NC Acrylic vending opportunity

[according2jj]

Hi, everyone. I'm new to this business and form here and I received my packet for this honor box system. Has anyone heard or had dealings with this conpany. Here is website http://seethepackage.com . I am trying to do my due diligence before I jump into the business.

I did speak to several people they refer that does it, but I can't find anything online about it.

 

 

[orsd]

Overpriced and kinda scammy.

Here is their source.

http://desertstarplastics.com/Acrylic-Boxes/Honor-Boxes

Cheaper source

http://www.sheridansystems.com/Qstore/p000028.htm

Good locator (goes by rodney69 here on the forums)

http://vendinglocator4u.com/

 

[according2jj]

Ok, thank you @orsd for the feedback. I thought the income was a bit high. They did give me 4 referrals to call and they all were claiming to be doing 10% of the claimed numbers. I'll check out that link.

[flintflash]

Like orsd said:  SCAM.  It'll take forever to see your return on investment.  $50-200/hour?  Ridiculous!

 

[QuikVend]

What a ripoff.

[BryanH]

If anyone promises you will nake any money its a scam. Just buy the product yourself

[triplej]

Has any used rodney69 for locations? Is it worth the money to pay him to find locations?

 

Justin

[triplej]

I am new to vending, I am trying to find best practices for capturing locations.

Justin

[bbeckl]

Just gotta give my .02 on the subject of income. If you're not making close to $50 a hour running mint boxes, you may take a look at your practices, and how spaced out your route is. If a mint box route is ran every 2 weeks, regardless of need, then absolutely, you'll be making very little. But if you time the route, build it, and get everything dialed in, you can absolutely make $50-200 a hour. Some days. Once in a while. But probably not every day. I'll give you a example. Yesterday was my more local route. Close to home, tight, and well dialed in after over 2 years. It's rare I make less than $120 a hour on that route. BUT, it only takes me 3 hours to run. Today was the polar opposite. Way across town, spread out, low earners, high theft. Today I'm lucky if I made $13 a hour. But in 2 weeks, I'll be in the same area, running a different route, and easily break $100 a hour. Yes, including my drive time, and the whopping 3 gallons of fuel my 330hp car will consume in the 60+ mile round trip. Some days your flush, some days your bust. I think that's what I love so much about vending, you just never know. It's like my version of gambling. Trust me, when you find 1 or 2 stops that consistently churn out 60 to a 100+++ every service cycle, you'll get hooked. 

[flintflash]

On 3/16/2018 at 6:18 PM, bbeckl said:

Just gotta give my .02 on the subject of income. If you're not making close to $50 a hour running mint boxes, you may take a look at your practices, and how spaced out your route is. If a mint box route is ran every 2 weeks, regardless of need, then absolutely, you'll be making very little. But if you time the route, build it, and get everything dialed in, you can absolutely make $50-200 a hour. Some days. Once in a while. But probably not every day. I'll give you a example. Yesterday was my more local route. Close to home, tight, and well dialed in after over 2 years. It's rare I make less than $120 a hour on that route. BUT, it only takes me 3 hours to run. Today was the polar opposite. Way across town, spread out, low earners, high theft. Today I'm lucky if I made $13 a hour. But in 2 weeks, I'll be in the same area, running a different route, and easily break $100 a hour. Yes, including my drive time, and the whopping 3 gallons of fuel my 330hp car will consume in the 60+ mile round trip. Some days your flush, some days your bust. I think that's what I love so much about vending, you just never know. It's like my version of gambling. Trust me, when you find 1 or 2 stops that consistently churn out 60 to a 100+++ every service cycle, you'll get hooked. 

When you say "make" $100/hour, are you talking about the total money generated from the boxes, or are you taking into consideration of all your cost-of-goods, expenses (which includes alot more than just fuel cost), and any commissions?  There is a huge difference between Gross sales, Gross Profit, and Net Profit.  

