capndave Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I am starting out new to the business. I just purchased 5 Dixie Narco 501e machines. I hope that I did not over pay for the machines; does anyone have an idea of what these machines sell for used? I think I got a good deal on them; it was one of those deals where I had to act on immediately. Now I have the issue of trying to place them. Does anyone have any suggestions on finding locations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I am starting out new to the business. I just purchased 5 Dixie Narco 501e machines. I hope that I did not over pay for the machines; does anyone have an idea of what these machines sell for used? I think I got a good deal on them; it was one of those deals where I had to act on immediately. Now I have the issue of trying to place them. Does anyone have any suggestions on finding locations? What a way to start your business. Welcome. Depending on the age and condition and even what part of the country the machines could have a sales value of as much as one thousand dollars each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I am starting out new to the business. I just purchased 5 Dixie Narco 501e machines. I hope that I did not over pay for the machines; does anyone have an idea of what these machines sell for used? I think I got a good deal on them; it was one of those deals where I had to act on immediately. Now I have the issue of trying to place them. Does anyone have any suggestions on finding locations? Given that you've just got the soda machines. I'd say you could place them fairly quickly in small blue collar places that will never justify a snack machine. 10 or 15 guys in an Auto Body Shop can do pretty well for you and you won't have to mess with snacks. Soda machines are easy money and there's a lot of guys out there that only do sodas. You'll never get a large account because they'll always insist on a snack machine but a string of soda machines netting a hundred each a month is a great way to be in vending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Welcome to the forum, capndave! You should not be shy and tell us what you paid. We will be honest with you and probably envious of a great deal. Those are great machines and it's good that you will be starting with soda machines only. This will allow you to learn the business selling products that generally have a longer shelf life than snacks. Try real hard to avoid snack machines until you truly know that you want to be in the vending business. Get these 5 placed and run them for awhile and see if you still like it. Then you can begin to think about snacks. Even though your machines are capable of selling bottles, it's truly best to begin with 12 oz cans only due to the ease of vending them and their longer shelf life. These machines will have to be set up for the specific products you will be vending from them and, of course, we don't know what they're set up for now, so plan on spending some money on parts to get them set up the way you need them to be. You may also have some mechanical issues with coin mechs or validators and maybe a refigeration issue here or there, but hopefully these machines are in good condition. When the time comes, you can PM me for any parts you might need to get them ready for locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 thanks guys i bought the machines for $1250 each. 1 had just come in off of location that was lost and was cleaned up. It looks a little rough, but appears to operate fine. 3 were refurbished and 1 is brand spanking new still in plastic and secured on the shipping pallet. All have update coin receivers and validators. I am located in the DC/Baltimore area. I looked at others machine, with another guy, that were old wore out not even working. He wanted $900 each. The guy was nice enough and gave me lots of valuable info about the industy, but the machines were in parts. I had to walk away from them. As I drive down the road spots are starting to jumping out at me. I just have to create a sales pitch and approach the decision makers of the locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 thanks guys i bought the machines for $1250 each. 1 had just come in off of location that was lost and was cleaned up. It looks a little rough, but appears to operate fine. 3 were refurbished and 1 is brand spanking new still in plastic and secured on the shipping pallet. All have update coin receivers and validators. I am located in the DC/Baltimore area. I looked at others machine, with another guy, that were old wore out not even working. He wanted $900 each. The guy was nice enough and gave me lots of valuable info about the industy, but the machines were in parts. I had to walk away from them. As I drive down the road spots are starting to jumping out at me. I just have to create a sales pitch and approach the decision makers of the locations. Don't be afraid to approach places that might already have a bottler owned machine there - their service is crap and if you check, you'll find that the machine is mostly empty. Offer good service, not commission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 what do you mean by bottler owned machines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I think you paid full retail or a bit over to b honest, however some of those machines last forever...i think you can get them fully refurbed for about 750 plus shipping or as is for 500. Now find some decent locations to pay off your investment. Do cans for sure. Keep it simple, stick to the same selections on all of them, dont ask what they really want as sometimes they come up with random things like fresca, root beer, gingerale, etc which dont sell at all. Look for places and try to not pay comission, you are very limited as you do not have snack machines so big accounts are a no go, sometimes u can even get good snack only accounts when all they have is coke or pepsi in there. Either way good luck and feel free to ask any questions you have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 in looking around on the web, all of the prices that i have seen have been in the $1395 to $1900 range for referbished machines, this did not include shipping. all of the other machines that i saw that was less than the $1250 were in very very bad condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 what do you mean by bottler owned machines? pepsi and coke both locate their own machines but hardly ever with a snack machine. Their service is the worst in the industry and they usually can't secure the big accounts unless they can find some sucker to mess with the snacks and other vending the account might want. The easy money is in the soda machines where the other types of machines take a lot more