for you to get out to your locations on a regular basis to at least check on them.

There are some things that I would not do. The biggest one for me is do not waste your money buying chinese imports. There is more of a personal issue for me than anything, but these chinese imports are cheap imitations of the real thing, and more often that not do not cost anyless than a new name brand machine. I could've bought Beavers for the price I paid for my Gumball Machine Warehouse Triple Chrome Pro. I also bought XYZ Vending Machines which are now defunct. I like knowing that I can easily get parts for my machines.

I would not do triples again. I have found that most locations do not warrant a triple. If the location can support a triple, it can support a rack. Why spend the extra money on a triple that you can't upgrade or downgrade. Now, I know that Kevin is a big Vendstar user. Since this is for newbies. Vendstars are a triple in which you can easily service the machine by removing the canister (globe). It can be a good business model assuming you buy the Vendstars used. It's just not my thing.

While we are on the topic of buying machines. I would not buy different machines. I would pick a brand that offers everything that you want and stick with it. I wouldn't want several different brands and 30 different keys to contend with. If you stick with one brand you will no doubt have extra parts on hand and will be able to deal with problems easier and quicker. You won't need 30 different candy wheels or coin mechs on hand.

One other thing I would not do. I would not waste my money on an assumed name until I had a substantial income from the business. It was a waste of about $100 just to say that my business' name was JKL Vending. $3 to the Co. Clerk $93 to the Newspaper. I could've used that money to buy another machine.

There are some things that I did right and to this day still do them. These are financial issues. The first one is to keep my business finances seperate from my personal finances. This is done by using an excel spreadsheet which my wife made up for me. I track how much money I have and or don't have. Where I spent it and how much my total collections are. I also track each location individually. I used to track each product at each location, but that was information overload.

The other thing which is equally important IMHO is to re-invest 100% of your earnings. I set a budget (okay, my wife set the budget) and when I have enough money, I buy a machine. I don't take any money out of my business for any personal expenses..no hookers, no beer, no filet mignon, just vending. It keeps it simple and straight forward. This business is a business of pennies, and I only buy what is essential. I use ziploc bags and hand count my money before going to the bank.

I saved the most important thing for last. Have FUN with it. I thoroughly enjoy vending. I love being a business owner. My wife has to pull me away from vending machines like a little child, and I constanlty hear, "VENDiscuss, how'd I guess."      

[jb5580]

Thanks for the replies so far. I am planning to keep my vending money in the business, reinvest into new machines as I can and use locator's which I've read the reviews of locator's on here. I also think I'm going to go the route of buying NW's from Sam's  1 or 2 at a time and locate them right away. As they make money, reinvest and buy 2 more and locate them, so on, so on. As for products what keeps the longest and sells best, gumballs and PMM's?

Also, have any of you had any luck with large hotel chains such as Hilton Garden Inns, Hampton Inns, etc? I work at one part-time and I think I can get management to let me locate into the break rooms at 3 locations right away, but I'm eventually going to ask them about the vending areas on each floor as well. We only have drink and ice machines there and a double or triple would fit right in their on 7 floors. I'm not sure if they'll go for it, but it will get me my first experience at trying to locate for myself.   

[Faith Vending]

Machines are important but your locations are the most important piece of this business. You can have the best machine, largest handful of candy, or hottest toy but if there is nobody going by your machine to put in a quarter what difference does it make? Doing it over again, I would have been much more selective on the locs I placed my machines in. There has to be traffic, employee turn over, some kind of activity that changes your customer base. You have to have quality locs or you will never make money. Just the way it is.

[cavity]

If you put small machines in the vending area on the floors of the hotel, they are likely to grow legs and never return.  Try the lobby area where patrons think the machine (and they) are being watched.    $.02

[jb5580]

Oh, I get it. Didn't think about someone walking it to their room. I wish there was a way I could though because the more Iv'e thought about these locations the better they seem. Drink machine takes dollar bills, guest puts $2.00 in and vends a drink for $1.25. Then he is standing right next to my machine with .75 in his hand. Seems like good potential if I could lock the machine down some way. And this is literally 7 locations in two buildings on the same lot that I work at and could watch closely. Lots of kids soccor teams and things like that come through all the time as well.   

[davidsurvz]

I wouldn't change much at all if I had to do it all over again. (Maybe I would have taken a little more risk in the beginning, ie invested more in machines initially.) The 2 years I have spent on this forum have been the best thing for my business. I have to sincerely say that his forum has been the best resource for my business in many ways.

I have had plenty of success along with the failures but the one thing I would say to you is ask a lot of questions and read a lot of posts.

This is a great business if you are willing to work at it patiently. I am by no means a huge vendor like some of the folks here who have 100, 200 or 400+ machines but I think patience and hard work can get anyone to the point of having a full time successful business in bulk vending.

I have learned to be patient with this business and just pace myself. (The pace varies for everyone but I seemed to have found a good approach to my business.) Patience seems to have become be the real key at least for me.

I guess if I had to do it all over again I would take a little more risk (but not much.)

