uofajoe99 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 My brother-in-law and myself (and wife) completed "purchase" on a vending route today. The seller is the fire marshal/police chief of a small town my brother-in-law is a volunteer firefighter for and he is basically on call 24/7 so vending was taking up too much of his time. The (our) route consists of 14 locations with 24-25 soda/snack machines. Some we know own and others we are "leasing" for $1 per year from Coke/Pepsi. Went with the previous owner today to look at all the locations and setups, thankfully most are fairly close to our homes so it isn't going to take much time at all to service (minus shopping time at Sams.) Some are decent locations and others are not so (1 can machine outside at car lot etc..) The previous guy is letting us pay him out of our monthly profit. We are expected to pay him $750 a month until we pay off $7000. Doesn't seem like too high of a price does it? Too late now if it is A lot of the locations have some pricing adjustments that we can make right up front. He had no knowledge/time/patience to change prices and therefore has lagged behind. .50 for cans? Anyone use this anymore? Most of the spots also could use some TLC. Button stickers, product rotation etc. So I think we have some room for improvements right up front. My background is restaurant/video games (own a Chuck E. Cheese style restaurant and a video game route) so technically "vending" is new to all of us. Next week is zero hour and I've enjoyed reading all the posts on here so far. Any help going forward is greatly appreciated. Have gotten some great ideas (Blow Pops doubled up for .50....Slim Fast...) Hope to add new ideas for the future (Anyone ever put "prizes" in snack machines..Like $1 bills attached to the last items and make it known its there? Attach to most profitable item? Zany thoughts...) Just thought I would say Hi and thanks to all that make this site possible and keep the discussion coming. ...Joey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desert_gold_hound Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man422 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Joey, welcome to Vendiscuss. Sounds like a very good price to me. And you cannot beat the monthly payments until payoff. I wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor, and keep us posted on how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 I just do candy bulk but it sounds like a good deal. You will have it paid for in no time and make even more money. I guess they are fairly new machines? Good luck and welcome to our little vending world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurker Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Hi Joey! Welcome to the forum. Sounds like ya jumped in with both feet. That's great! Also sounds like ya got an awesome deal. Congrats! You asked... .50 for cans? Anyone use this anymore? I'm in Oklerhomer, for the rest of the country that's Oklahoma, and yes cans are still 50 cents around here in some places. A friend of mine had a full line vending route here for years. He tried to raise the price to 55 cents at a couple of his locations, and people freaked out! You' would have thought he was robbing them at gun point! LOL So hopefully your accounts will be receptive to your changing prices. You can always point out what a great deal they have been getting, and will now continue to receive, along with great service, now that you have taken over the account. Good luck! Anyone ever put "prizes" in snack machines..Like $1 bills attached to the last items and make it known its there? Oh yea, he taped cash prizes to some of his product in some of his machines one month too. From 50 cents on candy bars to a $5.00 bill on a can of Coke. It was a great success! Locations had a lot of fun trying to win a prize, and actually improved for a while even after the promotion was over. (He put his prizes scattered throughout the rows of product. Not just on the last product in the row. That way nobody knew for sure where the prizes were, and it was a total surprise when they won.) Have fun! Dave ------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedk Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Joey Welcome to VENDiscuss. You got a god price on machines and locations. If you are in Canada the price of pop is half of what you should be charging. In the US it seems that cans go from 50 to 75 cents. I would check the C stores in your area, other machines and catering trucks to get a feel for what everyone else is doing. I think you are on the low side so when you raise the price I'd say be prepared to take the heat and raise it as close to the top of the price range as you can. You don't want to have to come back and put a second price increase through a few months from now when yoor costs go up. Just have the facts ready so you can answer the objections. Ted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uofajoe99 Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 Yeah some of the locatoins are .55 or .60 for cans. My best location is .50 so I'm going to tread lightly on changing it. Factory workers might buy more at .50 a pop instead of just putting other change back in pocket? Kinda the Wal-Mart theory..Sell it cheap, but sell more..... The "gambling" ideas with dollar bills on the products is something I'm definitely going to have to try. I think if I do that as I roll out the new prices that people might be so wrapped up they don't even realize the extra bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidsurvz Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Welcome to the forum!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Joey, Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your purchase. You don't know me and I'm sorry for being blunt but you and your brother-in-law need to sit down and figure which ONE of you owns this business or at the least has a majority stake in it. A business has to have a chain of command. Partnerships rarely work out in the long run and its much easier to deal with things now than it will be later. Again I apologize for answering a question you didn't even ask, but if you take this advise you will be well served. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uofajoe99 Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 I'm pretty much down with him "owning" the business, for I already own my own restaurant and video game route, so I'm not too picky if he takes "majority" stake. Not offended ever by someone voicing their opinion. Don't neccesarily agree as I've been a partner for 6+ years in business with a guy who used to be my boss. On day-to-day operations inside the business he "outranks" me, but we have a very good relationship when it comes to the overview of the company..financials..marketing...training etc..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Coast Vend LLC Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Welcome to VENDiscuss.com With all the birthday excitement on Saturday, I missed your hello post. We are glad you have decided to join the largest vending forum on the internet. We look forward to hearing more about your business as it grows. If you have any questions, just ask away! Again, welcome to the forum. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC135NAV Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Hey Joey, Glad to have you onboard. Keep us informed on how things are going. Good Luck. [line]4 Dentyne Ice 3 Doubles 4 Certs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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