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The Back Rubber and The Back Massager?


kleanride

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All of the massage chairs I've seen were $4k+. Going to take a lonnnnnnnnng time to make any money at that rate.

The problem with them (from what I've seen) is that people just sit in them, without putting in any money. And they have their fat butts plonked there for a LONG time, and your machine isn't making any money during that time.

Unless I could get them for $200-300, I wouldn't bother. They could easily be vandalized, too.

Merc

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I paid $1300 for each chair. Shipping was included. They were advertised in one of our trade magazines. Yes I do own a laundromat, in fact two of them. The chairs made sense to me but really pissed of the wife until she saw the $$$$ coming in. My attendants get a $2 allowance per shift to use the chairs after their shift. ($1=3min). I  also have a mega touch, candy crane, coffee, snack, and pop. You have customers waiting for their clothes to wash or dry so you offer other services. I am currently looking for an internet kiosk. I have free wi-fi and some customers do use it but a lot have asked me if they can use my computer as they have no laptop. I see an income opportunity. Oh almost forgot, the chairs are "thebackrubber.com" and I have had to repair them. If you are mechanically inclined they are easy to fix. There is support and parts available. I just recently had an issue with the validator and the company that makes the validator has a cable to hook it up to your computer to adjust the validator. Total cost to fix $ 11 and i can always fix it in the future.

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so whats it like owning a laundrymat?  I knew this guy when I was in college who had 2 of them and a real estate business and from what I remember, he was bringing home some cash!  (2 laundrymats in a college town=surefire recipe to be counting quarters daily!)

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  • 3 years later...

I have a lot of experience with the vending massage chairs. I have been in the business since 2007. I have had both positive and negative experiences with the chairs like any business. I have dealt with both The Back Rubber and The Back Massager. 

 

The Back Rubber is a real compay with real employees, a real warehouse, a real technical support guy, and a multi millionaire owns the business.  They used to have a really good chair until they switched brands sometime a few years ago. The new chair doesn't give nearly the same massage as the previous one, and they don't make as much money. But working with The Back Rubber is great. They always do the right thing. The support & parts are good, tech support is good, and the company is run well.

 

The Back Massager is a guy who used to work at The Back Rubber who sort of stole their idea and started doing it on his own. He pretty much even copied their website entirely. He sells chairs out of his home garage. He doesn't have the overhead or any employees so he can sell the chairs cheaper. From what I can gather, he has a full time job other than selling the massage chairs and reaching him is unreliable sometimes. I don't like the look of his chairs as much. But they are cheaper.

 

Both companies sell chairs from Taiwan, so both chairs hold up pretty much the same. The Back Rubber just feels more comfortable to me. It's a real company with solid financial backing and they have been around for a long time. A guy selling chairs on a part time basis, who stole their idea kind of seems shady to me. So I have bought nearly all of my chairs from the back rubber.  I actually bought 4 of them off eBay also but they were Back Rubber chairs. That would be a great way to go if they are in good shape.

 

The Back Rubber is A+ on the BBB and The Back Massager is not rated. Kind of tells the story right there.

 

As far as the business goes, it's great with good locations. It sucks with bad locations. I have had chairs do up to $600 a month, and I have had chairs do as little as $7 a month.  I have had to move locations 3-4 times for certain chairs. I have had a few great locations that have gone out of business.  I have lost 2 chairs that way. Company went out of business and stole my chairs!

 

I would say the average chair is about $60/month take-home.  Your average chair is probably a 2 year ROI.  Not terrible.  I go in usually once every 2 months to pick up the money. Split it 50/50 with the owners. It's minimal time that I'm investing. I have over 20 chairs, and I probably make $10K per year off them.  They're all 100% paid for right now and the ones I've had 6 years have paid for themselves many times over.  I'm done buying the chairs at this point. My 22 chair route is more than enough for me. I paid a total of $32K or so for all of the chairs, paid about $3500 or so in locator fees as well. I learned after awhile that it's easy to locate them yourself. Very easy, actually. You don't need a locator unless you're super lazy.  Most places will take it if they have the space. I've had business owners almost doing cartwheels when I asked them if I could bring one in.  One gym owner was so excited that he offered me a free membership if I could bring in 2. Unfortunately, they only made like $30/month.

