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Bulk questions...Nowthwestern 60 VS Oak VS the rest...


andyinchville

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HI All,

I am primarily a snack and drink vendor but I recently went on a ride with a bulk vendor (he was looking to have me fill his machines while I am on my snack vending route (we service basically the same areas)so he can have more free time to pursue other business ventures)). I was amazed at the ease and speed of servicing bulk machines...Also some of the stops really were pretty good in terms of $$ pulled...WOW.

I had already toyed w/ the idea of placing bulk machines at the stops I service w/ Snack & Drink machines.....I have an several bulk machines....Some 4 way U Turns and a few Vendstar 3000's and about 20 SSF machines....I haven't placed my first bulk machine yet but many of my current locations said OK when I approached them awhile back.

I have an opportunity to buy a large quantity of either Northwestern 60 (he also has Super 60's as well) or Oak Machines.

The seller is looking to sell the machines for $30 each head in 10 lot quantities.

My questions are :

1) Which machines should I go for (Northwestern 60 , Super 60, or the Oak (sorry no model known).

2) Is $30 a fair price ?...I have seen them on eBay for less BUT the shipping will get you and this fella has a bunch at one location so it is a;most a one stop shop for potentially an entire route worth of machines.

3) He wants $11 for a stand for each machine....He said he has a bunch of double bars so I could run two heads on 1 stand but did not quote me a price for the double bar (what is a fair price for that piece?)...He recommended painting each stand so they must not be in the best condition (he said everything has been in storage for a bit).

4) Almost all the machines I helped to service when I rode with the bulk vendor had 3 selections per stand (similar to a Vendstar 3000 BUT some were of different brands / made of metal but most all still featured 3 selections)....Is a single or double doing to cut it? Would I be better off w/ a triple type machine or would 1 or 2 heads be good enough? (I realize bulk vendors typically figure income based on the average income per head so it seems best to offer 3 selections....the more the merrier?).

5) The seller will not be providing locks....I guess I'll have to google for some...

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Andrew

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HI All,

I am primarily a snack and drink vendor but I recently went on a ride with a bulk vendor (he was looking to have me fill his machines while I am on my snack vending route (we service basically the same areas)so he can have more free time to pursue other business ventures)). I was amazed at the ease and speed of servicing bulk machines...Also some of the stops really were pretty good in terms of $ pulled...WOW.

I had already toyed w/ the idea of placing bulk machines at the stops I service w/ Snack & Drink machines.....I have an several bulk machines....Some 4 way U Turns and a few Vendstar 3000's and about 20 SSF machines....I haven't placed my first bulk machine yet but many of my current locations said OK when I approached them awhile back.

I have an opportunity to buy a large quantity of either Northwestern 60 (he also has Super 60's as well) or Oak Machines.

The seller is looking to sell the machines for $30 each head in 10 lot quantities.

My questions are :

1) Which machines should I go for (Northwestern 60 , Super 60, or the Oak (sorry no model known).

2) Is $30 a fair price ?...I have seen them on eBay for less BUT the shipping will get you and this fella has a bunch at one location so it is a;most a one stop shop for potentially an entire route worth of machines. Thats a fair price.

3) He wants $11 for a stand for each machine....He said he has a bunch of double bars so I could run two heads on 1 stand but did not quote me a price for the double bar (what is a fair price for that piece?)...He recommended painting each stand so they must not be in the best condition (he said everything has been in storage for a bit). Thats a fair price too. The double bracket can be had new for $5-7 new. Just run some fine steel wool over them and black spray paint will make them look new.

4) Almost all the machines I helped to service when I rode with the bulk vendor had 3 selections per stand (similar to a Vendstar 3000 BUT some were of different brands / made of metal but most all still featured 3 selections)....Is a single or double doing to cut it? Would I be better off w/ a triple type machine or would 1 or 2 heads be good enough? (I realize bulk vendors typically figure income based on the average income per head so it seems best to offer 3 selections....the more the merrier?). In my opinion, triple heads are overkill in a candy location. One of the selections will suffer. Go with singles and doubles. Thats all you need.

