Dave101

No worries. All good info. For what it's worth, we've paid the seller part of the money. Right now, we're transferring some of the accounts over. Spoken to some of the decision makers but far from everyone, as many of the contacts no longer exist. For the ones we did speak to. We've already told them we're taking it over. But the advice is sound. There is one location where there may be a previous contract. However, the decision maker from that location has retired I'd believe, and getting a hold of anyone is tough. The accounts themselves are a mixed bag. Some do about $500-$600 a month. Some do a measly $200, and some are satellites that need to be serviced to keep the main account. Some are seasonal, and do well in the summer but bad during winter. Cost is nowhere near $20k. Not $2k but closer to the low range. One problem is that the card readers and telemeters, we just discovered, may need to be updated. This is with Cantelope, and some may need 4G and EVM for the readers themselves. That will easily add to the cost if we upgrade all of the kits. My thinking is just to axe the card readers in bad locations, and keep it strictly cash. For good locations, we'll do the necessary upgrades. Any thoughts on Coke/Pepsi beverage machines? It can still be under the previous seller as he suggested. Just insurance coverage may be messy, as we'll profit with our own card readers on them. But it's technically owned by Coke, and account still under previous owner.

Same situation here. The seller has done it for so long, many of his contacts no longer exist, namely they've retired. So we're looking to see what can be done. Seems like that's part of the problem. In other instances, we'll even need to get the contact person as we don't have access to the facility. We'd be trespassing otherwise.

Ouch. Yeah good to know, and frankly I don't think the buyer can guarantee any of the locations. So the bill of sale is strictly for the machines themselves. I've heard 10% commission is fair, give or take. Not sure what you've been dealt but I'd agree that these little hiccups can hurt the profit. Agreed, that's what we're pushing for in terms of decision makers. We've actually spoke with 3 so far, so at least there's some acknowledgement.

Good to know there are always exceptions. I think he's more ballparking rule of thumb but I get your point.

Agreed on many of your points. I think the non compete can go either way on the bill of sale. Best thing is to just have our intentions straightened out and a step up from a gentlemen agreement. The card readers are more or less, going to be transferred to us. Including the Coke/Pepsi machines. The caveat is that the account isn't under us with Coke/Pepsi yet. I don't know if this can even be feasible if they have a minimum order quantity each month. For all of the machines per location. Heard conflicting info from the customer rep we called at Coke, who says we just need 15 cases minum to be on the truck. In which case, that's not per location. That'll be ideal but not sure how accurate that is until we speak with the sales reps/account managers. Otherwise, our only low cost option is to keep the Coke machines there. Change the eport to our account on the beverage machines, and leave the account under the previous seller. The seller did suggest this. And frankly I have no idea if that's feasible long-term, as technically we don't own them. And not exactly transferred to us either.

Thanks Chris. Yeah, I'll wait for your response. Locations are okay. Some are a mix of employees + customer foot traffic. A few accounts are satellite sites of a larger company. Regional managers are the go to I'd imagine for the greenlight.

Just replied. I mean, I respect him for being in the business and knowing more than me in the vending. But objectively he is neglecting all aspects of the business, including the sales with us.

Not the whole business. Just this route. He's looking to essentially downsize. Although for the accounts, we expect to have access to them. I don't think he's intentionally doing anything malicious, but isn't savvy in closing. Or cares to meet our concerns, as he sees the accounts as anything but a bonus. But he neglects our contingencies like moving costs, storage, etc should we not get approved by the location.

We've been doing some back and forth for a few weeks. There's over 10 locations on the route. He seems to be dodging some key questions regarding decision makers. From what we understand, some of the decision makers he references no longer work there. He seems to have been doing this for too long, and wants to wind down. Says he's just getting "older" which I believe to be true. He says he'll call decision makers, and then puts it back on us for not buying anything yet. Otherwise he'll get other buyers easily. Wants us to either buy machines as is, with some help from him should we need it without the guarantee of the accounts. He does seem pretty negligent on servicing quite a few of the accounts. And have openly stated that on some of his accounts he may get kicked out if he doesn't service them soon. You can tell he's tired of it. But he isn't properly closing, and addressing our concerns. I agree on the non-compete. I actually think that's a good idea to have that in place. However, he may balk for overcomplicating things for him. Least what I anticipate. Are you aware of the Coke and Pepsi requirements for transferring? And whether rhey would remove it from the premise themselves?

