hawksfan9325 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Hi everyone. This site looks very good. I have just started out in the vending world. I have 2 accounts already at a local train station near my home. Grossing around $500 a month there. I wanted to ask you guys a few questions as I am looking to expand.. 1. What do you guys think about targeting Dr's offices, Chiro offices, Salons, Tanning facilities, Gyms, Nail Salons, Libraries for a "healthy vending" concept? 2. What is the best way to find new locations? Cold call, walk in, buy out old locations, advertise? 3. How much can I expect to make if I put in 40-50 hours a week at this? 4. Do you guys buy insurance for you machines? 5. Is accepting credit cards worth it? Thanks for the help ahead of time! -Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Im sorry to say this but you need to search!!! All of these topics have been beaten to a pulp! As a quick summary tho -No healthy Vending (not really profitable and people want real snacks) - Those locations do not sound like good locations. Salons etc no. Maybe for bulk Vending. Target places with 40+ employees - Credit cards only.in locations with WiFi, youll have to raise your pricing, pay a per vend ammount and a monthly charge, plus the readers work on only mdb machines and the readers are also about $300 -insurance yes, but id only do it if you had atleast a couple of accounts. Even then its usually to protect you more than them. Like getting sued, or if tou cause damage. Ins is prety affordable (I pay about 55 a month for a 1 million dollar policy) - Finding locations, take a day or so and target good areas. Mostly all will have machines already but try to get in. Kick them out, not join them or have another vendor in the same location. You can buy good route deals, and sell your bad ones. Most people want to start regardless (I dont mean rip them off completely) but sometimes I realize im asking way too little for some because thats why I valuate it. Most of the time they dont.like it (imagine a slow moving full.size snack machine and stales). Then they offer to resell it back for less. Buy machines before a location, its always good to have a few ready. Dont offer comission unless they ask u for it and even then state 20% of net maxxxx. or do what I do, set different commission levels for certain gross works great and makes sence. You can expect to make atleast $150,000-$200,000 a year gross if your working 40 hours a week. This is service only tho not counting prospecting or buying product. Personally I work about 15hrs a week (Tuesday 8, wednsday 7) and currently am at 100-110k a year Welcome! This site is probably my best info asset in this business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 100k a year working 15 hours a week? You must have a mall or something! What kind of machines and locations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Hi everyone. This site looks very good. I have just started out in the vending world. I have 2 accounts already at a local train station near my home. Grossing around $500 a month there. I wanted to ask you guys a few questions as I am looking to expand.. 1. What do you guys think about targeting Dr's offices, Chiro offices, Salons, Tanning facilities, Gyms, Nail Salons, Libraries for a "healthy vending" concept? 2. What is the best way to find new locations? Cold call, walk in, buy out old locations, advertise? 3. How much can I expect to make if I put in 40-50 hours a week at this? 4. Do you guys buy insurance for you machines? 5. Is accepting credit cards worth it? Thanks for the help ahead of time! -Patrick 1. Not worth the time, low volume accounts will be even lower volume with stuff that people say they want but won't put their money in the machine to buy it. 2. All of the above. 3. Depends on a lot of factors, if you have fewer high volume accounts you will net more than if you have more lower volume accounts. How spread out geographically will you be to get the desired sales, windshield time is time spent but is nonproductive. 4. We have general liability but don't bother with insurance that covers the machines. Losing machines is a rare occurrence, 4 in almost 20 years, 2 in flood and 2 in fire. 5. In some locations it is well worth the effort, with other not so much. Keep in mind that adding a CC reader also means ongoing monitoring and transaction costs and you will need to either raise prices or see a increase in sales to cover the additional cost. 100k a year working 15 hours a week? You must have a mall or something! What kind of machines and locations? Look back at his post, that is 100K GROSS sales, the net is quite a bit less, and the hours are only time on the route and does not include buying, loading and unloading inventory, bookeeping and other misc time using functions of owning a business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Ok. All the points are correct! My first account is gonna be a high traffic area in my town. It's a library. Probably one of the busiest in the county. Do you suggest a snack or pop machine first for here? Combo? I have limited capital here. Probably a high population of teens, and young adults. I think a CC reader makes sense here. When you say "General liability insurance", what does that exactly mean? Just like an LLC, and what do you pay for something like this? All the government accounts I have, always want me to be insured. Each machine is pretty expensive to insure, so I may try and avoid gov accounts, unless they are worth the added headaches! