m2736185 Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 I have read through many post here and I am considering starting a vending route. I had never thought about the short shelf life of the bottle sodas. How often do you guys deal with bad product? Sounds like something that can really hurt your profit especially with the snacks. How often do you guys have to bother with rotating things in and out? I am thinking about starting with some can soda machines. I see a few of them on CL going for around 900. I have also seen cheaper ones going for less. Is there anything I should look out for? Would I be okay if I stick to DN machines? What is the cut off year as far as how old the machines should be? I notice some of the older ones just have coin slots. Can these be upgraded to bill validators or credit card readers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Starting out its a good idea to stay with cans because of the expiration dates and because you can get a single priced can vendor usually for around $500-800 vs $1000-$1500 for a multi-price bottle/can machine. Stay with the big well known brands (dixie narco, royal, vendo). Its not a good idea to buy soda machines that are not at least setup with bill acceptance, but I think CC readers are a little much for a new venture. If you decide that you like the business, then your next step is probably venturing into snacks. It's hard to make money with snacks unless you have at least 3-5 accounts because then you can spread the product out and have less stales. Your on the right track by posting questions on here, just remember don't buy into any biz-opp hype or any combo machines and ask questions when you have them. Ask questions about any potential equipment that you are thinking of buying on these boards, and you will be surprised how willing and knowledgeable the members are here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 You are smart to stick to cans in the beginning as you can offer lower prices, get the machines cheaper and cans have a longer shelf life than bottles. You will not be able to determine the age of any machine unless you post details about it. If a machine you find has no bill validator on it already and no cutout already in the door for one, then it will be an older machine and you might not want to pick it up. However, just because a machine has a validator on it doesn't mean anything specific about its vintage because validators can be added to almost any machine. DN is the most generic machine you can get and they used many common parts over several generations of machines. Because DN built hundreds of thousands of machines there will always be parts available for them, either new or used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 You can determine the age of a dn from the serial number... But why bother cuz it's often not shown in sellers pics, and some people here like az can tell a vendors rough age, brand , model and validator make from nothing more than a crappy cellphone pic that looks like it was intended to be more of the sellers garage than of the machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 So whats the deal with everyone going against the combo machines? Seems like a great option for a location that isn't too busy. There is someone in my area selling one on location for 1500. They claim it nets 140/month. I figured if I purchased my first location it would get the ball rolling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 A combo machine from a major manufacturer will be a good machine, but if it's in a busy location you will have to over service it to keep it full. Otherwise if you don't have to service it very often you may not make a good return on the investment. Combos are a good infill type of machine on a dense route or for a satellite location of a good account. Only you can determine if the return from the machine is worth what you might invest in it, so you have to make the decision yourself whether to buy it or not. If the machine is made by AP, AMS, National/Crane or even USI, you will have a good machine, just don't buy anything that is imported such as Antares, 1800vending, Gaines or even Seaga as all those machines are crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 So whats the deal with everyone going against the combo machines? Seems like a great option for a location that isn't too busy. There is someone in my area selling one on location for 1500. They claim it nets 140/month. I figured if I purchased my first location it would get the ball rolling 140 a month? U can find those kinda accts all day for free just dial the phone bok that's a waste of money,there's a reason its for sale Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch Q using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 So what is considered the minimum one should settle for a soda/snack/combo? I am thinking about walking around to see what laundry facilities are without vending services. How would I persuade a laundry facility for vending services without commission? If I owned one I could not see the benefit with having a vending machine. It will not improve their business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 For a soda and snack account, you should aim for accounts that do around $400 per month. Some on these boards with much more experience than myself disagree and say you need at least $600 average per location. The big problem with combo machines is that with an account that sells $400 per month you will have to fill it multiple times per week to keep it stocked, tieing up much more of your time than if you had separate dedicated soda and snack machines. Time is definitely money in vending, the more machines you can service per day the more money you will make as long as they are not poor accounts. With a combo you will service more often and pull less cash per service, and this will make a huge