How many gumball/candy machines does it take to guarantee 3k a month profit

[livinginthe80z]

3k a month profit is my goal. How many bulk candy machines do I need?

[livinginthe80z]

Sorry that might be a question better left unanswered if that’s too personal. I was working graveyard shift last night and got caught up in daydreaming about where I need to get my little business where I could tell my boss. KISS MY golpher!! Lol

[Mehehe]

Super general numbers but...  The benchmark I keep hearing is at least $5 a month in each machine (some people want a min. of $10/mo). 

After charity, COG, and labor figure about 50% profit, so $2.50/mo.  

3000/2.50 = 1200 machines

If you find those golden locations that do $50+ a month on gumballs only... your looking at a 80% profit, so $40 a month.

3000/40 = 75 machines

So somewhere between 75 and 1200.  Hope that helps! 😁

[Finacial advisor]

2 hours ago, livinginthe80z said:

Sorry that might be a question better left unanswered if that’s too personal. I was working graveyard shift last night and got caught up in daydreaming about where I need to get my little business where I could tell my boss. KISS MY golpher!! Lol

There isn’t a magic number. Too many variables. CoG, commissions, lost accounts, down months ect ect. Focus on putting out machines. The money will eventually come in. This is a marathon not a sprint. 

[Finacial advisor]

43 minutes ago, Mehehe said:

Super general numbers but...  The benchmark I keep hearing is at least $5 a month in each machine (some people want a min. of $10/mo). 

After charity, COG, and labor figure about 50% profit, so $2.50/mo.  

3000/2.50 = 1200 machines

If you find those golden locations that do $50+ a month on gumballs only... your looking at a 80% profit, so $40 a month.

3000/40 = 75 machines

So somewhere between 75 and 1200.  Hope that helps! 😁

Heehaw, here is a idea. Extend your bulk service time to get those 50 dollar accounts! Lol it’s cute that you think 50 is a lot for a account 

[Mehehe]

1 hour ago, Finacial advisor said:

Lol it’s cute that you think 50 is a lot for a account

$50 a month from a single gumball machine... yeah i'd take a thousand of them.

OP was looking for monthly numbers so I gave some figures... Wasn't talking about service cycle times or number of machines in a location which are important factors but not asked for.

Are you just here to pick fights cause that's all it looks like your trying to do...

[gumball guy]

1 hour ago, Finacial advisor said:

Heehaw, here is a idea. Extend your bulk service time to get those 50 dollar accounts! Lol it’s cute that you think 50 is a lot for a account 

If we are talking about single head gumball machines then $50.00 per month is alot. Industry standard is around $7.00 per month. Mehehe gave a solid, high level, general explanation to a new member so there is no reason to condescend. 

[livinginthe80z]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I got 6 on location so far. only 1194 left to go lol. Hey I got another question. I got a location that’s a restaurant and it’s a chain. Does corporate always reject machines when they come by? Cause I put it in with approval from a manager. But I just wonder what a corporate management person does when they see see a candy machine in one of the chain stores.

[Mehehe]

1 minute ago, livinginthe80z said:

I got 6 on location so far. only 1194 left to go lol.

Yeah, I got a few to go myself. 

Corporate or Franchise locations are a crap shoot, it will mostly depend on who shows up from corporate and whether or not they care.  I have had a number of locations the head manager said, yes, only to have the owner or rep from the general office say no.  Had one location called me and told me I had about 2 hours to get it or it would go into the trash compactor.

[Finacial advisor]

3 hours ago, Mehehe said:

$50 a month from a single gumball machine... yeah i'd take a thousand of them.

OP was looking for monthly numbers so I gave some figures... Wasn't talking about service cycle times or number of machines in a location which are important factors but not asked for.

Are you just here to pick fights cause that's all it looks like your trying to do...

Hehaw, never read one mention of single heads. Of course 50 a single head would be good numbers. How many heads do you operate? You need to get thicker skin. What do you do whenever you get rejected on cold calls? Can’t be sensitive in this industry 

[livinginthe80z]

16 minutes ago, Mehehe said:

Yeah, I got a few to go myself. 

Corporate or Franchise locations are a crap shoot, it will mostly depend on who shows up from corporate and whether or not they care.  I have had a number of locations the head manager said, yes, only to have the owner or rep from the general office say no.  Had one location called me and told me I had about 2 hours to get it or it would go into the trash compactor.

Trash compactor?!? Man that’s a tough situation to bite your lip.

[Mehehe]

2 hours ago, Finacial advisor said:

How many heads do you operate?

Not enough to quit the 9 to 5.

2 hours ago, Finacial advisor said:

You need to get thicker skin. What do you do whenever you get rejected on cold calls? Can’t be sensitive in this industry

I deal with people that are looking to pick a fight everyday... They have a reason though, good or bad.  

What do I do if rejected?  Thank them for their time and ask them to keep my card so if they change their mind.  Then move on to the next spot.  No big deal.

2 hours ago, livinginthe80z said:

Trash compactor?!? Man that’s a tough situation to bite your lip.

Yeah, the manager that gave approval was the person who called me, he kept apologizing.  That's the most extreme call I've had.

Did have another location close down without calling me.  I spent about a month being able to look at my machine from a window.  Finally, was able to get my machine when I saw someone inside using a sledge hammer to tear down some walls.  

What kind of machines do you have so far?  Buying new or used?

