lurtsman Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 My bulk candy wheels can not open far enough for one slot to give as many PPM as I would like to vend. My wheel looks like the hazard symbol. (Pictures to come later if needed) It has 3 sections, with 3 screws, loosening the screws allows the size of the vend to be adjusted. However the largest setting I can put it on vends out only 5 PMM. Ironically one of these wheels almost all the way open is being used for my RP, and vends 12-15. (I figured that should be good since it is competing on selling RP) How can I make more PMM come out? Do I have to change the coin mech to get it to turn far enough to allow two "servings" for one coin? I'm not sure how to do that... I'm working with seaga millenia -- and two machines that look almost identical except they are made from plastic. Their candy door has a V on it. The coin mech for them looks slightly different, and is slightly larger. This coin mech doesn't quite fit the metal frame of the seaga millenia. (Just trying to give all the information I can) Any ideas how to get my serving larger? My goal was to have the vend set to do 8-9 PMM. I felt if I put a quarter in and got 5, I'd be upset... I don't want my customers to feel that way. Thanks. PS. My first machine (rp/gumballs) is on location in the auto shop. My second machine is entirely assembled and loaded except for this problem with the small vending size. EDIT: http://cgi.ebay.com/Vendworks-Vending-Machine-Coin-Mechanism_W0QQitemZ360114770627QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Vending?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 This coin mech looks like the coin mech on the machine I'm working on right now. Googling vendworks was disappointing. (Hoped to find a larger manufacturer's website w/ information on their machines) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 I had the same problem on my Seagas before I got rid of them. You can bend the wings back on the portion controller for a little bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 I had the same problem on my Seagas before I got rid of them. You can bend the wings back on the portion controller for a little bit more.GENIUS!I love ideas like this, something that can be done quickly with my hands to fix the system, and I have several spare parts for candy wheels. I'll go have a look at this. BTW, what caused you to get rid of the seagas? I think they look beautiful. (Though the coin mech jamming so easily does bother me. I'll keep that in mind when I'm locating them and try to have the rest located near my home) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 If you take the propeller shaped adjustment blade out all the way it will vend 11-13 PM&M's. I would not advise that though with the recent price increase on them. If you bend it then you may be where you want to be at. I just did the vend test on a spare wheel I have here for these numbers. I don't vend the PM&M's in my Millenia just Reeses' Pieces and gumballs. I will say the the picture you link to is not like my Seaga handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 Thanks Beer. The picture is of my green machines, which I believe are "vendwork". I have one green double headed vendwork, and 3 red double headed seaga. I really appreciate your test, that makes it quicker for me to figure this out. I've got quite a few PMM to sell, though I did overpay for my supply. I was order gumballs off quill and figured their PMM would be comparable to local. However my local walmart sells 45 OZ bags for about 7.40-7.80. (Live and learn I guess, at least it only cost me a few bucks) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 BTW, what caused you to get rid of the seagas? I think they look beautiful. They were'nt as reliable as I would have liked and servicing round globes is more of a pain than servicing square globes. Like Jax I settled on Northwesterns and Oaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmuseStar Vending Co Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 lurtsman, You will learn that you can not go by looks. Some of the best looking machines are pure junk. They sell them off looks. Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Lurtsman You may want to rethink about vendng a large amount of PMMs. Sam's just raised their prices to $9.14 for a 56oz. bag around here. It's just a matter of time before the price goes up on the 45oz. at Wallyworld. I vend 7-8 and I'm thinking of cutting back on that portion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Yes the price just went up at my Sam's here. I think that as they restock the price increase will show. I was concerned with the out of stock Skittles here locally. It looked like they are not going to carry them anymore. There was no space for them or a shelf tag so I will keep my fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted January 1, 2009 Author Share Posted January 1, 2009 Wow, it's sad to see the prices going up on our stock that much. (Since a change in our prices would require a different coin mechanism) I would love to stock up on those bags from walmart, but I really don't have machines and don't want to risk inventory spoilage. At what point is the portion considered "too small"? I'll definitely need to track my costs to see how well it's working out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 PMMs are my highest COG to begin with but the sales made up for it.. With a $1.26 increase it makes it even worse. If I cut back to 5, that's 5 cents a piece. I had complaints vending 7-8. I'll have to do some hard thinking in 2009. I hate to eliminate them but I may have no choice. Even Reese's Pieces jumped $1. Thank goodness I'm only vending them in one machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted January 1, 2009 Author Share Posted January 1, 2009 As I'm starting out, I've been looking at protecting my profit margin by not giving commissions. Eventually I will need to, however getting my first few locations I just pitch it on the benefits of having my machine there. Without worrying about a commission, I figure the cost of a couple extra PPM isn't too bad if it keeps them coming back. I'll need to run some more numbers on that to figure out if it's really working in my favor to vend more though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwinn33 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 Lurtsman You may want to rethink about vendng a large amount of PMMs. Sam's just raised their prices to $9.14 for a 56oz. bag around here. It's just a matter of time before the price goes up on the 45oz. at Wallyworld. I vend 7-8 and I'm thinking of cutting back on that portion. I saw the price increase today also and was shocked. I'm considering not doing PMMs anymore but they are a good seller. It's nice to have PMM as one of the options in my triple heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T BIRD Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 bacho wrote: Lurtsman You may want to rethink about vendng a large amount of PMMs. Sam's just raised their prices to $9.14 for a 56oz. bag around here. It's just a matter of time before the price goes up on the 45oz. at Wallyworld. I vend 7-8 and I'm thinking of cutting back on that portion. Wow