Below is the answer I gave to this questions in a questionnaire for a local business magazine. I thought I would post it as a blog entry to hear comments.

[i][b]Legislation[/b] – Obama care contains calorie disclosure legislation that will effect the vending industry. The details of the exact requirements have not been ironed out, but depending on what is determined to be an acceptable solution, the implementation could be costly and time consuming. The sales tax schedule E526 (effective 4th quarter 2010) that requires sales taxes to be paid by delivery address has become time consuming to keep books since we operate in four counties. I am also anxious to see how the new 1099 requirements for 2012 pan out.

[b]Rising commodity prices[/b] – Pricing for vended products tend to lag the commodity price increases. This cuts into profits as prices in stuff like coffee spike.

[b]Fuel prices[/b] – Vending is mostly just logistics and fuel is a huge expense for us. This gets multiplied as some suppliers start adding “Fuel Surcharges” to invoices for product purchases.

[b]Sales Tax Increases[/b] - Since vending prices are inclusive of all sales taxes, any increase in sales tax rates comes directly from our bottom line and is not just collected from the customer as with most businesses. [/i]