Time to exit the vending business

[thevendingguru]

I have posted about this a few times before and I am at the point where I am ready to exit the bulk vending business once and for all.

 

I live in a small town in Canada and have a high paying day job.  I also have a part time evening job that pays $40 an hour, and I have no time to deal with machines anymore, I have no interest, and it is not financially viable for me to continue.

 

I have around 100 single head vendmax machines in storage 800 miles away where I used to live.  I have a route with 55 machines in Canada (25 beaver meridians and 30 vendmax machines) spread out over 2,000 miles or so. 

 

I know that the market for used machines is small in Canada.  I know that the market in USA is bigger, but I would have to get a broker and a truck, and take all of the machines at once across the border and ship them from there.  I could only do this if I found a bunch of buyers at once and if I could get rid of all the machines at once. 

 

I have tried advertising them locally without success (I was asking as low as $30 per machine and I got 2 buyers in 1 year).  My other option is to just abandon the machines on the route and stop paying for the storage locker and trash the ones in the storage locker. 

 

This is what happens when you grow too big too fast .  Now I know, and I hope that this will serve as a lesson to others.

 

Anyone know what a good price would be, and how I could find multiple buyers who would agree to buy a few machines at the same time?

[LandJGroup]

Not trying to kick while your down but 55 machines over 2000 miles would burn anyone out of this biz. Hope you have successes in your other ventures. Surely someone will jump on your equipment/accounts.

[Northernboy]

Hey, what is the general area where your machines are located.

 

Northern boy

[Rick]

Do you have any pictures of the vendmax singles?

[handysnack]

LA to NYC is 2,700 miles, for us in the us that would almost be 1 in each state.  Canada can't be that small, how far apart are these towns?  I live in NY and wouldn't drive out of it for less than a G.

[TKK]

Thats insane! 55 machines in 2000 miles!?! So to service your route you spend more on gas and time than any profits. Thats why you want out, cuz this plan woluld never work. Why would you even do this? Look for locations miles away? Just abandon them. You should be able to place 50 machines in less tHan a 10 mile radious

[ReillyNoFun]

I'm also wondering which small town you're living in - tons of small towns across 2000 miles. I'm in Toronto.
Not in the position to buy up any large quantity of machines but am definitely interested to in hearing a little more of your story here...

[dogcow]

I would buy your beaver meridians for $30/ea if you would be willing to crate and ship down to florida. PM if interested 

[musser]

$30??? Lol

[havending]

I would buy your beaver meridians for $30/ea if you would be willing to crate and ship down to florida. PM if interested

All day long

[dkochan]

Why did you, thevendingguru, build such spread out route?

Sent from my BN Nook HD using Tapatalk

[SeaTurtle Vending]

I'd take mini vacations and start picking those machines up along the way. Maybe try and place them around your small town and sell that route to someone locally.

 

For the ones in a storage unit....

Your best bet is to start selling them on ebay if you have no local interest.

[RikaKazak]

I live in Northern Idaho (right across the border from Canada).  If you are somewhere close (like creston?) I might buy everything from you if you give me a killer deal

[thevendingguru]

My machines are spread out  north of Montana and North Dakota.

 

As per my story, here is what NOT TO DO.

 

I got into the vending business without doing my homework, and rather than buy used machines without knowing anything about finding locations, I figured that I would play it safe, and buy from a company that sells used machines instead.

 

I bought from a company and had a signed contract with the company that they would provide candy for the machines, find places in my city by way of their telemarketer, and get insurance on each machine.

 

I ordered 50 machines and this telemarketer could only find 5 locations in my city.  I asked if the telemarketer could put the rest in a larger city 9 hours away where my cousins live, and he said that he could.  I had 5/50 machines sitting in my house and another 10/50 were sent to my cousin's house.  The telemarketer could only find 3 locations in my cousin's city.

 

I then asked if he could find locations in a city partway in between.  He said that he could get them all in that city, so the company shipped 10 more machines there, and I went to put them in their locations.  Only 7 places were willing to take them, and I took the remaining 3 home.

 

I am sure that you can see where this is going.  The rest of the locations that this telemarketer found were little towns in the middle of nowhere.

 

I am stubborn, so I tried to make a go of this and I bought more used machines over the course of 4 years, bringing my route to 150 single head machines.

 

Then came the calls:  we want to kick the machine out, or the machine is broken, or it has been stolen etc...and I would have to drive hundreds of miles for service calls.  Eventually, I got smart and stopped going for service calls.  I also have started picking machines up each time I go.  I do the route every 6-8 months when I go on holidays.

 

My route has now dwindled to 55 machines on location.  25 of them are meridians, and I can only get 2 of them in my car at a time.

 

As per the insurance, I tried to take advantage of it when my machines were stolen or vandalized.  The salesman said that the company would honor my insurance policy that they had provided, if I would pay the $100 deductible.  Needless to say, it was cheaper ordering new parts than paying the deductible.  I eventually just stopped ordering new parts and just trashed the damaged machines.

