The beginning of an Honor Box Route

[loach33]

I've been doing full line vending for about 16 years. I've dabbled in bulk vending for a year or so with 5 locations. After reading a lot about honor boxes I was intrigued but just didn't have the time to go out and get locations. I have a full time job, two young kids and the rest of the vending business.

But, in June a friend of mine asked if I knew of any part time work. I mentioned that I needed someone to help me out with the vending when I go on vacation in August. From there, we talk about Honor Boxes and my want to do that. I come to find out that he absolutely loves cold calling. He worked for a home improvement company years ago and loved going to door to door selling windows and siding. He was the top salesman in a rather large regional company.

Well, well, well. It could be meant to be. So, I ordered the wood grain boxes from Dennis and filled five of them. My friend is the salesman and I'm going to fill the boxes and keep him supplied. The pictures attached show the first five boxes ready to go. Today is the day when we start pounding the pavement. He is excited to get out there.

So, I thought I'd start this thread to keep you updated on an average person just trying this business out to see if it can work. I will say that the city I live in is notoriously cheap as far as cost of living. I have everything priced at $1. Honestly I look at the box and think it may be a tall order to sell some of these for $1. But, I figure there is no alternative. Multiple prices or something like 75 cents just won't work. It's $1 or nothing. It either works or it doesn't.

We're going to place these five and then give it two weeks. If it goes well with those, we'll place a few more and so on.

There are 55 items in the box with a COG of .284 cents. So, I have $15.62 worth of stuff in each box. Obviously, I can withstand some theft. 20% or less is the goal. You'll see a few things in there that may be odd like the soup, but we'll see. I plan to mix it up on the next cycle with different items

Go ahead and ask any questions, etc. Here's hoping this goes well. It will be a nice addition to what I already do.

[loach33]

Ha ha! Whoooooo!!!

Five accounts landed today. We're off and running. One health clinic and four auto repair places. One of the auto care places has the box in the customer area however it is at the front desk with someone watching.

Also another one asked about getting a drink machine in there. They have 10 employees. The only machine I have sitting around is a satellite 6 selection but I would need a snack machine to hook up to it. Defeats the purpose there. Honor drinks is a thought but I don't think I want to branch out into that already. I'll call the guy and see what he wants. Might have to send him somewhere else.

In two weeks we'll check up on them and see what happened. My guess is that we'll be moving a couple of them. I can withstand even a 50% theft on a box, but hopefully that won't happen.

Forgot to say in the first post that the sign I have posted on the box talks about how this is a local small business. Also, it mentions that a portion of the profits are donated to a couple local charities. I guess that was a big selling point....the charity angle. Three of the places said they had a box a couple years ago and it didn't work but they were talked into it using the ol', "Let's just give it a try. We'll see what happens over these couple of weeks, no obligation to you".

[PerformaVending]

Way to go! I love a good success story! Keep us posted!

[mission vending]

Congrats and good luck, would love to see regular updates.

[Rick]

If they specifically asked for a pop machine I'm betting there's a need. Give it a couple months and if the shortage stays <15%, look on craigslist and I swear at any given time you can pretty much take your pick of a half dozen dorm fridges listed locally for 40-60 bucks. Stocking a dorm fridge for them with drinks of choice for 10 blue collar employees could prove to be QUITE profitable.

VERY nice work loach - keep us posted!

[dogcow]

If they specifically asked for a pop machine I'm betting there's a need. Give it a couple months and if the shortage stays <15%, look on craigslist and I swear at any given time you can pretty much take your pick of a half dozen dorm fridges listed locally for 40-60 bucks. Stocking a dorm fridge for them with drinks of choice for 10 blue collar employees could prove to be QUITE profitable.

VERY nice work loach - keep us posted!

i would look for a glassfront small counter top bev cooler like a monster or redbull one. being able to see inside

there is a big benefit. alternatively find the thread where bob explains how he sets up his honor fridge he basically

puts drinks inside their fridge in an honor box.

i would not put any soda machine in a 10 person shop,waste of a machine, waste of time dragging it out there

you will eeventually just have to pull it and they will get pissed off. lots of places ask me for a soda machine

i made that mistake exactly once.

