hello from nc

[michniakap]

raleigh, also boone area (go appstate!)

do not have much of a vending business, own a few smaller 25c machines . ideally i would own cigarette vending machines, but i do not know enough about cigarette vending currently (plus the money to invest in machines).

Am very interested to see what i can learn from this forum

[mizugori]

I would say steer clear of cigarette vending. They have gotten so strict, in most areas within the US you need to go to extreme lengths to prevent minors from potentially buying the product. In some areas the machines must have a lock that an employee must unlock (after checking the buyer's id) in order to vend product. Kind of defeats the whole point of a vending machine... In other places they can only be located in businesses where you must be 18+ to enter, and they must be a certain distance from the entrance. There are other restrictions and laws as well. Combine that with the current legal battle the government is fighting to possibly force tobacco companies to pay out billions and increase awareness of health problems caused by smoking and fund programs to curb smoking in America... all in all I'd say that's a business to stay out of for the time being.

As a new vending machine operator myself, I would say your best bet is to pick up several machines used or new (bulk vending machines really aren't that pricey unless you buy beavers, which are a waste for someone just starting out.) Once you have some machines try using a locator to place them - I bought 9 Northwestern super 80 machines all set to vend 2" capsule toys, and got them all located using kickstart. I have 2 more machines to place (I'm supposed to place them today and tomorrow so unless the places refuse to let me place, I will have all my machines located.)

So, in about a month's time I set up 9 new locations, all of which are promising. It cost me about 1400 for the 9 machines brand new including 1 stand per machine and shipping costs. Then it cost me $540 for 9 toy locations from kickstart.

Now I am in the process of purchasing 20 used oak vista machines, which I am hoping to get all placed by the end of August. At that point I should definitely know whether I like this business or not (so far I must say I love it) and I should be able to start perfecting my business as I will have enough machines out there to start figuring out which kinds of locations are best, which products do best and where, what the most effective way to locate machines is, etc etc etc.

A lot of people will try to tell you to go out and locate yourself. Personally it just doesn't make the most sense for my situation - I work 60 hours a week at my regular job so I don't have a lot of time to commit to locating efforts and the cost of me giving up the hours vastly outweighs the price I pay a locator to get me locations. And, I don't have to deal with the stress and anxiety of trying to locate the machines.

Trying to do everything yourself isn't always the best route... for example in real estate investing, many people buy rentals and try to manage them by themselves, when they could have hired a property manager and freed up their time to research and negotiate on more properties. So think about it this way - would you rather spend your time stressed out walking into or calling places, getting shut down (sometimes quite rudely) and being stressed out and anxious, or would you rather spend your time planning and researching how to expand your business and take it to the next level, selecting products, analyzing your profitability, etc? For me that's a no brainer.

Good luck!