Hiriing a Route Guy

[gelaro]

I am thinking of hiring a route guy to service my route so I can do other things. I would like some input from experienced people.

My goal is to free up my time to do my "real job" and to pursue some other things. Here's my setup.

I service the route on one day a week. My gross revenues average about $1100 a week. My operating profit before taxes is about $475. I have a good contact for some trustworthy college age students who need part time work and I could trust them with the cash. I would probably end up paying $130-150 a week for one day of work. I am looking into buying some more accounts that would add a second day a week. 

What questions should I be asking and answering before I take this step? Is it worth it to hire someone at this point? Any other thoughts I need to be thinking?

[lacanteen]

If you're only working on the route 1 day per week, you're only freeing up 1 day. My nick-name is Captain Obvious. That $150 per week can buy a piece of equipment in 3 to 4 months. 

[AZVendor]

If you don't even have time to run this once per week then you should just sell it.  Can you imagine how much time it will take to train some kid and then how much time it will take to fix what he screws up?  If your job is that lucrative then you need to skip the vending.  

When I worked full time and vended in my infancy I was able to do it because I worked retail mgmt and was willing to work each Sunday which gave me every Sat and one weekday for vending.  As I grew my side business there came a time to make my real job the sidejob and my vending grew from there.  You may not have that flexibility so what is your goal for the business?  If you can't devote the time it takes to find accounts, move machines, repair machines, purchase products, not to mention managing your employee then you need to decide whether you want the job or the business.

[Southeast Treats]

I started out by buying a route from a guy doing the same thing.  Just enough stops for a part time route but he was too busy, and was losing money trying to pay someone to service locations.  No training or supervision, and the paid guy was coasting along collecting his check, and costing the owner money with poor service.