TKK Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 Hi guys. Well I purchased a snack time combo quarter only mechanical vending machine. Before I get bashed I only bought it because a tattoo shop requested a small coke machine and my friend who had one in location is moving next week. He sold me it for $100 damn thing is heavy. Anyways I placed it yesterday around 3 pm. This location makes me a decent ammount in bulk about $30 a month. I placed it and one of the owners said that's good he liked it but said that maybe the other owner wouldn't like it. I got a call today saying to pick it up because he said it was too big. I went today like at 3pm to pick it up. It had $9 in quarters keep in mind it doesn't have a bill changer which I'm sure would raise it. I'm sure it was the initializing of the machine but still got me sad as I'm sure it would had made an easy $300+ a month especially with a coin changer. Any machines out there smaller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 You might try one of the Wittern (USI, FSI) small drink machines. I don't know the dimensions but they're pretty narrow and would take dollars. They also don't have any weird graphics like the snack times. You would also eliminate the headache of doing small numbers of snacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendors Tech Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 USI makes small machines, but I wouldn't use them. I am constantly repairing them around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 USI makes small machines, but I wouldn't use them. I am constantly repairing them around here. Agreed, a DN 267E or a royal 550 would be best bet. We have a bunch of these and I almost never have an issue. We only have 5 USI machines, all we were forced to buy through national contracts, and all of them constantly have issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 USI makes small machines, but I wouldn't use them. I am constantly repairing them around here. I agree 100% but the issue here seems to be the size and the Witterns are the only ones I know of that are just 21" wide. My 1st choice would be the Royal, as mentioned by Broncho, but I know that one's bigger than a snacktime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 So which is the smallest one snack and coke? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 So which is the smallest one snack and coke? Your original post said the guy wanted a small coke machine - why are we talking about a combo? The smallest good combo I know of is the National 474 at 32" wide - these run about $1,500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 a dixie 276 is a good machine but bigger than what ur talking about...there is a tiny tiny royal i forget the model (180 cap?), but it is not much bigger than what ur talking about. beyond that the only thing smaller i can think of is the coinco ct-48 wich is a wallmount soda machine...make sure to buy 2 of them because parts are rare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 USI makes small machines, but I wouldn't use them. I am constantly repairing them around here. Is it just the CB300 or all whole USI range that you are constantly repairing & what parts are failing on them? Are they "old" or "new" models? Agreed, a DN 267E or a royal 550 would be best bet. We have a bunch of these and I almost never have an issue. We only have 5 USI machines, all we were forced to buy through national contracts, and all of them constantly have issues. Is this the USI cold drink range (CB300,CB500,CB700) that you are having issue's with? I don't use their stack machine's myself but have herd that people don't like them. I thought they were pretty similar in design to a royal on the inside? I do use USI Mercato & Alpine's which I like because of the option of banking a frozen food machine to them. Haven't had any issue's with any of them yet apart from the usual odd meltdown on the frozen's. I am also going to look at the option of using AMS as I have herd you saying good thing's about them. They look like a solid machine but have never seen one before because they don't sell them here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 That ct48 looks good but none for sale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falls Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Take the top off the Snack Time and install just the drink section. I doubt there is much smaller than the 30" wide x 25" deep I think these machines are. Get some car wrap vinyl and cover over the drink time graphics (or cover the whole machine to make it look 'new') Carbon Fiber pattern is fairly cheap on Ebay. 5' x 2'6" was $30 delivered last lot I bought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 That ct48 looks good but none for sale... Isn't the Snack Time roughly the same dimensions as the CT-48? There is also the AP "C Series" Snack or Drink if you are looking at something similar but I don't think they are made anymore. There are smaller machines that they manufacture here called the "Snackmate" but I don't think you can get them in the US. They are similar to the Seaga Space Savers that you have over there. I don't like them personally but that is just my opinion. The smallest combo that we use here would be the Necta Snacky or the USI VT3000 but I wouldn't be putting one into a site that is only doing $9/day... How much floor space is the site willing to give you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 That ct48 looks good but none for sale... Those have not been made in around 20 years and the only parts you will ever find is another dead machine. Not recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Isn't the Snack Time roughly the same dimensions as the CT-48? There is also the