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Thinking of phasing out PMM's


lowcountry Dan

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I know that many of you don't vend PMM's because they are too expensive or charge 50 cents to vend them.  Since my candy volume is not what I'd like, I'm thinking of phasing out PMM's to maximize profit. I thought I could replace them with Runts (or something else) and see how it goes.

 

What makes me hesitant, is I have never had any luck with Runts.  PMM's sell.  It's my top seller my far. I have a few machine that will only move PMM's. No other candies will sell in them.  I fear rejection of  Runts so I have not made the move to eliminate expensive candy.  

 

My dilemma is some profit is better than none, so I use PMM's as a loss leader so to speak.  I have taken the path of least resistance, but profit is the name of the game.  I guess I just need to have the nerve to eliminate PMM's and just tell customer's I don't vend anything with peanuts. Many are allergic to peanuts, so that might be a good angle.      

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I went through the same dilemma, but you basically said it yourself...it's a bad idea!  Some locations will only do well with PMM, and you can still at minimum double your money.  You won't make any profit filling a machine with Runts if they don't sell.  What I did was replace them with something like Mike and Ikes, Hot Tamales or Skittles where they weren't popular.

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These are the conditions that need to be met to vend PMMs profitably:

6 peanut M&M's per .25c vend, no more hopefully no less. If your candy wheel can't consistently vend peanut M&M's then don't bother.

The location must be air conditioned ,out of direct sunlight and have no other environmental conditions that would cause spoilage. Any spoilage whatsoever and peanut M&M's cannot be vended profitably.

The location must sell $15-$20 of peanut M&M's per month. Any lower volume and no peanut M&M's for that location.

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Skittles do sell well just like MMP, but down here they clump up and make a mess of the machines.  Mixing them up helps but I am still thinking of going to pressed candy or getting rid of candy all together.

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I eliminated Peanut M&M's last year and have never regretted it.  I have gone to a single-candy model and have never regretted it.  Standardized on Runts.  Very happy with all those decisions.

 

IMHO, multi-selection candy vending causes the candies to compete with each other and thus has a cannibalism effect.  It gets worse when a high-cost low-margin candy (like Peanut M&M) takes sales away from a lower-cost higher-margin candy.  So less selection (of similar products) is usually better with bulk.  So 2-heads (gumballs and runts) is all I run now for charity,  No candy choices here, if they want candy then Runts is the only choice.

 

I once had a double-head in Hooters kitchen (hidden from the public) that did $170 on a 60 day cycle.  Those Hooters chicks went crazy over those Runts - which was their only candy choice.  Had I put other candies in there, they most likely would have taken sales away from the high-profitable Runts.  The gross may have been the same or even a little more, but the net would have gone down considerably.  But it all came crashing down when the out-of-town regional manager d-head had the machine removed!  Fun while it lasted!

 

And for the record, I was a multi-candy Uturn vendor for 8 years and sold Peanut M&M's for 12 years.  So my decisions were not made overnight, but rather based on personal experiences and the climate in the deep south.

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Peanut M&Ms will only do well in a climate controlled area with high volume sales. You will need a high capacity machine, like a Northwestern Super 60. You cannot afford to service this type of machine every two weeks.

 

For example, if you had a Vendstar and it emptied out in two weeks, it would still not be worth vending. However, if a super 60 head emptied in two weeks or one month, it would be well worth it.

 

I run primarily Northwestern Super 60's (doubles) with gumballs and skittles. I only vend RUNTS if requested. They don't do well around here.

 

I have found that in many cases a location owner will ruin a good thing. For example, about two months ago, I put a double in a tattoo parlor, but the owner asked me to add peanut M&M's to my selection. Now, I must ad an extra head. I did $130 in 6 weeks at this location. Now a lot more people will buy peanut M&M's, which will take away from my gumball and Skittles sales. But you have to do what owners want or get the boot.

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I dont add them to new locations but for them ones I have i need to keep them for now.

I only keep them in high volume locs. I know if I pull them from some of my locs I might as well take the whole machine with me.

i try to stock up when bjs does them for 6.99 which is a few times a year.

I find that runts either do real well or a flop. i have them in quite a few locs though

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I'm fairly new to this game so I'm wondering what the problem is with PMM's? Price? Profit margin ?  Lowcountrydan said its his best seller by far, so why quit? I'm sure back in the day when vends were .10 and had to increase to .25, vendors were also discouraged. I'm new to bulk and have had several requests for PMM's in the last month or 2. I'm considering them on .50 and if the location complains I will either negotiate a smaller percentage to them , or wont handle them, as I'm sure we are all aware we cant go in the hole. So IMO , get over the price per vend, set them at .50 and look ahead, not in the past. The convenience stores didn't stop selling them cause of price, there moving em at 1.25 a bag.

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The key will be finding the sweet spot and trying to make a profit, yet make enough! If you're paying a commission then you almost have to vend at .50. Try 10 or so at .50.

The first month or so out might drop, but should pick back up after that

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I'm fairly new to this game so I'm wondering what the problem is with PMM's? Price? Profit margin ? Lowcountrydan said its his best seller by far, so why quit? I'm sure back in the day when vends were .10 and had to increase to .25, vendors were also discouraged. I'm new to bulk and have had several requests for PMM's in the last month or 2. I'm considering them on .50 and if the location complains I will either negotiate a smaller percentage to them , or wont handle them, as I'm sure we are all aware we cant go in the hole. So IMO , get over the price per vend, set them at .50 and look ahead, not in the past. The convenience stores didn't stop selling them cause of price, there moving em at 1.25 a bag.

Tw,look around your towns you service, and look at what the bigger/successful vending companies are selling. There is a reason why most full time guys don't mess with chocolate;shelf life, profit margins, and lack of sales. Sure there are guys that make okay money on pmm, but it's not what I would want to primarily focus on. Look at alternatives like toys, b.b., b.g. ect.

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I still carry them, but I'm not considered a Large vendor right now either. I only have 50 locations currently. I do sell them in Charity locations, but I am phasing out ALL high end stuff in commission. I just now started selling all 1" at .50 in commission spots. I've never done this before on the toys, but in my area, the commission rates are 30-40%. So, if they want that, the customer pays.

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Let me clarify that the conditions I laid out above are for charity locations, primarily break rooms. We don't sell any PMMs at commission locations. It would be tough to sell PMMs profitably at a commission location because the vend portion would have to be too small to make customers happy and still have a margin you can live with.

We have a couple of break rooms where every edible product we've tried sells mediocre at best, but PMMs sell $100 every 60 days year in and year out.

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I still carry them, but I'm not considered a Large vendor right now either. I only have 50 locations currently. I do sell them in Charity locations, but I am phasing out ALL high end stuff in commission. I just now started selling all 1" at .50 in commission spots. I've never done this before on the toys, but in my area, the commission rates are 30-40%. So, if they want that, the customer pays.

One inch at .50 is excellent my friend, and a very wise move on your part. 30 to 40 % is pretty standard. I've moved most of our two inch to a buck. Been happy with those results too.

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