Snack Man 2000 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I recently received an inquiry from a large college wanting a bid. They were very vague, and sent no details. They asked me to ask questions, then submit a proposal. Anyone have any suggestions on how to land the account? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 How many machines are required? Do you have enough machines to satisfy their demand? What is the term of the contract? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Unless they are bidding the soda and snacks together then pass on it because your local bottler will win the soda part of the contract. Then you are just left with the highly vandalized snacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lake Cities Vending Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I had a chance to bid on a large college and turned it down. It was going to require 62 machines. Way to much for me right now. Just to fill coin mech's and product would have required me to get a loan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 10 hours ago, Chard said: How many machines are required? Do you have enough machines to satisfy their demand? What is the term of the contract? They are just looking for potential vendors now. No details at all. I am very sure it's snack onlu since Coke and Pepsi gets all of the large accounts like this. I can supply as many as they need since I sell machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 I wonder how much commission they are looking to get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Kentucky Vending Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 its normally around 15 to18 percent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitalCityVendingLLC Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 We used to have a small college (only 4-5 snack machines). Most of them did decent. One of them killed it. Loaded it up with candy/chocolate and it was close to empty each visit. It was an older machine so when they beat the you know what out of it, we didn't lose sleep over it, and trust me, they beat the you know what out of from time to time. It was a pretty good account then they ended up going with a market place type system. We didn't want to bother with that so we picked up our machines. We paid them 10%. I would ask them a bunch of questions (like they told you to do). If you do end up putting in a bid, don't bend too much. Stick to your ground. At the end of the day, you have to make what you have to make. If you don't get it then oh well. But know, as others have mentioned, college kids will be college kids. You will deal with vandalism. Just a matter of when/how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 In the past, i was responsible for 3 different colleges. One had about 12 machines and generated about $700-$1,000/week in snack sales. Another had about 8 machines and generated about $1500/week in snack sales. A third small college had a bank of machines in one building (where all of the classes took place) and generated well over $3,000/week from 7 machines, snack, soda, coffee, and food. As far as profitability was concerned, i wouldn't ever add the first college to my own route without getting the soda too, and only if i paid no commission on the snack at least. The other two were profitable but getting 100% of the vending in one bank is, without question, a huge difference in sales. The key (from what i heard) is to offer new equipment and at least match the commission of the current contract. Sometimes that's all they care about (commission) and sometimes it is newer equipment. Beyond that, you need to service their faculty machines regularly. Providing a discount to machines in faculty break areas might help as long as you make the offer loud and clear. Most colleges act entirely as a business so they often don't care about what your pricing is to students. It can come down to who is offering the most or who the decision maker likes the most. I only know about very few dealings with colleges but i also know that commission had a lot to do with getting the contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 They want over 40 machines, and want state of the art machines that accept cc cards as well as school cards. Also encourage vendor to donate $5000 to the school. Also says that if commission falls short, vendor will reimburse the school within 30 days. Says that it will do 75k per year. 14 hours ago, Central Kentucky Vending said: its normally around 15 to18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 75k gross?? 40 machines?!?!? That doesn't sound good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Just now, AngryChris said: 75k gross?? 40 machines?!?!? That doesn't sound good to me. No soda or drinks at all too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 What do they mean "if commission falls short" ????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 2 minutes ago, AngryChris said: What do they mean "if commission falls short" ????? I'm guessing guaranteed commission. In other words, fuck that shit with a rusty stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 2 minutes ago, AngryChris said: What do they mean "if commission falls short" ????? "In the event the sum of those commissions for the period stated fall short of the minimum guaranteed amount, the vendor will pay the University the difference within thirty (30) days of the end of each year of the contract that the amount falls short." 