bulkvendingwizard Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I currently have no machines out on locations as I am just starting out in the vending world. My goal is to be at 100 locations by the end of 2012. By using locators if i can get 9 locations a month ill be there. I just purchased 200 beaver vending machines. I plan on using these on my route and selling some off as I go. I think I am going to try using 3 different locators in order to get this accomplished. Ive got the machines, ive got the capital, I just need the insights of vendors like you to help educate me the the operations of having a route. So.... My new years resolution is to have 100 locations by this time next year....what do you think.... is it possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLM Vending Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 what r u sellling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkvendingwizard Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 Product wise I am going to be selling toys and gumballs...maybe candy here and there... Machine wise I am going to be selling off some of the beavers that I have. They are the small and tall globe beavers with cash boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22443360 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I am sorry to say, but you will never make it, only working with locators. Buying machines and product is no problem, its easy, everyone can spend money. But vending is really about the locations, and not much else, of course you need product and machines, to account for everything, a company, van and all that stuff. But all these things, are just you, buying stuff. For any business to be succesfull, you will need to sell stuff, so what is it that you will do? What will you sell? I didnt see anything about you locating? Locators can be good to boost a startup, but you will fail compleatly, if you only rely on that, its impossible. If it was that simple, dont you think every single person on this board would be doing it already, if it was truly profitable that way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewm451 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I had a similar plan, it all seemed so simple, then fell apart. Now i have about 80 machines in my garage. Lucky I am only on the hook for about $2000. Oh wait a year of paying insurance for nothing....$600 more. Can i turn it around? probably, but i hate locating. I want to take a second go at it, but I have told myself i have to get over not wanting to locate or there is no point. Locator's get mediocre locations. A few great, mostly terrible. I lost many locations, some have closed, so did not want the machines anymore, some machines got stolen or 3 more machines came beside mine. Seems some locator's reuse the same locations with if the operators are using different charities. No problem i though, i would just not accept locations with other machines. Great idea except when you are the first one and after 3 months 2 more machines pop up beside yours! Sometimes locations decided they want to use their own machine, or someone with a shiny rack that pays commission pushes you out. So now you are losing a few machines a month, instead of paying for 9 locations you are paying for 12 or 13 a month. Another reason why i failed---there i finally said it, failed--- is organization. I did not start with a good filing and inventory system and once you are behind it is almost impossible to catch up and get yourself organized. My advice, learn from my failure. I am still deciding if i want to give it a second chance. If i were you i would cancel my order of 200 machine if you can.(Although you were smart enough to buy quality, i was not.) Buy a few machines and try and place them yourself. See if you are like me and would rather go to the dentist. Talk to an accountant, an actual accountant not your cousin bill who does your neighbors taxes and find out how to do your books properly. Do you use a first in first out inventory system or first in last out?(see i told you that you need an accountant!) Register your business and have someone who knows graphic deign make you a logo, it does not cost much, chances are there is a student in a graphic design college near you who would do it on the cheap. I cant say you will succeed if you do these things, heck you may succeed without doing them, but I didn't do them, and look at me now, a garage full of machines (they are stacked like a pyramid, i us to call it my vend-amid not its my Fail-amid a beautiful monument to a poorly thought out plan) I know i am sounding pretty down on the whole industry. I am not trying to discourage you, many people make money in this. But if it was as easy as just making a few phone calls everyone would be doing it. There are no free lunches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dperry Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I had a similar plan, it all seemed so simple, then fell apart. Now i have about 80 machines in my garage. Lucky I am only on the hook for about $2000. Oh wait a year of paying insurance for nothing....$600 more. Can i turn it around? probably, but i hate locating. I want to take a second go at it, but I have told myself i have to get over not wanting to locate or there is no point. Locator's get mediocre locations. A few great, mostly terrible. I lost many locations, some have closed, so did not want the machines anymore, some machines got stolen or 3 more machines came beside mine. Seems some locator's reuse the same locations with if the operators are using different charities. No problem i though, i would just not accept locations with other machines. Great idea except when you are the first one and after 3 months 2 more machines pop up beside yours! Sometimes locations decided they want to use their own machine, or someone with a shiny rack that pays commission pushes you out. So now you are losing a few machines a month, instead of paying for 9 locations you are paying for 12 or 13 a month. Another reason why i failed---there i finally said it, failed--- is organization. I did not start with a good filing and inventory system and once you are behind it is almost impossible to catch up and get yourself organized. My advice, learn from my failure. I am still deciding if i want to give it a second chance. If i were you i would cancel my order of 200 machine if you can.(Although you were smart enough to buy quality, i was not.) Buy a few machines and try and place them yourself. See if you are like me and would rather go to the dentist. Talk to an accountant, an actual accountant not your cousin bill who does your neighbors taxes and find out how to do your books properly. Do you use a first in first out inventory system or first in last out?