Are you thinking about getting started in the vending machine business? Maybe buying some machines and making money on a part time basis? There’s definitely money to be made in the vending machine business. If you’re thinking about getting started, before you even go out and buy your first vending machine, there are a few things to consider and think about.
The first question to ask yourself should be what is your game plan when you’re going out to get started? If you think about it, you’re making an investment in the business. You’re making a financial investment in actually buying some machines to get started. You want to make sure that you find the right machines for the right price, you’re getting them on locations properly and you’re actually starting to drive income in the business. Then you can reinvest that money and build the business. That’s the right way to do things. Let’s talk about three things today to get you started on the right foot in your vending machine business.
Here is another question to ask yourself when you’re first getting started is, what are the right machines to buy when starting out? In my opinion as a vending business entrepreneur for over nine years now, I’ve always found pop machines or soda vending machines to be the most profitable source of income.
Specifically, selling cans of pop through the vending machine. A couple of the advantages of pop machines are that you can find them relatively cheap, for a good price because there’s such an abundance of them out in the market place. Buying a used machine is, in my opinion, the best way to get started. New machines are fairly expensive and buying used is the best way to do it.
These types of machines are a good profitable income source as there is a high profit margin on the cans of pop. Basically what that means is, you buy the cans at a wholesale price and then you sell it at the retail price and then in between is your profit margin. That’s why I like the cans of pop.
Another reason why I like selling pop is that they have long expiry dates compared to a bag of chips or a sandwich out of a food machine. A bag of chips, when you buy a box or a case of chips, you have maybe a month or six to eight weeks to use those chips or a sandwich has a matter of a couple of days.
Pop has many months for an expiry date, that’s one of the big reasons I like selling cans of pop. Finally, you’ve got to think about this too from a branding and advertising perspective, the two major bottling companies out there do all the marketing, branding and advertising for you, which means that when your customers come to your machine, they’re already pre-sold before they even spend their money.
They already know when they’re coming to the machine what they want. They don’t have to stand there and try and think. They see the product selection in there; they know what they want to buy. That’s why I think pop machines and soda machines are the best way to go to get started.
Chris Robertson is a 9 year vending operator who works out of Toronto, Canada. Toronto Vending Services
For more information about how you can get started in the vending business visit Chris’s site And Get Your Free Audio Vending Report