I've been doing full line vending for about 16 years. I've dabbled in bulk vending for a year or so with 5 locations. After reading a lot about honor boxes I was intrigued but just didn't have the time to go out and get locations. I have a full time job, two young kids and the rest of the vending business.

But, in June a friend of mine asked if I knew of any part time work. I mentioned that I needed someone to help me out with the vending when I go on vacation in August. From there, we talk about Honor Boxes and my want to do that. I come to find out that he absolutely loves cold calling. He worked for a home improvement company years ago and loved going to door to door selling windows and siding. He was the top salesman in a rather large regional company.

Well, well, well. It could be meant to be. So, I ordered the wood grain boxes from Dennis and filled five of them. My friend is the salesman and I'm going to fill the boxes and keep him supplied. The pictures attached show the first five boxes ready to go. Today is the day when we start pounding the pavement. He is excited to get out there.

So, I thought I'd start this thread to keep you updated on an average person just trying this business out to see if it can work. I will say that the city I live in is notoriously cheap as far as cost of living. I have everything priced at $1. Honestly I look at the box and think it may be a tall order to sell some of these for $1. But, I figure there is no alternative. Multiple prices or something like 75 cents just won't work. It's $1 or nothing. It either works or it doesn't.

We're going to place these five and then give it two weeks. If it goes well with those, we'll place a few more and so on.

There are 55 items in the box with a COG of .284 cents. So, I have $15.62 worth of stuff in each box. Obviously, I can withstand some theft. 20% or less is the goal. You'll see a few things in there that may be odd like the soup, but we'll see. I plan to mix it up on the next cycle with different items

Go ahead and ask any questions, etc. Here's hoping this goes well. It will be a nice addition to what I already do.

boxes look good? what are you paying your guy to locate them?

also im curious how the ramen soup goes? it didnt sell at all for me i also tried different types of ramen style

lunches none of them sold and it took up too much room in the box.

[loach33]

Update from the first week

After one week decided to run by the five places. Too early yes, but we were curious.

Health Clinic - 22 items gone, $21

Four Car repair places:

#1 - Closed this week for repairs

# 2 - 3 items gone, $2..... They took it off the counter and put it up where mice can't get to it. Well, obviously that's no good. Will pull it next time if it has to be way up high

# 3 - 6 items gone, $4..... Complained the snacks were too small for $1. Also it's in breakroom which is hot....so no more chocolate. Kept it there though and pulled the chocolate

# 4 - 18 items gone, $15.65

Will go again late next week. My plan is to probably pull the mice place. The #3 place - I'll try some pastries and some bigger chips. Yes, they're more expensive but as long as they pay I'll make money. If that doesn't pull up sales then I'll pull it. I can't imagine these auto repair shops not destroying the pastries.

So, $42.65 pulled on 49 items gone.

Happy about the theft rate. I have not seen the boxes to know what sold good and what didn't. I'll include that in another update.

Dogcow - payment to locator is still up in the air. He's a friend of mine and was looking for some partime work. It's more of a trial for both of us. I've been thinking of how to do it but we wanted to see what the sales were first. My initial thought is to pay by the hour because he's not just locating....he's the one ogoing out and servicing as well. All I do is buy the stuff and get the boxes ready. But, I want this to be an incentive thing too. So, I'm thinking of giving him a pct of sales too.....I don't know. Something we'll figure out in August as we both have the first couple weeks of August as vacations.

We'll hold steady with these accounts until the kids are back at school.

A plus to all this is that already two people have mentioned that they would like a pop machine. The first one I mentioned above (called him and he said he already got one). Just last week a pastor or a new church asked for one. Supposed to call him tomorrow. Could be OK.....youth groups etc there. Probbaly not a big time money maker though. Twice a month stop I'd imagine

[BobTHJ]

My $0.02 - keep the slow accounts and put them on longer service cycles.

2 slow accounts serviced every 4 weeks ~= 1 good account serviced every 2 weeks. You have the same number of services, the same time investment, and the same income. Your only (one-time) cost is the increased inventory and an extra box.

I have lots of boxes up high on top of fridges, inside cabinets, under desks, etc. So long as the employees know where it's at it will still sell snacks.

Expect your theft rate to slowly increase over the next 3-5 service cycles. Almost everyone pays well at the beginning. I don't worry when the theft is under 20%, but if its over I'll leave a hand-written shortage note: "The box was $6.00 short. Please catch up your IOUs. Thanks!". That works 60-70% of the time.

