AMD Snacks Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Talking to a guy I bought some machines from, he mentioned his route is I think 400 locations, and goes all the way from Socal To northern CA (like 400 + miles). That seems crazy to me, but raises a question: how far should you be casting a net when starting out? I'm fortunate that my route is only about 4 miles with about 10 locations. Should I keep combing this area or spreading out? I figure this might be part preference, but with gas as it is, I'm not trying to make any more beginners mistakes. My best bulk candy locations so far are tattoo places and tire shops. Does it make more sense to just keep looking for these golden geese locations, even if its over 20 miles, or just stay close and give some iffy places a chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanihotdog Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 No real right or wrong answer, it all depends on what your goals are. Do you want this to be full time or part time? Kind of hard going 400 miles with a part time business. If you do want this to be full time, how much money do you want to make? More specifically how much money per hour do you want to make? Additionally, what has your closing rate been? Do you land one out of every 3 tattoo or tire shops? If you are confident that you can duplicate your success, you can extrapolate what your projected radius should be to reach certain numbers. I would say keep going as long as you're able to get they return on time that you want. There are other variables to consider. Are you cash poor? If so, I would suggest only going after the machines and locations that will give you the quickest return on your investment... if you have plenty of cash, you can think more long term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMD Snacks Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 A lot of valuable information there for me thanks. It sounds like 400 miles isn't totally unheard of, which surprises me. I guess I just had never pictured so much area. There are other variables to consider. Are you cash poor? If so, I would suggest only going after the machines and locations that will give you the quickest return on your investment... if you have plenty of cash, you can think more long term. Can you expound on this for me, are you saying if you have cash you can go for slow locations? Is that simply to not tie up potentially higher money making machines in a slow location or is there other reasoning behind that? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanihotdog Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 If you only have $200 you're probably going to want to purchase some $10 vendstars and be a little more selective about where you put them... you will not want to take the 10 or $12 a month candy location, instead, you will want to place the machine in a spot that will get you the quickest return possible. Maybe you are an old guy that is retiring and just looking for something to do for the next 20 years. If that's the case, I would suggest northwestern super 60 s and place them as dense as possible. Above the minimum dollar per month threshold that you set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMD Snacks Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 Ok, I think i get what you're saying. Basically, if you want more money stick to great locations, but if you can afford it, nickel and dime stuff works too. I'm personally somewhere in between, I have a lot of machines that aren't hurting me to place slowly. But concurrently I want to build a nice sized business, even if it takes some time. I figure I'll open up my range and keep going. Just curious, is your route that spread out hanihotdog? 400 miles still seems mind boggling to me. But your right I never planned on going full time either.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainor5251 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 not knowing your situation i cant say what i think would be your best strategy. for me it comes down to not wanting to have to hire anyone to run routes and i have 2 young kids and want to be home every night. i run bulk, a little amusement and honor boxes and stay within a 100 miles. get all the quality accounts you can where you are when quality starts to fall off look for the next closest area that has the most opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 400 miles is for the big ops in the rural areas with cheap gas and small towns and large hi grossing setups. You are in California, land of high costs and high gas prices. Combine that with small candy setups and it will not be that profitable. Stick to one metro area or two eg LA SF OC SD Inland Empire Bakersfield Fresno etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMD Snacks Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Thanks orsd, but I'm soon to be in Seattle to help out my old man. So I'll be starting over again, trying to make sure I don't start off on the wrong foot lol. For one thing I'm keep my selection down to three candies. ..and I suppose I'll try and keep my route within. ..I guess 30 miles each direction seems like a happy medium from what I'm reading Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanihotdog Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 our diameter is about 500 miles. radius would be 400.. sounds like fuzzy math but we are about 100 miles from the coast. your best bet is to start around your house, pick the largest low hanging fruit first, then go back and pick the rest of the fruit. We always work multiple areas at the same time... that way we can keep getting the easy accounts in new cities, and fill in the established routes on our way home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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