Diesel Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 Hello all, I've been lurking on the forums for a little bit now and reading some books on the vending business and have decided to test the waters. My wife and I are in the process of getting the business started as I type this. We are going to get into the bulk side of vending and start off with gumballs and go from there. We are planning on going with Northwestern 60 machines. I do a question though. I've read a book that told me to do charity only and no commissions with the store/shop owner because you won't make any money in this business like that. My wife talked to our accountant yesterday to ask him some questions on starting the business and he asked how we plan to pay the store owner, she told him we planned on working with charities and not share the money with the owner. My account said that that will never work because people are too greedy. What's everyone's take on commission VS. charity? Sorry if this question has already been asked/answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Determined Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 My take on it is this. I offered commission or a free service for around 9 months and only got into 14 locations. People aren't interested in the small commission. With a charity I've landed 16 locations in the last 2 months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zigzag Vending Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 I once heard someone say that if an owner asks about commission he would usually say there was x% commission available, but most locations preferred to forward their cut to the charity. I work with a few local charities/ogranizations. Started with the city's animal shelter, added next city's shelter and eventually a kids learning center. I donate 10% of all non-commission accounts. and keep donation acknowledgements to prove it. Heres the thing: singles doubles and triples will mostly be charity, but if u plan on having the big gumball machines or toy racks, those will almost certainly be commission. You will have both charity and commission machines, and there is nothing wrong with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zigzag Vending Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Oh, and something else. oak gumball machines are more common for single gumball machines. theyre alot cheaper more often than not. northwesterns are primarily seen on racks. that being said, what works for u is whats important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuikVend Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 4 hours ago, Diesel said: Hello all, I've been lurking on the forums for a little bit now and reading some books on the vending business and have decided to test the waters. My wife and I are in the process of getting the business started as I type this. We are going to get into the bulk side of vending and start off with gumballs and go from there. We are planning on going with Northwestern 60 machines. I do a question though. I've read a book that told me to do charity only and no commissions with the store/shop owner because you won't make any money in this business like that. My wife talked to our accountant yesterday to ask him some questions on starting the business and he asked how we plan to pay the store owner, she told him we planned on working with charities and not share the money with the owner. My account said that that will never work because people are too greedy. What's everyone's take on commission VS. charity? Sorry if this question has already been asked/answered. First, welcome to the forum and to the world of vending. The Northwesterns are an excellent and will give you many problem-free years. Not everyone is looking for their slice of the pie. I have a few commission locations, a handful of charity, and quite a few that are neither. They all work for their respective locations. Working with charities will help you land locations you might not normally get or makes placing them easier(like Determineds experience) as well as helping a good cause(if you're honesty about it). Commission really doesn't work if you're vending candy. Gumballs are okay due to their high margins. Commission will typically come in when you're dealing with toys or racks and you have a high traffic location. The commission will hopefully allow you to keep your machine there and not get kicked out. 3 of the 4 commission accounts I have are gumball machines in restaurants the other is a 8-way rack in a flea market. Either way, as long as you keep your portions under control and don't give to high of a percentage, you can make money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Accountants are great for accounting, but they look at business a different way. 80% of my route is charity. I go after as many as I can as charity. When that bottoms out in an area, I put out 4way racks on commission. Then move to the next town and repeat. That will take quite some time. At that point, I know how well many racks are doing and if great, then add move equipment. If it's something big, I may start bigger. If charity didn't work, vendors wouldn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted October 29, 2016 Author Share Posted October 29, 2016 Thanks everyone for the positive words and advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 On 10/26/2016 at 8:15 PM, Zigzag Vending said: Oh, and something else. oak gumball machines are more common for single gumball machines. theyre alot cheaper more often than not. northwesterns are primarily seen on racks. that being said, what works for u is whats important. I've looked into Northwestern quite a bit and I really like the construction of them and that they are made in the USA. That being said from what I've read on Oaks they are also sturdy and made in the USA. One of the deciding factors of me going with Northwestern is that their factory/offices are about 45 minutes away from me and I was thinking that it would be easy for me to buy machines direct from Northwestern and get parts. Honestly, I called Northwestern the other day to see about ordering some machines from them and I had to leave message. I still haven't heard anything back. I'm also looking into getting them from sams club too. I probably should do some more research into Oak before I make a purchase. I do have a question about Northwestern though. I've tried to search on my own but I'm not having much luck, how hard is it to swap out the globe on site with new gumballs/candy compared to Oak? Sorry, I'm sure that has been answered somewhere on here before, I just couldn't find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuikVend Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 