Another new guy with some questions

[SD Mike]

Greetings from sunny San Diego!  I’ve been researching the vending biz for a few weeks and was fortunate enough to stumble upon this site.  A big THANK YOU to all of you for providing so much valuable information, especially for someone new to the industry.  What a tremendous resource!  After “lurking” on the site for the past several days and spending countless hours reading past threads, I’ve  finally decided to dive in.  Based on my research, I’m convinced this is a business I want to pursue.  My approach will be to start small, probably 2-3 machines.  I was considering maybe one D.I. machine and a couple of used triple heads.  I had some questions that I was hoping to get some guidance on:

Are triples recommended to start with?  Does it make much of a difference or just focus on finding good, quality used machines at a fair price, regardless of no. of heads?

How difficult is it to get parts for used machines, such as 1-800’s?  My understanding is they sell only full-line now and don’t have parts for bulk machines.

How likely am I to find used D.I. machines?  I’ve checked CL but haven’t seen any yet.

Is the “charity affiliation” approach still an effective way to get commission-free locations in a large metro area or should I be prepared to pay commissions regardless?

I’ve heard someone mention the “Vending 101” section to another newbie but wasn’t able to find it.  Can someone point me in the right direction?

That’s it for now.  Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to being a regular!

[allknowing4ever]

"Are triples recommended to start with?"

Depends on the location in my opinion. Supply and demand. If the demand and room is there you might go higher or lower on the number of heads.   

"Does it make much of a difference or just focus on finding good, quality used machines at a fair price, regardless of no. of heads?"

I think you need to get to know your machine first before buying. I would start off buying new and learning everything about the machine like how to modify the coin mechanism.

"How difficult is it to get parts for used machines, such as 1-800’s?  My understanding is they sell only full-line now and don’t have parts for bulk machines."

With a 1-800 your pretty much stuck always needing a back up machine or using broken ones for spare parts. I mean there are people who sell parts for the 1-800 but since they are not a distributor the cost is pricey. Basically your paying for what you get a machine that is cheap but requires expensive repairs as opposed to a machine that is new cost more and won't really require repairs.

"How likely am I to find used D.I. machines?  I’ve checked CL but haven’t seen any yet."

You won't find too many of the deals on D.I. machines because the product itself doesn't go back for quite sometime and when you buy the machine you also get $100 worth of vendible product.  Doesn't mean you can't vend it in caps tho with other machines.

"Is the “charity affiliation” approach still an effective way to get commission-free locations in a large metro area or should I be prepared to pay commissions regardless?"

I believe  that using "charity affiliation" can get you a good temporary commission-free location. Eventually someone will approach them and give them a better deal like "charity affiliation" and commissions but these are for high producers only.

"I’ve heard someone mention the “Vending 101” section to another newbie but wasn’t able to find it.  Can someone point me in the right direction?"

Read the stickies in forums and noteworthy topics in the top left hand corner.

"Any suggestions/advice"

If you have been lurking on forums for awhile now I would advise you to literally should type out what you plan on doing step by step and use your own logic and the collective logic of your friends and family to see if this makes sense for you. Always write out the pros and cons of what you are planning on doing and see if there are any more stuff that you might of missed based on your perception of the situation.

Billy

[SD Mike]

Billy,

Thanks for the reply and your advice, you certainly bring up some good points.  I have started to put together a bus. plan and compiling a list of action items I need to accomplish before making the leap.  What are your thoughts of lining up locations before buying my first machines?  My thinking is that if you get a "yes", you need to get your machine in asap.  Seeing that I'm only looking to buy a couple machines to start, I'm not too concerned if they sit in the garage for a couple weeks (hopefully not months) while I work on locations.  I'm fairly confident that I'll be successful doing my own locating as I've been in sales for almost 20 yrs.  Whether or not they turn out to be good locations is another story...    Again, thanks for the help.  This forum has been invaluable!

Mike

[kai1836]

  Mike,

  Hi Welcome to the forum! I would suggest having a few machines ready to go when you start your locating. In fact take a machine with you when you go so you can take it right in when you get your first yes. Good luck!