Small account wants combo machine - need your advise on what do do

[JCS Vending]

I just got a new account today for an honor box. It's a Town Hall which houses the Town Clerk and approximately 20 employees total. The public does go into the office and they hold court twice a week.

While discussing the honor box placement they asked if we do the larger soda and/or snack machines. I said we did and asked them about the pepsi machine in the hall, she said it's leased through pepsi and she collects about $80/month out of it. She orders about $240 in soda from them about every other month. She said it's a pain for her to order, stock etc. and would just like to have me come in with a combo machine for both soda and snacks (they don't have enough room for 2 seperate machines).

They are quite small, I'm not sure what to do.

Any advice?

[moondog]

That is kind of a tricky one. Normally I don't use combo machines unless there some kind of political advantage. I see them as a "pie sweetener" to satisfy a larger account. Not being in the honor box biz, I'm not sure how important this account is to you but since it's basically the city hall there might possibly be some ancillary gains.

Since the soda machine only does $80 a month, I doubt that a snack portion would do more than $40. Around here, that won't get 'er done. You might offer as a compromise to

take over the soda machine (or use your own) and nicely explain the ramifications of snack machines - expiry etc.

Good luck

Ps. A good combo machine (AP or Crane) is going to run you about $1,500 refurbished. A crappy one (Antares, Sega, Genesis) will cost less but I personally wouldn't have one.

[dogcow]

That is kind of a tricky one. Normally I don't use combo machines unless there some kind of political advantage. I see them as a "pie sweetener" to satisfy a larger account. Not being in the honor box biz, I'm not sure how important this account is to you but since it's basically the city hall there might possibly be some ancillary gains.

Since the soda machine only does $80 a month, I doubt that a snack portion would do more than $40. Around here, that won't get 'er done. You might offer as a compromise to

take over the soda machine (or use your own) and nicely explain the ramifications of snack machines - expiry etc.

Good luck

Ps. A good combo machine (AP or Crane) is going to run you about $1,500 refurbished. A crappy one (Antares, Sega, Genesis) will cost less but I personally wouldn't have one.

the drink machine does 120 a month, 80 is the net

20 employees is on the edge of a worthwhile acct. if i had a machine laying around i would do it, but i wouldnt put out money for one except a drink machine. i would just offer to take over the drink machine for her and explain she will make money for no work

(commission). tell her you will put in the honor box and see how it does and follow up with her later.

now my opinion on combos, i do not own any however i like the older USI combos w/ satilite drinks, yeah they are a bit bigger BUT you can disconnect the soda machine part and still have a nice snack machine for use in other locations making it more versitile than the other makers combo units in my opiniion plus USI is a reputable brand. also ive seen them cheap on the secondary market, $800 or so, not bad when u consider the drink mach capacity is fairly decent if using cans.

[JCS Vending]

Thanks dogcow. She showed me her record book, she's litterally pulling $80/month out (not $120) so $80 is gross

I can't take the drink machine over, she's leasing it through Pepsi. I'm thinking maybe get a drink machine in there and put the honor box on a table next to it. If it sells like wildfire then I'll maybe put a smaller snack machine in (4 across rows) but if not will take a chance and see how the honor box does. I'm not totally comfortable with this though, even a drink machine is $1000 delivered around here. At $80/month gross it'll take me 2 years to even pay it off.

[dogcow]

Thanks dogcow. She showed me her record book, she's litterally pulling $80/month out (not $120) so $80 is gross

I can't take the drink machine over, she's leasing it through Pepsi. I'm thinking maybe get a drink machine in there and put the honor box on a table next to it. If it sells like wildfire then I'll maybe put a smaller snack machine in (4 across rows) but if not will take a chance and see how the honor box does. I'm not totally comfortable with this though, even a drink machine is $1000 delivered around here. At $80/month gross it'll take me 2 years to even pay it off.

so every 60 days she is buying $240 in drinks but pulling out $160 in money, how does that work?

[JCS Vending]

That's what I was thinking. I saw her record book, she pointed and showed, "every other month I place an order with Pepsi for about $200-$240. Generally I pull about $80 out of the machine each month. I read her numbers in her record and saw them with my own eyes. Doesn't make sense I know?!?