 

This has become a very long post but I had a lot to share about the various companies and my massage chair business experience.  It's a good business. You won't get rich, but you should be able to double your investment in 4 years.  I would say in 6 years, I have probably made $60K profit for pretty damn minimal work once they're placed.

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

My name is Vincent Cami I am the proud owner of The Back Massager. This blog was just brought to my attention and thought I would reply. I am unsure who made the comment above but before they make assumptions they should know the facts. We've been in business since 2009 now over 4 years with no complaints. All of our customers are totally satisfied with our service and product. We sell the same exact chair as our competior for a lower price because we don't have the overhead. Listen we can go rent a warehouse and hire employees and then increase the price for you if you want? Yes I use to work with our competior and found their method of running this business not to my liking so I started my own business. I am retired from NYC Dept of Corrections and do not have a full time job, this business is at my full attention. If you need referrals please contact us. We've received a lot of compliments on our chairs. If you have any questions please visit our website www.thebackmassager.com. We are listed with the BBB and we chose not to be accredited because we are a business opportunity not a franchise. We have no complaints listed with the BBB.

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  • 6 months later...

The massage chair industry is just like real estate in that location is indeed everything. I've also been in the business part-time for about 1.5 years now. I currently have 6 chairs that do well considering that my ROI is almost complete. I had to move my chairs around a few times to find a few good locations but since my last move they've done well. My goal is to bring home $100 per chair, per month & I usually make more, depending on the month. My route takes up most of the day but it's only once per month. Industry standard is pretty much 50/50 so you get 1/2 the money. You need to be half way mechanically inclined in case you run into any problems. So far I've had to replace a bill collector (not hard) and replace a drive shaft after a few months (very unusual, I think) The drive shaft took some time to figure out & thankfully a mechanic just so happened to be at the store that day. Bills get stuck from time to time but there will always be some kind of maintenance issues when dealing with vending prodcuts. Compared to drink/food machines which require inventory & stocking time, it's a no brainer. I would like to say that I bought my chairs from thebackmassager & the owner has been pretty good to me so far. Whenever I needed a part or advice he has always been willing to help ASAP. I initially got in touch with the backrubber but was competely turned off by one of the salesmen there. I can't remember his name but he was extremely rude & completely unprofessional. I told the owner about everything & he was relly nice but he kept saying that was just his salesman's personality. Well, I don't know about everyone else but if one of my employees was causing me to lose potential customers, they'd be shown the door real quick. So, I decided to go with the backmassager & I'm glad I did. If you decide to buy some chairs, save yourself the trouble/time and go with the backmassager. You'll be glad you did. Start small & go large. By the way, I'm not affiliated with either company, just telling my story. 

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I went to go check one and saw a guy turn off the machine then sit in it so the please insert money alert didn't go off. He was an employee at the location. He tried playing dumb and said o its off? Some people.  

 

GWYNNSH- so are you saying the chairs usually make $200 then split 50/50= 100 to you or $100 then 50/50= 50 to you. you said your goal is to make 100 per chair but usually makes more so why would your goal be less than you are currently making? My experience with the chairs is they don't do that well but the plus is you don't spend money on product.

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I seen some of these where the owners fixed the no pay no sit problem.

a low alarm which goes off when you sit in them.

and goes off when you insert mone

 

The massage chair industry is just like real estate in that location is indeed everything. I've also been in the business part-time for about 1.5 years now. I currently have 6 chairs that do well considering that my ROI is almost complete. I had to move my chairs around a few times to find a few good locations but since my last move they've done well. My goal is to bring home $100 per chair, per month & I usually make more, depending on the month. My route takes up most of the day but it's only once per month. Industry standard is pretty much 50/50 so you get 1/2 the money. You need to be half way mechanically inclined in case you run into any problems. So far I've had to replace a bill collector (not hard) and replace a drive shaft after a few months (very unusual, I think) The drive shaft took some time to figure out & thankfully a mechanic just so happened to be at the store that day. Bills get stuck from time to time but there will always be some kind of maintenance issues when dealing with vending prodcuts. Compared to drink/food machines which require inventory & stocking time, it's a no brainer. I would like to say that I bought my chairs from thebackmassager & the owner has been pretty good to me so far. Whenever I needed a part or advice he has always been willing to help ASAP. I initially got in touch with the backrubber but was competely turned off by one of the salesmen there. I can't remember his name but he was extremely rude & completely unprofessional. I told the owner about everything & he was relly nice but he kept saying that was just his salesman's personality. Well, I don't know about everyone else but if one of my employees was causing me to lose potential customers, they'd be shown the door real quick. So, I decided to go with the backmassager & I'm glad I did. If you decide to buy some chairs, save yourself the trouble/time and go with the backmassager. You'll be glad you did. Start small & go large. By the way, I'm not affiliated with either company, just telling my story. 