(see i told you that you need an accountant!) Register your business and have someone who knows graphic deign make you a logo, it does not cost much, chances are there is a student in a graphic design college near you who would do it on the cheap. I cant say you will succeed if you do these things, heck you may succeed without doing them, but I didn't do them, and look at me now, a garage full of machines (they are stacked like a pyramid, i us to call it my vend-amid not its my Fail-amid a beautiful monument to a poorly thought out plan) I know i am sounding pretty down on the whole industry. I am not trying to discourage you, many people make money in this. But if it was as easy as just making a few phone calls everyone would be doing it. There are no free lunches. Sorry to hear that Andrew. I know how you feel. The funny thing is, I've come to enjoy locating. Its easy to do, just not easy to get locations. Sometimes its almost easier to get locations than it is for me to service my locations. When you go locating, its almost better to get a "no", because I didn't want this or that location anyway, I was only asking for the practice. Sometimes I feel like a dog chasing a car. What will I do if I actually catch the car? When I'm out locating, I'm not in the office working my 8-5 job, so that's always a plus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dperry Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Product wise I am going to be selling toys and gumballs...maybe candy here and there... There is no way you will find any quality locator who will locate toy racks for you. Much less 3 different locators. They all seem to specialize in charity candy placements. I believe popladay will be able to do that for you, and some new locators on this board have stated they will do toy racks too, but I suspect that 100 locations is going to be a trial for any locator. How many heads per location are you envisioning? What kind of beaver machines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Can i turn it around? probably, but i hate locating. I want to take a second go at it, but I have told myself i have to get over not wanting to locate or there is no point. let me ask you, what is it exactly that you dont like about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Bulk Vending Wizard. You can do it. About 25 years ago I built up 135 stop bulk, soda and snack vending business all by myself with absolutely NO CLUE what I was doing. I did it as a "hobby" and frankly, I was very lucky along the way. The key principles for me then (and now) were that I never stole stops from anyone (Don't want the bad vibes), and I didn't prequalify. It was A LOT of work but I had a very substantial side income but had to dismantle the business after 7 yrs due to marital problems. I just decided to get back in to vending this past March now that I'm getting closer to retirement and although I love my professional career, I am beginning to grow weary of the relentless stress and 18 hour days. The thought of 8 hour days spent filling up gumballs and counting quarters while listening to my ipod sounds relaxing! The one advantage we all have now over our brethren years ago is the internet; it has made exchanging information and obtaining equipment easier than ever! So back in March I began using Kickstart Locators to obtain my spots. I simply do not have time to schlep around looking for locations. They have provided about 45 spots so far and for the most part the locations have been good to excellent for my needs. If I had tried to locate myself I probably would have 5 locations since I have no time. Right now we have finished locating my triples and now we are locating about 30 single head gumball machines I bought on Craigslist for $20 apiece. I have limited availability and can only do this on weekends and so Kickstart will send me 1-3 locations for drop off every week. As I said earlier, I don't pre qualify and the only reasons I won't place a machine are that the owner changes his/her mind and refuses, there is no physical space to safely place a machine, or the location is not safe. Eventually, as opportunities present themselves, I will expand into racks (I need to learn more about toys), but for now the core of the business will be gumballs. It sounds like you have excellent top of the line equipment too, so I wish you all the best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewm451 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 When I think about it more, I think I blame not liking locating on my lack of success, however it was probably my disorganization. Seriously get organized before you go further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 What about turnover??!! It needs to be part of the "formula"!!! That would include removing dud locations, theft, vandalism, closed businesses, ant attacks and evictions. Probably safe to assume 40% re-locates on new locations, so plan on relocating about 40 of those 100 spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lak20019 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 What about turnover??!! It needs to be part of the "formula"!!! That would include removing dud locations, theft, vandalism, closed businesses, ant attacks and evictions. Probably safe to assume 40% re-locates on new locations, so plan on relocating about 40 of those 100 spots. Ditto what Jax said. Turnover needs to be a major part of your formula, especially in today's economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sterling Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Simply said, NOBODY will treat your business like you will. IMHO locators are basically useless. They are hired help with little to no accountability. They just want to put the machine in and get paid. They don't care about how long it will be there, how good a location it is, and sometimes even if you have permission to put it in. Vending is ALL ABOUT THE LOCATION. Sure there are other aspects of the business, but they are minimal in importance in comparison. You need to meet the owners and develop a rapport and relationship otherwise locating is a ongoing uphill battle. It is actually an ongoing process period anyway but doesn't have to be one in and two out. Which is what you find with locators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Simply said, NOBODY will treat your business like you will. IMHO locators are basically useless. They are hired help with little to no accountability. They just want to put the machine in and get paid. They don't care about how long it will be there, how good a location it is, and sometimes even if you have permission to put it in. Vending is ALL ABOUT THE LOCATION. Sure there are other aspects of the business, but they are minimal in importance in comparison. You need to meet the owners and develop a rapport and relationship otherwise locating is a ongoing uphill battle. It is actually an ongoing process period anyway but doesn't have to be one in and two out. Which is what you find with locators. You were reading my mind. Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkvendingwizard Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Metro, Thank you for your support. Thusfar I have all of the machines cleaned up and ready to be put out on location. I have contacted a couple of locators test out their services then I am going to make a large purchase from the locator that gives me the best locations overall (Large meaning 75 locations). I am using A&A global as a supplier for toys, parts, and other misc items. I am going to be using SAMS CLUB for PMM candy. I am going to limit my inventory to start with to nerds gumballs, dentyne ice, 2 types of bouncy balls, and PMM's. As time goes on I will insert different products to cater to the locations needs/requests. I am going to target restaurants with double heads with gumballs and bouncy balls. On the candy side I am going to just target hair salons to start. I am using the NCCS charity. My only concern is that there are so many NCCS machines im afraid more locations are going to say we are already supporting NCCS. From what I have been reading i think the biggest mistakes vendors are making is the amount of time in between services, quality of machines/merchandise, and willingness to expand. I do know that turnover will be a major factor in this mission but one thing to consider is that if you monitor your route meaning monthly and replace anything that isn't generating decent sales that eventually let say after a year I should have cleaned house so to speak and have gotten rid of most bad locations. My biggest fear is having businesses close up without notice and taking these machines as they weren't cheap. One idea I had was to obtain the contact person's email address and keep in close contact with them in between services to ensure that everything is going smooth. The best thing to do is think positive, move forward, and keep on going.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Drop the Dentyne Ice. They don't sell and the COG's are way too high. There's nothing wrong with using locators for some of your route. Do the majority yourself though. Believe me, it will be the best move you make for your business. Why waste 30 to 40 bucks on a location that could go bad after a few months? Do it yourself and save that money for product and more machines. You have the right attitude. You just have to fine tune your goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Drop to one bb and add either a one inch sticky or one inch moustash Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkvendingwizard Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 I was told that about the dentyne ice gum from another vendor...Ill take your advise on it..... I am going to use a locator just to get the first 100 machines out then ill be doing some locating myself and some using the locator. I plan on purchasing another 100-150 beavers around march so I am hoping that using locators I can get the majority of the first 100 out. I definatley have the right approach and ideas I just need to fine to things as you said...if you have any suggestions or advise please throw it at me. Thank you for your thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb5580 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I was told that about the dentyne ice gum from another vendor...Ill take your advise on it..... I am going to use a locator just to get the first 100 machines out then ill be doing some locating myself and some using the locator. I plan on purchasing another 100-150 beavers around march so I am hoping that using locators I can get the majority of the first 100 out. I definatley have the right approach and ideas I just need to fine to things as you said...if you have any suggestions or advise please throw it at me. Thank you for your thoughts I cant get 2 of the locators on here to secure locations for 5 of my machines in the last month, so 100 in my experience is going to take a very long time. You should take these other guys advice and try to self locate as many as you can in addition to the orders you make with locators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dperry Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I was told that about the dentyne ice gum from another vendor...Ill take your advise on it..... I am going to use a locator just to get the first 100 machines out then ill be doing some locating myself and some using the locator. I plan on purchasing another 100-150 beavers around march so I am hoping that using locators I can get the majority of the first 100 out. That all sounds very ambitious. Be sure to keep coming back to keep us informed of your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkvendingwizard Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 I think that it depends on the locations area and saturation when the locators are locating. its best to give a 50 mile radius and be diverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkvendingwizard Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 well here is my update. So far I have 4 locators working to obtain locations for me. I have them targeting restaurants in a 50 miles radius for now then i will expand into candy machines in hair salons and breakrooms. I think that im off to a good start thusfar. By the end of january i will have 20-25 locations secured for me of the 25 im sure ill be having 10 relocated for february but you never know i might get lucky especially since these are restaurant locations. I have learned from various forum members that gumballs and toys is the way to go because of the COGS. I am waiting for toy wheels to come in so the locations that I get ill be putting single heads with double bubble gum for now then upgrading to toys. I called my local sams club and they stopped carrying gumballs. But there is a Sams about 45 mintues away that stated they had 10 boxes. Ill be making a gum purchase this week and getting ready to drop these machine off. Any imputs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dperry Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 well here is my update. So far I have 4 locators working to obtain locations for me. I have them targeting restaurants in a 50 miles radius for now then i will expand into candy machines in hair salons and breakrooms. I think that im off to a good start thusfar. By the end of january i will have 20-25 locations secured for me of the 25 im sure ill be having 10 relocated for february but you never know i might get lucky especially since these are restaurant locations. I have learned from various forum members that gumballs and toys is the way to go because of the COGS. I am waiting for toy wheels to come in so the locations that I get ill be putting single heads with double bubble gum for now then upgrading to toys. I called my local sams club and they stopped carrying gumballs. But there is a Sams about 45 mintues away that stated they had 10 boxes. Ill be making a gum purchase this week and getting ready to drop these machine off. Any imputs? Where are you getting your machines from? A&A sells gumballs for about $20 a case, plus shipping. But if you are going to be buying machines and stands too, the shipping cost will be negligible if added together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkvendingwizard Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 I bought 150 beavere rbs machines from craigslist. They are good machines with cash boxes. Im using A&A as my toy distributor. Local sams isnt really local 45 miles away. Gumballs 18.88 per box and sams membership is 35.00 + another 25 in gas costs. Almost cheaper to have them mailed to me...but since i need them in a hurry this will be the way to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I need some imputs too if anyone has some extras. Must be like a henway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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