Review of mainstream locators: goal of 50 entirely through locators

[Nategeli]

Hello all. I first had the notion of getting into this business about a month ago. 2 weeks ago I purchased a lot of 50 vendstars for pretty cheap (Don't hate ). I am active duty army, so my time is somewhat limited when it comes to locating. Yes I know people still pull it off with full time jobs, and I may progress to that point, but for now I wanted to just give locators a try to get out my initial 50. I may be making another large purchase of 80 better quality triples in the near future, so there will be plenty of time for self locating still.

With that being said, my goal for the first 50 machines I place is to have them done through the major locator companies. This includes, first choice, LRU, Eddie, and possibly Kickstart. At the time of this writing, I have 17 machines placed. I will be providing all data related to these locations in this thread as a reference point for others.

Eddie Bauer:

Eddie was the first person I used to place some of my machines. He had a "special" running at the time, which was 6 locations for $150, or $25 per location. Not a bad price in contrast with some of the others. The one thing I disliked is he charges upfront for the entire payment. From the time I actually placed my order, to the time that I was given all 6 locations was under 4 days. Pretty impressive turnaround time in my opinion. Here is a breakdown of the locations I was given.

**** Cuts & Styles: Small hair salon.

***** T's Chicken Fingers: Chain fast food restaurant. Had 1 other machine already in there, but I put in different product.

****** Comer BBQ: 1 other machine, looks like it didn't get serviced often.

*** Street Bar - Be- Que: 2 other machines in there, both from the same owner, both vending GB and chicle. Location looked good so I kept it.

***** Transmissions: 1 other machine, single with GB.

****** - Buddy: Cell phone store.

Other notes: Communication was very good I grilled Eddie with a ton of questions before ordering his services and he was very patient and responsive. Additionally, one location I turned away because there was an 8 way UTurn in there. He replaced it with no hassle. Overall a positive experience. Profitability of the locations remains to be seen, but I will do my initial 2 week service route in his locations on monday and update then.

First choice locators:

From Kandy's thread, it seemed like he (and others) most recommended first choice and LRU, so I knew I was going to give them a try. I ordered 5 locations with them at a cost of $50 per location. A bit steep in my opinion, but what I liked is that they do not charge you anything until you have placed your machine in the location they provide. They got my 5 locations within a week.

Extended Stay America: Was placed in the laundry/snack room of the hotel. 2 full line machines, plus 1 other double in there vending GB and caps.

Super 8: Placed in the hotel lobby.

***** Doctor: Small lobby in a car shop.

**** Transmission & Auto Repair Center: Medium sized lobby in a repair shop.

**** & Ed's BBQ: I am most excited about this location than any others. Very local BBQ place that was packed when I dropped off. 1 other triple that looks like it hasnt been serviced in a year. Very hopeful for this spot.

Other notes: They were pretty responsive for the most part. One annoying thing: anytime you email them you will get an automatic response email which gets really irritating. Not a big deal, but just pointing it out. Overall I think the quality of these locations APPEAR to be potentially more profitable than those of Eddie. Time will tell.

Locators R Us:

I went with the promo that they were running and got 5 locations at $33 per location, plus 1 free location. Ended up being $165 total for 6 locations, just slightly more expensive than Eddie. Another good thing is they have a good warranty policy on their website. Obviously I have yet to test that out, but their posted warranty policy was better than the other 2 services. Also, they charge you half of the fee upfront, then the other half once you have placed all the locations. Pretty reasonable. They were also good with the communication, and typically got back to me within a day or two on any questions I had.

****** Auto repair: Small auto shop with 1 other triple that has no candy and has not been serviced in what seems to be years.

************* Hair And Nail Salon: medium sized salon, placed my machine in a sort of break room with a soda machine.

****** Nails And Tan: Large salon shop with a big seating area.

*******l Indian Cuisine: Large, nice looking indian restaurant that was pretty full. There is a large entryway that has nothing in it except for a newspaper stand; potential for a rack upgrade in the future if sales warrant it.

**** Automotive: small auto shop.

Other notes: As far as quality of locations, I would say that LRU thus far has provided the best looking locations, with the least competition. But again, only time will tell.

Overall:

I would say at this point, without having made any pulls, I would give advantage to Eddie and LRU, based purely off the price. Although first choice does not charge until after they gotten you your locations, they still charge almost twice as much for their locations as the other two.