difference when you get more and more machines out in the field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 These $400 accounts I guess that would be soda/snack locations? I suppose you would need 20+ employees or a high traffic area for that amount and would expect to service that type of location weekly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 These $400 accounts I guess that would be soda/snack locations? I suppose you would need 20+ employees or a high traffic area for that amount and would expect to service that type of location weekly? Your probably looking at closer to 50 people to do $400 a month but you never really know until you try - I have an account that grosses in that range with 20 guys, it's a soda only account and I service it once a month (big machine) I wouldn't even consider placing a snack machine in such a small location. If you had a soda, snack account doing $400 a month you could only justify servicing it twice a month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Your probably looking at closer to 50 people to do $400 a month but you never really know until you try - I have an account that grosses in that range with 20 guys, it's a soda only account and I service it once a month (big machine) I wouldn't even consider placing a snack machine in such a small location. If you had a soda, snack account doing $400 a month you could only justify servicing it twice a month id say it greatly depends on the type of acct. employee count is a good metric to get your prospect list to a manageable size but its also sort of misleading sometimes i have a laundry with ZERO employees that does over $100 a week, i have had lube shops do $100+ a week in drinks only with 15-20 guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 I started scouting the laundries in the area, but they ALL had a full service of vending...2 soda machines 1 snack and game/bulk vending. I am going to scout the repair shops next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 This is where salesmanship comes in, any place that is going to be a good account probably has vending or at least has been pitched. I love laundries because of a few reasons, first they are ALL local business, no chains, on the average an owner owns no more than 3 mats, there are exceptions (i know a guy who owns 15 mats) but generally they are locally owned and the owner is often on site, if not they do have to show up at least once a day to collect the money. I always leave my "leave behind" packet taped up to the door thats behind their change machines , because they have to see that when they come to empty the changers. I have got a few accounts just from leaving notes there. Here is what I look for when I go into a laundry Do they have everything I offer ( Soda, Snack, Games, Coin Pusher, etc... ) Is all their equipment WORKING?Broken equipment == LOST MONEY FOR THE OWNER , every minute its not working they are losing money A lot of owners think they need to own all the equipment in the mat, something breaks like a snack machine or claw machine and they dont know how to fix it , they dont have time to fix it, they leave it broken Not all vending companies are doing a good job, some leave major service issues especially if its a marginal accountbottom line, if there is broken equipment i will ask about it immediately and go into a sales pitch Are there a lot of sold out selections?Like i said a lot of guys do their own vending in laundries, its not often very profitable if you have only ONE location, vending is a volume business, you buy in bulk and spread it around to different locs. So a lot of times a mat owner will have stuff in his mat like a snack machine but it will stay sold out for a long time because he doesnt have time to service it and finds hes not making enough money to be worth while Another evidence of this is if its running the same food in a bunch of different columns, this is evidence of someone who isnt doing vending the right way and usually is running out of money Commission?Do they own the equipment? Are they getting commission? If so how much? Always pitch the account even if they have equipment, never be afraid to introduce yourself and ask about their vending, maybe they are really secretly frustrated with the vendor because they arent getting paid on time or getting bad service? how would you know without ASKING. It never kills anyone to spend 5 minutes having a meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I started scouting the laundries in the area, but they ALL had a full service of vending...2 soda machines 1 snack and game/bulk vending. I am going to scout the repair shops next Like dogcow said it will be very hard to find any good locations that doesn’t currently have vending. You will have to get them to switch to your company in order to get accounts. Unless it is a brand new company moving into town they will already have vending and if not they are probably not worth doing to begin with. I try my best (like most vendors) to stay away from commission but commission is fine as long as you can adjust your prices to off set the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 I posted an ad on CL for outside sales for vending. I am offering $50 a location. Does anyone have any contract templates? I mean I am sure a contract is worthless when it comes to vending, but I suppose I can offer half payment when a contract is signed and half when the machine is placed on location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I posted an ad on CL for outside sales for vending. I am offering $50 a location. Does anyone have any contract templates? I mean I am sure a contract is worthless when it comes to vending, but I suppose I can offer half payment when a contract is signed and half when the machine is placed on location. You are probably not going to get quality locations using this method. To get the good locations