[loach33]

I took a quick inventory of what sold from those first pulls on the 4 locations. Only a week but I got feedback, etc so I thought I'd update here.

The ramen noodles...yes they did sell. Only had one in each spot but sold 3 of them. Problem is they take up room but $1 is a legit price for those. Other good ones - the Oatmeal to Go, the Kars nuts, the cereal bars, the Pringles.

What didn't sell.... 1 oz bags of chips (2 places made a point to complain about how small they were), Lifesavers, small bag of peanuts, Chex

With the next cycle I'm going to try larger bags of chips along with pastries. COG of that stuff is 37 cents for the chips and 45 for most pastries although 37 for donuts. Also I think I'll tape two bags of peanuts together.

My thought is that with the increased COG I will have to be quick on the draw with theft. As in, if it goes above 20 at all, one warning then out. Of course, I'll get a better sense on all this with more accounts.

[dogcow]

wow, well if the ramen sells for a buck, thats great , very nice profit item wish it had sold for me.

as for the chips, honestly i never had any complaint, i even sold LANCE CRACKERS for $1. thats a 15 cent item lol

my explanation to locations was simple. some people will "forget to pay" (never say steal) so the profit on a chips bag

makes up for the loss if someone "forgets to pay" for a candy bar .

remind them if they ever went to a hotel the mini bar prices, how much were the prices there, $3 for a snickers, thats what

it was last time i was in Las Vegas.

i wouldnt budge on the chips but thats my opinion.

yeah peanuts dont sell, idk why , only way i got them to sell was a blue colllar location i blew them out at $0.50 ea

with special mark down stickers

[loach33]

Yeah, I'll put the chips in the new places to see if they will catch on somewhere. I'll just go to less chips and more of the other stuff that does sell. Agreed on the mini bar, etc. Just a matter of getting people to think that way. But, I also realize not every place is going to be a home run. If I make $8 a month on a location and go there just once, it's nothing special but it's still about $100/year made off of doing almost nothing.

After spending $1100 last week on cold food machines going down, I'm liking this honor box thing.

[loach33]

Update before checking on locations for the third time tomorrow. we have six locations still as we have not tried locating any more since that first week. Working out the kinks. So far after 2 weeks we have $133 in sales. Shrinkage is 18.3% overall. Best location in 14% and worst is 28%

Two big changes since the first week. One is that I went with more pastries, etc that are closer to 40 cents on this last cycle. Tomorrow we'll see how those sold. In all 6 locations no one bought the 1 oz chips or some of the smaller snacks. Our cost of goods is still at 31% though.

Second big change though will give a more accurate COG count and also give us a better idea of what's going on. Here goes.....

We were taking full boxes and then just exchanging the boxes with the old. In and out in 5 minutes. Well, the problem is making adjustments to what sells and what doesn't and also dragging around boxes means they get beat up quicker. So, I've made a spreadsheet that has a beginning inventory colum where we enter what snacks are in there. When we arrive to service we quickly fill out an ending inventory to show what sold and what didn't. Replacement snacks are in the truck in plastic totes. Based on what sells well at that location we go out to the truck and grab the needed snacks. Then fill out the spreadsheet to show what is in there when we leave.

Obviously will take longer at each location but it saves time in prep work. But the big thing I think is that it will give us a real good idea on what sells and we'll be able to provide those snacks to that location instead of just guessing. And we'll have a record of what is gone to give a more accurate picture of the real COG.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

[Lake Cities Vending]

I enjoy reading your reports. I've been thinking about trying Honor Boxes also.

[mission vending]

Update before checking on locations for the third time tomorrow. we have six locations still as we have not tried locating any more since that first week. Working out the kinks. So far after 2 weeks we have $133 in sales. Shrinkage is 18.3% overall. Best location in 14% and worst is 28%

Good idea, work out your system before you "go big"

[dogcow]

Update before checking on locations for the third time tomorrow. we have six locations still as we have not tried locating any more since that first week. Working out the kinks. So far after 2 weeks we have $133 in sales. Shrinkage is 18.3% overall. Best location in 14% and worst is 28%

Two big changes since the first week. One is that I went with more pastries, etc that are closer to 40 cents on this last cycle. Tomorrow we'll see how those sold. In all 6 locations no one bought the 1 oz chips or some of the smaller snacks. Our cost of goods is still at 31% though.