really? That is ridiculous!:X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 I almost bought the pink cancer benefit ones at a$2 savings per bag. I may go and get some of them to do a mix of regular and the pink to streach it out a little more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 As I'm starting out, I've been looking at protecting my profit margin by not giving commissions. Eventually I will need to, however getting my first few locations I just pitch it on the benefits of having my machine there. Without worrying about a commission, I figure the cost of a couple extra PPM isn't too bad if it keeps them coming back. I'll need to run some more numbers on that to figure out if it's really working in my favor to vend more though. Here's some numbers I was running on with PMMs. Count Per Pound: 188 188 per lb / 16 oz = 11.75 pcs per oz 11.75 pcs per oz x 56 oz = 658 658 pcs bag / 7 pcs vend = 94 vends $.25 x 94 vends = $23.50 minus $7.88 = $15.62 profit Now for the new numbers Count Per Pound: 188 658 pcs bag / 6 pcs vend = 109 vends $.25 x 109 vends = $27.25 minus $9.14 = $18.11 profit By cutting back one piece it will make up for the price increase. However, it may not be possible to cut back only one piece on certain machines. If I have to cut back to 5, I will make more profit but definately will see sales plumit. Even vending six I will see a decrease in sales. IMO, it's not even worth stocking if I have to rip off my customer. In the long run, it will bite you in the butt if you vend only five. Plus you have to consider if it's a slow location, there's a chance of spoilage. As for commissioned accounts, if you're just doing candy it's not worth it IMO. Even if the account does $50, which is exceptional, to hand a owner $5 to $10 a month he will think you're ripping him off. On the other hand, you can play that to your advantage by telling him a rack with toys and stickers will produce 2 times more revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted January 1, 2009 Author Share Posted January 1, 2009 Bacho, thank you for doing the math. I was thinking I'd need to run through it all today. Therefore using 45 OZ bags: 11.75 x 45 = 528.75 (rounding down to 528) My machine vends 9 PMM on average. 528/9 = 58.67 I can expect 58 vends from that bag if there was nothing that looked really bad in it. 58 vends x .25 = 14.5$ coming in. If I buy them for 7.24 I'd only have a about a 7.25 profit margin on them, assuming everything looked good--and I need to get my LLC set up to get past sales tax on my purchase. The profit at 9 PMM is pretty sad IMO, as CoG can easily creep past 50%. My location would have to be fairly busy to make a decent profit with those CoG. Selling 45 oz/month and servicing once a month would only give me about 7 dollars on the head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 If they were not so popular it would be an easier decision. If it is your slowest moving product then you might want to look at dropping them. I think before I drop the vend size I will mix in the cheaper pink cancer ones next service. I don't think the pink ones will hurt or help sales on their own. At least I will be able to stretch it out a little longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markvend Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 I have been vending 5-6 pieces per vend for over a year. I have had several comments about the number given through the machine but have lost no accounts because of it. I take time to explain they have gone up 18% on the first price increase (over a year ago). Now we have the new increase of 15.6%. That's over 30% in about 18 months. I've had a lot of understanding from people. You can offer to change to another candy for them too. Overall, I probably have 150-200 MMP machines so this is not a minor thing to me. You need to also deduct in to Craig's number of $18.11 profit charity commission, product spoilage, and service costs. That barely leaves a dime profit. I had a terrible problem with MMPs exploding the last 3-4 months. I suspect the same problem with Sam's storage methods as is causing the cracked 850 gumball problem. Sometimes I think Sam's is finished with us bulk vendors and they are just going to keep pricing us out of the market so it's not as big of a headache for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwinn33 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 Mark, since you have so many machines, do you still buy from Sam's or is there another vendor that you can buy in bulk that will beat Sam's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 I couldn't agree with you more, markvend. Sam's is really getting terrible. The last few months have been uncalled for. PMM are chipped, cracked and broken in half. Skittles are melted into clumps which are easily separated by dumping into the globe but end up looking chipped. Same with Reese's Pieces and Gourmet Jelly Beans. You have understanding customers to accept a 5-6 vend size. Before I even got started in vending, there was a guy who placed a brand new Vendstar in our lab. He was only vending 5 and got an earful from my co-workers when he serviced the machine. After everyone dumped their quarter in the machine and found out it was costing them 5 cents a piece, that was the end of wanting PMMs. I think he only pulled a couple of bucks the first month. He adjusted it to vend 8-9 and was making much better sales. If I can't get a 6 piece vend, I'll drop them all together and explain to my customers it's not worth ripping them off. This is just a part time business for me but I'm in it to make money, not lose it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T BIRD Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Great post there Craig. Got my vote for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepavend Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Another thing to consider is shifting from candy to gumballs/toys/stickers. The prices are better, margin is better, the products are very versatile, toys and stickers never go bad, and are useable in many different types of locations. Candy seems to be the best fit for me in certain spots where you add to a rack to keep other vendors out, spots where gum/toys don't make sense or where the owners don't want them. Also, every market is different, you have to evaluate that for yourself and use common sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronzo Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 The price increase is a real consideration. I also have been running 7-8 per vend on PPM. But It just went up at Costco and I am goind to make the change to 6-7.At some point, I am thinking that I will have to go to a 50 cent mech on certain machines to earn a profit. I am definitely going to do it on Cashews. They have gone out of sight on cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I wonder if Sam realizes how much candy is being bought by the bulk vendors. If we stop buying, do they really think that the general public will make up the difference when buying just one bag at a time? Maybe we should all protest and send complaints via e-mail through the Sams Club web site. Jax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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