[jb5580]

Do you all find that you can get machines located out in the front at restaurants? the lady at Midwest locator's told me that most restaurants will only go for machines in the back area for employee's? I am thinking the singles with gumballs is a good start then some doubles with gumballs and some thing else, PMM's? What about bouncyballs, should I try one or two them to,  another locator told me that is the way to go, and if so are locator's able to locate them? 

[Faith Vending]

Do over again? Be much more selective on locs. Loser locs are a big bummer.

[chowchowjailboss]

I would not have bought nuts for locations unless requested and gone to toys/bouncy balls sooner.

CCJB

[Jax Snacks]

I would not have bought as many Uturns and would have got into gumballs, toys and superballs sooner.  More selections does NOT equate to more revenue in many many locations since most of the time the customers are simply moving quarters around to different heads and not adding new ones to the additional selections!  So going with two heads is a good place to start at most charity locations.

Much to the dismay of many new vendors, vending is NOT a get rich quick venture!  Those looking for fast money and instant gratification should NOT get into building a vending route.  It is a long grind with a lot of sorting and trial and error.  Starting with a small number of machines and growing gradually is a good way to go IMO.  F.Y.I., I worked 5 years at a full time job before making the leap into full time vending and it took another 2 years to actually make a profit.  So during that 7 year drought, my job, savings and investments had to subsidise my vending business.

I am personally glad to see you start with quality metal machines and resist the temptation of low cost biz-op machines.  Going with single modular heads will give you the ability to control the number of selections at any location.  Going with NW with also give you the ability to vend candy, gumballs, capsules and 2-for-1 gumballs.  At some point you will evolve and want to "graduate" from candy and this setup will make that transition much smoother.  However, it it your job to research all the pros and cons and then make a final decision on equipment.

You will also need to find your niche and establish a business model.  Some vendors get into commission racks, some into cranes and video games, some stick with candy in break rooms, some part time, some full time, etc.  There is no right or wrong here.  But it will take some time to find your niche.  There will be some real problems, plus quirky things, stolen machines and lost locations to deal with.  But just keep plugging away and keep learning and some day you will have something real.  Good luck AND have fun!

Jax 

[West Coast Vend LLC]

If I had it to do over, I would have bought better machines than LYPC's. I have so many issues with them and so many service calls that I am losing money every month because of them. My issue was that I needed 250 machines fast and didn't have a lot of money to invest in good machines. I am sure paying for it now. I have thought about slowly changing them over a little at a time but with the state-of-the-business, the account may not be around long enough for me to get my money back. The 1800 machines are the best but they are not big enough to hold enough product to get through a month.

Other than that, it's the best thing I ever did. I love having my own business and not having to answer to anyone but myself.

Gary

[jb5580]

Thanks for the replies so far, you all are giving such good responses from each of yours experiences which are different in there own way and that is good. I know that buying new will cost more in the start, but I'm figuring that if its only two at a time it won't hurt that bad financially, I won't have as many mechanical problems, and I'll know it is quality equipment and it is mine new. Besides, I don't like the idea of getting a location secured from a locator and then showing up there with something that looks 10 years old and ragged out. On the topic of equipment what is the reviews on classic gumball machines of of the Buy Rite vending website? They look very nice and presentable for $109.00 a peice for the single. Any thoughts? 

[joebob051977]

On the topic of equipment what is the reviews on classic gumball machines of of the Buy Rite vending website? They look very nice and presentable for $109.00 a peice for the single. Any thoughts? 

You're killing me here! $109 for a single on a stand is ridiculously high. While I can't find a single for $109 on a stand at Buy Rite Vending, I can tell you that is a Chinese import at Buy Rite. You can get a Northwestern Tempo Stand for about $25 at Sam's Club and a NW Super 60 for around $61.00 at Sam's Club. That is only $86 + tax and S&H. If it was me needing a single, I would buy an Oak Vista 300 from Oak Mfg for only $41 + $8 S&H. So we are only up to $66 for a quality new Single before taxes and shipping.

If you are looking to buy NEW, IMHO there are only a few brands worth consideration. These brands are Beaver, Northwestern, A&A Global, and Oak. I think most of us here would concur with this. Don't spend your money on chinese imports!

[jb5580]

Okay got it, thats what I needed to know. I've been looking @ the NW60's at Sam's with the tempo stand. Is that stand a good solid stand?

[joebob051977]

So far I haven't had any problems with the Tempo stand. In my opinion it is all the stand you need for a single or double head machine. I do believe it isn't recommended for 3 heads. If the locattion warrants 3 heads, you'll most likely want to skip from 2 heads to a rack.

[jb5580]

Thanks!

[Jax Snacks]

You can save shipping by utilizing the Special Order System at Sam's.  It is not well advertised any more, but still in existence.  The problem is finding an "intelligent creature" at Sams that can process it!  Another vendor still uses this process and gets all his NW equipment shipped to the club at no cost.  He did say that he practically had to train someone at the club to do it.  It would be worth talking to someone in the marketing department at your local club to set this up for you.  It is a bit of a hassle and does take 2 to 3 weeks to arrive, but zero shipping cost may be worthwhile.  The strange thing is that Sam sill promotes this on each box of gumballs for the other Concord products and makes it all sound so easy!  Note: If you order via the web site, then you will pay the shipping.

Jax

[chada75]

I would buy Routes out first instead of Machines.