Second big change though will give a more accurate COG count and also give us a better idea of what's going on. Here goes.....

We were taking full boxes and then just exchanging the boxes with the old. In and out in 5 minutes. Well, the problem is making adjustments to what sells and what doesn't and also dragging around boxes means they get beat up quicker. So, I've made a spreadsheet that has a beginning inventory colum where we enter what snacks are in there. When we arrive to service we quickly fill out an ending inventory to show what sold and what didn't. Replacement snacks are in the truck in plastic totes. Based on what sells well at that location we go out to the truck and grab the needed snacks. Then fill out the spreadsheet to show what is in there when we leave.

Obviously will take longer at each location but it saves time in prep work. But the big thing I think is that it will give us a real good idea on what sells and we'll be able to provide those snacks to that location instead of just guessing. And we'll have a record of what is gone to give a more accurate picture of the real COG.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

heres what i did, maybe it will help

i numbered every box, then i made up 2 sheets

one had 4 columns, location name, box # removed, box # dropped off , notes

the other sheet was an inventory sheet, that listed what was in the box, and the box #

so when i did the route i would bring the first sheet and just quickly jot down which box # was removed, and which box # was left

and if the location had notes like they wanted more of this or that or they were kicking me out, etc...

then when i got home i could match each box to the inventory sheet from the last cycle and figure out what was eaten.

now eventually i simplified the inventory sheet to 1 page that had these columns

box #, # of items added , # of items remaining, $ collected, shrinkage %, % of items removed

i used excel so the percentages were automatically calculated and it built a summary sheet

that showed overall performance of my route with median and averages and total profit, shrinkage and volume breakdown

for each location. this way it was easy to see what locations were keeping without a ton of work

hope it helps

[loach33]

Dogcow - Pretty much what I've done except that I don't have the boxes made up ahead of time now. Thursday I'll put an update on here with the numbers from last Fridays pull. Not having the boxes ahead of time took longer on location, however that time would have been spent at home prekitting anyway. The advantage of putting the box together at the location is that you can instantly fill if there is a request or that you find that they bought six Famous AMos last cycle. Now you put in seven this time.

I'll post the spreadsheet too. We have done it this way only one time, so I'm sure it will change over time but it did go pretty well this last time.

[loach33]

Hmmm, I can't attach an excel file? Well, the following won't make sense until I can attach it. Any help?

OK - I've got the spreadsheet updated. Since this was the first run there are a couple things on there that I can see having to change. Feel free to use it or adapt it for your use. Basically, any item that you put in your box you will enter on the cog worksheet. It automatically gets added to each individual stop worksheet. The shaded areas on the individual stop worksheets is what gets filled in by hand when at the location. The left side column shows what was in the box when you left last time. Now, fill in "What's left from last time" by just counting what is in the box right now. This shows you what was sold. Say you had 5 austin crackers and now you have zero. Well, that tells me to put in 7 or 8 this time. So, write down everything in the box and determine what you will put in this time. Before you leave write that down in the other shaded column.

Put the money in a ziplock, fold the spreadsheet and put that in the ziplock. Now when you return home you can update the spreadsheet so it's ready for next time.

There are some areas you have to manually enter data. I'm sure as I go further I'll figure out an easier way or a formula to write so it does it automatically.

[loach33]

Here's the updated totals from the last pull. Big time changes in shrinkage. We did not leave a note at places even though shrinkage was dangerously close to 20% or more (why not? just forgot). But, for whatever reason people made up for past missing money. Still six locations......on site for 4 weeks.....Shrinkage total is just 4.7%

Going to bigger "premium" snacks seemed to really work. Maybe that's why they paid. They felt the snacks were worth $1 so they paid it. Best place is actually overpaid by 6.5% and the worst is 15.9%

Sales total is $167 - actually that's just 4 locations. Two of them have been real slow and haven't really sold much at all...about $10 total.

Profit as of now after paying sales tax and making a 5% donation is running at 60%. I'll assume that will drop but I'll take anything at 50% or better.

I added a second box to our best location. This one has had about 6-10 snacks left after 2 weeks. We put in one box last Friday with 63 snacks in it. I went and added the second box Tuesday morning. I think there were 15-20 snacks already gone.