[bbeckl]

loosely, yes. i mean, ive seen over $300 a hour before, and ive seen under $7. not taking into consideration my tax rate, tire wear, or cost of a motor rebuild after 175k miles.  i say that jokingly, only because ive never heard anyone talk about their employer and say, "i make $27 a hour minus my gas minus my taxes minus my lunch minus my 4 sodas a day minus the wear and tear on my car minus the cost of my clothing, minus my union dues"  i know you arent insinuating that, nor am i insinuating that everyone will make $100, nor do i care to much if anyone tries. but for those that do try, its good  for them to know both sides of the coin, and see different experiences in different areas. 

[bbeckl]

now $50 a hour, after all costs of goods and royalties, is a very repeatable thing. 

[flintflash]

I appreciate the feedback, but I was not talking about the minutia expenses like daily lunch or things like that.  However, you made a good point: no one talks about their employer and their wages that way.  But this is someone running their own business and THEY are the boss.  Too many people get into this business and look at it as an easy "cash cow".  Some look at their total sales as THEIR paycheck and regard having to buy more inventory as a cost to them.  THAT is wrong to do.  Others look at the money left over from purchasing their inventory as their pay.  That too is wrong to do.  I'm trying to get folks that start in the honor snack business to look at it and run it like a real business, and that involves SALES - COGS = GROSS PROFIT - EXPENSES = NET PROFIT.  If they don't loom at the whole picture, they are doomed to fail.

And frankly, as a business owner, you can't simply look at $$$/hour, because there is so much more time involved than the little trek around the city swapping some boxes.  There is the time involved purchasing inventory, packing the boxes, putting on new accounts, tracking sales and account progress, cashing out your route for the day, processing the bank deposit, balancing the business checkbook, etc.  I am not saying that one can't make great money in the honor snack business, because I KNOW people CAN!  I have for 25 years and LOVE this industry.  I just want new folks to understand that it is ALOT of work and more than swapping boxes and depositing money into their checking account.  And no one is going to make $200 and hour with 100 accounts.  Based on the $50/hour, if one were to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, they would make $832,000 ????  I get that someone could make $200 in an hour, but they are NOT going to do that every day, 8 hours a day.

I encourage EVERYONE that wants to get into this business to go at it WHOLE HEARTEDLY and give it all they got!  They CAN be successful, SUPER SUCCESSFUL!  But lets not fill peoples heads with delusions of grandeur.   Bryan Humphrey down in Texas has been kicking butt and taking names for a few years now and is on track to clear $50K (by my calculations....sorry Bryan if I over stepped here buddy).  He has a VERY successful operation going, but I doubt that if he calculated all the time and energy he puts into his company that it comes close to $50/hour.  

NOW....the main point of this persons question was whether or not to buy into the advertised system.  I simply believe that many of those "systems" are SCAMS.  They get people to dream big, charge OUTRAGEOUS amounts on money for the boxes, sell people on a "BOGUS" sales program that produces few accounts and most lousy at best, and completely misrepresent this industry.  I suggest that if someone wants to dive into the Honor Snack business, contact a reputable box manufacturer like Sheridan Systems, purchase a few boxes and go out and place their own accounts.  They are more likely to succeed building their business at a slower rate than pouring money into a program that is WAY OVERPRICED and SHADY.  

I want the Honor Snack industry to continue to thrive and grow.  It was a BOOMING industry when I started 25 years ago, went thru some major struggles, and is hopefully back on the rise again.  Many operators (locally and nationally) that were around when I started are long gone.  I hope to see the honor snack industry rebound and flourish for the next crop of operators.  Sorry to get all "long winded" and ramble on, but that is my 2 cents!   

