Is it possible - after time - to make it 100% passive?

[Giovanni]

Hi, i'm totally new to Vending, but i'v been reading and studying this business for weeks and this is what is braking me from jumping in: i have a main job that requires / allows me to travel, sometimes staying weeks/months away from my town.

I know that, expecially when starting, it will require a lot of time to find locations, buyin machines, understand which product to buy and where to buy, etc. If this big effort it's temporary, it will not be a problem for me. BUT my question is:

One day, will it be possible to make the business 100% passive (idk, maybe hiring a person to serve the machine and to keep the inventory and cash countability) or, at least, creating a Vending Business that i can manage even if i will be away for 3 months from my city?

Thank you to every one will dedicate some time to reply, it will be super appreciate

[Gizmo Vending]

NO.   I have no idea why people call vending passive income.  Sure it makes money while you don’t have to stand there to make the money.  Vending can be described as unattended retail.   It is not passive.  With that being said I do want to ask why people call it “passive”?   It would be unwise to start this and be away for so long.  Why would you want to start a business and be out of town for that amount of time.  Have you ever managed people?   You’re not in town for a few weeks, what do you think employees will do with you not being there.  As you now understand that vending is not passive, a bad employee will just ride the clock at the best.  Then there is theft, bad service, rude customer service, vehicle accidents, machines breaking down etc.  Wait till you change jobs or invest in stocks as you want passive income.  

[AZVendor]

The fastest way to lose money in vending is to spend money in vending.  The superest fastest way to lose money in vending is to leave it in the hands of someone who isn't vested in the business and leave them unsupervised for days, weeks or months at a time.  What are you thinking, man?  Just do your job and make your normal income and realize how lucky you are to have that job and all of it's perks, or not, and invest your retirements funds wisely, cut your expenses and invest some more. Vending isn't a smart investment even if you are there everyday to run it.  It's a crap shoot on every machine, location, account, employee, contract, route truck, commission check, vendor payment, tax return, etc, etc, etc.  Vending is hard work with virtually the only reward being the hard work.

[Giovanni]

I totally get your points guys, so it can't be passive at all.

But which is the point for the driver to ride the clock if, i imagine, he's being paid flat X$/month?

I was thinking if, maybe hiring some really good guy or some friend to buy products + fill the machines and to do it responsibly, it could be possible to manage it even if i will be 2 months away..

Maybe a vending tracking software could help me to manage when i'm far away 🤔

[Gizmo Vending]

I mean who’s going to stop you….  If it were this easy to run and grow a business then everyone would be doing it instead of working for someone else right?  It is said that 45% of new businesses fail within 2 years, why would your business succeed?   So you find a good guy to help.  What if he quits while you’re far away.   What if he steals.   You want to be an absentee owner without any sales and benefits?   You can’t get most people to even come in for an interview.  I just hired a new guy 3 weeks ago, 5 people didn’t even show up for an interview after all saying they would.  The one guy that did is Ethiopian and has a language barrier.  I’m training the guy and he just stands around just waiting for the day to end, I’m basically loading the machines myself.  This is with me right beside him training him.  NO SENSE OF URGENCY AT ALL!!!!
Starting at $16.00 an hour, promised to get to $18.00 after 90 days.   Again I can’t stop you from what you’re wanting to do but if I was in your position and knowing what I know, I would never do it.  

[AZVendor]

Just give it up already.  It's a bad idea.  I don't understand why you are stuck on this.  If you want to ignore your business for 2 months at a time then get into gumball machines.

[Vendo Mike]

respectfully, it sounds as if you should be looking into investing in someone else's business for a share of profits.  You don't want to be a vending operator. You're just looking for a passive income stream.  Vending is an extremely "hands on" and low margin business.  Any profits you should be seeing from your products would be spent on the person you hired to take care of everything for you.

[AngryChris]

The amount of controls you need in place to make vending passive is quite a lot.  Just ask yourself if you can trust people you don't really know to borrow your car, work in your home when no one's home, or hang out with your wife alone.  Then ask yourself how you'd feel about having those same people run your company for you.