My first few machines

[gdbutler]

I am about to purchase and place my first few machines and would like a little advice from some of you that actualy know what you are doing.  For my first 5 or 6 heads I buy, do you think I would be better off placing, say, 6 singles in 6 different locations, or would you do 3 doubles in three locations?  It seems like 3 doubles would be simpler, but on the other hand 6 singles seems like it would have more potential revenue. It also seems to make a little more sense to do 6 singles, all with gumballs, to keep the profit margin higher and keep things simpler in the beginning. What do you think?

[grumpy]

Greg,

Before you buy machines and products, you need a game plan. Are you going for retail locations or breakrooms? Different products will be attractive to different consumers. Are you looking at simplicity of a 1 product route over volume of sells? Do you want to run singles only, or do you want to run doubles, triples, quads, racks ...?

When you can answer these questions, then you will know if you want singles or doubles. Of course with another ten posts you will be able to read the start of my e-book and others in the plus section. There is a load of information avaiable to you in the library, just be patient and get those quality posts in. Then read for a little while.

[gdbutler]

Thanks for the response. I guess this is part of my putting together a game plan. Do people usually specialize in a certain type of location or does everyone do a mixture of locations?  

[grumpy]

I'm sure most have both, except for those who specialize in racks.

I prefer break rooms, not much need to worry about stolen or trashed machines. But I do have some retail locations that I really like too! I also have dogs in both sectors.

What I really like about a break room is the captive audience, and hopefully they do not have much choice of were they will spend that quarter.

The reason I suggest you decide now is that with a limited amount of machines it will be harder to compare if you get a couple of break rooms and a couple of retail locations. The few that you do get could be stellar or could be dogs. With a little more focus you can move the dogs around knowing what you want to achieve. With single heads it will even be harder to decide what works and what does not. And now you have locked yourself into lets say gumballs, are you going to throw the product out if it does not sale, will you constantly be moving machines because it does not hit the national average? And of course all this varies according to your locale, is it a small community with only so much choice or is it a sprawling metro area with ideal locations everywhere, is there no vendors or is it saturated...?

[dperry]

Greg,

Before you buy machines and products, you need a game plan. Are you going for retail locations or breakrooms? Different products will be attractive to different consumers. Are you looking at simplicity of a 1 product route over volume of sells? Do you want to run singles only, or do you want to run doubles, triples, quads, racks ...?

It is very difficult to put together a game plan if you have never even played the game.

How do you know if you want to do single gumballs or triple candy machines in break rooms unless you try both.

Single gumballs offer a huge profit margin with very little product loss and storage costs.  But the downside is that they are very competitive and will only work in some locations.  I've had single gumball machine locations kick me out because of all the gum stains on the sidewalk outside the front door.  I've also had single gumball locations ask me for more variety of product.

Multi-vend candy machines offer greater potential for locating in a wider range of locations, but the product loss and storage costs can eat into your profits horribly.  I've had to throw away several canisters of candy because of cracked candy shells, or because the candy stuck together and wouldn't allow vends.  Thowing out $12 of candy for $15 in quarters hurts alot.

[gdbutler]

Thanks for all the good advice. Let me ask another question. If you could go back and start over knowing everything that you know now, how would you do it? What would you do differently?

[sweetgypsy]

The only thing I would do differently-I would have started in vending a long time ago.

I've only been in the vending biz since last November and I love it. I'm hoping to go full time in a couple years.

Beth

[vend24]

Good luck. I suggest you go with three doubles because with todays current gas prices, it would be better than six singles.

[dperry]

Good luck. I suggest you go with three doubles because with todays current gas prices, it would be better than six singles.

I disagree.  With doubles, that implies candy.  With candy, you have to service at least every 4 weeks.  With single gumballs, you can push your service dates out to 10-12 weeks if you wish.  That means you only drive your route 3-4 times a year, instead of 12 times a year.  That is a much greater savings on gas.

[pio]

i agree with gas prices these days it will be more efficient to place doubles then singles.