[bbeckl]

totally agree, you make some really good points. i probably didnt think out my response to well when i wrote it. i was half tempted not to reply at all, just because over the years ive seen endless flaming arguments about the silliest little debates. $200 a hour, 8 hours a day, 5-7 days a week, no. not gonna happen. i guess i should have said "its very very possible to make $200-300 IN A HOUR", not "a hour". i see how poorly that was worded (like most of my writing). i really like your point when you said

" I just want new folks to understand that it is ALOT of work and more than swapping boxes and depositing money into their checking account."

my goodness, isnt that the truth! and, most definitely, when all the actual "work" (shopping, banking, counting, prepping) goes into it, the $200 is reduced a lot. im probably a little different than most, i rarely stop "working". im always doing some sort of work, research, networking, communicating, listings on ebay/amazon/craigslist/letgo/offerup, meeting people to sell things, refurbishing anything from furniture to cell phones/computers/bicycles to rebuilding a motor. my dad taught me when i was young, "most of the money you make, already belongs to someone else." ive just always lived that way. if i make $5,000 tomorrow (unlikely, but..who knows?), id still have the same $200 a day budget as if i made $300. so, very good point, i didnt take a lot into consideration and touch on the little things that make running a business, or several business, seem like work for some people. god only knows, if i counted every email/meeting/phone call/text message/listing as "work", i probably only make $18 a hour! its work for sure, and you are definitely right, no one is going to make $200 a hour x8 hours a day x5 daysa week. no way. but, with 100 accounts, that 100 stops should absolutely be able to COLLECT $200 IN A hour in profit. i suppose the "work hours" of all the rest just depends on how  a person looks at life. you make a lot of really good points, i appreciate your experienced well thought out input. i think its really good info for anyone that sees vending, or any other business for anything other than what it is: work. just like i tell my kids, "its all work. get used to it now, and itll come naturally later." but if someone thinks this is a easy cash cow, they have a very rude awakening. 

[bhumphrey829]

LOL you sound kind of depressed after Flint's last post.  Just keep this in mind, in my opinion, even you do average just $18.00 an hour, I would much rather make $18.00 working for myself than to make $25.00 an hour working for someone else. Especially when it comes to pay raises.  Working for someone else If I wanted a pay raise, I would have to go, negotiate (usually unsuccessfully, lol),  or hope they recognize a good job and just give one.  In this business if I want a pay raise, all I have to do is just go out and get more locations.  My pay raises come as often as I want  them to. 

As to the time and effort, of course it's going to take that, I probably average working 9 hours a day, 4 days a week and another 3 hours on the 5th day when I am out getting new locations, and that includes buying products, and stocking my boxes, so my day usually starts at 8:30 when I leave out for the day and ends about 4:30 and that includes stocking my boxes for the next day's route.

I definitely would encourage anyone wanting to get into this business to go for it.  To me the key is treat it like a business from the start and not a hobby.  When I first started doing this full time, I used to tell me I had a full time job with part time pay lol, but now it's starting to all come together because even when I was only making $125.00 a day (not profit), I still was treating it like a full time business.

Just my 2 cents

[flintflash]

7 hours ago, bbeckl said:

totally agree, you make some really good points. i probably didnt think out my response to well when i wrote it. i was half tempted not to reply at all, just because over the years ive seen endless flaming arguments about the silliest little debates. $200 a hour, 8 hours a day, 5-7 days a week, no. not gonna happen. i guess i should have said "its very very possible to make $200-300 IN A HOUR", not "a hour". i see how poorly that was worded (like most of my writing). i really like your point when you said

" I just want new folks to understand that it is ALOT of work and more than swapping boxes and depositing money into their checking account."

