Eduardo Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hello, I plan on starting out in the business soon and I have researched a lot and continue to do so so I can avoid encountering many problems. I hope I can help out with something, but for now, all I have are questions. I plan on starting out this business abroad since the vending machine industry here is still in growing stage. In my city of population 350,000, there are few snack/vending machines. The electricity in my state runs at 220v. Q: Is there any way I could change the 110v to 220 internally? (without using big transformers.. or would they fit in the vending machine?) I will have to buy a bill validator that runs in my country's currrency. Q: Do all bill validators work with any snack/drinks vending machine? (or certain vending machines only work with specific bill validators) There aren't any vending machine techs in my area. Q: Are the many possible tech problems and repair works possible of learning or fixable by newbies (ex: via online tutorials)? I hope these are all answerable questions. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 You can get plug in converters that should handle snack machines. Not sure about soda because of the amperage draw by the compressor. Check with the manufacturers, same for bill and coin acceptance. Those probably only need to have a chip flashed. Manufacturers also have a tech service dept that you can call for help if you get stuck with something you can't figure out. There is also a lot of help to be found here. What country are you in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 call some manufacturers or look on the website and find the distributors for your country /region that is probably the best bet for a starting place. importing equipment is most likely more trouble than its worth. coinco, mars/mei, automatic products, crane national, dixie narco most likely have international distribution. also u could try the machines made in spain (if you are in europe) cant remember the maker's name offhand but they are said to be pretty reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 You can get plug in converters that should handle snack machines. Not sure about soda because of the amperage draw by the compressor. Check with the manufacturers, same for bill and coin acceptance. Those probably only need to have a chip flashed. Manufacturers also have a tech service dept that you can call for help if you get stuck with something you can't figure out. There is also a lot of help to be found here. What country are you in? I forgot to mention that I now live in Brazil even though I was raised in the US and was an adept of vending machines. The vending machine industry here is really small, I have a hard time guessing why so, if its because the majority of people here are still suspicious towards money intaking "technology" or if its because few people has had the guts to try out. I hope my new business does well. Ignorance mode on = How does getting a chip flashed work? call some manufacturers or look on the website and find the distributors for your country /region that is probably the best bet for a starting place. importing equipment is most likely more trouble than its worth. coinco, mars/mei, automatic products, crane national, dixie narco most likely have international distribution. also u could try the machines made in spain (if you are in europe) cant remember the maker's name offhand but they are said to be pretty reliable. I have researched about my country's distributors but their machines are all imported and really expensive. Now I've been researching shipping rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I forgot to mention that I now live in Brazil even though I was raised in the US and was an adept of vending machines. The vending machine industry here is really small, I have a hard time guessing why so, if its because the majority of people here are still suspicious towards money intaking "technology" or if its because few people has had the guts to try out. I hope my new business does well. Ignorance mode on = How does getting a chip flashed work? I have researched about my country's distributors but their machines are all imported and really expensive. Now I've been researching shipping rates. I think that by the time that you buy good used machines (assuming this is what you are considering), ship them, update coin mech and bill acceptor to handle your currency I would think that the cost will be very close buying from a distributor. Flashing is "reprogramming". Just need to send the unit out to a service center that has the ability to do it. Depending on the manufacturer-distributor relationship you might be stuck dealing with the distributor . Their contract might prohibit the manufacturer from dealing with you directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 I think that by the time that you buy good used machines (assuming this is what you are considering), ship them, update coin mech and bill acceptor to handle your currency I would think that the cost will be very close buying from a distributor. Flashing is "reprogramming". Just need to send the unit out to a service center that has the ability to do it. Depending on the manufacturer-distributor relationship you might be stuck dealing with the distributor . Their contract might prohibit the manufacturer from dealing with you directly. The cheapest (used) imported drink machine I've found in the country was US$2,500, snack US$3,250. Since the vending market here is still small, it's hard to find used. On the other hand, an american site (VendingWorld) has Dixie Narcos for US$600 and snack machines for US$1,195. Is this site trustworthy? At the moment, Im just checking out all the opportunities. There are no repair centers in my state. In case of malfunctions or repairs, what would you guys recommend? Are the repairs and settings learnable online? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 The cheapest (used) imported drink machine I've found in the country was US$2,500, snack US$3,250. Since the vending market here is still small, it's hard to find used. On the other hand, an american site (VendingWorld) has Dixie Narcos for US$600 and snack machines for US$1,195. Is this site trustworthy? At the moment, Im just checking out all the opportunities. There are no repair centers in my state. In case of malfunctions or repairs, what would you guys recommend? Are the repairs and settings learnable online? Don't know anything about this company, maybe someone else here can answer that question for you. I think your biggest expense is not going to be buying the machine, its the shipping and conversion to accept your currency. Once you factor that in the prices you quoted for imported machines might not be that bad of a deal. Assuming that you can make minor repairs around the house and your car learning how to repair the machines is pretty simple, you can get most of what you need out of the manuals and calling the manufacturer tech support hotlines. I would recommend that you find someone that can repair refrigeration units unless you know how to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Don't know anything about this company, maybe someone else here can answer that question for you. I think your biggest expense is not going to be buying the machine, its the shipping and conversion to accept your currency. Once you factor that in the prices you quoted for imported machines might not be that bad of a deal. Assuming that you can make minor repairs around the house and your car learning how to repair the machines is pretty simple, you can get most of what you need out of the manuals and calling the manufacturer tech support hotlines. I would recommend that you find someone that can repair refrigeration units unless you know how to do that. The site I mentioned is www.vendingworld.com You're right.. I've been contacting shippers to make estimates and kill some doubts. It is really hard to get a good machine around here that isn't new/expensive but I'm trying. About repairs, that comforts me, I do know how to fix the major cracks around the house/computer/car, I hope it helps. Also, there's a refrigeration repair on my block, I hope they understand it. What about the snack machines, other than specialized repairmen, who else might understand them? Thanks for all the help. I will continue to ask for hints/info/etc, I'm finally interested in something that is actually reachable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 The site I mentioned is www.vendingworld.com You're right.. I've been contacting shippers to make estimates and kill some doubts. It is really hard to get a good machine around here that isn't new/expensive but I'm trying. About repairs, that comforts me, I do know how to fix the major cracks around the house/computer/car, I hope it helps. Also, there's a refrigeration repair on my block, I hope they understand it. What about the snack machines, other than specialized repairmen, who else might understand them? Thanks for all the help. I will continue to ask for hints/info/etc, I'm finally interested in something that is actually reachable. IMO, if you have the ability to do minor stuff around the house then you have learned some basic troubleshooting skills. Being able to logically think through a problem is almost as important as the technical knowledge. Machines nowadays have several major components, motors, control board, coin acceptor, bill acceptor. Most of the time its simply figuring out which component is giving the problem and then repair or replace. On occasion you might have a problem with a broken wire so knowing how to work with a multimeter to determine electrical continuity is a good skill to have/learn. That will resolve about 95% of the problems that you will face, the rest can usually be resolved by getting on the phone with tech support. If you want some formal education in machine repair you might want to consider a service tech school, they usually run 3-5 days and are put on by various manufacturers. If the refrigeration repair shop can work on small systems like your refrigerator then they can work on a soda machine compressor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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