What soda/snack machines would you recommend?

[XtremeDJL]

I'm looking at buying machines and getting into the business as a first timer. I was told I'd need about 10 locations to make roughly $30,000 a year. What machines do you recommend? How much would I need to spend to start?

[moondog]

My preferences are the Royal Merlin IV 768 soda machines and AP 7600 snack machines. I will start replacing my AP 7600's with the AMS machines as the AP7600's are pretty old and will only accept 1 - one dollar bill at a time without costly upgrades (ok for snacks now but prices are going up). The AMS machines are a bit too new to make the used machine market just yet but that's the brand everybody's talking about - it should be the future workhorse of snack vending.

You should be able to get a Royal for about $1000 to $1400 - with a capacity of 768 cans it's all the machine you'll ever need. The GIII's are also good if you come across one of those. These are both current models still being sold new.

The AP7600's go from $400 (will need refurbishing) to $1,200 (refurbished). Refurbish them yourself and save about $700 for 8 hours work and misc. materials.

Always buy the largest machines that will fit on your location - the will lower the number of servicing trips you'll need to make. Avoid locations that will only provide enough space for a combo machine - you'll work yourself to death filling it if the location's any good at all.

Ps. You need to repost this in the "Full Line Vending" section of this forum

[Sparta_Automation]

For Snack machines, I personally like the National or GPL line. They are awesome machines. As far as refurbishing, unless you have had a machine in the past that you worked on....and understand the basic vending machine concepts, I would not try to get a machine and refurbish it yourself. There is just WAY to many things that can go wrong....at least in my opinion. Some will disagree, but it's a judgement call. After you have your feet wet, then by all means, get machines that need work and do it yourself.

For soda machines, the type depends on where the machines will be. In an office setting, I would go with a robotic glass front machine. They are more expensive, but look nice and gives you a ton of selection. A warehouse or outside setting, then a stack version like the one mentioned above are great, however I can also tell you that the Royal 768's are 2-cans deep with selections in the front and back...so configuring and stocking can be a pain in the butt. For a beginning machine, a DN501 or DN600E and great machines.

Travis