15 hours ago, Central Kentucky Vending said: its normally around 15 to18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Here's my take. Let's say it really does do $75k/year. Firstly, you could easily place a snack and soda at 7 locations doing about 10k/year for much less than what it costs to place 40 snack machines. You could grab a couple large manufacturing places that do well over 40k/year with a bank of 4 or 5 machines and come out ahead there too. So, as an investment, there are way better accounts out there. Moving on though... From a numbers stand point, I don't know what you get machines for but I figure $3,500/machine once you add readers and everything else... and that's what I think an AMS would cost, not a USI or Crane. 40 machines at $3,500/pop is $140k, so almost twice as much as what the account grosses per year. The 5k donation is insignificant, but having to pay at least 15% or so... that hurts your bottom line tremendously (which is known for a college). Could you make that up with higher pricing? Yes, but let's stick with maybe 40% as your net profit from the college. You would make approximately $30,000/year after COGS/fuel and that doesn't include any interest paid on equipment. It could easily take you 5-8 years to break even depending on your financing. I want to make my money back on machines in no more than 3 years, but 2 years is what I prefer (or sooner of course). It just seems like a bad deal. If your pricing is too high to account for the commission, your sales might drop. It's up to you on how you feel about it but it seems like they want too much. If I were you, and i wanted the account, I would offer a separate contract offer that did not offer a minimum commission. They are like a lot of government municipalities where they want you to do all of the work and pay them a huge commission. Even counter-offering by giving them 20 machines instead of 40 (but agreeing to the rest of their terms) is worth trying. You are guaranteed to suffer from expired product at this account, but they still want their $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 By the way, there's a chance that over vendors will offer different proposals that go against what the college is asking, so you might as well try to make a deal that's sweet enough for yourself and see where it goes. If no one else bids, or all of the bids are worse than yours, you win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 3 minutes ago, AngryChris said: Here's my take. Let's say it really does do $75k/year. Firstly, you could easily place a snack and soda at 7 locations doing about 10k/year for much less than what it costs to place 40 snack machines. You could grab a couple large manufacturing places that do well over 40k/year with a bank of 4 or 5 machines and come out ahead there too. So, as an investment, there are way better accounts out there. Moving on though... From a numbers stand point, I don't know what you get machines for but I figure $3,500/machine once you add readers and everything else... and that's what I think an AMS would cost, not a USI or Crane. 40 machines at $3,500/pop is $140k, so almost twice as much as what the account grosses per year. The 5k donation is insignificant, but having to pay at least 15% or so... that hurts your bottom line tremendously (which is known for a college). Could you make that up with higher pricing? Yes, but let's stick with maybe 40% as your net profit from the college. You would make approximately $30,000/year after COGS/fuel and that doesn't include any interest paid on equipment. It could easily take you 5-8 years to break even depending on your financing. I want to make my money back on machines in no more than 3 years, but 2 years is what I prefer (or sooner of course). It just seems like a bad deal. If your pricing is too high to account for the commission, your sales might drop. It's up to you on how you feel about it but it seems like they want too much. If I were you, and i wanted the account, I would offer a separate contract offer that did not offer a minimum commission. They are like a lot of government municipalities where they want you to do all of the work and pay them a huge commission. Even counter-offering by giving them 20 machines instead of 40 (but agreeing to the rest of their terms) is worth trying. You are guaranteed to suffer from expired product at this account, but they still want their $$$. Thanks you so much for your iput. Once I started digging deep into what they are expecting, I agree with you, there's a lot better accounts out there. I am working on one of the largest auto dealerships in the US, and believe this will be a lot more manageable for me vs running all over a campus all day. Also a lot of people have said that schools have a lot of machines that get vandalized. I don't have time for that. 15 hours ago, Central Kentucky Vending said: its normally around 15 to18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Yeah. I don't want to sound all gloom and doom but you cpupd make $75k with a lot less invested and way less headaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 If you don't have anyone working for you and you don't want anyone working for you then skip the college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snack Man 2000 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 18 minutes ago, AZVendor said: If you don't have anyone working for you and you don't want anyone working for you then skip the college. That was the main reason I got out of my other business, and got into vending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 40 machines doing $75K is a non-starter. 40 machines should do at least $200K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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