Thank you for the kind response! From The Back Massager

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Vending Massage Chair business. Please contact us. Our website is www.thebackmassager.com or call 1-877-765-6277. We have a great locator to assist you in finding great locations near you. 

Edited by thebackmassager
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nice. like wassis name said thou, you need to be mechanicaly inclined

you should be able to take one apart down to at least the basic moduals and put it back together. err, cause how many chair techs are in your town?

and what if it's after hours or weekend when one goes down and you cant call a tech at the factory.

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AzVendor - No problem. People like to read about real life experiences before investing their money.

 

Fr Corey - The chairs I bought are actually voice activated so that when someone sits in them without paying a voice will say "Please Insert Money" You can set the frequency & volume level. I watched a couple sit in my chairs one day for approximately 30 minutes while the voice was constantly telling them to insert money. Some people are just determined to NOT pay but the majority of them will spend money on a good massage.

 

Gvending - I have a goal of $100 per chair, bring home. Unfortunately I can't control how much money people spend or how often they get a massage. That's why location is critical. If you can find a good, high traffic location where people tend to hang out for a while, you can make decent money. Try to find a place such as a fun center (bowling alley, mini-golf, lazer tag, kid's inflatable center) where people tend to hang out & relax. Changing locations was the difference between making hardly any money to nearly paying off my chairs in 1.5 years. BTW, not everyone will take the chairs. I was surprised at how many businesses flat out did not want to bother with them. A lot of places would say that were interested but never would follow through with anything. My locator did a pretty good job but he can only do so much when it comes to convincing people.

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AzVendor - No problem. People like to read about real life experiences before investing their money.

 

Fr Corey - The chairs I bought are actually voice activated so that when someone sits in them without paying a voice will say "Please Insert Money" You can set the frequency & volume level. I watched a couple sit in my chairs one day for approximately 30 minutes while the voice was constantly telling them to insert money. Some people are just determined to NOT pay but the majority of them will spend money on a good massage.

 

Gvending - I have a goal of $100 per chair, bring home. Unfortunately I can't control how much money people spend or how often they get a massage. That's why location is critical. If you can find a good, high traffic location where people tend to hang out for a while, you can make decent money. Try to find a place such as a fun center (bowling alley, mini-golf, lazer tag, kid's inflatable center) where people tend to hang out & relax. Changing locations was the difference between making hardly any money to nearly paying off my chairs in 1.5 years. BTW, not everyone will take the chairs. I was surprised at how many businesses flat out did not want to bother with them. A lot of places would say that were interested but never would follow through with anything. My locator did a pretty good job but he can only do so much when it comes to convincing people.

nice. the recording should alternate languages.

at least English and Spanish thou.

also, it should have a timed routine too, i.e. the longer they sit without paying the stronger the recordings should get. to a point of getting rude, but no cussing.

that will make it annoying to keep sitting there.

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As for the not following thru that's what you should be doing

Don't wait for them to call back with a yes or telling you when to place, call them and ask them

Keep calling and following up for them

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ors - Um, I paid a professional locator a lot of money to "follow through" with several locations, several different times for months. Trust me when I say that some places show interest initially but they ultimately just don't bother. You must work for the backrubber.

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We have a great locator that GUARANTEES the location for one year and if you're not satisfied with the location he will find you another location at no charge. We stand by his guarantee 100%. If you have any questions regarding this business please contact us by phone 1-877-765-6277 or email at sales@thebackmassager.com. 

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