space city

I am looking at buying a small established route that vends car wash products at drive thru and self serve car washes. I feel his COGS is too high on a number of items, (ArmorAll, car scents) as an example. Anybody know of any distributors that sell vendable car wash and car care items ? Thanks ! Neil Surgi (I am currently researching this now but thought I'd throw this out to the forum also.)

I see these sometimes advertised for sale. Anyone use these ? problems, quality ?

THANK YOU ! I do appreciate the input ! I am really amazed at the comments and input (and good questions and answers) that I have seen so far on this site. I just wish in the 70's we had had a similar thing when I first went into full line vending. Fortunately I had several friends that were also vendors that mentored me along the way...(plus I have a very short learning curve..lol). Your suggestion, after I put a pencil to it (and ran it by a friend that had 384 bulk machines for 8 years - he sold and retired 8 years ago) is VERY workable apparently. Thanks, Neil Surgi p.s. I had lunch today with the above retired vendor and he also commented that he at one time also ran approximately 100 condom machines and did quite well; he said that by chance last year he ran into the guy that he sold the condom route to and they had a chat about how the business was doing. The condom business apparently has gone WAY UP; the era of aids is the big worry...not making babies.

As a new member exploring bulk vending this is a concern of mine. If you have looked at my new member profile I am not new to vending, having owned a full line vending company in the past and having been raised in a family that ran a large amusment game and jukebox route(s) for 40 years. When I first started my full line vending it was easy to keep employees honest (ME). I eventually had 3 employees with 3 trucks and 3 routes running 5 days a week. Over the years (7), I experienced enough problems with employees that every machine was metered for vends and product case counts per truck was audited daily when loaded. When you run a bulk route yourself, honesty is GREAT...lol. When you either get so big, (heaven forbid) that you need help OR you want to take a vacation , how do you make sure that everything ($$$$$) makes it's way "back home" to your coin counter ? From past experience I can already see several ways that someone on a bulk route could make a nice " little bit of extra ". Low COGS with a high gross margin on sales with no way to check vends, lends itself to a lot of potential problem . Now I ask this question without a machine out yet, but as I own a retail business with 2 locations for 15 years and have owned 4 businesses in my life, this is one question that you look at along with many others before you decide what to do. Comments are appreciated ! ! !

Thank You for the info ! I am finding these in the Houston area for approximately $ 100.00 to $150.00 per machine; some are still in the box - never opened (biz/op bought). I looked at the machines and that seems like a fair price..especially at $ 100.00 a machine ? Your comments on the price.....does this seem a fair price ? TKS.

Hello to everyone at VENDiscuss ! A little background: I am looking at starting/buying a bulk route in the Houston area. I own a retail store in a Houston suburb (Spring area) for the last 15 years, and in two years my long term lease is up. My new landlord has already indicated my lease will probably double + on renewal; hence looking for a new business opportunity. I am not a "stranger" to the vending business, as I owned a full line vending company from 1976 - 1983 ( 212 pieces of equipment - 26 locations - $ 860,000. a year when sold.) I grew up in New Orleans and my father owned an amusement company (jukeboxes, pinballs, pool tables, cigarette machines, and amusement games from 1950 to 1997 when he retired. I worked for him thru jr. high and high school. When I owned my vending company I came across two different business opportunities during that time, both of them interesting but at the wrong time in my life : a bulk vending route (384 machines) and an honor box route(s). ARA services in Houston had an honor box route - 450 boxes and offered it to me FREE, if I would just take it over; their regional guy just didn't want the hassle of running a full-line vending company and a honor box route(s). The second opportunity was the 384 machine bulk route; I looked at it very closely as the numbers were very good and it was very well setup and CHEAP ! Most of the machines were Oak and Northwestern and were set up on a 30 day run cycle and the business was doing about $ 40,000 @ year. He was asking $ 5,000. cash and would throw in a 5 year old chevy van into the deal (this was in 1981). Again I passed on it ,and referred it to a friend who was a full line vendor; he bought it for his high school son and they ran it for 6 years...did quite well too. I never forgot the business and always kept it in the back of my mind as a "future thing to do". Next item - Question for Members: I have run across a number of 1800vend triple head machines for sale in Texas. I realize that most of these were bought in biz/op deals for way to much money. Generally they are reselling here in Texas for $100. to $150. each. From what I have read here at VENDiscuss so far, they appear to be an excellent machine for both service and durability.....am I right ? Any comments would be appreciated ! ! Thanks...... Neil Surgi