[moondog]

Those numbers definitly don't add up. What we do know is that you've got an account with 20 people, so like dogcow says. it's real marginal. That USI combo he mentioned might be the best choice - there's several different models and a lot them "slave" the drink side to the snack machine so you only have 1 validator, coin mech and control board to deal with. USI is made by the Wittern group which also owns FSI and a few other smaller brands. They're usualy made somewhere around Des Moines and are kind of like GM in that their Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles and Buicks are all the same. I've owned FSI's that are exactly the same as USI's I've owned - vend motors, control boards even the trim is all the same.

I've never had a combo machine do more than $120 a month but mine are located in management offices so we're not talking about 20 people using them either.

If it grossed $120 per month could you live with that?

[moondog]

dogcow

"so every 60 days she is buying $240 in drinks but pulling out $160 in money, how does that work?"

That's how all government facilities work

[mission vending]

As a small vendor you need to weigh the cost of the equipment and long ROI over getting some incremental increase in volume of perishable items that you now would not need to throw away.

Please let us know what you wind up deciding.

[JCS Vending]

Thank you so much for all of your responses. Could someone please explain to me why so many posts I've read say that their combo machine never did more than $100 or $120/month? Is it because of the small amount of inventory it holds?

[falls]

Could someone please explain to me why so many posts I've read say that their combo machine never did more than $100 or $120/month? Is it because of the small amount of inventory it holds?

I think this is more to do with the vendors rather than the machine.

From what I can see vendors generally only place combos in accounts as an ancillary to the main vending operation (such as a small break room remote from the main machines), or because of specific requests from the site owner. Combos hold a small amount of (each) product and require frequent servicing if they are the only machine in a busy location, and as most vendors try to minimise servicing costs they are not cost effective in a really busy location.

I run a couple of Combo machines (because I didn't know better when I started, and because of physical size), and I can pull $300 a week from the machine in our peak season, but I top up the machine after work each day, and do a full fill once a week to manage this. Because the machine is a 150 metre walk from home and 120 metres from work it's no imposition to do this. If I had to drive 30 minutes each day to top it up I'd probably be cursing the machines as well.

my 2c

[QualitySelectionsJ]

I also started with some of the worst combos (Genesis). Capacity is bad. 70% empty gets me around $197. I'll use them and discard them when they break. I wouldn't give them to my worst enemies.

I would get a used soda, Dixie 368, or 440 for your location. I can find them for $600 sometimes. Bulletin board at distributors or Craigslist.

I'd place an honor box or 2, and try to let the equipment run low before servicing to stretch your dollar.

Good luck.

[mission vending]

Thank you so much for all of your responses. Could someone please explain to me why so many posts I've read say that their combo machine never did more than $100 or $120/month? Is it because of the small amount of inventory it holds?

A simple explanation is that if the location is doing 200-250 a month then it needs full sized equipment, if you don't do it for them someone else eventually will. At that kind of volume you will need to service 2X a week, due to its limited capacity in terms of # of items it holds. The other option is to have multiple rows of the favorite items (2 rows of cheetos for example) which further reduces selections available to your customers. A combo set up will have 19-23 snack and 6-8 soda, full size equipment will have 30-40 snack and 8-10 soda so further reduction in selections makes more likely they will entertain offer from other vendors.

[ANDERSONVENDING]

A simple explanation is that if the location is doing 200-250 a month then it needs full sized equipment, if you don't do it for them someone else eventually will. At that kind of volume you will need to service 2X a week, due to its limited capacity in terms of # of items it holds. The other option is to have multiple rows of the favorite items (2 rows of cheetos for example) which further reduces selections available to your customers. A combo set up will have 19-23 snack and 6-8 soda, full size equipment will have 30-40 snack and 8-10 soda so further reduction in selections makes more likely they will entertain offer from other vendors.

There are exceptions to every rule as the saying goes.I have a USI Combo that has 27 snack and 6 drink.The location does 115 to 145 twice a week.I tried to get them to go for a 32 select and 10 select drink but break room space is where the problem comes in. They were squeezed for room for the combo so I have to service twice a week.I also have a 10 select drink in their other area and next week I will be installing another drink machine in another area.

John