my goodness, isnt that the truth! and, most definitely, when all the actual "work" (shopping, banking, counting, prepping) goes into it, the $200 is reduced a lot. im probably a little different than most, i rarely stop "working". im always doing some sort of work, research, networking, communicating, listings on ebay/amazon/craigslist/letgo/offerup, meeting people to sell things, refurbishing anything from furniture to cell phones/computers/bicycles to rebuilding a motor. my dad taught me when i was young, "most of the money you make, already belongs to someone else." ive just always lived that way. if i make $5,000 tomorrow (unlikely, but..who knows?), id still have the same $200 a day budget as if i made $300. so, very good point, i didnt take a lot into consideration and touch on the little things that make running a business, or several business, seem like work for some people. god only knows, if i counted every email/meeting/phone call/text message/listing as "work", i probably only make $18 a hour! its work for sure, and you are definitely right, no one is going to make $200 a hour x8 hours a day x5 daysa week. no way. but, with 100 accounts, that 100 stops should absolutely be able to COLLECT $200 IN A hour in profit. i suppose the "work hours" of all the rest just depends on how  a person looks at life. you make a lot of really good points, i appreciate your experienced well thought out input. i think its really good info for anyone that sees vending, or any other business for anything other than what it is: work. just like i tell my kids, "its all work. get used to it now, and itll come naturally later." but if someone thinks this is a easy cash cow, they have a very rude awakening. 

All is good, bbeckl.  Trust me, no "flaming arguments" here....LOL!  I love enthusiasm and passion for this business, and you are very much correct that there is great opportunity and money to be made in Honor Snacks.  I was trying to respond more to that ad the original post had in it.  I don't like how these ads give "suckers" false hope of making HUGE money with a "low introductory cost of $5000" for 100 honor boxes, and then tell them that they will place them for them too.  Most of these groups just take the money and run, leaving the "sucker" with a bunch of boxes and a few crappy accounts.  I want folks new to this business to understand that for $5000, they could purchase a few hundred boxes plus inventory, find the accounts themselves, and make better money much quicker.  

I LOVE that quote "   most of the money you make, already belongs to someone else."  SO TRUE! 

[bbeckl]

You know, when i found this site in... 2012 i think... i was looking for a new business idea (god only knows why, i already worked 60+ hours a week at my job, and spent most my spare time buying and selling stuff). but when i found this site, i found tons and tons of conflicting info, and lots of opinions about one thing or another. its pretty cool to see different opinions and thoughts in one thread. another good point that i didnt even touch on, and youre absolutely right, the biz ops are a slimy business (no offense intended biz op guys... ok im lying.. offense intended). ill quietly admit that i did use a in person locator, and a few telemarketing locators to get all my locations, just because time was a much bigger issue than money, although money is always "the" issue, right? i wanted to grow overnight, so self locating just wasnt a option. on a shoestring budget, and self locating some prime spots, someone could make a nice supplemental income on just 20-30 stops, and most importantly, learn the biz. trust me, if you have never done it before, you will be a hot mess if you try and manage/learn 100-200-500 locations all at once. a lot goes into it, and i dont know that anyone (no matter how nice they are), would be willing to explain every single little thing that goes into running a few hundred stops. maybe ill write a horribly written e-book... great, more work... all i need! 

best wishes to the OP with whatever direction you decide to go, and thanks to everyone who has contributed their experience and knowledge. no matter how long we have been doing something, there is always something new to learn. 

[triplej]

Really good information. Thanks everyone for sharing!

Justin

[bulkcandyvendor]

Ya, for 20 grand I will personally fly to your city and get you twice as many locations, provide the boxes, candy and everything, hehe.

That is so overpriced its almost crazy. 

The only way that would be worth it is if the boxes are already out and have money waiting to be collected and even then they had better be great locations that you can move bigger machines in like grocery stores.

I am new to this and just started my route a few days ago and I have 25 locations.

Just order the boxes from sheridan systems and go place em yourself so that you can learn the business 1 step at a time.

