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How many PMMs to vend? (2013 version)


RikaKazak

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So I know this has been a topic before, and I've of course searched for it/read the old threads.  My question is more of a "nowadays" question since prices of PMM are so much higher then they used to be, even back in 2007/2008.

 

I currently set my 1800's to vend 4-6 per quarter, however I got a complaint today from a store owner saying "the PMMs aren't vending enough, but everything else is enough." (the other two are hot tamales and mike and ikes)

 

Should I up how many are vended per quarter?  Or should I switch PMMs out with something else so she's happy, and I keep my margins?  What would you guys do?

 

Thanks in advance :D

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A store owner should know better than that.

Quantity is all relative to product cost.

 

Explain to the store owner that the reason he gets more M&I and Hot Tamales than he does M&M's is because M&M's cost more to stock.

 

If the owner doesn't accept your explanation, then ask, "When buying groceries, will $5 get you as much rib eye steak as it would hamburger meat?"

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And yet there are vendors that don't support a dollar coin

 

From what I've read, it sounds like most vendors are not against the dollar coin even if their posts are negative on the subject.

They just have no expectation the dollar coin will ever come to fruition in America.

 

We shouldn't classify them as vendors who don't "support" the dollar coin because there is a difference between not supporting and not believing.

Just like one shouldn't claim I don't support peace in the world just because I don't believe we will ever have peace throughout the globe.

 

Besides the dollar coin topic is off base in this thread.

If people gripe about the number of PMM they get for 25cents, we can all be sure they will complain about the number of PMM they get for $1.

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Next time I go there do you guys think I should just switch out the PMMs for like Skittles?  That way I'm still vending solid margin items, and I've taken away the "not enough PMM per vend" issue the owner is having?

 

That's what I'm leaning towards doing.  But love the input/experience/feedback everyone has on this site, which is why I'm posting ;) 

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Next time I go there do you guys think I should just switch out the PMMs for like Skittles?  That way I'm still vending solid margin items, and I've taken away the "not enough PMM per vend" issue the owner is having?

 

That's what I'm leaning towards doing.  But love the input/experience/feedback everyone has on this site, which is why I'm posting ;)

 

That seems sensible to me.

Even if the owner had not mentioned his issues with the PMM, swapping it out for something less expensive to stock is a good idea.

There are plenty of lower cost items that people like...no need to stock something as costly as PMM.

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I had a similar situation, I explained my settings were correct and that I was willing to change product if that's what she wanted me to do. She said no to leave them in, but later I got a request for skittles just for a change up so I gladly replaced the expensive PMM's.

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So I did some more research on this.

 

Typical bag of PMM (NOT king size, just normal size) cost $1.05 with tax at my local gas station.  It had 1.74 ounces (according to the packaging) and 18 PMMs.  That means I'm right in line with 4-6 PMM per vend at a cost of 25 cents. 

 

Also I did 10 vends on my machine at home and weighed each vend. It averaged to be .4ish ounces per vend (horribly inaccurate scale I used at home, but it'll ball park it).  So I'm right in line with the weight per vend compared to a typical bag.

 

With skittles the bag was 2.17 ounces, and cost $1.08 at Lowes with tax.  It contained 58 skittles.  I'm vending 9-11 skittles per vend right now.  So I might want to up it a little bit to 12-14ish per vend.

 

Just thought I'd share what I've learned in my research.  Fill free to add how many you vend and what you guys charge.  I'm learning a TON in this thread. ;)



I just bought a used Uturn with $1 mech so I could change Peanut M&M to a $1 in my $.25 Uturns

 

VERY interesting.  I've never heard/seen someone do this before.  Would you mind updating us on how it goes?  I would SUPER appreciate it ;)

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Also just quickly wanted to add, my most profitable candy BY FAR is mike and ike's and hot tamales (same sized bag, same price).  I get them for $7.99 a bag (72 ounces) at costco.  Is that also your guy's most profitable candy?

 

My least profitable candy is Jelly bellies.  Name brand gourmet jelly beans (they are delicious, they're only in a couple machines, just testing them out) but they're $15.89 a canister and only 64 ounces.  Right now I have them vending 6 jelly beans per quarter, which works out to about 35-40% cost of goods.

 

I'm highly likely to just stop doing jelly beans, and focus on PMM, skittles, MI, HT.  But I wanted to test it out ;)

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I can't believe how much those have gone up. When I was bulk vending about 3 yrs ago or so I think they were like around $10+ per that size jar. I can't see you making any profit on them. Plus too they stick together if not enough sales.

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Yes I'm in Canada and we have a number of options in coins, my original thought was to use the $1 coin mech for 'Reeses Pieces' as the smallest setting on the UTurn convertion wheel is still too many pieces for the cost, so I thought why not try it at $1 I have already made some new price stickers (i have access to a commercial label printer) and will try it in two location first and see how it works, I'll start a new thread in two months after two service interval one swtich over and one to see whats come in...

 

Sorry to take this thread off track.

 

I resently bought three Uturns on location and they have every canister set on 5 (Peanut M&M's, Plain M&M's, Mike&Ikes, Peanuts,Jelly Beans, everything...)

I'm changing some things slowly as to not upset the ppl on location, (they emptied a whole UTurn in two weeks! i want to keep on there good side)..

 

Square is in Canada
They have 1 and 2 dollar coins

Their tomy 2 inch I've seen at 4 dollar Vends too

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I honestly just think that there is not much profit in PMMs, if you put them with something else, that is just competition against them, which would make them sell even slower. And if they sell slow at all then you WILL have stale product, possibly eliminating any profit that you had or even making you lose money. They are almost to expensive to vend these days, thats why there is almost always a discussion about how many PMMs to vend per quarter. There would be money at $.50, but then you still have the stale product issue. 

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More bad news on this issue is that raw chocolate prices have doubled in the last 6 months. I think you will find M&M chocolate products prices going up pretty soon. http://www.today.com/money/chocolate-lovers-bitter-pill-prices-are-going-8C11142184

Im done with M&M peanut, their cost of goods sold is double+ the cost of regular candy but the increase in sales is only 1/3.

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6 PMM per .25c vend, no more hopefully no less. If your candy wheel can't consistently vend PMM then don't bother.

The location must be air conditioned ,out of direct sunlight and have no other environmental conditions that would cause spoilage. Any spoilage whatsoever and PMM cannot be vended profitably.

The location must sell $15-$20 of PMM per month. Any lower volume and no PMM for that location.

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The thing is, PMM's are the most popular candy by far.  Anything else is a distant second.   You can just vend gum and skittles if you want to keep your margins high.   People don't understand or care that candy has gone up in price. They want a handful of candy for 25 cents, period.  Reeces Pieces is now the most expensive candy I vend, because of the peanut aspect. We have inflation on food prices folks, and it will only get worse since the Gov't. will not stop printing money. 

 

I vend 6-7 pieces. It's a little much, but I don't get complaints.  I am determined to start vending 1" toys and gumballs to make up the difference.    

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