AP "C Series" Snack or Drink if you are looking at something similar but I don't think they are made anymore. There are smaller machines that they manufacture here called the "Snackmate" but I don't think you can get them in the US. They are similar to the Seaga Space Savers that you have over there. I don't like them personally but that is just my opinion. The smallest combo that we use here would be the Necta Snacky or the USI VT3000 but I wouldn't be putting one into a site that is only doing $9/day... How much floor space is the site willing to give you? the difference is the coinco machines are wall-mounted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendors Tech Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Is it just the CB300 or all whole USI range that you are constantly repairing & what parts are failing on them? Are they "old" or "new" models? Is this the USI cold drink range (CB300,CB500,CB700) that you are having issue's with? I don't use their stack machine's myself but have herd that people don't like them. I thought they were pretty similar in design to a royal on the inside? I do use USI Mercato & Alpine's which I like because of the option of banking a frozen food machine to them. Haven't had any issue's with any of them yet apart from the usual odd meltdown on the frozen's. I am also going to look at the option of using AMS as I have herd you saying good thing's about them. They look like a solid machine but have never seen one before because they don't sell them here. I am repairing all the USI machines around here of any model. Mostly 3014-3015 models and their newer current Mercato. Other than those models, there aren't a lot of USI macines on the routes of the vendors around here thankfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 I can't find any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I am repairing all the USI machines around here of any model. Mostly 3014-3015 models and their newer current Mercato. Other than those models, there aren't a lot of USI macines on the routes of the vendors around here thankfully. USI 3014-3015 models must be at least 10-15 years old so are well & truely reaching the end of there like expectancy especially if they are refrigerated models. Most of the USI's I have are from the Mercato Ambient Snack Range & they would be all under 3 years old. I would really like to know what problems you are experiencing with your Mercato's so that I know what to look out for in the future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 H4UV The reason I ask this is because up until now I haven't had any problems personally with USI equipment. I thought I made a good choice in going with the USI line especially when I sore Technivend distribute these machine's in the USA. I would think a man with Bill's experience & expertise in Vending would not put his name behind them if they weren't a quality machine. I am not trying to say they are better than any other brand but they do seem to have a bad reputation with Vending Operators in the USA & was wondering why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 USI SM3 series could be over 20 yrs old. The fact that they are still in service shows you that they are "real" machines. They probably have a better street value then a 20 yr old Crane. The fact tat HV4U is doing a lot of repairs on these only means that there are a lot on the street being used by non-vendors. Most vendors can easily keep these running as I am sure Kiwi can attest to. Statements like this need to be taken in context. There are negative statements about every brand out they are usually by people who do not understand the equipment. I had one person tell me how bad the USI was due to how hard it was to change spirals. Meanwhile the chronic jamming issues that the Crane 147 delivery bin had was a non issue for him. Truth be told vending machines are like cars nowadays. They all do what is needed and there is no best machine out there. They all have idiosyncrasies and the best machine for you should be the one you can deal with the best. Give me a machine, I can tell you its flaws..... We fix all makes and models of machines. We also do refrigeration repairs. Most refer repairs are Dixie's. does this mean Dixie makes a bad refer deck? No, just that there is so many out there in comparison that there are more to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 H4UV The reason I ask this is because up until now I haven't had any problems personally with USI equipment. I thought I made a good choice in going with the USI line especially when I sore Technivend distribute these machine's in the USA. I would think a man with Bill's experience & expertise in Vending would not put his name behind them if they weren't a quality machine. I am not trying to say they are better than any other brand but they do seem to have a bad reputation with Vending Operators in the USA & was wondering why? I bought a lot of USI equipment as I got into the business, never any real issues with the snack machines. The older soda machines, which were a serpentine loading system, were kind of a pain to work with but were also very reliable for me. My biggest issue with USI equipment was the new and so called "innovative" stuff they came out with over the years. The menu mart, menu mart II, the 7/10 drink machine and the BV1 were by appearance good ideas they just never worked and I burned a lot of cash on these ancillary type machines that were all eventually scrapped. I think the bad reputation that you sometimes hear about comes primarily from those disastrous models. I have no problem buying USI equipment, I just won't be a guinea pig for their new stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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