Obviously I will update with future pulls and as I add more locations with each service. I think I will give each one of the three another 5-6 location order, and may give Kickstart some business just to get a taste of the full spectrum of the locating services.

Hope this helps!

[Nate9303]

Nice review. I used LRU and First Choice for about 1/3 of the 30 I have out. LRU got me one very profitable location out of five. First Choice got me two very profitable locations. They also got me two very consistent performers. Only one of their locations was a low performer. LRU has given me some stinkers. I learned not to accept everything and refused some. Both of these services are honest with their warranty.

Now that I have more experience I feel more comfortable with locating. I embarrass my wife and kids by asking for the manager at every restaurant we go to. Two weeks ago I scored a rack location, a double location, and a possible future rack from the talk. Turned out the manager was the owner of the restaurant as well as three others in town. SCORE. Good Luck.

[dogcow]

Now that I have more experience I feel more comfortable with locating. I embarrass my wife and kids by asking for the manager at every restaurant we go to. Two weeks ago I scored a rack location, a double location, and a possible future rack from the talk. Turned out the manager was the owner of the restaurant as well as three others in town. SCORE. Good Luck.

i do the same, because you are patronizing their business is much harder for them to blow you off, only a few times it hasnt worked.

[Nategeli]

Thats a pretty good idea, I may have to start embarrassing the lady when we go out haha

[cashman]

Great Job ! I'll be following this thread to see whats going on with the locators, Thx.

[Nategeli]

Have to had back to work shortly, but made my first pull. If you would like to know more about the revenue, my report can be found here. I will update this thread with some pertinent data shortly.

Thanks for all the positive responses thus far

[jpvending]

Nice review. I used LRU and First Choice for about 1/3 of the 30 I have out. LRU got me one very profitable location out of five. First Choice got me two very profitable locations. They also got me two very consistent performers. Only one of their locations was a low performer. LRU has given me some stinkers. I learned not to accept everything and refused some. Both of these services are honest with their warranty.

Now that I have more experience I feel more comfortable with locating. I embarrass my wife and kids by asking for the manager at every restaurant we go to. Two weeks ago I scored a rack location, a double location, and a possible future rack from the talk. Turned out the manager was the owner of the restaurant as well as three others in town. SCORE. Good Luck.

I will say that LRU has got me one GREAT location but all the others have been horrible or have outright been refused. And I only ordered two locations from them and it's been a few months. I think my area is just really difficult to place because there are so few independently owned places.

But last cycle when we were out servicing I decided to eat lunch out. Specifically chose a restaurant in the same plaza as an existing location. And when I ordered I asked if she was the owner (she was one of them) and if she'd be interested in a vending machine. She said she'd have to pass it by the other owners but asked for a card. One the way out she said she loved my quote on my business card. This was just this weekend...so probably Tuesday I'll call and follow up.

Decided I will do this every time I service the route. Yes, it's more expensive than the $1 menu at Mc D's and it takes longer to actually sit and eat. But if I spend $10 on lunch and I get a location out of it...then it's totally worth the extra $9 I spent on food.

[Lake Cities Vending]

I will say that LRU has got me one GREAT location but all the others have been horrible or have outright been refused. And I only ordered two locations from them and it's been a few months. I think my area is just really difficult to place because there are so few independently owned places.

But last cycle when we were out servicing I decided to eat lunch out. Specifically chose a restaurant in the same plaza as an existing location. And when I ordered I asked if she was the owner (she was one of them) and if she'd be interested in a vending machine. She said she'd have to pass it by the other owners but asked for a card. One the way out she said she loved my quote on my business card. This was just this weekend...so probably Tuesday I'll call and follow up.

Decided I will do this every time I service the route. Yes, it's more expensive than the $1 menu at Mc D's and it takes longer to actually sit and eat. But if I spend $10 on lunch and I get a location out of it...then it's totally worth the extra $9 I spent on food.

Can you share what your quote on your business card is. I have been thinking on having lunch around my machines and try this.

[jpvending]

My quote on my card is the same as my signature on here...Making the world a happier place one handful of candy at a time.

[Nategeli]

Whew. Its been a long month. I just went through ARC (Army Reconnaissance Course) and it was an golpher kicker. Anyways long story short, the course is essentially over. Planning on making my first substantial route run for each of these locations sometime this week, and will update all numbers accordingly.

[sammy]

Well Soldier what's your review of your locations so far? I'm considering having 50 four selection U-Turns located for me by either LRS or First Choice. Who would you recommend at this point?

Thanks for your service,

Sammy