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My trip to Parsal Vending in Oceanside, NY

Been planning on getting more chickens recently and was gonna use uship. Ended up only getting 1 bid on uship that was in my budget and after reading their feedback I passed and instead decided that I will go get them myself. Panama City FL to Oceanside NY in a Ford Ranger pulling a 5x8 cargo trailer. Google maps says 1214 miles 18h 16m. So the plan is to work at my other job (county jail) tomorrow from 5:50am-6pm, hopefully get to bed by 8pm get up at 2am and be on the road by 3am. To sa

mainor5251

mainor5251

The Chicken Journey Begins

I recently got a chance to meet with Frank Parisi of Parsal Vending. This meeting came about through another member Havending. So Anthony (Havending) knowing that I was interested in the chicken machine text me one day and asked if I was interested in meeting Frank, already knowing the guys ties to the industry I jumped all over the opportunity and told him line it up as soon as possible. So by that afternoon Anthony had lined up a meeting with Frank 4 days later. We were to meet at a home h

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mainor5251

Out With The Old, In With The New

Changed business entity to an LLC, changed name from Gulf Vending to Coastal Amusements. Ordered new business cards and started playing around with a website design (it's gonna be basic and plain).

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mainor5251

Shifting Gears

Up until this month I've been unsure about the direction I wanted to go with vending. Now that I have chosen the direction of racks and amusement machines I have begun to move it that direction. The main factor in this decision was I had got to the point where I stopped enjoying vending as much and it started feeling like more of a burden then anything. First I purchased 2 cranes that I already had locations for. Next I sold off or pulled equipment from all locations that didn't it the new bu

mainor5251

mainor5251

Serial Entrepreneur

Having owned my own business before and now building another I absolutely without a doubt know that it's the only thing thats makes me happy professionally over working for someone else. I love business, looking back I wish had went to school for it. The one thing that I enjoy most about the vending biz is the networking with other business owners and talking about ideas. Besides vending I have had a few other interest but nothing that is currently realistic without additional income to fund

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mainor5251

Let it Ride!

I have posted about this before but after yesterday I feel inclined to resurrect the topic in this blog. When a business tells you they are about to close to you remove your machine or let it ride in hopes of securing location with new tenants. Yesterday I was driving down the road and seen a car sitting in the parking lot and front door of the biz proped open. It was a vietnamese restaurant that was placed about 2 years ago. After six months the place called and said they were shutting down

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mainor5251

Future Prep

About 8 years ago I had a credit score of 750, 1 failed business in NC and 8 years later its now around 575. We currently rent and have been talking about buying for years now but have never took the time to get credit straightened out so it would be possible. Looking ahead now is the time. Got about a year left at full time job before I want to be vending full time. Want to be able to buy a house before I leave the state so I have enrolled with sky blue credit repair, who is supposed to be

mainor5251

mainor5251

Amusement Vending When the Time is Right

I've been wanting to add some cranes along with a few other kind of machines to my route for a while now. Thought yesterday was gonna be the beginning of that with 2 cranes that I was suppose to pick up in Jacksonville. Everything that could hinder this pick up seemed like it happened yesterday. It was gonna be real tight with buying machines, locks, plush, trailer rental and one crane needed new graphics. I have reservations about amusement vending only because lack of knowledge and experie

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mainor5251

Getting the Most out of Every Location

Got some different kind of machines I need to try and get onto some of my better locations to maximize revenues. Gotta get funds up to help get in the crane business. Still considering attaching some sort of narrow sign boards to candy/gumball machine stands and sell space to non competing businesses. Would mainly utilize charity stops like hair/nail salons, automotive repair shops, car dealerships, laundry mats, bingo halls, etc. I figure it might even help with locating, you could offer ne

mainor5251

mainor5251

MIA Soldier

About 2 1/2 years ago I placed a double A&A PN95 in a small bar in the town I live in, always did just mediocre. After about a year the bar closed and I never got a call to pick up the machine so I figured it was another lost soldier. Hadn't given it another thought up until about 8 months ago when the place was bought by someone who had owned a restaurant in this same town, I happened to have had a triple there. Well that restaurant had shut down about 10 months ago and I was able to pull t

mainor5251

mainor5251

Going Forward

As of late I have really been giving a hard look at my route and eventually decided to scale back a tad do to shortage of time and a new baby on the way. I work at a county jail as a detention officer. I have been on midnight shift up until tomorrow. When you work 12hrs (6pm-6am) you really don't need to be running the roads trying to service when you can barely keep you eyes open for the trip home. So I was losing a whole day every time I worked off while attempting to get back to a normal

mainor5251

mainor5251

My Operation

Heres a look at my small operation that includes home office, 8x10 storage shed for storing machines and parts, old barn used to store machines that need to be refurbed and my service trailer. [attachment=2452:50825dec3bc2e.zip]

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mainor5251

Service Cart

I started about 2 years ago using a little Stanley cart from Wal-Mart when I serviced my route which was mostly candy back then. Since then I vend mainly toys and gumballs (finally listened to will.vend and Havending) and outgrew that little cart a while back. Recently I have been going in and see what rack needed then go back out to my trailer and grab the toys I need, they are pre-bagged in 4 mil bags (a will.vend idea) purchased from uline. Then grab what gumballs and flat products I need

mainor5251

mainor5251

A&A Refurb Continued

Just got back to working out all these A&A's, gonna try to get at least 4 done a week. Already got enough locations for a dozen or so, some new locations some swapping out triples. These 3 are a darker red or what I like to call Alabama Crimson, they need another coat of paint then cleared. Got another 5 sanded and ready for priming.

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mainor5251

Brown A&A

In my quest to remove all my triples this is replacing an 1800 triple in a busy beach restaurant, too bad the owner will not allow toys or this would be a double. The owner wanted brown to match the trim in the restaurant. The front is covered in a prismatic tape I got at O'Riley's Auto Parts. And yeah this is one of them nasty melted skiitles and M&M machines that I post ed pics of a while back.

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mainor5251

Paint Box

heres a picture of what I had described in a previous entry only spent about 20 minutes on it and it seem to work fine. Got a couple ideas for cheap paint booth's when I have more time and money. Frame would be 2x2's with vizquene (not sure of spelling) as the sheathing and 3 box fans would have a paint station and a drying shelf.

mainor5251

mainor5251

I'm Back!

Well as some of you might have noticed I have not been on for a while (except an occasional quick check not signed in.) Its been a little hectic lately we moved to a new house cause our last landlords were getting a divorce and not making mortgage payments, crazy drama. I have come to realize a few things about my small route in this time. Do not bother with triples, thought I was doing ok until I started having more and more problems with the .50 mechs I was using on the 1800's. I think I'

mainor5251

mainor5251

began preping

had to wash the melted candy off before I could even sand, got about 12 machines cleaned, 10 lids sanded and primed...to be cont....

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mainor5251

A few broke down

Got out in the shop this evening a starting breaking down some machines here are some pics to show you what I'm dealing with, on the upside I've profited $3.75 so far. I got alot of stuff to do the next couple of days but I gonna try and get the rest broke down by the end of this coming weekend.

mainor5251

mainor5251

The Begining of The Great Refurb

I have been struggling lately to keep expanding but have come up with a little money and have decided to go ahead and refurb all my A&A PN95's. I bought 20 doubles and one single all with stands a while back for $300, I also have a few other from previous deals. The 41 heads I bought all have candy wheels and some still candy in them (yuk). So this blog will take you along my journey over the next month and a half getting these things refurbed and out on the street making money. Journey b

mainor5251

mainor5251

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