FAQs
Most frequent questions and answers
Excellent. This is an all cash business. There are no receivables. You don’t need any more than your original investment. However, the more machines you place on locations, the quicker your cash income increases. Profit margins are fantastic whereby you double your money and in many cases the margins are even higher depending of the sort of vending machines you choose to operate.
Every state has different laws and require you have one kind of a permit or license in order to operate your business. The best thing is to check with your local City Hall and consult with them to see exactly what is required of you.
Yes. You may figure your time in the field to be approximately 15 to 20 minutes per machine including your travel time (3-5 minutes servicing the machine and 10 minutes between locations). These figures will vary depending on your
individual speed and distance between locations.
Yes. There is no need for an expensive office or warehouse. Many small operators use their basements or garages to store equipment and products. If you have continued growth and your business is successful, you may outgrow the capacity of your home and have to consider moving your business or at least a portion of it elsewhere. That is a great problem to have and an exciting one to say the least.
From the first day your machines are on location, they are working for you. Your vending machines will begin making money immediately. There is no need to work and wait for months or years while you build a clientele. Your machines are like “silent” salespeople working for you. They are on the job constantly, day and night, summer and winter, Sundays and holidays. Vending equipment caters to everyone; rich, poor, male, female, young and old.
No. Your vending machine is your sales person. We recommend that you try to find your own locations. If you are not afraid of knocking on doors and soliciting new business then you are one of the very lucky ones who will not have to depend on a locating service to do that for you. You may usually start by speaking with friends, family, neighbors and business associates. Ask them about where they work and do some investigating as to what the vending service is like. They will usually be a good judge of how happy the employees are with the service. If on the other hand you are not one to go knocking on doors and making cold calls, you can always hire an outstanding and credible “Appointment Setting Locating Company” to make the calls and to set appointments and get your foot in the door.
Although you can see many vending machines everywhere, there are so many established vending accounts who are very dissatisfied with their current services. This has always been the case and always will be. Many vending companies land great accounts, but after a while they get lazy and begin to slack on the goods and services they offer until the customer finally grows tired of the sloppy service and start shopping for a new provider. That is where someone like yourself steps in and take advantage of such a predicament.
Depending on what area of specialty within the vending business you decide to get involved in, there are usually numerous outlets for you to procure your supplies. If you choose to get into the food and beverage aspect of the vending business you may purchase your snacks and beverages from the larger wholesale clubs such as Sam’s Club, Costco or any of the larger more popular wholesale clubs in your area. Once you get to the point where your company has grown larger, you may set up accounts with companies such as Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Seven Up and others who provide snacks, food and other products and basically go direct.
Again, this will depend on the type of vending machines you are going to be operating. In the case of the most common and popular vending machines found in break rooms and lunch rooms across the country as well as public areas such as public transit, hospitals, malls and shopping centers just to name a few, the snack and beverage vending machines are most popular.
There is no substitute for quality. Name brand products are household favorites nationwide and are recognized by millions each day. We recommend using name brand products. You will find that your customers will use your machines repeatedly when they see quality products in them and healthy choices.
Many individuals who own and operate a small route may absolutely train and educate their teenage children to help service the vending equipment. This not only allows the operator to expand and have access to quick and reliable help, but it also allows the teenager to learn a business while earning pocket money. There are so many great benefits to having family help in the early development of a small business and continuing into the future.
It depends on how much money you want to make, and how much time you are willing to invest. Larger routes also include managing other people. We will gladly discuss your individual business plan and help you determine what would be necessary for growth and achievement of your goals.
The more traffic at the location, the more dollars you make. If for example you are operating Bulk Vending Machines you will need to place more of them than you would if you are operating say for example Combination Snack/Soda Vending Machines, Snack Vending Machines, Beverage Vending Machines, Coffee Vending Machines or other full size vending machines that generally sell bigger ticket items than a bulk vending machine that usually vends .25 cent products. While bulk vending machines generally have a higher profit margin than the full size machines, you must place more of them in order to generate a strong income.
If you have not already created your own personal business plan, we strongly suggest that you put your plan in writing. An effective plan must include a clear, measurable statement of goals and objectives. It must assign specific action oriented responsibilities to members of your family or organization and provide a time-table for implementation and completion. With these thoughts in mind, you are ready to begin.