effort to operate profitably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchligVend Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I have a few Hotels that I do only snack for, it drives me crazy every time I think about coke in my account doing the sodas right next to me. Every time I stop at any of my locations that have a coke machine I make it a point to check all selections for sold outs and I point it out to whoever is in charge, I am sure I drive them crazy but I don't care until they let me move my machines in I will not stop. There is one hotel that has 4 soda machines one on each floor and I spend the few extra minutes and go to each floor to check them and sure enough I would say over 75% of the time there is at least one item sold out of each machine, I talk to all the employees at all the accounts and owners when their around and they always tell me the machines are always broken down and sometimes up to two weeks before they get repaired... Now I am irritated just thinking about this!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I have a few Hotels that I do only snack for, it drives me crazy every time I think about coke in my account doing the sodas right next to me. Every time I stop at any of my locations that have a coke machine I make it a point to check all selections for sold outs and I point it out to whoever is in charge, I am sure I drive them crazy but I don't care until they let me move my machines in I will not stop. There is one hotel that has 4 soda machines one on each floor and I spend the few extra minutes and go to each floor to check them and sure enough I would say over 75% of the time there is at least one item sold out of each machine, I talk to all the employees at all the accounts and owners when their around and they always tell me the machines are always broken down and sometimes up to two weeks before they get repaired... Now I am irritated just thinking about this!!!!! You should be irritated - the soda guys are scooping up the cream and you're doing all the work. If they want a snack machine from me they'll have to give the soda sales as well. You need to explain that your machine will hold both Pepsi and Coke products, not just one or the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I think you paid full retail or a bit over to b honest, however some of those machines last forever...i think you can get them fully refurbed for about 750 plus shipping or as is for 500. Now find some decent locations to pay off your investment. Do cans for sure. Keep it simple, stick to the same selections on all of them, dont ask what they really want as sometimes they come up with random things like fresca, root beer, gingerale, etc which dont sell at all. Look for places and try to not pay comission, you are very limited as you do not have snack machines so big accounts are a no go, sometimes u can even get good snack only accounts when all they have is coke or pepsi in there. Either way good luck and feel free to ask any questions you have A fully refurbished 501e usually go for 1200-1800. As-is between 500-1000. Full retail would have been about 3000. He got a good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 in reading some of the post it came to mind that i have a pepsi plant hidden from view down the street from me. i am going to stop by there on monday to see if they have any machines that they want to sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 how difficult is it to change the graphics on a machine? a new grocery store just opened close by. i was going to approach them to place a machine or 2 there. the problem, i just realized lwhile staring at the machines, is that all of the machines i just purchased have the store's competitor’s name hidden within the current graphics all over all of the machines. i think I would have to fix that problem if i were to place these machines there. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 how difficult is it to change the graphics on a machine? a new grocery store just opened close by. i was going to approach them to place a machine or 2 there. the problem, i just realized lwhile staring at the machines, is that all of the machines i just purchased have the store's competitor’s name hidden within the current graphics all over all of the machines. i think I would have to fix that problem if i were to place these machines there. lol You can get graphic overlays from Vendors Exchange for your snack machines and NIBS sells plastic fronts for the soda machines as well as the side graphics. I had a bunch of grocery stores once, they were not good locations. Look for locations that are far away from any other food source. You'll find that a lot of the smaller blue collar places tend to be tucked away from eating places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 who is NIBS? when i search for them i get raw cocoa suppliers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 guys thank you for your suggestions and support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Nbs National beverage screeners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Here in AZ the grocery stores all have bottler machines out front that are actually filled by the grocery store themselves. They use soda inventory from in the store and the machines are just for advertising so they are provided to the stores for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Here in AZ the grocery stores all have bottler machines out front that are actually filled by the grocery store themselves. They use soda inventory from in the store and the machines are just for advertising so they are provided to the stores for free. There's a local grocery store just like that. It's a great deal for them to get about 5 machines at either location (one pepsi can, one pepsi bottle, one coke can, one coke bottle, and a 7up bottle) and collect all of the profits themselves. Obviously, they have everything they need in stock at all times and someone just goes out there and stocks it if they need anything. But as AZVendor said, the bottlers probably do it just for advertising. I don't know what other incentive they would have to do that. The stores pretty much have to buy their product directly through the bottlers anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capndave Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 all of the machines that i purchased have the grocery stores name embedded within the graffics. i am assuming that they were set up for them to promote the stores product. looking up the serial numbers of the machines that i purchase they are all less than 5 years old. one has never been used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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