[livinginthe80z]

I found 24 double head V-lines that were brand new still in the boxes. They had been sitting in the persons garage never put together. I need to replace about 12 lids cause the fake Crome is peeling off on those. Is the v-lines the cheap Chinese ones? I’ve been looking for machines and a guy was selling some routemasters said that his machines were the real deal. Not the cheap Chinese ones. I didn’t buy his routemasters cause they were real alright . Real nasty real beat up and real old thin looking sheet metal.

[DirtyHank]

1 hour ago, livinginthe80z said:

I found 24 double head V-lines that were brand new still in the boxes. They had been sitting in the persons garage never put together. I need to replace about 12 lids cause the fake Crome is peeling off on those. Is the v-lines the cheap Chinese ones? I’ve been looking for machines and a guy was selling some routemasters said that his machines were the real deal. Not the cheap Chinese ones. I didn’t buy his routemasters cause they were real alright . Real nasty real beat up and real old thin looking sheet metal.

I bought a bunch of dirty, old, route masters but I have been happy with them. It has been a lot of work cleaning them but they are built pretty solid. I did get thhem cheap, that is why I bought so many. 

[Mehehe]

1 hour ago, livinginthe80z said:

I found 24 double head V-lines that were brand new still in the boxes.

Yeah, pretty sure the V-Lines are the same as LYPC/Titan/Pro Supreme/Pro Line etc.  Mostly plastic parts with a metal mech at least.  Use them til they break.  When one does break replace it with a better machine and keep the broken machine for spare parts.  As far as the lids... try a plastic paint on them.  Just paint them silver or gray... get a year or so out of them instead of paying $20 for another cheap crappy plastic lid.  Just a thought... 

As far as RouteMasters go... You will find a lot of people use them and they are generally fine with them, not as nice as the Northwestern TriplePlay but still all metal and fairly rugged.  It all boils down to how much you can get them for.

In the future there are two trains of thought, generally.

1. There are some people on here that are fine with buying cheap Chinese machines so long as they get them for next to nothing and just use them til they break. 

2. Others on here will say to stick to quality from the beginning and you'll have less headaches in the long run.  Northwestern, Oak, Eagle, A&A and Beaver.

I am part of group 2 now.  I bought some Titan machines before finding this board so I over paid for plastic machines.  I just hope they pay for themselves before they break.  

[livinginthe80z]

I paid 600$ for 24 doubles.... so 25$ per double. I should get that back with in 3 months of use I hope. Till they break.... when exactly is that ?coin mech failure? 

[Mehehe]

34 minutes ago, livinginthe80z said:

Till they break.... when exactly is that ?

could be vandalism, globe crack, lid broke, base broke, honestly could be anything that would make it look crappy or not operate properly.

good price and you shouldnt have a problem getting your money out of them quickly

[livinginthe80z]

Cool. I think I’m gonna ride them as long as possible. Thanks. 

[Mehehe]

1 minute ago, livinginthe80z said:

think I’m gonna ride them as long as possible. Thanks. 

I would, you already have them and would prolly break even at best if you tried to sell them again.  Just upgrade as you are able

[livinginthe80z]

5 hours ago, DirtyHank said:

I bought a bunch of dirty, old, route masters but I have been happy with them. It has been a lot of work cleaning them but they are built pretty solid. I did get thhem cheap, that is why I bought so many. 

I would have bought them but they were extremely filthy. And scatttered unassembled. The guy had 19 of them and told me all the parts were there to put them back together. But I was like Jesus Christ this is a mess. Bases rusted guts pulled out. Plastic faces off. It was alittle over whelming.and they needed paint. Looked like crap. I wouldt eat anything out that to save my life. Even if they were cleaned up painted.they looked like they were 20 years old or better.huge square base foot print.They had 5 different charities stickers across all of them. It was just too much to process for me right now. I want to get 100 machines out by the end of the year.

[Mehehe]

9 minutes ago, livinginthe80z said:

I want to get 100 machines out by the end of the year.

Good luck, it's more than doable and really get you to figure out if you want to keep going or sell off the route and do something else.

[livinginthe80z]

This is my strategy. 1 get gumball machine in location. 2. See how it does. 3. If sales are good and there is no drink machine in location slide one in. I work at a steel mill and I was thinking to myself. If I work this hard for some golpher to make a crap ton of money off me. Why not just work for me. I’ve failed at a ton of stuff before..... I’m not scared lol jk 

[DirtyHank]

2 hours ago, Mehehe said:

Good luck, it's more than doable and really get you to figure out if you want to keep going or sell off the route and do something else.

I am working on getting to 100 charity locations right now, currently at about 50. I was wanting to be there by the end of January but it isn't going to happen. Looking now to be there by the end of February. I already have enough equipment, I just need to clean and find locations.

I also have about 10 commission locations and I need to get back to growing that at some point.

Sometimes life and the job just get in the way. One day at a time...

[Mehehe]

9 minutes ago, DirtyHank said:

Sometimes life and the job just get in the way. One day at a time...

 

Yep, gotta pay the bills.  Too many horror stories about people getting into Biz Ops or taking out massive loans and the returns just aren't there to make the loan payments let alone bills to live.  Someone told me once that bulk vending is a savings bond.  Long term but safer if your smart.

[livinginthe80z]

I only plan to pay Cash for machines. I don’t need anything coming back and biting me. No overhead except tax’s and insurance