What To Buy For Soda & Snack Machines

[Billy121168]

I have been reading the forums and talking with vendors.I am getting conflicting suggestions on what machines to buy.So for all the newbies in business or in these forums please lets make a list of machines. My tarket market is 30-100pp.

Soda and Snack machines

Name brand(which do u prefer and why)

Model #'s (or age of machine)(how old should a new person buy)

Capacity(Min. & Max the machine should hold.)

Cost(please estimate for specified model#'s)(used,refurbished)

Ease of use and installation(which machines would be suggested for specifically a new guy and why)

Again I am thankful for all the help and advice as this will allow me to make smart sound machine purchases which I am ready to do.Please add anything to my list you see fit to add.I will cont. to post and ask many questions as I am excited and anxious,but a little intimidated by these BIG and HEAVY machines.

[AZVendor]

Billy,

Congratulations on deciding to try vending. There are so many variables involved in purchasing vending machines that is is difficult to specifically say "this is the machine you should use" or "this is what you should pay." I can tell you that you will be happiest if you purchase machines from the major vending manufacturers here in the states: Dixie Narco, Vendo, Royal, Automatic Products, Crane/National Vendors/GPL, Wittern/USI/Selectivend/Federal. However, there are models made by these manufacturers that you should probably avoid as well. It is best to identify a specific machine you are looking at with manuf. name and model number, condition and price and we can tell you if it's a good machine to use. Find some machines advertised on Craigslist, see them for yourself and post the info about the machine for us to give recommendations on. Tell us about a targeted location and you will get suggestions on how to equip it. Every experienced vendor has their preferences but you will find with enough reading in these forums which machines people really like and which ones they don't like.

You will find an underlying theme here against combo machines that have soda and snacks in the same cabinet. Again, stick with the manufacturers listed above and you will be happiest. There are a lot of combo machines made overseas and imported to the US then represented as American Made. If they aren't made by one of the companies listed above, stay away from them no matter the price.

As far as moving the heavy machines and aside from the guys here who move their own, try to find a vending mover in your area and use their expertise to move machines for you.

Keep reading and apply what you see here to the used equipment you find for sale. If you have any used vending machine sellers in your town, go visit them and see what they have. See if you feel you can trust them for guidance as well.

[moondog]

I have been reading the forums and talking with vendors.I am getting conflicting suggestions on what machines to buy.So for all the newbies in business or in these forums please lets make a list of machines. My tarket market is 30-100pp.

Soda and Snack machines

Name brand(which do u prefer and why)

Model #'s (or age of machine)(how old should a new person buy)

Capacity(Min. & Max the machine should hold.)

Cost(please estimate for specified model#'s)(used,refurbished)

Ease of use and installation(which machines would be suggested for specifically a new guy and why)

Again I am thankful for all the help and advice as this will allow me to make smart sound machine purchases which I am ready to do.Please add anything to my list you see fit to add.I will cont. to post and ask many questions as I am excited and anxious,but a little intimidated by these BIG and HEAVY machines.

As AZ stated, we all have our preferences as to which soda and snack machines to use. His comment regarding US made machines is "spot on" and combo machines are best used as satellite machines where you've got larger machines at the same location.

I personally prefer the later model Royal soda machines (GIII 804 and Merlin IV 768) - these can be purchased for around a thousand dollars each and have great capacity. For snack machines, I prefer the old AP7600s. If you can get one of these for $400 to $600 that would be a good deal. You can refurbish these yourself and have the most solid snack machine in the industry.

Unless you're an ex-linebacker, don't try to move these machines by yourself (or at all until you know what your doing).