wbuffett Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Hi everyone, I got into the vending biz in July. I took over an existing route of 12 machines, all wittern group, which i have been happy with. As someone with zero vending experience the technical service that they provide is awesome. Im not sure all machine producers provide service like this, i can call their technicians mon - fri and they walk me through whatever my issue is and so far theyve been able to assist with pretty much whatever problem ive had. Ive recently got a lead from a friend of mine who is a nurse at a local private pediatric practice. They are interested in getting vending for the staff, who dont really leave during their long shifts and customers who are waiting. And there are 9 locations, obviously a great opportunity. However i dont have any extra machines. So to do this I will have to buy machines. I will not do this until i have the accts for sure obviously but i must be ready to go if we do the deal. So should i stick with the Wittern machines that i know and love? New or used? Where should i look for said machines? Ive seen that Sam's Club has vending machines for sale and offer financing, does anyone have experience with this process? Im pretty clueless to this aspect of vending because i took over an existing route. All advice/suggestions are welcome and appreciated. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Hi everyone, I got into the vending biz in July. I took over an existing route of 12 machines, all wittern group, which i have been happy with. As someone with zero vending experience the technical service that they provide is awesome. Im not sure all machine producers provide service like this, i can call their technicians mon - fri and they walk me through whatever my issue is and so far theyve been able to assist with pretty much whatever problem ive had. Ive recently got a lead from a friend of mine who is a nurse at a local private pediatric practice. They are interested in getting vending for the staff, who dont really leave during their long shifts and customers who are waiting. And there are 9 locations, obviously a great opportunity. However i dont have any extra machines. So to do this I will have to buy machines. I will not do this until i have the accts for sure obviously but i must be ready to go if we do the deal. So should i stick with the Wittern machines that i know and love? New or used? Where should i look for said machines? Ive seen that Sam's Club has vending machines for sale and offer financing, does anyone have experience with this process? Im pretty clueless to this aspect of vending because i took over an existing route. All advice/suggestions are welcome and appreciated. thanks I had wonderful luck with my USI machines too. Some vendors dislike them but I had great luck in midsize locations. I would suggest that you dig deeper into learning about each location before going into the equipment phase. Clinic's can be good or real dogs. Just depends. Will the machines be out for the public? Are they going to hold you to 100% healthy products? How many full time/Part time staff are on site each day? Is it 24/7? Do they want commission? Once you get that information you can post it here and get some feedback from vendors doing similar types of accounts. I know Sams does finance and most vendors have used them at times. This type of equipment requires a pretty specific type of account. They don't stand up to much rough housing.... Poplady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Hi everyone, I got into the vending biz in July. I took over an existing route of 12 machines, all wittern group, which i have been happy with. As someone with zero vending experience the technical service that they provide is awesome. Im not sure all machine producers provide service like this, i can call their technicians mon - fri and they walk me through whatever my issue is and so far theyve been able to assist with pretty much whatever problem ive had. Ive recently got a lead from a friend of mine who is a nurse at a local private pediatric practice. They are interested in getting vending for the staff, who dont really leave during their long shifts and customers who are waiting. And there are 9 locations, obviously a great opportunity. However i dont have any extra machines. So to do this I will have to buy machines. I will not do this until i have the accts for sure obviously but i must be ready to go if we do the deal. So should i stick with the Wittern machines that i know and love? New or used? Where should i look for said machines? Ive seen that Sam's Club has vending machines for sale and offer financing, does anyone have experience with this process? Im pretty clueless to this aspect of vending because i took over an existing route. All advice/suggestions are welcome and appreciated. thanks In addition to Bev's comments, there are independent distributors out there that also sell the Wittern equipment. At Sam's they sell USI brand, through the distributors they mostly use "Perfect break systems", I think there might be still a few Fawn and Federal distributors out there as well. It all the same equipment, kind of like GE and Whirlpool, made on the same factory floor but slap on different trim packages and labels at the end of the production line to differentiate them. Whatever you do with equipment keep in mind you will need to have similar equipment at all locations and not something new at one location and a 20 year old refurb project at another. The financing is also through a Wittern subsidiary, depending on where you buy the machines, Inland Finance or Federal Finance. Its short term stuff, 3-4 years max, and pretty high interest rates, you probably could do better on a credit card interest rate wise. In their defense though if you run into a cash flow crunch you can get a payment deferment 1X a year pretty much no questions asked and they will continue to work with you after that if needed, just keep in mind that you will pay extra for the privilege of not getting your credit dinged with late payments. If you need to know more let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Need more info about each account to know if it will be worth doing. The accounts may be worth doing but not with brand new machines. Vendors Exchange offers a refurb machine called the “Revision” and is working with Firestone Financial for some nice credit options including 12 months interest free or 5.99% for 24 months. (Some restrictions apply, ends Nov. 30th) USI are good machines and Wittern offers in house financing. However, Crane National are great machines and offer in house financing also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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