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I dont have any malls. My best account makes $1400 a month but my lowest account makes $200 and then.goes up to $400 then all the rest $600-1400. Full size machines mostly. The combo is the one that makes 200. I only have about 13 accounts and about 24-26 machines. Mission is right thats servicing. Not buying stuff and all the others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Ahhh. Ok. So what type of location pulls in $1,400 a month? That is damn impressive. I am jealous. I have 2 locations pulling in $800 gross. Kind of a drive from my house though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 I have a dairy farm place like prices dairy. A laundromat. A warehouse. And a call center\sales place that all make $1200-$1400 a month each. All have a snack and coke. One has 2.coke and 1 snack. And one has 4 mechanical combos lol. My gross net is about $68000 a year. I have pretty high prices and virtually no comissions. Ofcourse thats only profit after product expense. I still have insurance, my box truck payment, insurance on that, and gas and.ofcourse taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QualitySelectionsJ Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Ok. All the points are correct! My first account is gonna be a high traffic area in my town. It's a library. Probably one of the busiest in the county. Do you suggest a snack or pop machine first for here? Combo? I have limited capital here. Probably a high population of teens, and young adults. I think a CC reader makes sense here. When you say "General liability insurance", what does that exactly mean? Just like an LLC, and what do you pay for something like this? All the government accounts I have, always want me to be insured. Each machine is pretty expensive to insure, so I may try and avoid gov accounts, unless they are worth the added headaches! A Beverage machine is always a safe way to start, gauge it from there. What kind of volume does this location have? I'd only use card readers on a high volume account. DO NOT buy Combo machines. Read through the threads on here about Combos. Get informed before buying equipment. I wish I would of joined the forum back in 2007 before I started vending. Liability ins is like having liability on a used car. It covers harm or damage to others, but does not cover damage to your machines. Call an Ins company. Allstate does our area in Fl. They will have the answers for you. It's simply a liability ins for a vending machine biz. It's affordable. Welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Ok. All the points are correct! My first account is gonna be a high traffic area in my town. It's a library. Probably one of the busiest in the county. Do you suggest a snack or pop machine first for here? Combo? I have limited capital here. Probably a high population of teens, and young adults. I think a CC reader makes sense here. When you say "General liability insurance", what does that exactly mean? Just like an LLC, and what do you pay for something like this? All the government accounts I have, always want me to be insured. Each machine is pretty expensive to insure, so I may try and avoid gov accounts, unless they are worth the added headaches! Ok. All the points are correct! My first account is gonna be a high traffic area in my town. It's a library. Probably one of the busiest in the county. Do you suggest a snack or pop machine first for here? Combo? I have limited capital here. Probably a high population of teens, and young adults. I think a CC reader makes sense here. When you say "General liability insurance", what does that exactly mean? Just like an LLC, and what do you pay for something like this? All the government accounts I have, always want me to be insured. Each machine is pretty expensive to insure, so I may try and avoid gov accounts, unless they are worth the added headaches! Dedicated soda and snack machines are always the best machines to use due to their reliability and versatility. Credit card readers should not be installed until you know how good the sales are with cash. Card readers will only boost sales 20% at the most and should only be used on machines where most or all prices are over $1.00. Prices under $1.00 will eat you alive in card transaction fees. General liability insurance is to protect you from liability if someone is injured by one of your machines or a product sold from your machine. It will also protect you from damage you or your machine does to a location. Typical terms are single limit liability, umbrella coverage, completed operations coverage, etc. You should consult an insurance broker for proper guidance in this area. You also won't find any affordable insurance for your vending assets because they are portable assets that could disappear fairly easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Buy only quality proven U.S.A built brands of equipment, and even then, post on this forum for comments and suggestions and things to inspect before buying. Never buy combo machines as the primary machine at an account, because they can't hold enough product and you will be filling it 2x or 3x per week on a descent account. Your not going to get rich (at least quickly) doing this, it takes a ton of work, and a ton of money invested in equipment and a ton of good accounts (which are already serviced usually), but with perseverance you can do pretty well. Just relax and do a lot of reading in these forums, ask questions when you have them and take advice when given. There are a LOT of very experienced vendors on this forum and are very willing to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Ahhh. Ok. So what type of location pulls in $1,400 a month? That is damn impressive. I am jealous. I have 2 locations pulling in $800 gross. Kind of a drive from my house though.. What you're looking for is a manufacturing facility with at least 100 people to do $1,400 a month. The $400 accounts you have aren't bad as a starting point (wish I had some like that when I started). I've got one bakery account that does about $4,000 a month (100 people x 3 shifts) but it took me awhile to find it. This is a patience game for sure. What you don't want to do is go out and place machines every place you can find that doesn't already have one. Keep your powder dry and stay away from offices, gyms and dance studios. Ps. Don't get too hung up about the drive - a good account is worth a little extra gas versus a bottom feeder around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Bum Vending Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 The other guys have covered all of it pretty much may need save little more to go after bigger accounts they are quite the investment upfront. I give you an example buddy of mine has 300+ employee factory. He has 6 machines in there investment cost him little north of 35k but account grosses 5600 a month he nets around 2800 month but has be there no less then every day and half to refill it. It does so well because in remote area and no fast food around. employees can't leave for food. has 2 shifts and closest food is 25 minutes away. But the big money makers are out there just have keep your eye out and save up for the machines. Best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Makes sense. I have a meeting tomorrow at a car dealership in my town. Employs about 20 people, and has an inventory of around 200 cars. How do car dealerships do? I want to buy a refurbed Dixie Narco 276. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Makes sense. I have a meeting tomorrow at a car dealership in my town. Employs about 20 people, and has an inventory of around 200 cars. How do car dealerships do? I want to buy a refurbed Dixie Narco 276. Get something bigger like a 501, with the larger capacity you should be able to service on a 3-4 week interval and maximize revenue before selections start running out. If you use the smaller machine you will have to service at 1-2 week intervals to prevent runouts which will impact profitability because there is a cost to providing the service. Read the cost-to-service thread for more detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Get something bigger like a 501, with the larger capacity you should be able to service on a 3-4 week interval and maximize revenue before selections start running out. If you use the smaller machine you will have to service at 1-2 week intervals to prevent runouts which will impact profitability because there is a cost to providing the service. Read the cost-to-service thread for more detail. Cool. Do you guys like A&M? They seem super friendly, and offer cheap shipping. No sales tax either. Once I close the account, I'll probably buy the 501. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Cool. Do you guys like A&M? They seem super friendly, and offer cheap shipping. No sales tax either. Once I close the account, I'll probably buy the 501. I personally have not bought from them, but I know others that have and they are well regarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfdogs Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Cool. Do you guys like A&M? They seem super friendly, and offer cheap shipping. No sales tax either. Once I close the account, I'll probably buy the 501. They have treated me well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Cool. Looks like I have almost closed this car dealership. They employ 60-80 people. They said I can only put a snack machine in the breakroom, away from customers, as the GM said he doesn't want vending on the customer floor. How much do u guys think I could do with 60-80 employee, open 6 days week, and a the closest gas station 0.5 miles away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Cool. Looks like I have almost closed this car dealership. They employ 60-80 people. They said I can only put a snack machine in the breakroom, away from customers, as the GM said he doesn't want vending on the customer floor. How much do u guys think I could do with 60-80 employee, open 6 days week, and a the closest gas station 0.5 miles away? No soda machine? That many people could do $800 a month but not without the drink machine. I would avoid any account that only wants a snack machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 it would be nice to have soda also for sure, but I have a couple snack only accounts that I inherited with my route purchase. One of those accounts is very strong (usually 240ish per week with 2 snack machines), so its worth it to me still. This one could be similar to that im thinking, or it could be a flop haha, but it might be worth taking the chance if you already have a snack machine sitting around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 Interesting. I have cash, so I plan on purchasing a refurb from A&M equipment. I should have stated this, the only reason they don't want/need a pop machine is because they offer fountain pop to all employees, and customers, along with pop corn for free. A pop machine makes no sense. So, it'll be a snack only account. Just trying to see if buying a machine for $1,000 bucks or so is worth it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistah Mike Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Put a Keurig in there! You want to make some cash at a dealership, put the K cups out there at .75-$1.00 a vend. Trust me. There are a few ways to do K cup service, you could rent them the unit and they buy the coffee from you cash, you could just put the coffee out on the counter and charge to activate the brewer(not as desirable because K cups walk away) either way Keuriegs are a money maker in a sales environment. The sell them the coffee up front for cash is a winning deal, because you don't need to spend the money on a brewer that accepts money, and other than upkeep on the unit(that you might be able to convince them to do for you) you don't really need to do anything other than deliver coffee and collect cash. An even better approach to K cups is to get the dealership to buy the coffee and provide it free of charge to the employee's, nothing moves faster than free coffee. We had a call center do 1500 cups a week out of a full size vendor that was free to employees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Put a Keurig in there! You want to make some cash at a dealership, put the K cups out there at .75-$1.00 a vend. Trust me. There are a few ways to do K cup service, you could rent them the unit and they buy the coffee from you cash, you could just put the coffee out on the counter and charge to activate the brewer(not as desirable because K cups walk away) either way Keuriegs are a money maker in a sales environment. The sell them the coffee up front for cash is a winning deal, because you don't need to spend the money on a brewer that accepts money, and other than upkeep on the unit(that you might be able to convince them to do for you) you don't really need to do anything other than deliver coffee and collect cash. An even better approach to K cups is to get the dealership to buy the coffee and provide it free of charge to the employee's, nothing moves faster than free coffee. We had a call center do 1500 cups a week out of a full size vendor that was free to employees. Yep, Technivend sells the K-kup adapters for your snack machine. The machines run $150 to $350 and you can get the K-kups from Sam's for 40 cents a pop and they have a lot of choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistah Mike Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I've seen those. When we vend them out of snacks we just use a 9 count spiral on a candy tray. The cup sits inside the spiral just right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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