Mike32110 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Hey everyone, I'm glad that there's an established vending machine forum out there, as I have many questions. I work f/t as a registered nurse in canada, and started my vending machine business abuot two motnhs ago. I have 9 locations, with several machines (some combo, some just snack), and one coffee machine. I purchased all of these machines in locations for various prices. I bought 4 machines for $5000 CAD (equal it USD right now) that included Saeco coffee machine (I think it's the 7p plus) - Sales ~$70 a week (Adult learning center) RPD combo - $10/week (DT office, 50-70 employees) Seaga hf2500 combo - $5/week (bank break room, avg. to small sized bank) RPD combo - $40-50/week (truck repair shop) I bought 2 machines for 1700 Older AP medium size snack machine - $20/week (engineering office- 20-30 employees) Older mechanical fridge style vending machine - $5-10/week (industrial shop) I bought a full sized snack machine for $1200 AP snack machine - $60/week (Dept store snack room) I bought a saega combo machine for $1700 Saega 3500 - $40/week (tire repair store) And I bought a single mechanical (9 choices) unit for a small clothing stoer snack room for $350 unknown name - $10/week So I bought these machines off of 3 different people, and was quite dissapointed on certain machines in which I was promised sales much higher than what was observed. The worse example was the 2 units for 1700, as I was told sales were 40-50/week per machine. I found that 2 out of the 3 people generally exagorated their sales (unless the last two months were total anomalies). I also lowered the prices on many of the machines, which should if anything increase sales. Has anyone had similar experiences such as this? I'm starting to realize from a return of investment and time perspective, the coffee machine was my best purchase by far ( he wanted 2500 just for the machine originally) as it makes me about 3500-4000 a year gross, of which at least 80% is likely profit (no commission). My total investment so far is almost exactly 10k for the machines. My plan was to start with these machines, build up the sales (many of the machines were somewhat neglected due to previous owners not being able to service them properly) and get a productive inventory list for each location, and essentially get this route "running smoothly" with minimal amounts of work. My goal is ultimately to expand slowly by finding my own locations, get lockboxes on all of the machines, and eventually buy a van and get an employee to work maybe one day per week. Just thought I'd tell you my story. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserri Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Welcome Mike. Since your post is a bit more than a simple introduction, I moved it to the full line section so you can get some input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis7s Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 HI Mike, I only have 1 RDP (finally somebody else with one of these!) combo placed so I'm no expert, but a lot of those locations definitely seem to be doing poor. Mine is set up in a machine shop/engineering firm with about 50 employees and it does about $75 per week. The ones you have in the bank and office are basically taking in nothing and you should definitely try to find new locations. (try to find more of the repair shops as you seem to do much better there) Keep your eye on Kijiji if you haven't already, there are always decent deals popping up in the Calgary section. IMO paying $350 for the mechanical seems like a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike32110 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 HI Mike, I only have 1 RDP (finally somebody else with one of these!) combo placed so I'm no expert, but a lot of those locations definitely seem to be doing poor. Mine is set up in a machine shop/engineering firm with about 50 employees and it does about $75 per week. The ones you have in the bank and office are basically taking in nothing and you should definitely try to find new locations. (try to find more of the repair shops as you seem to do much better there) Keep your eye on Kijiji if you haven't already, there are always decent deals popping up in the Calgary section. IMO paying $350 for the mechanical seems like a lot. Re: Caserri: Thanks, I do appreciate it. I should let you know that I copied and pasted the main question i had into another thread and already got some really great responses, so i don't want to get in trouble for double posting. Travis, are you from Calgary as well? Or at least somewhere in Canada? I figured the sales at these locations are unreasonably low, especially the office. I am well aware that blue collar places generally do better (there's countless research showing a negative correlation between socio-ecenomic-status and nutritional choices ), so I am going to focus in industrial areas. I am lucky to live in Calgary (arguably the fastest growing city in north america) and there are TONS of new places openning all the time, so I'm going to make some strong bids on certain locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Re: Caserri: Thanks, I do appreciate it. I should let you know that I copied and pasted the main question i had into another thread and already got some really great responses, so i don't want to get in trouble for double posting. Travis, are you from Calgary as well? Or at least somewhere in Canada? I figured the sales at these locations are unreasonably low, especially the office. I am well aware that blue collar places generally do better (there's countless research showing a negative correlation between socio-ecenomic-status and nutritional choices ), so I am going to focus in industrial areas. I am lucky to live in Calgary (arguably the fastest growing city in north america) and there are TONS of new places openning all the time, so I'm going to make some strong bids on certain locations. That's the right mindset, don't let those low performers get you down, just go out and find a new location to put them in that will generate more revenue for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis7s Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I'm in Saskatoon, but I keep on eye on the Calgary ads just in case. Are your RDPs using the Coinco 9300 mech? And if so are they programmed for the 2012 loonie? I'm trying to figure out how I can do that on the cheap... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike32110 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 That's the right mindset, don't let those low performers get you down, just go out and find a new location to put them in that will generate more revenue for you. I'm in Saskatoon, but I keep on eye on the Calgary ads just in case. Are your RDPs using the Coinco 9300 mech? And if so are they programmed for the 2012 loonie? I'm trying to figure out how I can do that on the cheap... Thanks for the help guys. I am not sure off hand regarding what coin mech it is, but it doesn't accept 2012 coins. I know right now they are delayed until January for getting coin mechs changed over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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