Evolution Vending Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Hello all! I am very new to this. I have not purchased any machines yet and am still doing my research before making the plunge. I am real close, just have a few questions. What types of delivery vehicles are you using on your routes? Truck, box-van, regular van, or even a trailer? I have a shortbed truck with a locking shell that I use for my current business and was wondering if it would suffice for a (hypothetically speaking) route of say, 5 to 10 soda machines? I know every route is different per each company and location. I am just trying to get an overall idea of what some of you long term vendors use. This will help me judge my starting expenses. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I started with a pick up, then moved to a van, then several types of bread truck or box van types. I now use a Isuzu NPR. The pickup with a shell should be fine until you get up 25-30 machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Hello all! I am very new to this. I have not purchased any machines yet and am still doing my research before making the plunge. I am real close, just have a few questions. What types of delivery vehicles are you using on your routes? Truck, box-van, regular van, or even a trailer? I have a shortbed truck with a locking shell that I use for my current business and was wondering if it would suffice for a (hypothetically speaking) route of say, 5 to 10 soda machines? I know every route is different per each company and location. I am just trying to get an overall idea of what some of you long term vendors use. This will help me judge my starting expenses. Thanks if you are trying to move the machines you will need to add a liftgate to your pick up. otherwise it should do fine. i have a PT cruiser with the seats removed out of it. it fits more than enough for that size route also not every location will need every selection filled every time once you get the hang of the route you will know how much to stock of what. for example if i service 5 machines with root beer in all of them will only bring 2 or 3 cases where as mt dew ill need 2 cases at least per machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Vending Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 Thanks for the info guys! Given that info, I would assume that if I also do snacks, (seems that some places that have drinks would like to have snacks) I would have enough room? I am fully prepared to get a larger vehicle but if a truck will do ok for start-up then I would assume not spend the money until required. As far as moving equipment, I have read (on here of course) that the general consensus is just to hire a mover. Seems to be the safest way to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Thanks for the info guys! Given that info, I would assume that if I also do snacks, (seems that some places that have drinks would like to have snacks) I would have enough room? I am fully prepared to get a larger vehicle but if a truck will do ok for start-up then I would assume not spend the money until required. As far as moving equipment, I have read (on here of course) that the general consensus is just to hire a mover. Seems to be the safest way to do it. you should prob have enough room if you prekit your snacks on a route that small you can most likely do that. otherwise you might have trouble. i prekit everything it takes a little more time though. prekitting means basically you get an idea of how much the machine might need (for example if you usually put in 6 bags of chips) and bring that much for each location instead of bringing all your inventory in the boxes it came in. i separate everything into plastic bins. One for cookies/pastries another for heavier items, another for candy (use a cooler) and another for chips. This way nothing gets crushed or melted. i would also recommend bringing a standard toolkit (screwdrivers, wrenches,sockets) and 11/38" socket driver, a working validator,coin mech, thermostat, masking tape and laminated "out of order" sign on every servicing. In fact i keep a mech, validator, tape, thermostat and sign in my normal car just in case i get a call I can go drive over and take care of it. if the machine is busted you are losing money every minute it's down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Vending Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 you should prob have enough room if you prekit your snacks on a route that small you can most likely do that. otherwise you might have trouble. i prekit everything it takes a little more time though. prekitting means basically you get an idea of how much the machine might need (for example if you usually put in 6 bags of chips) and bring that much for each location instead of bringing all your inventory in the boxes it came in. i separate everything into plastic bins. One for cookies/pastries another for heavier items, another for candy (use a cooler) and another for chips. This way nothing gets crushed or melted. i would also recommend bringing a standard toolkit (screwdrivers, wrenches,sockets) and 11/38" socket driver, a working validator,coin mech, thermostat, masking tape and laminated "out of order" sign on every servicing. In fact i keep a mech, validator, tape, thermostat and sign in my normal car just in case i get a call I can go drive over and take care of it. if the machine is busted you are losing money every minute it's down. Thanks DC! thats good info. I already had a mental game plan of traveling with all the necessary equipment to do field repairs. No need to make a second trip because of missing parts. As with any business, efficiency is key to making money. It would be safe to say that it would take a few runs on the route to figure out how to prekit based on items sold. All things being relative, is there a large variance in sales from month to month? IE good months/bad months? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Thanks DC! thats good info. I already had a mental game plan of traveling with all the necessary equipment to do field repairs. No need to make a second trip because of missing parts. As with any business, efficiency is key to making money. It would be safe to say that it would take a few runs on the route to figure out how to prekit based on items sold. All things being relative, is there a large variance in sales from month to month? IE good months/bad months? yes, what you want to do is determine a "par level" which means the # of items you want in each selection. You will probably overestimate at first but keeping careful track of it you can get it down to a pretty accurate number so that your machine isn't empty by the next service, but you are reducing stales. Then to prekit just bring enough items so that if the machine were completely empty it could be brought back up to par. Eventually you will get an even better feel for it and can bring items based on what is a slower or faster seller. I use a spreadsheet to track everything I print the sheet out each time and fill in the values by hand at the lcoation then enter it into a master sheet back at home. This sheet calculates my gross sales and gross profit, taxes owed and net profit. Where I live its hot even in winter, drinks sell about 3/4 what they did in the summer. As for snacks new selections always sell better at first then there is a big drop off. Pasteries seem to go faster in the winter. However this can all vary greatly depending on the demographics of your location. For example a location with a lot of women will sell more waters and diet soda than one with men. I would be remiss if I did not mention RJT's book. All of that kind of information is in there, its a very good book. Send him a PM on here to get more info on how to get it. I would recommend it for anyone starting in vending. Also vending machine fundamentals which you can get from the downloads section on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Vending Posted October 7, 2011 Author Share Posted October 7, 2011 Thanks for the heads up on the book. I will look into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyinchville Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 HI, I run a Chevy P 30 step van....16' behind the drivers seat...Love the truck except for the mileage ( avg about 6.7 MPG)....I have a diesel one that will be on the road again shortly (same basic truck except this one has the 4BT Cummins diesel)...That one gets as much as 17 MPG Highway.... Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcron Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I use a 5x10 enclosed utility trailer. I know a lot of people don't like the idea, especially if you have any locations with access problems. I currently don't have any issues like that. I can keep my entire stock in there (except pop overage), and unhook and park it when I'm done. I can get inside to gather stock for the location when it's raining. For me it has worked quite well although now it's getting a little small on the days when I go out to run the entire route. Probably will have to upgrade to a slightly larger size before too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I use a 5x10 enclosed utility trailer. I know a lot of people don't like the idea, especially if you have any locations with access problems. I currently don't have any issues like that. I can keep my entire stock in there (except pop overage), and unhook and park it when I'm done. I can get inside to gather stock for the location when it's raining. For me it has worked quite well although now it's getting a little small on the days when I go out to run the entire route. Probably will have to upgrade to a slightly larger size before too long. IMO one of the best options for a starter vending "vehicle". It is cheap and can be sold for close to what you paid if you bought it right to start with and took care of it. Even the small trailers can hold a lot if you put shelving in and utilize the space correctly. Try and keep drinks on the front or near the axles for proper weight distribution. @dogcow, Thanks for the props on my book!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABCVending Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 A short bed 1/2 ton pick-up works for me - have a hard tonneau cover and a cargo slide (cargo slide or bed slide is very cool - instead of climbing into the bed you can pull everything out like a drawer) Use attached lid plastic totes for the snacks and can carry 30-40 cases of pop no problem - current route is 12 machines and 10 of them are pretty high velocity - I fill the spirals all they way up and in a week 25 of 40 spirals are empty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Sounds like you need to visit 2X a week. With that many empty columns you are losing sales. Or consider larger or more equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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