bbar97 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Hey guys, I just joined this forum so its nice to meet you all. So I'm a college student and I currently own one toy vending machine that does 2" capsules for .50. I had it in my apartment for about a year because I just couldn't build up the courage to go locate it until a couple months ago. So now its in a mexican resturant and has been doing what I think is pretty decent. I check it every 2 weeks and it averages about $14 every two weeks but one time I got $30 so it varies a good bit. Last week I didn't have a chance to check it so I checked it today (3 weeks since last check) and it had a lot less quarters than I expected. How likely is it that someone in the restaurant (either owner, manager, or employee) has purchased a key and is stealing from it? Aren't the keys and locks for the machines very generic? I'm new to this so sorry if these are stupid questions. Also how much income is average for a .50 capsule machine per month? Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerformaVending Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 While it's not impossible, I would say it's pretty unlikely that the restaurant is messing with you. Whenever I get "unusually low" totals, the first thing I start looking for are mechanical issues with the machine- is the mech or wheel setup giving out free product? Is it jammed in such a way that it's not completing sales? Is there something cosmetically wrong with the machine that might turn away customers? There's a lot of possible reasons a machine might not do well. After that, I check records. A jump or dive in totals isn't uncommon for a lot of locations- I have some accounts that do terrible part of the year, and great at other times. Some accounts I have hold special events which lead to jumps in sales, and other times when they might be closed more or have other things going on that decreases your sale opportunities. I would suspect any number of other factors before I settled on possible theft like you've described- vendors who know what they're doing have a hard time tracking down keys sometimes; that a business would go out of their way to steal some of your quarters seems pretty unlikely to me. To answer your second question, my old 2" single units ran very wild results the whole time I operated them. Some units did fantastic, others did terrible- the only real advantage of a 2" single is that it can be placed in very small spaces, giving you an advantage over a rack operator who doesn't have anything small enough to fit. Because of the aforementioned clunkers, the "average" I have for their final year out, 2016, was $22.17 each on a (roughly) 90 day cycle. Good luck moving ahead sir, and keep us posted. If there's more reason to believe it is theft, there are some ways to combat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbar97 Posted April 15, 2018 Author Share Posted April 15, 2018 Well, I forgot to mention that the reason I thought it might be theft was because of the inventory level. It seemed to go down from about half full to about a layer or two away from being empty, and I've had seemingly smaller decreases in inventory with twice the income. If I just estimated the amount of money I should have gotten for the inventory decrease incorrectly then the decrease in income could have been because of the small gumball machine that was just placed next to my machine. (I guess they saw how much money I was making and wanted to get in on the action) It could be a mechanical error though. How likely is it that a machine would work sometimes and allow free turns other times? Because I tested it out while I was there to make sure it was functioning properly and it was. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gumball prince Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 A very long time ago, I experienced a similar problem. One of the restaurants employees had shown a fellow employee this mold he had made in shop class. It was an ice cube tray in the shape of quarters. He would hit the Homies to the point where they would be almost empty, and the water would evaporate. A rather brilliant strategy. I understand he moved onto something more profitable. ATMs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gumball guy Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 10 hours ago, bbar97 said: Well, I forgot to mention that the reason I thought it might be theft was because of the inventory level. It seemed to go down from about half full to about a layer or two away from being empty, and I've had seemingly smaller decreases in inventory with twice the income. If I just estimated the amount of money I should have gotten for the inventory decrease incorrectly then the decrease in income could have been because of the small gumball machine that was just placed next to my machine. (I guess they saw how much money I was making and wanted to get in on the action) It could be a mechanical error though. How likely is it that a machine would work sometimes and allow free turns other times? Because I tested it out while I was there to make sure it was functioning properly and it was. Thanks! If you really are concerned about theft then count your inventory for the next few cycles and compare it to the money you take in. 20 capsules gone you should have $10.00. Sure it will take a few extra minutes but at least you will know. You could also just buy a new lock if you are convinced it is theft and not a mechanical issue. If it is indeed theft you will need a new lock anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMD Snacks Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 On 4/14/2018 at 9:02 PM, bbar97 said: Because I tested it out while I was there to make sure it was functioning properly and it was. How did you test it? I only ask because you said you're new, and maybe your wheel alignment isn't right. Or you have a tooth jumping problem. What brand machine is it? But all in all I agree with others, probably not the location, and counting inventory would give you piece of mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbar97 Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 Thanks everyone, I'll count next time so I'll know for sure. Also they really must be jealous of how much I was making because they have now put two gumball machines right next to my capsule machine, a single and a triple . There goes half of my revenue even if there is no theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbar97 Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 On 4/16/2018 at 10:46 AM, AMD Snacks said: How did you test it? I only ask because you said you're new, and maybe your wheel alignment isn't right. Or you have a tooth jumping problem. What brand machine is it? But all in all I agree with others, probably not the location, and counting inventory would give you piece of mind. I tested by just putting in quarters and turning it, and If I remember correctly It's this one. Not sure what brand it is. https://www.gumballs.com/toy-vending-machine-with-stand-25.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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