 

I am now older and have learned the following lessons from this experience:

 

don't be afraid to take legal action if someone screws you over - especially when there is a signed contract;

 

do proper homework before investing and know how a business operates, what the profit margin is, and what the responsibilities will be.

 

Remember that there is a reason why people sell things - and the real motivation in selling is either for profit or because someone wants to clean house and get rid of crap.  It is never for the benefit of the buyer.

 

That is my story, and to anyone else who may read this, trust your gut, do your homework, don't grow too quickly, and remember that in business, do not assume people are honest.

[Rick]

Remember that there is a reason why people sell things - and the real motivation in selling is either for profit or because someone wants to clean house and get rid of crap.  It is never for the benefit of the buyer.

 

This is perhaps the most important piece of information to be mindful of when you are buying a route, or anything else for that matter.  You must figure out the real reason they are selling because there's always a reason and it's rarely due to health reasons. 

[dromero]

I have posted about this a few times before and I am at the point where I am ready to exit the bulk vending business once and for all.

 

I live in a small town in Canada and have a high paying day job.  I also have a part time evening job that pays $40 an hour, and I have no time to deal with machines anymore, I have no interest, and it is not financially viable for me to continue.

 

I have around 100 single head vendmax machines in storage 800 miles away where I used to live.  I have a route with 55 machines in Canada (25 beaver meridians and 30 vendmax machines) spread out over 2,000 miles or so. 

 

I know that the market for used machines is small in Canada.  I know that the market in USA is bigger, but I would have to get a broker and a truck, and take all of the machines at once across the border and ship them from there.  I could only do this if I found a bunch of buyers at once and if I could get rid of all the machines at once. 

 

I have tried advertising them locally without success (I was asking as low as $30 per machine and I got 2 buyers in 1 year).  My other option is to just abandon the machines on the route and stop paying for the storage locker and trash the ones in the storage locker. 

 

This is what happens when you grow too big too fast .  Now I know, and I hope that this will serve as a lesson to others.

 

Anyone know what a good price would be, and how I could find multiple buyers who would agree to buy a few machines at the same time?

55 machines over 2 thousand miles? What are you..CRAZY?? 

[dromero]

My machines are spread out  north of Montana and North Dakota.

 

As per my story, here is what NOT TO DO.

 

I got into the vending business without doing my homework, and rather than buy used machines without knowing anything about finding locations, I figured that I would play it safe, and buy from a company that sells used machines instead.

 

I bought from a company and had a signed contract with the company that they would provide candy for the machines, find places in my city by way of their telemarketer, and get insurance on each machine.

 

I ordered 50 machines and this telemarketer could only find 5 locations in my city.  I asked if the telemarketer could put the rest in a larger city 9 hours away where my cousins live, and he said that he could.  I had 5/50 machines sitting in my house and another 10/50 were sent to my cousin's house.  The telemarketer could only find 3 locations in my cousin's city.

 

I then asked if he could find locations in a city partway in between.  He said that he could get them all in that city, so the company shipped 10 more machines there, and I went to put them in their locations.  Only 7 places were willing to take them, and I took the remaining 3 home.

 

I am sure that you can see where this is going.  The rest of the locations that this telemarketer found were little towns in the middle of nowhere.

 

I am stubborn, so I tried to make a go of this and I bought more used machines over the course of 4 years, bringing my route to 150 single head machines.

 

Then came the calls:  we want to kick the machine out, or the machine is broken, or it has been stolen etc...and I would have to drive hundreds of miles for service calls.  Eventually, I got smart and stopped going for service calls.  I also have started picking machines up each time I go.  I do the route every 6-8 months when I go on holidays.

 

My route has now dwindled to 55 machines on location.  25 of them are meridians, and I can only get 2 of them in my car at a time.

 

As per the insurance, I tried to take advantage of it when my machines were stolen or vandalized.  The salesman said that the company would honor my insurance policy that they had provided, if I would pay the $100 deductible.  Needless to say, it was cheaper ordering new parts than paying the deductible.  I eventually just stopped ordering new parts and just trashed the damaged machines.

 

I am now older and have learned the following lessons from this experience:

 

don't be afraid to take legal action if someone screws you over - especially when there is a signed contract;

 

do proper homework before investing and know how a business operates, what the profit margin is, and what the responsibilities will be.

 

Remember that there is a reason why people sell things - and the real motivation in selling is either for profit or because someone wants to clean house and get rid of crap.  It is never for the benefit of the buyer.

 

That is my story, and to anyone else who may read this, trust your gut, do your homework, don't grow too quickly, and remember that in business, do not assume people are honest.

10 MACHINES PLACED  IN 2 CITIES???  WHERE DO YOU LIVE IN THE NORTH POLE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT??

[TexasFreemason]

It sounds like he is in a very rural area. I can understand that.