The plan is to go to a 3 week cycle after our next pull which will be next Thursday. We're also looking to add 2-4 new locations as well.

P.S. "On site" fill rather than prekitting took 2.5 hours to do five locations. These locations aren't too far away from each other but they're not exactly tight either. The plan is to get the new locations between the current locations. I think when this gets to be routine we should be able to do five stops every 2 hours. So, 60 stops a week is doable which means 180 total boxes out there. That's about $3,000 - $3,500 a month profit. Oof!!

[jpvending]

Wow, sounds like it's going great!

[loach33]

Figured it was time for an update. Still going. We got up to 9 locations but this last cycle we pulled three of them. The sales were minuscule. Most have been going for 9 weeks but a few have been in less. Total sales so far is $536. Profit off of that is $296 (That's after paying sales tax and 5% of profits to donation). Shrinkage is at 15.3%. 633 snacks gone on that $536 in sales.

So, with 6 locations the worst performer sells $3.50/week and the best does $19.95/week. We stop every 3 weeks. Three of those locations are hovering around 20% shrinkage. Right on the edge. We've left a note once, but we need to reign that in a bit. Hopefully get it to 15%.

The guy doing my route takes tubs of snacks that I organize, then he fills according to what they need. He hit 8 accounts last cycle in about 4 hours. Pulled in $183 which netted $96.

I'd love to explode up to 20-25 accounts and then take it from there, but I don't have the time and he's not ready to jump. So, we'll keep it steady right here for now.

Got to say, that mint box route is enticing. Waiting on a reply to my question on that thread.

[loach33]

Update time again. Business is still in business. I've still not opened any new accounts. Again, I don't have the time to service them and my friend who did the locating and servicing is happy with just servicing the current crop. I'd love more, but it's fine

So, we pulled another account recently. It was real slow. Like $3 a week and the shrinkage was over 20% too. Wasted stop. So, right now we're doing 3 week cycles and pulling in about $175 each time which yields a profit of around $95. It takes him 2 hours to service the four. Takes me about 1 hour I'd say to get everything ready and packed for him.

Shrinkage hasn't improved really but it's right on the edge of that 20% level. One place is 6%, one is 13% and the other two are 21%.

Since beginning I've had $882 in sales, 1,067 snacks taken and a profit of $472 after sales tax is paid and a donation to charity is paid.

Now, I'm heading over to Sheridan website to order 20 mint boxes. Time to see how that will go. My thought is that it's so simple that I should have time to do it myself. One product, in and out of the location in 2 minutes while the car runs. We'll see.

Can't resist. $200 more a month is sitting there. Seems like the perfect time to try it as well since business owners may be in the charity mood and so OK to sitting the box on their counter. More people out shopping with money in hand. And more people snacking and feeling good.

[bulkdude]

Any updates??? Just starting my route wondering how yours is doing.

[loach33]

Sorry for neglecting this. Yes, still going and still going with those same 4 accounts. It's basically a matter of the guy I have running these 4 accounts lost interest in opening new ones. I went out and tried 3 or 4 but no luck. I don't have the time and he doesn't have the interest.

But, these 4 accounts are strong. Total of $2100 in sales to date with a profit of $1050. Shrinkage at the locations is 21.6%, 21.7%, 5.0% and 11.7%

I have opened a few mint box locations as well. Just a month in. Serviced one already. $12 in there on 63 mints gone. Geez, how easy was that.

It's all a matter of pounding through the no's until you get a location. Then take care of them. Soon enough you've got a good little business. Even though I only have those 4 honor accounts, it takes me about 1.5 hours every three weeks and I pocket about $50

Good luck

[bulkdude]

Good to hear that you still have those same 4. I am looking for something to do on my days off from work so I thought I would give this a try. If it does great and I have to leave my full time job great. If it does bad at least I can say that I tried.

[treadmill]

Hey Loach. I see you like the mint honor boxes. Take that $12 and times it by say 100. I can do about 50-60 locations a day depending how far they are apart. Right now I'm at 155 locations with my locator coming in mid-April to locate another 125 to 150 for a grand total of 300 locations. Should be able to do these 300 in about 5 days. Keep it up and before long you will be quitting your full time job.