King Tractor

[MrGranger]

Here's a pull from over the weekend during a convention. It probably would have been better but one of my Northwestern 80's started to misvend as did a brand new Beaver 1". I'm going to have to figure out what happened with those machines.

1" Machine for .25 = $6.50

1" Machine for .50 (A&A mix) = $12

1" Gumballs = $10.25

1" Machine for .50 (another A&A mix but different stuff) = $25

2" for $1 = $68

For three days that isn't too bad. It definitely helped my bottom line and give me a better show.

[MrGranger]

Serviced a double head (toys) at a sandwich shop after about 4 weeks. $13.50 Not great but I'm going to swap out the $1.00 2" for a $.50 1" on my next visit. I may turn it into a triple head with 2 .50 and 1 .25 machine. I can't do gum or candy because it competes with what the owner is selling. Otherwise I would probably put that in. And a rack is out of the question so far (they don't want to give up the real estate...but maybe someday).

[MrGranger]

Last weekend show, 2 days.

$12 - GUM

$39.50 - A&A .50 toy mix

$92 - Marvel Buildables from A&A

Not bad for two days, too bad these things only last on weekends.

[shepherdsflock]

Wow, you've had some really great pulls in the last two months! I'm hoping to get my first bulk candy machine placed this week; and I hope that my next machine will be a toy machine. Although it seems that success with toy machines is hit and miss, it looks like when you get a hit you really get some nice revenue.

I'm not sure what your cost of goods and other expenses are, but the $68 and $92 pulls are pretty awesome. It must be exciting to see that kind of a pull.

[MrGranger]

Wow, you've had some really great pulls in the last two months! I'm hoping to get my first bulk candy machine placed this week; and I hope that my next machine will be a toy machine. Although it seems that success with toy machines is hit and miss, it looks like when you get a hit you really get some nice revenue.

I'm not sure what your cost of goods and other expenses are, but the $68 and $92 pulls are pretty awesome. It must be exciting to see that kind of a pull.

Yeah...those were good. But there is a dark side too. I just pulled $11.50 from a machine that was on location for 4 months. The shop was not open most of that time (though I didn't know what was going on as I don't live near there and only knew they didn't answer the phone).

Special events are great for vending machines, but it's a trick to pick the right kind of vend. I do pretty well, but I've been doing shows for 7 years and know the customers.

[MrGranger]

I'm not sure what your cost of goods and other expenses are, but the $68 and $92 pulls are pretty awesome. It must be exciting to see that kind of a pull.

So far this year I'm up, but not as much as you'd think. The last two events just broke even, even though I did a lot with the vending machines. The costs of doing shows have really gone up. As I build up my regular locations, I've retooled and will be doing the shows a lot less. I still do them since it helps promote my comic book business, but not as much as I have been. When a show costs $500-$2500 to put on, the $92 pull doesn't seem that great anymore.

The flip-side is that doing less shows means that I have more time for my regular locations. And I've started putting my cartooning talents to use in making custom displays for some machines. The mix displays seem to do pretty well and get a lot of attention. I'm up to six locations now and hope to up to 10 in a month or so.

[dperry]

And I've started putting my cartooning talents to use in making custom displays for some machines. The mix displays seem to do pretty well and get a lot of attention.

You could prolly find another niche outlet for your talents by making and selling product displays. I'd very much be interested in seeing what you have. I make my own displays because I hate using live displays. But I'm sure a real artist could make better ones, and I won't have to use my own.