Ok so here is my plan, what do you think?

[epicelite]

Ok so I will get a vending machine! Then it will practically print money for me, rite?

Just refill it once ever week or two, make sure its nice and clean.

Just need some start up money! So who wants to donate so I can buy a vending machine?
I wanna get one that sells drinks and snacks!

I can put stuff like batteries in it too!

 

[zeturi]

That's actually funny, I got a free vending machine off of craigslist about a year ago. The guys lost the keys to it, so I got it re-keyed and sold it for $200.

Your plan rocks,

 

[Valium]

Where do you plan on putting this vending machine?

 

[epicelite]

Dunno, do you think a grocery store would let me place it in the front, or do the machines they have belong to the store?

 

[Twilight Wolf]

I think they rent machines specifically to earn themselves money.

So no.

 

[jleemero]

I own a Vending machine.
Welcome to the business, "Flamboyant Homosexual".

For starters, no, you can't just randomly stick your machine wherever you want.
And any chain store, (Wal-Mart, Target, Smiths, Rayles, Ralphs, Duncans, etc.) will NOT let you stick your machine out front, don't even TRY.
A small, privately owned, local store MIGHT. Good luck.
ALWAYS do local places, nothing chain, nothing big, they don't care about you, Sega.

Small, privately owned, local shops.
Mechanics, Auto-Parts stores, Salons, Barbers, get where I'm going with this?
Try for construction related companies as well, IF YOU HAVE AN IN! If you know nothing about the place, DON'T EVEN TRY.
But if you have a friend or relative that works there, talk with them, and give it a shot.

Wholesale/Bulk outlets, like Sam's Club and Costco, are your best bet for Sodas.
I get mine for around 23 cents a piece.
Buy in big 32-packs.

Coca-Cola is the biggest seller in America, this is just the way it is, there is no exception.
My machine pushes 60+ Cokes per week, of the 100 or so total sales.

Charge less than anyone else.
Around here, a normal soda machine is $1.25, hotels run $2.00, schools run $1.50 - $1.75.
Based on this, I sell my flax for $1.
Charge based on your local prices.
Never run into a machine over $1? Charge 75 cents.
Rarely see a machine under $1.50? Charge $1, make a killing.

But the real magic to a vending machine is location.
The BEST place you could possibly have one, is at a hotel.
Because people will always buy.
Charge $2.50 for a can of *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing coke, you'll sell just as many as if you charged $1.
Hotels are AMAZING in this way.
ANYWHERE ELSE, HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT PULL THIS OFF, DON'T EVEN TRY Dangit.

 

[epicelite]

What about something like a auto shop that puts tires on cars or something, people usually spend a while waiting around for their car and they might get hungry!

Also I want one of those redbox things, I remember seeing a commercial for them when they first came out and thought it was a money maker, but I was too young to actually do anything. Turns out they do make lots of money.

 

[epicelite]

WORDS WORDS WORDS...

How much do you make a month on your most averagely placed machine?
Where did you get your machine?
How do you keep track of flax and file taxes?
Can I get a loan to buy myself a machine, pay you back + some extra?

 

[jleemero]

My average rate is 60 or so sales per week, on what I'd consider a "somewhat active" machine.
In a better location, pulling 90 - 120 is easy.

I bought mine from a guy who owns a Vending Machine leasing company, most people with vending machines lease from companies like these.
It was an old machine he was replacing, but still worked fine. Worth about $1500, I got it for around $500.

I do keep track of profits, just off a small piece of paper inside my machine, lawl.
I don't make enough off of it for it to be considered a significant source of income, effectively, it's not a business, nor is it my job.
So no taxes. Same way you don't get taxed for your allowance money, or for selling here on ModRetro, m'kay?

AHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAH I don't loan money.

 

[epicelite]

Well how do you know when you sell enough to have to pay taxes.

Where is this company, is it a local thing?

 

[Basement_Modder]

I should do this. I got a local store that's perfect.

 

[XCVG]

Buy a vending machine? *Can'tSayThisOnTV* that. We're hardware hackers. Build a vending machine. It can't be that hard.

TWO YEARS AND $3000 LATER

Yes! Finally! I've built a vending machine. It's not perfect but it dispenses the right drink most of the time, and the Bondo job isn't that ugly. Now, time to find a place to put it and start recouping that $3000...


Seriously though, good luck!- and good luck.

 

[robm]

IIRC, the government doesn't start wanting taxes from you until you start making over 10K or so a year. Anything under that is non-taxable. Furthermore, if you're under 18, you don't pay taxes anyway.

However, and I could be wrong about this, you do need a license posted on the machine. Check with Jlee on that, he'd know more than I. I've heard of people who own a handful of these machines and could Dang near live off of what they make; around here, though, there just isn't enough small business real estate to get anything going, as most of them already have machines.

I would totally kill for one of those Japanese electronics parts vending machines, though. Can't remember if I saw that posted here or not, I saw a post about it somewhere. Had resistors and stuff inside.

Not a huge market out there for that, but man, if you bought a handful of resistors from Digikey, sold them in packs of five for a dollar, I bet you could make a ton of money off of that, if placed in the right area. A mall, perhaps.

Holy flax. Who's up for ModRetro vending machines?

 

[XCVG]

Video game vending, maybe? That would be cool. The games would have to be in good condition, cleaned and tested though.

 

[Mako321]

In Ontario(the province in Canada) all the drivers' handbooks are in vending machines at the whatever driving place equivalent to a DMV.

 

[geno whirl]

I own a Vending machine.
Charge less than anyone else.
Around here, a normal soda machine is $1.25, hotels run $2.00, schools run $1.50 - $1.75.
Based on this, I sell my flux for $1.
Charge based on your local prices.
Never run into a machine over $1? Charge 75 cents.
Rarely see a machine under $1.50? Charge $1, make a killing.

Jlee is right. when my family wants a soda, we drive to the grocey store a mile away from our house just because the cokes are only a dollar.

 

[ttsgeb]

I own a Vending machine.
Charge less than anyone else.
Around here, a normal soda machine is $1.25, hotels run $2.00, schools run $1.50 - $1.75.
Based on this, I sell my flux for $1.
Charge based on your local prices.
Never run into a machine over $1? Charge 75 cents.
Rarely see a machine under $1.50? Charge $1, make a killing.

Jlee is right. when my family wants a soda, we drive to the grocey store a mile away from our house just because the cokes are only a dollar.

That is possibly the most American statement I have ever heard.

 

[Zero]

I would just go to the nearest place. Actually, I wouldn't even bother making a drive just for soda.

 

[Jewjo]

I was going to post some almost helpful advice, but Jlee is stomping up this thread. I doubt his ego needs this compliment, but he sure knows a lot of junk.

Buy a vending machine? *PLINK* that. We're hardware hackers. Build a vending machine. It can't be that hard.

TWO YEARS AND $3000 LATER

Yes! Finally! I've built a vending machine. It's not perfect but it dispenses the right drink most of the time, and the Bondo job isn't that ugly. Now, time to find a place to put it and start recouping that $3000...


Seriously though, good luck!- and good luck.

Haha, excellent post.

 

[McBlasian]

Try your local high school. At my old high school we had 2 can vending machines and they had to sell atleast 50/day. I don't know if you'll be able to in America, but in Aust. it was fine.