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Going from bulk to full line?


vend101

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Anyone ever make the jump? Or even consider it?  I know its a whole different animal, (much larger  investment.. machines, large truck/liftgate/frequency of servicing, warehouse etc..).... but... it must be nice to clean out a few machines in a breakroom... and walk away with $1000-2000 with minimal commission...... and do a few of those in a day....

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I started out bulk only at first, but everybody was  wanting snack and cold drink machines, so I do all.

I been selling off my bulk machines and keeping the ones at the better locations.

 

mike

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I'd like to expand into soda and snack. I wouldn't get out of bulk completely, as I enjoy it quite a bit and think it's probably more fun on the average day than a full line route would be. I don't have a truck or a liftgate, I'd have to borrow my father's trucka and trailer to move a machine. That's one reason I would want to start very small with snack and soda machines. Another reason is I don't have anywhere to store a big machine like that if it gets kicked out or I lose an account. That's one of the pros of bulk vending. The equipment is small enough I can haul most of my machines in my car and store them in my basement when not in a location.

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We do both bulk and full line machines and agree, both have their pros and cons. Our bulk machines only need servicing about every 5 weeks and each location goes relatively quickly. They don't produce as much cash as our full line accounts, but profit margins are excellent. Some of our full line machines need filled every other day, and some as little as twice a month. Sometimes when you go into a location and have to fill a pop machine, a snack machine, a coffee machine, and clean all 3... you wish it were 'bulk day'.

 

But hell, that's vending. Bulk, full line, or both- if you enjoy it you will make money and be happy.

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I do both as well, and I see it like this: I can either pick one and have a larger service area (more miles) or I can do a variety and be more concentrated. I like being more concentrated, and plan to continue to expand both and possibly get into some of the amusement equipment as well later on. If I had to pick one, I would honestly say full line is what I would choose. I like to stop for at least $50 per machine per week than $15 per month personally, but it is a LOT more work with all the snack varieties and heavy soda and machine moves and breakdowns etc.

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I do both as well, and I see it like this: I can either pick one and have a larger service area (more miles) or I can do a variety and be more concentrated. I like being more concentrated, and plan to continue to expand both and possibly get into some of the amusement equipment as well later on. If I had to pick one, I would honestly say full line is what I would choose. I like to stop for at least $50 per machine per week than $15 per month personally, but it is a LOT more work with all the snack varieties and heavy soda and machine moves and breakdowns etc.

If you have have your service intervals timed correctly with bulk, you are pulling $50+ from the machine. I have found that as long as I do a minimum of $15/month with bulk I don't have to worry about product spoilage.

After that, it's just a matter of dialing in 1, 2 or 3 month service cycles.

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Yes, I understand for sure. I usually run mostly gumballs, hard candies and toys so that I can stretch it out. Generally speaking for me, I make more money in the shortest period of time because when I find one soda location for example, I can count on collecting roughly $200 per month gross vs $15 gross from the bulk, therefore I don't need as many locations to bring the same money. I also know that with enough equipment and enough locations, especially with racks, you can bring in good money and probably just as much or even more in some situations with bulk. I know I have one gas pump style gumball machine that I wouldn't trade for any of my full line machines. It consistently pulls about $150-$200 per month with great margins and 10 minutes to service and only 1 product. I just need a bunch more of those!!


One other thing to consider as well is the fact that a lot of establishments actually WANT a soda and or snack machine vs tolerating a bulk machine. It's a service for them, their employees and their customers. So a lot of times that makes locating easier as well.

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I do both as well, and I see it like this: I can either pick one and have a larger service area (more miles) or I can do a variety and be more concentrated. I like being more concentrated, and plan to continue to expand both and possibly get into some of the amusement equipment as well later on. If I had to pick one, I would honestly say full line is what I would choose. I like to stop for at least $50 per machine per week than $15 per month personally, but it is a LOT more work with all the snack varieties and heavy soda and machine moves and breakdowns etc.

This exactly why I have begun to consider doing some full line eventually. I got a 6 y/o and a 5 mo old and cannot be on the road all the time. So when collections pick back up next year Im hoping to buy my first soda machine.

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Anyone ever make the jump? Or even consider it? I know its a whole different animal, (much larger investment.. machines, large truck/liftgate/frequency of servicing, warehouse etc..).... but... it must be nice to clean out a few machines in a breakroom... and walk away with $1000-2000 with minimal commission...... and do a few of those in a day....

You are misinformed if you think you can "clean out a few machines " and walk away with 1000 or more. Those kinds of locations are very rare, in 20 years the number of locations that meet that criteria in my portfolio is less than a dozen.

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yeah its highly unlikely that you would get one account like that much less "do a few of those in a day" . Just keep your feet on the ground and realize that the majority that you will find will be $40-$80ish per week machines. Most of the time you can get a pair of machines in one account (soda and snack) and therefore you can roughly expect to walk out with $100-$150 per week gross, but there are plenty of accounts that will double that or more, but just don't expect it with every account.

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very interesting. maybe pulling 1000 out at once is a strech for most legit breakrooms.....  I guess in my head if I had a solid employee breakroom, if I am servicing it weekly, or on whatever schedule is required ....if it is selling out of 60-70% of capacity....how could full size soda and full size snack machines NOT gross  $300.00- $400 total per service? or even if it required slighly more frequent service thats fine to make sure the customers were happy/machines functioning properly/ etc.....mathwise...since we all love our math....to gross 300 a week would be 60.00 a day for 2 machines..or 30.00 day per machine.. is 15k a year.. 10 accts to gross 150k...it would take probably 400-600 bulk to accomplish that...  I know there is more involved..as securing quality break room accounts requires major salemanship, persistence, and maybe some luck too... and requires movement and storage of these beasts.....but imagine the reduction in driving, and aggravation... to service 10-15 customers...or 500.... also , margins in bulk are not what they used to be ex 10c a tattoo..25c at 8-10c 50c at 17-20c..plus rediculous shipping costs adding 2-3c per item....plus commissions at 25-40%... bulk is not "all profit" any more unless all you run is charity gumballs..... just thinking I guess.

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we will name your "full size soda machine" as a dixie 501E.. they are 9 selections consisting of 8 single columns and 1 double column. Each single column will basically hold 1 case, and the double will basically hold 2 cases, so the entire machine will hold 10 cases of soda. The next thing you have to realize is there will be favorite flavors, 2-3 of those 9 selections will sell 2x (or more) faster than the others. So what happens is that  those 2-3 selections will sell out and leave the selections that are more unpopular way before you get to $300 in sales. Also with 10 cases sold at say $1.50 each will be $360 for the entire machine. In order to keep the machine stocked you will have to stop every $100 or so at least (in my experience) or there will be multiple sold out selections.

 

If you do get an account that sells anywhere close to $1000 per service cycle, you will definitely need more than 1 soda and 1 snack.

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