All parts are easily accessible and readily available. Parts and components are always available for the equipment we sell on our web site. However, we do not usually sell parts for equipment which we do not sell.
No. Most people service their route from their existing vehicle. Once you have grown to the point that it becomes totally uncomfortable to continue operating in this manner, you take the next natural step. Therefore a minivan or a small commercial work van. This is actually a very exciting progression as it means your business is growing and you are experiencing growth and success.
That is a great question. We have extensive knowledge of the food and vending industry and have done it all from the ground floor up for over 40 years. You may learn more About Us and a more in depth writing on why you should buy from us.
We sure do. We offer financing to start ups as well as established vending companies and independent companies who would like to purchase their own vending machines to place in their own company and use it as a convenience to their employees and profit center.
No problem. We have been doing Customized Graphics and Branding long before it became popular or was even widely used. Today we can do just about any custom graphics that you may imagine and complete vending machine wraps tailored to our customer’s needs.
It can last 10-20 years! And it’s very easy to take care of a vending machine as long as you pay attention to a few of it’s needs to run for years and years to come. Keep your machine clean, inside and out. Wipe off any dust especially around your dollar validator and coin receptor. Keep the vent of your refrigeration unit free from dust so air can circulate. Always clean up spills. Never keep your machine sticky with spilled drink or crumbs of chips or melted chocolate. That will stick to the coils and drink receptacles and will eventually make your motors work harder then they have to.
Put relevant snacks into your snack vending machine. If the customers in your location requests Snickers Bars or Lay’s potato chips, make sure you offer it in your vending machine. If they really want to have Diet Dr. Pepper every single day, make sure you have it available for them. Eventually, they will constantly buy from your vending machine because they know that they can count on their favorite product to always be there.
A coin changer reads coins after it is being passed through the slot. It reads the coins by magnetizing the coin and sizes the alloy once it passes through. Then the computer board will read the proper price after getting the signal from the coin changer. Sometimes a coin will go through the changer and fall right through the shoot and return to the customer. That may happen if there’s too much dirt/debris on the face of the coins and it cannot be read properly. The pathway could also be jammed. You should always use coins that are clean and not bent so it can be properly read by the coin changer.
A bill acceptor is a very sophisticated piece of equipment. There are only a few manufacturing companies that make this part and it has a lot of criterias involved to make it function properly. Thickness, print, graphics, paper, color, size, all play a role in making it properly.
As a motor is activated, a spring loaded micro-switch is forced up to stop the motor from turning when it hits the flat side of the motor axile.
First, you have to figure out where to purchase your products from. In most cities, you can find bulk discount stores that will offer the best deals in vending supplies. They will package these products in bulk to give vendors a better sale. Double the individual item cost and that amount should be what you sell your vends at. For example, the individual price for a bag of potato chips is $.35 cents. You should sell that bag of potato chips for $.70 cents. Same concept should help you calculate your drink prices or any other varieties you might offer in your vending machine.
Some vendors don’t like to make customers unhappy by setting each selection a different price. Another way you can price your vends is to group all similar items and price them the same. Just make sure that you are always charging close to double the price of the average cost. For example, you may want to make it easy on your calculations by grouping all chip selections at the price of $.75 cents, chocolate bar selections at $.85 cents, cookies/danish selections at $.95 cents, canned drinks at $.75 cents, bottled drinks at $1.00.
Most modern vending machines have the capability of adjusting the temperature to cool the drinks to desired temperature. For most indoor, ambient air places, the recommended temperature should be set at 37 degree fahrenheit. When you purchase a vending machine from SAO Vending, we ensure that the temperature is set properly before each vendor is shipped. You do not have to touch this feature when you receive your vending machine from SAO Vending.
It is not recommended that you set the temperature any lower then 37 degrees fahrenheit. Refrigerated units are not meant to go any lower in temperature or else you risk freezing the unit. If you feel like your drinks are not cold enough, you may have other issues such as low freon or a leak. Issues like this rarely happens because refrigeration units are very stable. If you have issues with your drinks not cooling, it is best that you call the manufacturer or a refrigeration expert to take a look at it.