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Few Newbie Qestions!


KPHudson

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Hi! Looking at getting started soon...I had a few questions though!

1. Should I just get single head machines, or pay extra for the doubles?

2. Should I focus on Gumballs, or stick with skittles etc?

Many thanks in advance!

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Hi! Looking at getting started soon...I had a few questions though!

1. Should I just get single head machines, or pay extra for the doubles?

2. Should I focus on Gumballs, or stick with skittles etc?

Many thanks in advance!

When I started, my model was to have single head machines vending only gumballs using a charity. I've since moved on to do mainly racks and toys. But to get started in the business, for very little cash outlay, the single gumball model is very good. You only have one product to worry about, unless you try for different flavors of gumballs. At the time, quill.com offered a box of gumballs for $18 plus free shipping if you got over $45 worth of stuff. So I was able to get 3 or 4 cases of gumballs at a time. I didn't need to worry about the spoilage (or high cost of) of candy, while having a very high profit margin if gumballs.

I used mainly Oak Vista 300 or A&A PO89300's.

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single head gumball is the best way to start in my opinion, you can always add another head down the line for the higher volume places, preferably a toy head, dont waste time with candy

BTW, just noticed your profile icon, my tide gonna give them tigers a whooping this coming weekend

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single head gumball is the best way to start in my opinion, you can always add another head down the line for the higher volume places, preferably a toy head, dont waste time with candy

BTW, just noticed your profile icon, my tide gonna give them tigers a whooping this coming weekend

Thanks for the tips! The game should be a good one! 2 best teams in the country!

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single head gumball is the best way to start in my opinion, you can always add another head down the line for the higher volume places, preferably a toy head, dont waste time with candy

BTW, just noticed your profile icon, my tide gonna give them tigers a whooping this coming weekend

This may sound like a stupid question but is quite serious. What is the best time to service gumballs? I heard that you should only go to restaurants between 2 and 4 to avoid lunch, dinner. I was wondering how people are able to service 8 hours in a day if they followed that rule.

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That is a better time to locate, because the manager is less likely to be busy. If you are paying commission in person when you service, then you will want to make sure the time is good for them also. There is a bar/grill that always seems busy that I service, and I am still in and out quick, and because they are busy when I am there, nobody working there is paying attention to me, which I have to admit I kind of like. The patrons do notice me working on the machine, but they may also notice me cleaning the machine, including the chute the food comes out of.

But you also need to play this by ear. If your machine is in a high traffic area, you do not want to be in the way of the employees or manager. Or do anything that annoys the customers. You do not want to be seen as interfering with their regular business.

But generally daytime during the week isn't as busy as night. Many locations will more likely be working with take out orders then with dine in customers.

Convincing them to take their commission as a check by mail is a great way to not have to bother them when they are busy, and to speed up your service time by counting the money later. Nice for accounting also.

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That is a better time to locate, because the manager is less likely to be busy. If you are paying commission in person when you service, then you will want to make sure the time is good for them also. There is a bar/grill that always seems busy that I service, and I am still in and out quick, and because they are busy when I am there, nobody working there is paying attention to me, which I have to admit I kind of like. The patrons do notice me working on the machine, but they may also notice me cleaning the machine, including the chute the food comes out of.

But you also need to play this by ear. If your machine is in a high traffic area, you do not want to be in the way of the employees or manager. Or do anything that annoys the customers. You do not want to be seen as interfering with their regular business.

But generally daytime during the week isn't as busy as night. Many locations will more likely be working with take out orders then with dine in customers.

Convincing them to take their commission as a check by mail is a great way to not have to bother them when they are busy, and to speed up your service time by counting the money later. Nice for accounting also.

Thank you for the reply. I believe that if you have a ton of machines in restaurants, you can't really help but service in the mornings or lunch. I could be wrong. But 2 hours a day is not enough if you have hundreds of machines. If you pay them by check, you won't be able to count the coins infront of them. What kind of machines do you have? Right now i only have a few restaurants but want to get more info before i expand into them.

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I've found that servicing or locating before 9am, and in some cases, 10am, there is just no point in trying since all the places are closed. If I want to get an early start on my day, I usually drive to the furthest point in my route for the day, and work backwards from there. That way I don't wait until 9am to leave my driveway. By 9am, I'm close to my first location.

Now this is only good for those toy rack locations. Bulk candy locations in work break-rooms or office buildings will obviously have earlier hours than most restaurants.

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dperry, I was checking out your site and saw that several of your machines were on cart-type risers.

Wear did you find those? Also, do you like doing them that way better than individual stands?

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dperry, I was checking out your site and saw that several of your machines were on cart-type risers.

Wear did you find those? Also, do you like doing them that way better than individual stands?

Kev,

Darryl makes those stands himself. I believe there is a thread about them here somewhere.

Sent using Tapatalk from a phone that's smarter than me.

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Kev,

Darryl makes those stands himself. I believe there is a thread about them here somewhere.

Sent using Tapatalk from a phone that's smarter than me.

yup, they are home made of my own design. Simon's racks were a big influence, and I designed my own. Simon's page can be found at www.modularvendingsystems.com.

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