They're both pretty simple. If you're changing products out on location, the simplest thing to do is have an extra globe and hopper assembled and ready to go, so when you're ready to swap out you just have to slide the first globe off and new globe on. 10 seconds tops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Northwestern is for sale. And while you only live 45 minutes from them oak may be the best choice in starting out. Oak often has refurbished machines at a pretty good savings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 2 hours ago, musser said: Northwestern is for sale. And while you only live 45 minutes from them oak may be the best choice in starting out. Oak often has refurbished machines at a pretty good savings Maybe that's why Northwestern isn't returning my calls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Not sure, I talked to them a week or 2 ago. I'm curious on why NW over oak for candy or gum though. That holds way to much product imo. Most locations with just an Oak Panel filled you can go every 90-120 days. A NW super 60 holds about double the product. I have a few, but only in high volume places and only because I was out of Panel heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyboy718 Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 I am new to vending and don't have many machines placed at this time but I made a decision getting into this that I would not use charity in our business. If it works for others thats great but its not for me and my beliefs. In short, I don't want to use a charity to promote my business or be the reason why I got a machine into a location. I don't want to "use" a charity in other words. I do gumballs and will be paying commission for now. I am remaining open minded but for now thats the way I am going to do it. I donate to charity outside of my business as well. Hope this makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendtex Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 3 hours ago, Flyboy718 said: I am new to vending and don't have many machines placed at this time but I made a decision getting into this that I would not use charity in our business. If it works for others thats great but its not for me and my beliefs. In short, I don't want to use a charity to promote my business or be the reason why I got a machine into a location. I don't want to "use" a charity in other words. I do gumballs and will be paying commission for now. I am remaining open minded but for now thats the way I am going to do it. I donate to charity outside of my business as well. Hope this makes sense. I guess I see your point but the charity is getting money so they aren't really being "used" in that sense, at least not in a fraudulent way. What is surprising to me is why would a business need the what $2-5 per month in commission? Sure percentages sound great, but the reality is the actual amount of money in a bulk location is minimal maybe unless it is a rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 9 hours ago, rodney69 said: Not sure, I talked to them a week or 2 ago. I'm curious on why NW over oak for candy or gum though. That holds way to much product imo. Most locations with just an Oak Panel filled you can go every 90-120 days. A NW super 60 holds about double the product. I have a few, but only in high volume places and only because I was out of Panel heads. I'm not 100% sure that I am going with NW but I am leaning that way. I wasn't aware of the amount of product that they hold compared to Oak. Hopefully my machines will be in high enough traffic areas so as the product won't go stale. I'm really big on buying made in the USA as much as possible. I know it can't always be done, but I try as much as possible. From what I have read NW and Oak are completely made in the USA. I also want a machine that I don't have to worry about breaking down and doesn't have plastic parts. NW seems to fit that description from what I've read on here. I'm doing some more research on Oak, I may go that route too. I still have 3 weeks before I buy my machines so I am taking my time before I rush in and make a purchase I'm not happy with. I'm still a little confused on the ease and speed of changing out canisters on NW and Oak. I'd like to be able to change out the stale/empty canisters with fresh/ full canisters. Are there any advantages/disadvantages between the 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuikVend Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Oak and NW don't have canisters that swap out. They have globes that are attached to hoppers. The globes/hoppers just slide off the center rod. As long as you don't overfill and have decent sales, you really won't need to swap them out other then a periodic cleaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Also 1 other thing I like about NW is that I can add a multi machine plate and add another machine to the stand if I do choose in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 All single heads that I'm familiar with can be mounted on a double or even triple plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 So it's not just NW? I guess I have some more research to do. LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuikVend Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 NW and Oak are both very good machines. NW tend to be used more with vending toys or on racks, while the Oaks tend to be used more for candy or gumballs. That's not to say they can't be used vice versa, because they're both fully capable of vending all of the same items. NW have a larger globe, which is why they are used more for high volume locations or for toys etc. Oaks have a few choices, the 300 globe holds about half of what the NW globe will, the panel head holds an amount similar to the 300, but you can slide out a flat panel and add a cab-back panel for extra capacity , and they also have the 450 globe which would hold a similar amount to the NW globe. I have quite a few of each as well as their A&A clones. All of them I purchased used and many of them have been refinished multiple times and still look great. So I think your decision might come down to what you're going to vend. I have no problem using either one on my routes, especially when I find them for the prices I've been getting them at lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuikVend Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 24 minutes ago, Diesel said: So it's not just NW? I guess I have some more research to do. LOL! As long as a machine can be mounted to a stand, it can be mounted to the double/triple plates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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