Dixienormas2 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 A little back ground info........I have a Pop Machine sitting in a friends barber shop. it is a multi-price machine and set to vend cans and bottled water @ 1.00 each and has been on location for a little over a month. The machine has been doing so-so. (approx 25-35 per week gross) His shop is one of the more popular places in town where he has himself and 4 other barbers and a massage therapist in his shop. They have a daily foot traffic of 50-60 people. I figure that 1 out of every 10 people are buying a pop. Yesterday I went golfing with a couple of buddies and the topic came up of the barber shop and his new Pop machine. (These guys have ZERO clue that this is my machine) The consensus was that the machine is priced too high. They have both purchased 1 pop from the machine thinking that @ 1.00 it would be a bottle of pop, not in can form. And from now on they will not buy any pop from it b/c it is too high priced. They can wait until they get home for that extra quarter, or go to Sonic @ happy our and get 44 ounces for 1.00. They seem to feel that getting some change back to stick in their pocket is the thing to do. People like change. 1.00 seems like the going rate around town....except for Sam's Choice and Big K machines which go for .35 per vend. Bottles are generally @ 1.50. Again they had Zero clue it is my machine and still don't know. Am I too high? Is .75 a better price point? Maybe I can make that difference in margin back in volume? Or are my buddies just the CHEAPEST guys in the UNIVERSE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joebob051977 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I am a bulk vending guy, but I think that $1.00 for a can of pop IMHO is too high. $0.75 sounds much more reasonable. It really depends on your market. I live in a value market. Cans of pop where I used to work went up last year from $0.50 to $0.55. It seems the only places here that get away with $1.00 for cans are the colleges and hotels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Seems a little high to me also, but I'm a bulk guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxer518 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 change it to .75 and see the volume shoot through the roof! you can even put a sign on it that says that the price is now lower. I have very few spots that will support dollar vends on cans of soda at the present time but I do see that number going up quite a bit in the next year or so with prices going up at such a fast rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixienormas2 Posted April 5, 2010 Author Share Posted April 5, 2010 change it to .75 and see the volume shoot through the roof! you can even put a sign on it that says that the price is now lower. I have very few spots that will support dollar vends on cans of soda at the present time but I do see that number going up quite a bit in the next year or so with prices going up at such a fast rate. I kind of thought that 1 dollar would be easy slide a dollar bill in and go......but then again I am also the guy that doesn't care about a nickel difference between gas stations....I just know I need fuel. Same with a pop....I don't car about a quarter.....if I am thirsty I am going to buy a pop weather it's 75 cents or 1.00. You guys don't think its to soon to lower the cost after just a little over a month? I guess I could of just been way off base on price.....but then again I am getting ALOT of requests for amp/rockstar drinks even tho I told them they would HAVE to be priced @ 2.50 plus........they didn't seem to care about that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrantha Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Drop the price to $.75 or watch your profits drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxer518 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I had an account recently that I installed a new drink can machine and priced the soda at 1$ it was doing ok, I decided to drop it to .75$ and wow the volume increased 10 fold and boy was I shocked. The market is still having a hard time accepting the 1$ cans, I sometimes but not often price cans at .85$ but I have mixed reviews of that change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spdydre Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I have set mine at .65 and apparently everyone likes it so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixienormas2 Posted April 5, 2010 Author Share Posted April 5, 2010 I guess I can change it down and see what I average.....as I said before, I believe one out of every 10 people coming through the shop are purchasing a pop.......Should that number be any higher on average? I would have thought at least every 3 out of 10 people should buy one....and maybe that is the difference in my price point??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldandmodern Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I would change it to 75 that is standard for can in my area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vend777 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Mine also go for .75. And, I agree in the next 2 - 3 years we could see a lot of inflation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparta_Automation Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I have 2 machines at a gas station and have cans set at .85 each and Rockstar/Monster set at $2.50. Between the 2 machines, I avg about $30 a day in sells. I agree with the rest, lower your price as I think $1 for a can is too much considering you're probably only paying .28 each (but probably less) Travis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Even if you are paying as much as .35 a can, I wouldn't go over .75 for now. In my area the only 1.00 can you will find are in hotels or motels. Right now I've been working to get all my commission accounts to .75, I can do ok at .65 but at .75 I can eat a steak once in a while instead of hamburger helper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEREMYTINA Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 I agree with lowering your price point. $0.75 is much more reasonable. I vend at $0.65 in my one full line location and used to get complaints until recently about it. I will take it up to $0.75 next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soco Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 What size is the water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 I have a large group of vendors that sells cans from .65 to .75. If they go into a hotel setting they might go for 1.00 a can. So .75 seems to be the norm. Blue Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixienormas2 Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 What size is the water? 16.9 oz Dasani I am going to lower my price point when I next service this location this weekend sometime. In the long scheme of things I would rather sell more Pop at a lesser margin than sell less Pop at a higher margin. I will give it a month when I change my price point and report the sales difference back here.....I really hope it makes a difference.....time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iolaus Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Have you considered vending sodas for .75 and asking the location if you can put a bulk machine in next to the soda machine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixienormas2 Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 I know the guy very well......and he likes money....if he was getting a cut of the profit he would let me put midget oil wrestlers in next to the machine if he thought it would make money. I just don't know much about bulk machines tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 if you do a search you will learn a lot about bulk on this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosebreaker Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 I only have 1 combo machine, it is at my laundromat. I charge $1 for cans and I have people coming over from the pizza shop because my cans are cheaper than theirs! My mat is near Boston (dedhamlaundry.com) so maybe that has something to do with it. Around here $1 a can isn't unreasonable in my mind. $1.50 will get you a bottle of soda or gatorade. But in my mind the machine is there as a convenience to get more people to do laundry, I don't care if it does $10 less in sales as long as more people do laundry. Since it is only 1 machine I don't want to bother with getting supplies and such for it for less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbishop Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Make sure to put a big sign on the machine that says NEW LOWER PRICE. Some people will have already decided not to pay attention to the machine because of the price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixienormas2 Posted April 14, 2010 Author Share Posted April 14, 2010 I service the machine yesterday, and after speaking to the shop owner he did not want the prices lowered. His reasoning is that he didn't want to take a cut in commission. I tried explaining to him we would both make more in terms of volume over margin, but he wasn't having it. He did suggest placing amp energy drink in it as well as Gatorade and mountain dew by replacing 1 water slot (I had 2 slots vending water) as well as the sprite (which has sold 7 cans in a little over 1 month) His further reasoning is that there isn't a place to get a cold drink for a mile.....when people are in there to get a haircut they aren't going to squabble over a quarter if they are thirsty. OK guys, what should I do here? Just roll with the punches and leave it at a dollar? The machine is definitely making 100x the money now as it would sitting in my garage vending beer for a nickel. :-\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbishop Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 ...after speaking to the shop owner he did not want the prices lowered. OK guys, what should I do here? Keep the shop owner happy! Add the other options and see what happens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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