Technically, we're buying the snack machines from each location with the "transfer rights" from Coke and Pepsi machines respectively. We made it clear that we're mainly interested in the account, and he agreed to include the accounts as a bonus. These aren't all prestine machines, and they have and generally cranes & AP 7600s and 113s. But they are largely upgraded with card readers.

So I'm in the process of buying vending machines from a particular seller. It so happens that his machines are currently all on site with active accounts. Seller has agreed to give the location accounts as bonus. However, it seems like he isn't keen on getting us to the decision makers. Feels like it's a hassle for him. We want to be respectful as he's a bit older. But we obviously want to retain the account and not be removed. Or be seen as trespassing if there's nothing formal. In addition, some of the beverage machines are under Coke and Pepsi, and not owned by him. He's the account holder. We've contacted Coke and Pepsi but they seem to be slow in getting us a sales rep. In addition, they may have minimum requirements. A few questions: 1) outside of an outright contract with the location, what should we have after the sale of the vending machines to secure the location? Or is verbal agreement enough. 2) how would you proceed with the seller in a nice way? As he doesn't seem like he wants to be bothered while we obviously want to protect our interest. 3) what are the requirements to transfer the Coke vending machine accounts to us? We've called, but customer service directed us to the sales rep, who won't be responding back until 1-2 weeks. Looking forward to some guidance here.

Thanks. This is helpful and answers directly my question on ADA. Although I assume this doesn't generally apply based on what everyone is saying.

Personally, I'm speaking from ignorance as someone without the baggage of operating in the vending industry. So I'm not burned out yet. But I've heard that the vending business has grown even under Covid restrictions. I actually don't see 90% of vendors failing as anything too big. Nothing outside of normal rate of business failures, albeit moreso with people who are new to the business without proper expectations set. I guess this business is similar to real estate agents. No barrier to entry. So everyone including mom and pop can get one. But not everyone is going to do it full time, and treat it like a proper business. That's why you have 20% of successful agents and the 80% rest wash out.

No offense taken. In fact, just the opposite. The more you challenge, the better I can understand this business. I'm pretty blunt myself and quite unapoletic so in real life. Dialing back a bit, yes I'm new to vending and established this. I'm in the exploration phase currently, calling up and sourcing suppliers/techs in my area. Learning as much as I can establishing contacts, and of course this forum. So the quality of questions I'll be asking should be in line with that expectation in mind. That said, nuances like big accounts versus small accounts escape me, frankly. I'm sure youtubers and books out there don't tell the whole story, and I don't expect to learn anything outside of generalities. This is where I fill in the gaps via this forum and other vendors. Regarding your statement about mentioning scale, I'm not sure where you're referencing. Regardless, I'm in the "exploration" phase. Buying older machines and pitching to get my feet wet isn't going to wreck my bank account. However, everywhere I've contacted is telling me to go older machines as opposed to new ones as their tidbit, and it makes sense practically. I'm also told I can get away with an older machine + newer door. I'm not familiar with the general market expectations and what acceptable machines look like. In terms of business model, no I don't have one yet. Again, I'm exploring the idea and learning as much about the business before I do full commitment, and doing this full time. I can easily put together a business plan, deck, financial model, etc etc together (I have solid guys that write this for me for past businesses). For financing, I'd at least want to have a couple of profitable locations before asking for "other people's money" and know some inkling of what I'm doing before getting others involved to put money down. If I really want to go big BIG and disrupt the vending business, I wouldn't even be doing vending machines per say. I'd find a novel product based on common pain points (say for example payment), and hit up some accredited buddies to build a company, etc. In fact, I have a friend who is in the payment industry and has a large amount of business accounts across the US. He's crossed over $1b in transactions. Only a few hundred employees. So he's no Square Payment but doing insanely well in his own right with his startup. What I'm saying is this. I'm not aiming for the moon with vending machines. I'm not aiming to be where my buddy is either. I'm treating it as it is. A realistic but practical small business. Put together a legit business after I jump in feet wet, fail a couple of times, and come up with a legit gameplan after I figure out the nuances. So I will be asking newer questions here to figure things out, and hopefully shortcut the learning curve. I get the feeling that you guys have some riff raff funneling in from "business opportunity" people on other channels. Well, I'm not here to mess around. I'm quite aware that there are gaps. That's why I'm here, and that's why I'm testing the business and understand it first. In short yes, I do intend to do this full time.

So what you're saying is... Source and partner up with someone legally blind. Then use my personal connections in state contracts, and government sites to get in. Win win. I'm joking but thanks for letting me know.