vendman0729 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I came across a really good deal on craigslist. This guy is selling a route in my area with 3 locations for $1900 (price negotiable) and the route grosses he says $450-500/month. If this is true then wow thats only like 4 months of gross sales ROI. He has sent me a word docuument also with all the sales figures for all 3 locations every month as well as the type of location and how many employees. I wrote the sales number based on the average I saw from his numbers. Location 1 Biggest Daycare 30 employees $230/month Blue and black Antares Combo with bill changer Location 2 Middle Thrift Store 30 employees 170/month Electronic blue 4 wide Lance snack Location 3 Smallest Furniture Store 10 employees 60/month Black manual drinks and snacks combo with bill changer Total Gros=460/month So anyways I am feeling pretty excited and happy about purchasing this route except a few issues. 1.I have bought a route before and it underperformed from what I was expecting. I hope this route doesnt underperform. I talked to the guy and he was nice. I asked him if I can check out his machines the 1st time and 2 weeks after so I can check the sales for my self and of course hopefully (I dont think he will) he wont add money to the machines. 2.I am a little worried about the antares combo. It is 40 minutes from my house. At 230/month then that means I would probably have to probably go there almost every week. Can a machine like this do these kinds of figures and maybe get away with servicing it every 2 weeks? All of the locations are around 30-40 minutes from my house and hopefully I can get away with servicing them every 2 weeks. They are a little far away I feel like. But it seems like a good deal and I think I might need to start making long drives if I want to succeed in this business. I know combos are not good machines but I feel like they might be good locations and in the future I might replace the combos with electronic. In general though should I purchase this route?. Any advice is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 junk equipment for a high price...pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendman0729 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 but its not really about the equipment........its about the locations..........the equipment I would wanna replace eventually.........replace the antares combo in a few months with an electronic combo or even soda and snack...........leave the black combo because sales are low for that locations anyways.........the electronic lance l think is ok equipment........i have a lance and it works well........just my opinion dogcow i know your very against manual combos but if they work well then i think they have their place...........if its a descent account i would get rid of it anyways like in this situation with the antares Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 but its not really about the equipment........its about the locations..........the equipment I would wanna replace eventually.........replace the antares combo in a few months with an electronic combo or even soda and snack...........leave the black combo because sales are low for that locations anyways.........the electronic lance l think is ok equipment........i have a lance and it works well........just my opinion dogcow i know your very against manual combos but if they work well then i think they have their place...........if its a descent account i would get rid of it anyways like in this situation with the antares My guess is the sales figures are high even given that $50/wk is a small acct...before you spend a lot of hard earned money why not get your yellow pages call 20-30 places in the small acct range and ask if they are satisfied with their vending. It should take at most afew hours. See how many appts u can book. I'm fairly confident you can land 3 accts like this free and u have $1900 to buy proper equipment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coinvestor Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I agree with dogcow. Three stops far away, with junk equipment, for $460 a month is not a good deal. Just the service calls alone on mechanical machines (nevermind the theft) will destroy your profit. Jd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I don't believe in Antares machines doing $55~/week and it certainly wouldn't last for 2 weeks at that rate if it were doing that much. However, your ROI being "4 months" is not correct.... realistically, after fuel and COGS, you may be getting as HIGH as a 35% profit (at $500/month) which is $150/month. It would take you about 12 months to make the return assuming the sales figures are good and the profit margin is at least 35%. I don't think the purchase price is terrible but if the sales are 1/2 of what the seller says they are, you are talking about at least a 2 year ROI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendman0729 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 I think that you guys have good points and all of these points have come across my mind...........honestly this is'nt the way I want to do vending in the future...........vending will be my full time work and career so I know I can't mess with these types of accounts later on..........however I say later on which for me are the key words........I will still more then likely now purchase this route I want to purchase this route for a few reasons 1.Experience- increase experience in vending.........I consider my self somewhat new to the industry even though I have a lot of knowledge about vending, I still don't have enough experience.......this will allow me to learn more about vending and I can gain experience which will help me towards my career 2.Investment- more locations obviously so either way even if its still not the best route purchase I am making an investment which is better then me spending money on anything else........these small