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It's easy for people interested in owning vending machines to have visions of thousands of dollars pouring in.  In fact, that is a reality in my own life in our vending company.  We operate 2,600 machines or so in the Midwest.  I have to admit, it's an adrenaline surge when you go to an account and pull out nearly $100!

The reality though is that there is a lot to think about if you are considering vending as a business.  Here are five things for starters before you buy those first machines:

Am I in this for a few bucks of extra cash or will I make it a BUSINESS?  Vending machines are like any other money-making endeavor.  Treat it as a hobby and it will pay you as a HOBBY; treat it as a business and serious income stream and it will pay you legitimate and serious income.  REMEMBER THIS!

How many machines will I need?  This depends on your answer to #1.  If you want a serious business with legitimate money coming in monthly you need to plan for several dozen to several hundred machines.  You don't have to start there, but you need to examine this possibility first.  Again, if you just want a few bucks to make the electric bill, 10 or 20 machines may be fine. Check out the article "Optimum Route Size" for related info.

Carefully consider who you buy a vending machine from.  There are companies who WILL scam you.  I have a personal friend who bought several snack machines spending over $10,000 for them with a promise of having some high-volume hospital locations.  In the end, there were no locations and he could not get his money back from the company much less find anyone to talk to.  The same applies to bulk vending machines (gumballs, candy, and toy machines).  Be very careful about promises relating to money you will make with the machines and how easy it is to get a location.  Most bulk vending operators get out of the business because they cannot places the machines  they buy.

Consider whether to do bulk vending or snack and drink vending.  Bulk vending consists of selling product "in bulk" through a single vending machine.  Typically, these are small gumball, candy, and toy machines.  Snack and drink vending is a different market in that administratively you run your routes differently.  The positives and negatives of each will be considered in future articles, but let me give you a couple of points here.  First, with snack and drink vending you are more limited in your scope of service area and you have to keep the machines serviced much more often (probably weekly on average).   For bulk vending, you can often leave gumball and candy machines for 1-3 months to service.  This gives more flexibility for someone with limited time.  Also your cash investment is less to get started in bulk vending.

Understand that vending machines are stolen and vandalized.  This is a fact of life and a part of the cost of doing business.  Sometimes, even other owners will steal your machines!  Thankfully, stolen machines are a small percentage of your overall number of machines, but it is still frustrating and discouraging when thefts occur.  It's even more frustrating if you're not prepared for it.

BONUS TIP:  Start off with a few bulk vending machines and re-invest your profit for more machines to grow your business.

Mark Evants
(C) Christmark Enterprises, LLC.

See "BULK MACHINES" for more free info on bulk vending machine related articles.

See "The real costs of running a vending business" for an overview on expense-related items in the vending business.






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