Hello from Las Vegas

[Drakan971]

Hello everyone, so I have been trying to get my own vending business "bulk candy and full line" started for a few months now, I have very little capital which I am taking from my bi-weekly paychecks. I think I have everything I need to begin except candy and locations. I have a business license(sole proprietor), tax permit, business cards, fictitious firm name, which are all required by the state of Nevada. I also have four bulk candy vending machines. Two of which are Vendstar 3000's and two unmarked dual head machines. For the past few days I have just spent my time reading up on a lot of the posts on here and realized that I have already made some mistakes. Apparently the Vendstar's are not too great, but acceptable by some people, and the other two machines I have are not so great due to having plastic bases. There are no markings to tell what brand the dual head machines are, but they seem to have very strong and sturdy coin mech's.  My plans are to break into both bulk candy and full line. So yeah, just wanted to introduce myself and tell a little about my plans.

-David

Also, I have come across an eBay auction that I think might be noteworthy. It is 4 Snack Time/Drink Time combo machines for $1000.00, they are described as very little cosmetic wear except for one which has a 3" crack on the window. The models are VM-250 Refrigerated Drink Vendor, and VM-150 Compact Snak Vendor. It is local so I would not be paying for shipping, but I would be paying to rent a truck and storage. Is this a good deal? Let me know please.

[Hillbilly]

Welcome to the forum David.

Glad to see you are reading the old posts. It will prevent some future mistakes I'm sure. Any questions feel free to ask. I'm doing bulk.

[lisa vending group]

Hello,and welcome.Continue to read all you can.I started about 3 months ago. I only have candy and toys machines.but thru the help of this great forum,now have 68 locs and growing.I dont know much about full line,but I still look at existing routes,and not just machines.I chose to go in one direction at a time,and once I reach my goal of 200 locs i will make decisions re: full service.In answer to your question regarding  the purchase you are interested in,Others are more qualified to help you.

Read old posts,this subject has been covered at least a few times  Good luck  ron

[NinnJinn]

Welcome to the forums David! 

As for the mechanical vending machines,  What I found was that they have to be put in some slow/ less moderate locations.  They are mechanical, mostly plastic rubbing against metal.  So the parts will wear out faster.  If there are no change machines with them, you will have to use correct change to get what you need.

Although, they will get you started, they aren't really built for the long term heavy duty use.

I had one in my home for almost 3yrs. no problems.  I put one out on location and it pulled in roughly 100/week.  but I was constantly having to go check on it and make minor repairs and tweeks.  The office finally got fed up and moved in "Real machines"

Anyways,  You are on the right track by reading all there is to read.  If you have any other questions, just ask!

Good luck and welcome to vendiscuss!

[Poplady1]

Hello Las Vegas!

As NinnJinn said, the type of machines you mentioned are probably not a good buy unless they give them away.  If they are new or almost new you can probably get a few years out of them but boy, it is hard keeping them from jamming, sticking or being shaken.  So the money you were going to spend on those could be used to really pick up more bulk units.

Glad you joined the group.  Have fun vending.

Poplady

[Drakan971]

Thanks everyone for welcoming me and all the information.

After doing a bit of research on the machines I have decided not to purchase them, like NinnJinn stated, all I have been reading about them are problems with parts and what not. Also, $250 a machine is apparently not so great of a deal.

Hopefully I can find either a good deal on a single electronic soda machine to get started or several bulk like Poplady1 suggested.