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advice on a vending "island"


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You would think that when it gets cold that ice cream sales would go to near zero, but I have found the same thing. Its not as much as in the summer but it remains fairly steady all winter. Probably also helps that it does not get nearly as cold down here.

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the mother board I got on ebay works,a small miracle imo.it doesnt sense if it is out of an item,probably fried the optic sensor,shouldn`t be an issue if the machine is stocked up.it was 19 degrees today and I saw 2 kids buying icecream and my wife saw 1.

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thanks for the advice.in order to unplug any machine they would have to move 2 of the machines,not to mention the anti theft bar that runs across the machines making it impossible for them to move them more then 3 inches.see pic above for "anti theft bar"

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  • 3 weeks later...

I ended up going to st louis and bought 2 dixie narco candy bar machines,for less then what I got the pos vendo.I tested one of the machines yesterday and it seems to be in good working order except one of the 50 motors is out.I dont think it will be an issue though since I will put a slower seller in that configuration.the machine has 4 slots for each item/button  except 1 gets 5 and one of those 5 is the one that is out.he had one inside and the other outside under an awning.both machines are real nice.I plan on swapping them out next week sometime.

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well whats done is done,and I have had enough of my lemon vendo.the machine made decent money when it was working good and  it was worth getting a differant machine.I am not sure if I should part out the vendo or buy the optic sensor and hope that it works so I can sell it as a whole working machine.what worries me is if I spend the other 40 bucks and then it still wont work properly.it`s not a lot of money but man the time and money I already have spent on the vendo is more then anyone should have.

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well whats done is done,and I have had enough of my lemon vendo.the machine made decent money when it was working good and  it was worth getting a differant machine.I am not sure if I should part out the vendo or buy the optic sensor and hope that it works so I can sell it as a whole working machine.what worries me is if I spend the other 40 bucks and then it still wont work properly.it`s not a lot of money but man the time and money I already have spent on the vendo is more then anyone should have.

the machine has done well and is still working as it should!now if it`ll last 5 more years I`ll be happy!

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  • 1 month later...

I got a call from my wife while she was at work saying there was a 7up/Snapple/RC rep wanting to know who owned all the machines across the street,talking about my "island".he wanted to meet with me and see if I needed more machines to expand my vending business.this made me feel really nice and tingley inside.I know this is a one off but I really wasnt expecting this to happen and it made my day.I know the majority of a full line route should be owned by the operator but I am seriously considering doing this.

for the record the dixie narco candy bar machine is doing well.the ice cream machine usually sells as much as or close to the other 3 machines combined here lately.

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I got a call from my wife while she was at work saying there was a 7up/Snapple/RC rep wanting to know who owned all the machines across the street,talking about my "island".he wanted to meet with me and see if I needed more machines to expand my vending business.this made me feel really nice and tingley inside.I know this is a one off but I really wasnt expecting this to happen and it made my day.I know the majority of a full line route should be owned by the operator but I am seriously considering doing this.

for the record the dixie narco candy bar machine is doing well.the ice cream machine usually sells as much as or close to the other 3 machines combined here lately.

Antonio,

I know that in the past I have spoken pretty strongly about an over reliance on third party equipment. However there are several members here that are doing quite well with primarily third party equipment. One in particular, Mxer, has built an incredible business using primarily third party.

Yes there are drawbacks, among them selection limitation but there are many benefits as well. It does require some serious consideration on your part.

For me, I wouldn`t do it. I am at a point in my business where I am beginning to plan my exit strategy and for me building value and equity is my focus. Also, I am by nature fiercely independent and I can`t stand the thought of someone being able to tell me what I can or cannot do or sell in my business.

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  • 6 months later...

more issues with my vending island.saturday someone threw a rock at my ice cream machine shattering the glass.I had to call a couple of buddies so I could pull the machine out and turn it around so the front faces the wall and they cant steal from it or get hurt.nothing was stolen,just damaged.this morning I had to get up extra early and call fastcorp and ask if plexiglass is ok instead of glass.the tech Dan didnt recomend it but said it wont be a big issue.I asked why they use glass for an outside machine and he didnt know.I had to go get a fork lift from my friend,drive it an extra 15 blocks around a construction zone to get to my island.so instead of driving the fork lift for 6 blocks at 3 mph I had to drive 21 :angry:.the plexi glass cost $30 and I have to give my friend a pizza for letting me use the fork lift.thanks to my wonderful wife helping me it only took less then 2 hours to do.a lot of the work was cleaning the glass.the actual installation of the plexiglass took little time.while everything was taken apart we cleaned the whole front because dead bugs accumulate around the lights.\

on the positive side,there was a line of kids waiting their turn for ice cream after school today.

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  • 3 months later...

the lights on the candy bar machine were out all summer and one light was going out on the pepsi front can machine ,so I replaced all 4 lights for the dark winter days ahead.

all my full line machines except one of the 2 new full line locations I found at the beginning of the year are doing well.my island did much better this year then last.

the ice cream machine had the most sales of all and also the best margins with my pricing.candy bar sales were up a lot since I switched my problem ridden vendo for the more reliable dixie. along with the sales of candy bars in my only snack machine I have no spoilage.helps they last about a year.

I cant say the same about other products,mainly chips.I found an honor box location to help with this,but I know I will need more to solve or reduce this issue to a minimum. I have a 35 cent column I sell dated chips in,the pricing on the machine only goes that low. it sells a few of them.I recently added cheez its and m&m soft cookies,as opposed to pretzels and famous amos and sales have noticeably increased.

I also had to get rid of a mouse problem on the outside "island".I almost picked one up as I went to grab a bill stacker.I put poison in all the machines.the ice cream machine must not have interested them as the poison was never touched in there.I would also use a leaf blower on the machines before I opened them,since -I freakin hate mice and that would scare them away.

after this year full line has really drawn my attention and if a full line route comes along I will look into it.I will have to add double doors to my ware house and buy proper moving equipment for the machines to begin with if I want to get into full line any more then I am.

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the lights on the candy bar machine were out all summer and one light was going out on the pepsi front can machine ,so I replaced all 4 lights for the dark winter days ahead.

all my full line machines except one of the 2 new full line locations I found at the beginning of the year are doing well.my island did much better this year then last.

the ice cream machine had the most sales of all and also the best margins with my pricing.candy bar sales were up a lot since I switched my problem ridden vendo for the more reliable dixie. along with the sales of candy bars in my only snack machine I have no spoilage.helps they last about a year.

I cant say the same about other products,mainly chips.I found an honor box location to help with this,but I know I will need more to solve or reduce this issue to a minimum. I have a 35 cent column I sell dated chips in,the pricing on the machine only goes that low. it sells a few of them.I recently added cheez its and m&m soft cookies,as opposed to pretzels and famous amos and sales have noticeably increased.

I also had to get rid of a mouse problem on the outside "island".I almost picked one up as I went to grab a bill stacker.I put poison in all the machines.the ice cream machine must not have interested them as the poison was never touched in there.I would also use a leaf blower on the machines before I opened them,since -I freakin hate mice and that would scare them away.

after this year full line has really drawn my attention and if a full line route comes along I will look into it.I will have to add double doors to my ware house and buy proper moving equipment for the machines to begin with if I want to get into full line any more then I am.

consider using the wise brand chips they last longer also pretzels , tgif are good sellers and long dated . chips are my biggest problem with dated items i have to have about 10 boxes out to deal with them im hoping my new hotel acct will also help in reducing this

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