[mdrake58]

Would like to add a couple of notes on this.   I saw the NC Acrylics add in the online publication Creative Loafing in Atlanta.    I called, and had a great story on how you can make money using their Acrylic Honor Boxes from a gentleman named Mike Huff.  They sell them in 100 and 200 packs.   The cost for just 100 is around 20k, and not quite double if you go for 200.   They are setting up a new route and need someone to work it.    I called the references, and noticed a couple of things when I did.  First, the only two I could actually speak to both stated they had been in the business 5 years.   It sounded like a script almost.  One reference, Charlie Stapleton (859) 206-0845 actually answered and talked to me for about 20 minutes.  He claimed to be making 10-11k per month gross on 200 boxes.  The name Charlie Stapleton also belongs to a famous singer, thought that was coincidental.  Another source, Stephanie Taylor, (678) 227-8125 also answered was trying to tell me she has 200, and cannot do any more.   But no one answers again when you call them back for more questions.   You can read the pdf from them http://ncacrylics.com/the_package.pdf.   The references and pricing is all in there.    Also, notice the address they list, it is actually a UPS store located at Mint Hill, a town close to Charlotte NC.  

Been reading other posts on the honor box way of selling candy.  I have seen these boxes but never knew they were really for profit.   I was wondering why not just buy them somewhere, do the marketing yourself with the stickers, and do the candy by yourself.    Just need to spend the time doing the locator side and seeing who will allow it.   Side note, for some reason, a lot of Mexican in Atlanta like to carry these next to cash register, mainly York Peppermint candies, but there are also chiclets and other candies.  

[AZVendor]

You've answered your own questions here.  If it sounds too good to be true, it is.  Each of the sentences you typed are a red flag of their own.  There is no free lunch.  You have to do all the work yourself to make a profit.

[mdrake58]

Another update, got a phone call from Diane, who is also listed on the reference list.   This was after I had called and left a vm for her.   Again she is saying she has 200 boxes, but only been in this for 4 years.  She claims to be in the Indianapolis area.  Net after candy expense, lunch gas is around 7500.00 per month.  She stated a locator came out of Ohio, and another person named Jim came from NC Acrylics to her.   That meant all the way from Charlotte NC to Indianapolis Ind.  Diane already had the boxes, filled with candy ready to go.   Which meant she paid the fee.   But the more I thought about this, it almost sounds like you are paying the way for a locator, if there is such a thing to come out and do the placement for about 9-17k depending on the fee you pay.   The locator mapped out the area, and all Diane had to do was put in the boxes.   She went on about the different places she went to, salons, restaurants, etc.   I had asked about this from Charlie Stapleton, who could not really answer about locations that are good, so I figure they are checking each other out and filling in the holes as we go along.   Also Diane claims she got this from a craigslist add like I did.   

[gumball guy]

3 hours ago, mdrake58 said:

Another update, got a phone call from Diane, who is also listed on the reference list.   This was after I had called and left a vm for her.   Again she is saying she has 200 boxes, but only been in this for 4 years.  She claims to be in the Indianapolis area.  Net after candy expense, lunch gas is around 7500.00 per month.  She stated a locator came out of Ohio, and another person named Jim came from NC Acrylics to her.   That meant all the way from Charlotte NC to Indianapolis Ind.  Diane already had the boxes, filled with candy ready to go.   Which meant she paid the fee.   But the more I thought about this, it almost sounds like you are paying the way for a locator, if there is such a thing to come out and do the placement for about 9-17k depending on the fee you pay.   The locator mapped out the area, and all Diane had to do was put in the boxes.   She went on about the different places she went to, salons, restaurants, etc.   I had asked about this from Charlie Stapleton, who could not really answer about locations that are good, so I figure they are checking each other out and filling in the holes as we go along.   Also Diane claims she got this from a craigslist add like I did.   

This is a scam so why are you wasting your time with these people?

[according2jj]

On 2/26/2018 at 6:04 AM, according2jj said:

Ok, thank you @orsd for the feedback. I thought the income was a bit high. They did give me 4 referrals to call and they all were claiming to be doing 10% of the claimed numbers. I'll check out that link.

*Within 10% of claimed