Metro Coin Machines Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I have always placed sugar free mints and chicle gum in these locations. What are you putting in? I tried other stuff, it didnt do so well. Anybody seeing energy candy? It came and went here. Bought some of the machines at the Salvation Army store and converted them. I have placed condom and aspirin machines in some, these did OK, best in 24 hour locations I convert Acorn cabinet vistas to condom machines, aspirin machines, stamp machines, etc by putting steel panels in place of the glass, these work well, just be sure to secure them to the frame, or use the glass gaskets. I do the same with stamps and aspirin. When I service, I take a base and a head in with me, then I take the existing one off the wall, then put replacement on, and use same lid. I take the base with the coins and sold down head to the truck. I put it down in a 5 gallon bucket to carry. I put the condoms and the aspirin packs in capsules. I can service a 2 bathroom location in about 10 minutes total, including count. Bathrooms are nasty places, Im in and out of the bathroom in 2 minutes flat.I pay 20% commission on sales greater than ten bucks. I work them 6 times a year, some 5 times a year, so sales are around 40 bucks per machine. Merchandise cost is high at 50 cent vend, good at dollar vend. I pay commissions by check: they remember me that way. If they want cash, I pay in bills, and I include a service ticket, and a business card, in a pre-printed envelope with the commission payment. I have a very few I mail the commission checks to , I prefer to leave them while Im there. I wonder how Chia seeds would do? That would be a viable $1.00 vend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeFeldman Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Is it easy to convert the revive energy mint machines to sell gumballs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro Coin Machines Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 I have never looked at a revive energy mint machine in person. It appears to be a Southern Beaver, with the four quarter mech.I dont think Beaver ever made a multiple coin mech that didnt have drop through and slug reject capability, which is very very important: without this, what you have is like Seaga has, a coin mech that when someone puts a dime, penny, cardbard slug, etc in the slot, the machine is out of busines until the dime is removed ( by the operator, usually) with these beaver mechs, all non quarter or non target coins drop through to the coin box. Never buy a machine with a coin mech without drop through or reject return to customer capability. If the mech on the machine doesnt have this capability, deduct the cost of replacing the mechs from the cost of the machine. You cannot make money without this feature. Remember, most plastic machines do not have this feature, which is why they fail . I know a disreptuable operator that will clog each and every plastic machine he comes across with pennies or paper slugs out of spite. I thought the mint machine might be a Seaga machine, which is a real close knock off of a beaver, but they only have 25 cent non drop through mechs period, dont ask them any more questions, we dont sell parts, we dont support our machines, if you were dumb enough to buy our machines, you better be tough enough to make em work on your own, seeya dont wanna be ya, click. If indeed, it is a southern beaver, here is what you have: a machine set to vend small capsules for four quarters. You could buy a 25 cent mech from Beaver and swap that out, , and remove the grapics from the base and globe, , or buy a new base and globe, and you have a good small capsule or bouncy ball vendor. If you want to convert it to sell pan candy, or regular gum balls, you would buy the correct vend wheel and spring set, and simply remove the capsule vend assembly, replace it with the pan or ball gum vend wheels, and put the globe back on. It is a 5 minute change over, with cleaning time included. I would be interested in the four quarter mechs if you didnt want them. I look for these vend biz op machines, especially the folding tooth brush machines. Those are Beavers, with 75 cent mechs, and easily removed graphics, its just stickers on the base. The energy machines seemed to typically sell for an astonishing $680 each,if you bought 10 at a time, and you got a set up of two identical machines on a stand, but sometimes, you only got one machine set on a counter top, located, with 400 caps of product filled,and 200 additional fill. So, what you get are two beavers and a stand, worth probably $200 including ups shipping, and 400 capsules, probably worth $120, and a location, worth maybe 50 bucks. This is supposed to return $800.00, which, I would expect it would, in a year. However, the biz op sellers imply it will sell out in 30 days...... Over the years, I have meet a bunch of people that have bought these biz ops. My favorites are the ones that will buy the machines without locations.Wow.They have boxes sitting in a storage warehosue or basement, never touched. I know a guy that sold these kinds of biz ops. He said they would go to a good sized community,assemble and locate the machines , ten locations,or more in a day. They also had an ad on craigslist and leads from Entrepreneur magazine, USA Today, etc, and they started calling them immediatly. They jazzed the responders, telling them they were in town, putting together the route right now, and calling potential operators. They created urgency, and often closed the deal that evening, or the next day, with a cashiers check, and delivery of the keys and extra capsules of product.. They met with these buyers, often, in the very fitness club juice bars they had just located, giving the owner, or juice bar clerk , 50 bucks to 'sing' for them, saying how much they liked the machine etc. He said he and his partner could assemble and locate, in person, as well as place, 30-50 locations in 6 days, as well as close 3-5 sales in the same 6 days.$34,000 in sales in 6 days, netting him and his partner $3,000 each , plus $600 each in expenses. If the locating was hard, or the city was hard to find your way around in ( pre-GPS days) they would sell the machines for 50 bucks less, and give them the name of a locator,( they called the locator with a list fo their turn downs for re-work...and sold them that list ) and sell them just like that, sometimes, having the machines shipped, knowing full well they had just flooded the market themselves with machines in the best locations. You can see how these things make money, to hell with any worries if the stuff will actually sell.... My experience has been, to get unfamiliar stuff to sell in avending machine, you have to give it away, free sample style, location by location, which is very expensive to do.Sometimes these biz op guys would freebie out a fitness club, and put the quarters in the amchine to get the product, thereby salting the location. The new owner would work these locations, and have maybe 20 bucks in sales the first week...oh yea.... Ive always been an Oak Acorn man, although I have owned hundreds and hunderds of Northwesterns. Ive also operated Beavers, and Victors. I really like the versatility of the acorn panel vistas. Right now, I only own beavers, which I am experimenting with for vending nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherdsflock Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I have a gym location with a martial arts area that gets a lot of kids; and toys sell pretty well there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerformaVending Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I avoid health and fitness places like the plague. Their market is so specific that there isn't much that can be easily obtained that they will purchase reliably. I'm told some specialty equipment does "alright" there, but, then you are subject to how easily you can get the specialty products, machines, etc. My logic is: "Why invest in a specialty line of products for one location when I can expand more easily in a traditional location?" If I had to place one, I'd run a single with Chickles or Polar Mints if I had them on hand. A triple in a fitness place, in my opinion, is overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.