5) The seller will not be providing locks....I guess I'll have to google for some... Order them from A&A Global. Less than $3 each and you can get them all keyed the same.

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Andrew

Hope that helps. Good luck.

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(I realize bulk vendors typically figure income based on the average income per head so it seems best to offer 3 selections....the more the merrier?)

More may not necessarily be merrier. Locations only have a certain amount of revenue potential. That revenue will be distributed between all heads available. So technically, if you are pulling all the potential revenue from the location, adding a head will not add additional revenue. It will simply lower the revenue in your other heads keeping the total revenue for the location the same. Now you have more equipment, more inventory, and more service time for the same revenue.

That's the trick in bulk vending. You have to find that sweet spot where your obtaining all of the potential revenue using the least amount of equipment. You want to add equipment to a location if you are leaving money there and the only way to know if your leaving money on the table is to start small and add equipment periodically until you reach the point where you're not seeing any additional revenue.

Sent using Tapatalk for Android.

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HI,

Thanks for the replies so far...So in terms of # of heads per location it sounds like 2 is optimal and maybe 3 or 4 is too much....Well at least in the "slower" locations (I have read posts where the 4 way uturns are sometimes too much for a slower location....On the flip side tho, Racks seem to be the ultimate money maker but it requires a busy location.....

Having done snack and not bulk, I guess it was good to get some rules of thumb for me to go by in terms of # of heads VS store business volume

(in terms of snack, I generally place small 12 or 22 selection machines at perceived slow locations....I guess this would translate to roughly 1 or two heads in the bulk arena...On a medium account I would generally place a larger 4 wide snack machine so in terms of bulk I guess this may translate to 3 or 4 heads?....on a large Snack account, I would use a large (deep) 5 wide 6 shelf machine or multiple machines...I suppose in bulk terms this would be the equivalent of placing a large rack?

I am looking forward to seeing what the machines this fella has available....When I spoke w/ him I was sure to ask if the globes are scratched or discolored from use...He said that many of them were made of glass so that would not be an issue....I am guessing that glass means they are older machines since plastic is the current norm?....The man seems like a nice guy but I didn't want him to take advantage of a relatively newbie in the bulk world.

Thanks for all your help and advice.

Andrew

PS - Just another last minute thought...In snack vending, I have read that the first 15 or so products product types will account for a majority of the sales the machine will make (thus having the say 30 different selections may not necessarily help a lot in terms of revenue,,,

On the flip side, in bulk, if one only has a single head what should be vended?...I think the major categories are

gumballs, candy, toys, stickers....I think w/ 2 selections I would be inclined to go gum (due to high profit margins) and a candy of some sort....What would you recommend in a single head?...A double, and maybe a triple?

Wow 1 ,2 or 3 selections makes life so tough having come from a snack background where you just put most everything in and go from there! HA

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More may not necessarily be merrier. Locations only have a certain amount of revenue potential. That revenue will be distributed between all heads available. So technically, if you are pulling all the potential revenue from the location, adding a head will not add additional revenue. It will simply lower the revenue in your other heads keeping the total revenue for the location the same. Now you have more equipment, more inventory, and more service time for the same revenue.

That's the trick in bulk vending. You have to find that sweet spot where your obtaining all of the potential revenue using the least amount of equipment. You want to add equipment to a location if you are leaving money there and the only way to know if your leaving money on the table is to start small and add equipment periodically until you reach the point where you're not seeing any additional revenue.

Sent using Tapatalk for Android.

Bravo! Bravo!

Simple is Better! Less is Better!

Yea that sweet spot (or Goldilocks zone) is magical, mystical and can elude us at times. But when we find that sweet spot, it is a wonderful wonderful thing!

Brings tears to my eyes! This calls for a song.........

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