Vending Machine Business

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by blankall

The only way I could see this as being viable would be if your machine(s) were located within a very short distance of your home or work. Having to spend any travel time on this would kill all profitability. If the machine was in your office, where you are everyday anyways, spending 10-20 minutes here and there wouldn't be a big deal.

I also think you'd be better off just buying a machine outright and stocking it with your own supplies from Costco. I don't see how this company is going to help you. You're probably going to have to stock a lot of their unsellable junk product too. You're much better off buying your own machine and filing it with stuff that sells. Those weird plastic cups look strange to me. I'd rather buy a bag of Doritos.

Off the top of my head, a few more things to consider:

In addition to the cost of the machine itself, whats the cost of the inventory in the machine? This could be a significant cost depending how many machines you have and what you are selling.

How much additional inventory do you need to keep? Whats the cost? And importantly, do you have suitable storage space at home?

Do you have a reliable vehicle that is suitable to deliver your merchandise? What are your fuel costs? Whats your total vehicle expense? Does your vehicle insurance need to change?

What are you going to do when you go on vacation, are sick, or otherwise cant stock the machines? Do you have a reliable sub for you? Do they have a vehicle? How will they get access to your inventory?

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

Off the top of my head, a few more things to consider:

In addition to the cost of the machine itself, whats the cost of the inventory in the machine? This could be a significant cost depending how many machines you have and what you are selling.

How much additional inventory do you need to keep? Whats the cost? And importantly, do you have suitable storage space at home?

Do you have a reliable vehicle that is suitable to deliver your merchandise? What are your fuel costs? Whats your total vehicle expense? Does your vehicle insurance need to change?

What are you going to do when you go on vacation, are sick, or otherwise cant stock the machines? Do you have a reliable sub for you? Do they have a vehicle? How will they get access to your inventory?

All good questions, but before going into detail on how it all works I can't get past: if this is a business that works, why not just do it yourself, or pay someone else to do it? I'm Leary of business opportunities where people are finding strangers to buy he machines outright. I wonder if they know they can make more money off people who have to invest in the opportunity?

[bizaro86]

The one potential reason that it might be hard to get staff is the all cash nature of the business, which might make it better as an owner operator.

I can imagine a world where the guy who is carting stuff all over town and fixing dirty machines might help himself to some quarters.

[KTrain]

They might need to look a their own insurance as well. Some businesses won't allow outside workers on their premises if they're not insured