accounts will add money to my overall income which will allow me to buy better machines and work on getting better locations in the future 3.Oppurtunity- good chance to go for something that I don't always have a chance to go for 4.Lower risk- I would rather purchase smaller lower accounts such as this rather then buy a large account........if I purchase a large account then I am more of putting all my eggs in 1 basket 5.Gut feeling I looked at the route today by the way with the guy.......I felt ok about it.......not good or bad.........I told him I will give him an offer tommorow.........he is asking 1900 but I will either offer 1300 or 1400 at him..........he will probably not be happy with the offer but at least it would leave me room to negotiate........I would like to pay 1600 max total if possible which is what I think might end up happening also he said he can sell me 2 locations for $150 for both and are close to these 3 previous locations 1.furniture store with 25 employees coke sells their drinks for 50 cents but another guy has an electronic combo whom their not happy with and want to replace him which is where i come in......i can put in an electronic combo myself and put in pepsi drinks and sell them for .60 cents like he does now 2.daycare with 20 employees no snack machine and they need one Also today I went ahead and decided that I am going to go ahead and purchase a nursing home location which has a cb 300 with snack combo for $1700.......the machines work fine and gross sales are around $300.......only vending machines there..........will also let me finance it for 500 every month and extra 200 at the end............I wish I could purchase more accounts like these and i would be glad to buy these types of accounts rather then the previous but o well its all good........its all good money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I want to purchase this route for a few reasons 1.Experience- increase experience in vending.........I consider my self somewhat new to the industry even though I have a lot of knowledge about vending, I still don't have enough experience.......this will allow me to learn more about vending and I can gain experience which will help me towards my career experience with what? junk equipment? that kind of experience isnt any use. a good skill is learning to pitch accounts. this is very hard unless you are already in sales. it requires a lot of practice and time to work on it but its a service business and selling/networking is a big part of it. my biggest mistake was not understanding that off the bat, i assumed product management and repairs was the most important, its really not. 2.Investment- more locations obviously so either way even if its still not the best route purchase I am making an investment which is better then me spending money on anything else........these small accounts will add money to my overall income which will allow me to buy better machines and work on getting better locations in the future $1900 can buy you several high quality used machines. Even if you buy from a dealer you can get a nice refurb soda/snack pair with a year warranty delivered for that, or if you look for craigslist deals 3 or 4 machines for that price. 4.Lower risk- I would rather purchase smaller lower accounts such as this rather then buy a large account........if I purchase a large account then I am more of putting all my eggs in 1 basket Try to get the small accts yourself, there is no reason to pay for them. small accounts are happy to have any vending even honor boxes. 1.furniture store with 25 employees coke sells their drinks for 50 cents but another guy has an electronic combo whom their not happy with and want to replace him which is where i come in......i can put in an electronic combo myself and put in pepsi drinks and sell them for .60 cents like he does now 2.daycare with 20 employees no snack machine and they need one they arent happy with the service because the account doesnt do enough business to bother giving them good service. I wouldnt bother anywhere that your competing with 50 cent drinks. I am trying to move everything to 75 cents min. think about rising costs and rising taxes. Also today I went ahead and decided that I am going to go ahead and purchase a nursing home location which has a cb 300 with snack combo for $1700.......the machines work fine and gross sales are around $300.......only vending machines there..........will also let me finance it for 500 every month and extra 200 at the end............I wish I could purchase more accounts like these and i would be glad to buy these types of accounts rather then the previous but o well its all good........its all good money this is more of a solid deal. i say skip the other stuff get this and try to locate some smaller accts or honor boxes by yourself. its valuable experience. once you work the nursing home for a few months start pitching other nursing homes in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendman0729 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 thanks for all the help dogcow...........the more i read your posts the more of what your saying makes sense........what would you pay for the 3 locations route though max if you were me........i feel like maybe i could give him a low ball offer and see what happens.......maybe 1200.......its worth a shot.......i guess i should ask, is this route even worth buying at all for any money? also i can offer $50 for the daycare account that needs a snack machine........i can do an honor box for them but then again i might need to visit them often (due to small capacity of box machine) and it woould be an extra 15 minute drive for me.......i dont know if this is a good idea.......kickstart locator also charges $50 for an honor box location and instead i guess i can get one closer to my house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Look you can do whatever you want... Its your deal. You said you want to make this your career and are looking for experience. I will suggest to you that the experience you need is in evaluating deals not operating second rate equipment. I'm on my phone and can't do a link but I really think you need to look up the cost to service thread, read it, do a few simulations to see why you will make little, if any money. Like dogcow said the nursing home is 100X better than the other deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I want even go into all the details because most has already been covered but as I like to say "run Forest,run!!!" Move along to something worth while and STOP messing around with the junk accounts. Get yourself a decent account or three that will make you some money....