you are going to have to knock on doors in person and not solicited on the phone. The other problem is you will have unknown people representing your company that could be harmful to your image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I posted an ad on CL for outside sales for vending. I am offering $50 a location. Does anyone have any contract templates? I mean I am sure a contract is worthless when it comes to vending, but I suppose I can offer half payment when a contract is signed and half when the machine is placed on location. I have not used a locator for years but the last one I used that was worth a $hit I paid $300 per machine. $100 was paid when he brought the signed agreement in and the balance on installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I have used fronters with good results but I did my own locating for a while first (otherwise how do u train them?) Unless ur gonna commit to learning sales or bring in a partner who is a sales guy forget about owning ur own biz in this or any field. There's an old addage "nothing happens until someone makes a sale". Everyone has to sell their services or produce with the exception of maybe a doctor but even jnow doctors r looking for ways to sell extra products n services my dr sells a whole line of antiaging and diet services, even he has to know sales Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch Q using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spdydre Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 You are probably not going to get quality locations using this method. To get the good locations you are going to have to knock on doors in person and not solicited on the phone. The other problem is you will have unknown people representing your company that could be harmful to your image. I posted an ad on CL for outside sales for vending. I am offering $50 a location. Does anyone have any contract templates? I mean I am sure a contract is worthless when it comes to vending, but I suppose I can offer half payment when a contract is signed and half when the machine is placed on location. More than half of my business is from craigslist and I actually got my best location from a craigslist lead lol. But I don't say hiring for outside sales I pitch a certain amount for an account etc to workers that are already in the field such as delivery driver, hot shot drivers, commercial drivers,blue collar workers. repair men etc. Craigslist has its uses in addition to doing your own selling as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Spydre: When you say CL you mean just from a vending ad? So I tried calling a few of the public housing buildings in the area and they all told me the same thing. They said the housing authority deals with that and I would have to go through them. Anyone have any luck with placing machines in these types of buildings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Spydre: When you say CL you mean just from a vending ad? So I tried calling a few of the public housing buildings in the area and they all told me the same thing. They said the housing authority deals with that and I would have to go through them. Anyone have any luck with placing machines in these types of buildings? CL is a good source for finding accounts for sale but you'll need to sift through a lot of crap as the majority of the locations for sale will have significant down sides. If you're really hot to get going, find an auto body shop with twenty people and some foot traffic and offer them a soda machine - this is always a simple and easy start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Public housing? You will loose more in theft and vandalism than make. Plus it would be a "safety hazard' to your health to service these accounts. I know of only one guy that has done this on a sucessful level and he puts as much into cages and security as he does the machines and still has problems. More than half of my business is from craigslist and I actually got my best location from a craigslist lead lol. But I don't say hiring for outside sales I pitch a certain amount for an account etc to workers that are already in the field such as delivery driver, hot shot drivers, commercial drivers,blue collar workers. repair men etc. Craigslist has its uses in addition to doing your own selling as well. Mind me asking what type account this is and what type money it does? When you say lead do you mean you posted an ad and this company contacted you about doing their vending? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spdydre Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 A Major airport. You can go different ways with craigslist leads from ads posted, getting service field workers to find you accounts etc. A lot of people use craigslist and usually when a companies job is to find a vendor its not the CEO doing research its the admin assist etc. They no nothing about vending and want to get the job over with quickly so they hit google or craigslist. Usually im the only vendor posting ads many will try it and give it up within a couple months. You have to know where to post and use key words that attract people outside of vending that might not even be looking for vending service but come across your ad and know someone who does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2736185 Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Ill keep that in mind. Anyone ever setup one of these Avanti mini markets for an account? I spoke with the company today and they seem a little pricey. I think they most basic package starts at $8900 and that's just for the kiosk and security camera. Seems like it would make more sense to setup your own kiosk for less than half the price. On top of that you pay $19 a week and 4% of gross sales as a "service fee". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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