Vending Machine

Vending Information current as of

Most people start searching for information on vending machines because they want to generate a secondary income. Indeed many people are making pretty good money in the vending business, but its not a get rich quick path to money. Its a business like any other and must be taken seriously. The biggest hurdle I've found to getting started is finding willing places to host your machine. Typically this is one of your expenses, you'd pay a monthly or annual fee to the property owner for the right to sit your machine there and make money. Once in a while a business will need a vending system in place for their employees and will not charge you rent. If you find such a deal you are quite lucky.

As I'm sure you've seen you can have one of these machines dispense practically anything; toys, candy, soda, food, gum, you name it. The most popular are candy vending machines and soda vending machines. They tend to generate the most revenue.

Startup costs include (but not limited to):

• buying the machine itself (used or new)
• renting space to host the machine
• stocking the products
• hiring a vending operator if you don't manage and stock them yourselves

Ongoing maintenance for a broken unit is another expense to consider. These machines can be damaged or just quit working. Its easiest if you have some background knowledge on how to fix them, but if not then you must pay to have them repaired. Every day down is lost income.

Profit from a vending machine business is a volume game. Unless you're lucky enough to have a super high traffic, high buyer area, you'll need lots of vending units in order for the little profits to accumulate into one big profit each month. Traffic is the name of the game.

Where do you get the vending machines and how do you get started?

The easiest way is through a vending machine distributor. These are the middlemen who work directly with the manufacturer. You want a close relationship with your distributor so you can stay in touch with the latest machines, any updates you need, etc. Some people would rather jump straight to the distributor position, which is fine, but there are far more upfront expenses required. Serious people in the business know to start at the bottom and get their feet wet, then become a distributor as their income and territory expands.

The instant way into a vending business is to buy out someone else's route who's retiring. This is the easy way, but has an added up front expense of paying for an existing business. The units are already in place, contracts with property owners are done (just update your name) and all the contacts for supplies are established. That is a true turn key business. Expect to pay at least 1 or 2 years of profits for the upfront sale of the business.