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 experience with what? junk equipment? that kind of experience isnt any use. a good skill is learning to pitch accounts. this is very hard unless you are already in sales. it requires a lot of practice and time to work on it but its a service business and selling/networking is a big part of it. my biggest mistake was not understanding that off the bat, i assumed product management and repairs was the most important, its really not. I think you are being a bit too rough dogcow . You can still gain experience with junk equipment... in fact, it could be the best experience ever as he may learn to stay away from antares machines and buying other routes (generally, as they are usually rip-offs). However, I bought some antares machines when I first started on my own and, as I predicted, they eventually won me several other accounts that are much better. I have not lost a single account and they have pretty much all been upgraded into electric machines. I had a contract sitting on the table of a 100+ blue collar factory but they wanted 5 machines and they wouldn't agree to a 2 year contract so I had to turn it down as my gut feeling wasn't liking it. However, If I had the equipment, I would probably have a $400+/week account from one of my little "antares" accounts... However, several of these accounts were nursing homes and offices that linked up to larger offices/nursing homes and that was my business mindset behind the purchase. I don't regret the purchase but I'm not happy about it either.... I will start hitting up the larger nursing homes in 2013. I don't plan on expanding in 2012 unless I lose an account and need to replace it (which I really don't think will happen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I think you are being a bit too rough dogcow . You can still gain experience with junk equipment... in fact, it could be the best experience ever as he may learn to stay away from antares machines and buying other routes (generally, as they are usually rip-offs). However, I bought some antares machines when I first started on my own and, as I predicted, they eventually won me several other accounts that are much better. I have not lost a single account and they have pretty much all been upgraded into electric machines. I had a contract sitting on the table of a 100+ blue collar factory but they wanted 5 machines and they wouldn't agree to a 2 year contract so I had to turn it down as my gut feeling wasn't liking it. However, If I had the equipment, I would probably have a $400+/week account from one of my little "antares" accounts... However, several of these accounts were nursing homes and offices that linked up to larger offices/nursing homes and that was my business mindset behind the purchase. I don't regret the purchase but I'm not happy about it either.... I will start hitting up the larger nursing homes in 2013. I don't plan on expanding in 2012 unless I lose an account and need to replace it (which I really don't think will happen). I understand what you are saying , but heres my general thought. He could buy the nursing home acct, and still have almost $2,000 in his pocket. $2k is a lot of money, you can get the antares machines off craigslist for a hundred bucks and locate them yourself. You had a good plan going in, the accounts in the 1st post are not going to get your foot in the door (most likely) of good producing accounts. that just my opinion . i know how much work it takes to make $2k i hate to see someone get into a bad deal. he was smart enough to ask for advice first, he should take the next step and accept the advice if it makes sense. im not trying to be a **** but I got into vending I overpaid significantly and it took a while to dig out of that hole in the end I at least have solid equipment I can move around (for the most part anyway) but i wish i had listened to advice of others who said it was a bad deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 i guess i should ask, is this route even worth buying at all for any money? i dont know you have to figure your expenses, and find out a somewhat legit figure on what those accts are bringing in honestly probably not. also i can offer $50 for the daycare account that needs a snack machine........i can do an honor box for them but then again i might need to visit them often (due to small capacity of box machine) and it woould be an extra 15 minute drive for me.......i dont know if this is a good idea.......kickstart locator also charges $50 for an honor box location and instead i guess i can get one closer to my house u can get an honor box holding 70 items or put 2 or 3 of the small ones like u see in my avatar. I have done that in some accts (2 small ones) my guess the volume wont be so good as you are thinking. I would not use a locator for honor boxes that is a telemarketer. It is very hard to locate them over the phone and very easy in person. You can look up this thread : to see about someones experience self locating. I started by hiring an in person locator to learn the business but discovered it is not very hard to do yourself its just a matter of numbers and knowing what places will accept them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.