Commission on snack machines

[David]

For those of you who have a snack machine provided by a route operator, how much of a commission do you get?

I just called a local Tom's distributor and they quoted me 7%. That seems a bit low.

Please! No comments on owning my own machine.

Thanks!

[Senior Sudsy]

I operate several snack machines for other laundry operators and I pay 10% of the gross.

[JSVLaundry]

I own a snack machine and my profit is about 40% for the snacks and the profit for the soda is 200%. The machine still has about another 12 months to be paid off at the profit margin that I am currently making.

Vinny

[kyle mcpeck]

10-15% is standard around here.

[Anonymous]

For 7-10% it sounds like the space could be better used by other profit making equipment. A payphone would even yield better. There are some people these days that will put internet kiosks in that also serve as phones. I had one approach me that was going to pay me 20% of revenues with a guaranteed minimum of $100 a month. Video games will also yield a much higher return for the space.

[Senior Sudsy]

Payphone revenue is way down with all the cell phones and prepaid cards. All of my phones are down about 50% in the last 2 years

[Anonymous]

Payphones all depend on your location, just like laundromats. In my area the phone does well, and there are probably about 10 phones withing a 2 block radius.

[pete f]

I am about to plunk down $5k for a combo snack/soda machine that has a/c for the snacks and will be placed outside, under cover. .. it will pay back in about 2 years.

I bt a used snack machine for another store costs $1200. It nets about $100 a month. Your investment in vend machines is no different than the laundry equipment you own, max out the income on your SQ you pay for. Soda. snack, phone, they all make decent money in a mat.
I have had vend machines for years, you won't be sorry owning one$

[Winston]

I get 15% from my snack vendor, 23.7% from Pepsi, 25% from Soft Toys (toy animal crane machine), 30% on 2 pay phones, and 50% from the game guy.

[brucefla]

Dont take less than 20%!

I'm in the middle of shopping vending routes for sale and find that 20% is the common for soda/snacks. Some even pay up to 30% for high margin, high traffic locations.

[Kitty]

I re-negotiated to 22%

[cprohens]

just out of curiosity, who counts the money when these people come to collect. How do you know you're getting 22%?

[Anonymous]

I own a snack/soda route. About 50% of my clients are commission free - I take all the money. I have some that I pay
10% back to, and I have one that is 15% (negotiated by the previous owner of the business). I will not pay more than 10% back to a client no matter how high volume it is.

If your provider is "giving" you more than 10-15%, then there is change falling on the floor when he counts. There is no way that a provider can make money with a kickback of greater than 15%. By the time mileage, sales tax, inventory, payrol, etc is figured in, 15% is a big chunk of change.

Why are you so opposed to owning your own machine?

[David]

Originally posted by Dave in IL
Why are you so opposed to owning your own machine? Capital outlay... I own the bldg and half of it is rental. My tenant has left. I've been thinking of taking it over, but the way the bldg was originally constructed, it wouldn't be cost effective to connect the two.

So I was think of making it into a waiting area with, Soda, snacks, a couple of games machines, a table and chairs, and so on. A bathroom would be available then to my mat customers. (There's not one on my side.)

I was thinking of just commissioning out (term?) the machines initially to see if I can generate the income I need without actually buying the machines. I'd need to make $325 a month.

[Duane]

As I stated before. When route drivers approached me to place video games, pool and air hockey tables in my store they were were happy to split the income 50/50. But when I stated that the games would be on my card system and I would send them a check each month for their 50%, everyone backed away from the deal.


I own everything in my store.

[David]

I just might have to bite the bullet and go into a little debt to set everything up. I'm sure I'd come out ahead in the long run.

[brucefla]

When I bought my mat there was a coke machine here (owned by coke and the deal was pretty sweet, (IMO)

Machine maint fee (5.00/mo)
Must buy 5 cases of coke product @7.00/cs
then i could buy as much as i want (as long as coke product)

I was in charge of the machine, only one with keys etc......

It was a very good deal, I figure 15/mo above my cost to buy the soda and maint fee.

The only reason i got rid of it was i changed the theme of the cafe and put in a glass front vendor behind the counter and now can control my selections and pricing. I now stock 24 different cold drinks vs the old 8.

IMO if anyone can get a deal liek this with coke jump on it.... how long to pay back a machine @15/mo? 5 years?