Anyone have any experience with soda, candy, food, etc vending machines? What are the startup costs, hassles, etc? Can I lease one or do I have to purchase- what's the profit difference? What about a credit card reader?
I once bought a small one with plans to buy the bigger ones ie soda machines. I actually put the little candy machine where I put things like lemon heads and other candy inside in a church. Needless to say the bad bunch of the kids always tried to beat on it and take candy and stuff they didnt put money in for lol. Anyway, alot of people still used it and I seem to always had a bunch of quarters. Can't remember how much I made each time but I refilled every couple of weekends and made sure to sanitize it/clean it..you know lots of hands touch that receptacle. First thing you'll notice is how many of those machines are out there. Secondly you'll have to remember you always need to have a place to store it, whether its your garage, or in a place where its placed to generate funds. You'll have to be sure you have a place with alot of foot traffic, otherwise the less people that see it, the less people will buy. Be sure you can cover cost for broken parts if it breaks down (not usually overwhelming from what I remember researching) My brother in law made a mistake of buying a bulk of them without really having a place to put them and he spent thousands on machines he never placed anywhere so they stayed in his garage... IMO it was a waste since he never went through fully. I would have done it myself if I had more places to put machines. It definitely takes work but for the most part, machines work for themselves, you just have to restock on time (clean if necessary) and repair if need be. Alot of businesses dont like broke machines to sit there for days and weeks at a time and neglecting stocking it, etc... which is understandable. I asked a barber if I could put a soda machine in his barbershop which he agreed..forget what happened but he told me of his experience with a guy who didn't restock on time and plain old didn't handle business enough, so he had to take it out. Its not a scary thought or anything...just do what you do. You visit the machine in one day, collect money restock and you're gone for a couple of weeks. Biggest thing is finding the right spots.
Thanks, Awesome. I have a spot, inside a private business. And it's something I can easily keep an eye on daily so I can keep it stocked, and the clientele isn't the type to beat the hell out of it.
If the cost isn't much and if you don't charge an exorbitant usage fee, credit card reader is a nice feature. I never have loose change or dollar bills when I want a coke or a snack on the spot.
Make sure you have a really nice amount of foot traffic though, and that you aren't offering somehthing they dont want. Don't have a machine full of peppermint patty's when nobody eats that crap lol. You don't necessarily have to go through a place like a costco either, but shop around, look around online at a few places.
Don't put only food in your machines. Consider packing condoms, cigarettes, chewing tobacco/dip, baby wipes, etc.
I dont think you do but there are companies that will have you out there trying to place machines... that's just as hard if not harder to get into businesses. You have to think so many of them have them already or you need to think about the location fee, etc...
I didn't at the time because I didn't get to go as far as I wanted to, but its certainly not a bad idea if you plan on doing this as a business. For me it ended up being some extra money each week or every two weeks on the side.
