Vend Attend Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 Hi Everyone, I wanted to jump on here and see how everyone is handling these insane price increases. I know the general rule is to 2x your product cost, however, I am finding that candy will need to be priced at 1.75 and pop at 2.50 a bottle for 20oz. What are you doing to combat this? Are you switching from 20 oz to 16.9oz? Are you lowering your prices to stay competitive? I spoke with a couple vendors in my area and they said they are still at 1.25 for a candy bar but since the prices are now .88 cents cost, they are thinking about going to 1.50. Am I insane for charging 1.75 for candy bars? The stores and gas stations in our area sell them for 2.25. In addition to all of this, our chips are now priced at 1.25. Bottom line, I just wanted to get an idea of what everyone else is doing and trying to not lose any accounts in the process of increasing prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 I’m a small operator with only one route. About 80 machines at 40 locations. I just raised all my prices and sales are still the same. LSS chips 1.50 12oz cans 1.25 16.9oz bottles 1.75 Energy drinks 3.00 candy 1.50 Pastries 1.50 Basically everything up .25. This made a huge difference to my bottom line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 I've raised prices at many locations twice this year. In the past, I always made smaller margins with candy compared to everything else. I made up for it with cookies, pastries, and can soda. But now can soda and pastries have gotten such huge increases in cost, even after increasing prices, I'm no longer seeing those benefits. The only solution is to raise prices everywhere. I have added higher priced items which helps and I have considered 16.9 oz for years. It would require more hustling but with higher margins. My concern is that it will bite me down the road if I get bigger and have to switch back to 20 oz and see an uproar over prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickers Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Your not out of line at all on 1.75 for candy and pastry. Not with today's prices. Why would someone vend it for any less unless it was off brand or generic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vend Attend Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) T Edited October 20, 2022 by Vend Attend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vend Attend Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 12 hours ago, allen watson said: I’m a small operator with only one route. About 80 machines at 40 locations. I just raised all my prices and sales are still the same. LSS chips 1.50 12oz cans 1.25 16.9oz bottles 1.75 Energy drinks 3.00 candy 1.50 Pastries 1.50 Basically everything up .25. This made a huge difference to my bottom line. That's good, what made you do 16.9 over 20? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Vending Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 12 hours ago, Vend Attend said: Are you lowering your prices to stay competitive? Why would you lower your price to stay competitive? If anyone walks into your location with decent working equipment and sales to the location on price then said location isn’t deserving of good functioning equipment. Everywhere you turn it’s inflation this, high prices that. You raising your prices is a reality that your customers are seeing everyday everywhere else. They will complain to you about your unfair high prices and then walk into a name brand convenience store and buy 3 things for $20.00 and not say a damn word about it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vend Attend Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Snickers said: Your not out of line at all on 1.75 for candy and pastry. Not with today's prices. Why would someone vend it for any less unless it was off brand or generic. That's how I felt too but after talking to some of the other vendors in this area, they seemed kind of surprised I was charging 1.75 for a candy bar. Our plan is that with these increased prices, as long as we keep the everything priced correctly, we are going to not charge the 10 cents extra for credit cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vend Attend Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 3 minutes ago, Gizmo Vending said: Why would you lower your price to stay competitive? If anyone walks into your location with decent working equipment and sales to the location on price then said location isn’t deserving of good functioning equipment. Everywhere you turn it’s inflation this, high prices that. You raising your prices is a reality that your customers are seeing everyday everywhere else. They will complain to you about your unfair high prices and then walk into a name brand convenience store and buy 3 things for $20.00 and not say a damn word about it.. That's exactly how I felt about this. I felt justified in my price increases but once I started talking to other vendors in my area, they made me feel like I was crazy. So I knew exactly where to go to ask and I appreciate all of your responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Vending Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 It sounds as if they are afraid of losing a location. More importantly than pricing, are you establishing a relationship with decision makers in your locations, or are you sneaking in these spots filling up the machines hoping no one notices you and scurrying off as fast as you can? It does not pay to be an introvert…. From time to time you gotta go in talk with people. Learn their kids names, talk to em about last weeks foot ball game, ask em they caught last nights episode of dancing with the stars, you know stuff like that. If you can master that skill and keep equipment maintained and filled, then you can put a reasonable price on your products and services. Emphasis on reasonable. Assuming everything is in good working order and your sales are down lowering prices will not necessarily bring Joe and Bubba back to the vending machines. Sales are probably down because people are trying to hold on more to their dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Vending Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 It isn’t sustainable to give profits away, because your prices on parts are going up while your profits are going down. Are you actively looking for new locations? Decent stacker and snack machine will easily cost over 4 grand now. Then you gotta put 5 tube coin mechs and $5 bill acceptors, PayRange and a credit card reader because the equipment sellers only put in the most basic stuff that’s another 700-800 before tax/shipping etc. Use equipment loans to buy your machines, guess what? Those interest rates have gone up too. Meanwhile your keeping prices low HOPING someone buys a snickers bar today. Not a sustainable business model.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Vending Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Keep those other vendors in mind. It won’t be long before they get sick of this vending stuff, it’s a headache, I’m not making any money BS and buy em out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 8 hours ago, Vend Attend said: That's good, what made you do 16.9 over 20? 20oz bottles are not available in my area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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