Passive income opportunity

[Vlavoie]

Hi Fastlaners,

This is my first post, I just registered but I read threads on the forum for about 2 months.
I discovered the website while reading ''The millionaire Fastlane '' . I think it is one of the best business book I have read.

My name is Vincent, I live in Quebec, Canada (My main language is french so I may make some english mistakes) and I'm 17 years old.

I have some money sitting in my bank account (around 10k$). My money come from a summer of work at a hotel. I will also receive a 50k$ inheritance in 4 months (I need to be 18). So in 4 months (at my birthday in April) I will have around 60k$ and I want to invest it to create a business or some passive income.

I did some research for real estate investing, but the market in my area is not very good at the moment.

Recently I saw an article on a website about vending machines. I was curious and decided to see how much it could cost to buy some. I saw a good opportunity in my area : 29 used vending machines for 11,6k$ (400$ each) all in perfect condition and with a supplier for the products. These used machine are normally worth around 1k each. With the supplier I can buy each item for 1$ and sell it for 2$. I think it could be a good investment. If I dont want to run 29 machine, I can sell some separetly for around 1k$ or I could rent them for a monthly payment.

With only 2 sales/day/machine I could make around 21k$ profit/year. (2 sales x 1$ profit/sales x 365 days x 29 machines = 21 170$)

I will try to negociate to maybe buy half of them at the beggining and see how it goes.

Do you think it is a good investment? Do you have vending machine experiences?

Vincent

 

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[Amail]

I looked into this as a possible small business opportunity I could get my nephew involved in. It's pretty simple to do, but there's a lot of work involved keeping machines filled, maintained, and clean. Bear in mind, there are good machines and crap machines. Do not get involved in crap machines - it isn't worth your time. Also, stay away from soda and snack machines. They are too much trouble. Stick with candy machines. They're cheap, small enough to place and service with a car, don't need nearby power outlets, and the margins are great.

One of the Fastlane Competition members did this for a few months and made a pretty good return, percentage wise. If he'd stuck with it I see no reason it could not have grown to a very large operation given enough time. Do some searches, the info is out there.

 

[Vlavoie]

Thanks for the quick reply

I know it's a lot of work to fill them up but I know some people of my age that I could hire for a little price. It could become passive for me and still make some great profit.

This is a picture of one of these machines. They sell pringles chips and candy boxes.

 

[Wuping]

That's a pretty cool machine!
How would you convince the business owner to have your machine in his store/place?
Would you share some % of the profit with him? Donate to charity?
As I see it, the business owner needs some incentive to store your machine (assuming your are going to contact various businesses).

Good luck

 

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[Amail]

Gman-422 is the man. Check out his blog where he goes into a little detail about it. If you have more questions, seek him out. He's a good guy.

 

[Vlavoie]

Yes I was planning to give maybe 10-15% of the profit at the store/emplacement owner or at a charity event depends of what the store owner wants.

Thank you Amail, I will contact G-man422.

Thank you all

 

[DeletedUser2]

look up my vending uncle. the guy built a 1.4M a year business vending route. good stuff. cheap eBooks. worth it.

Best idea from his books. he builds his vending routes to no machines, he does it in a really cool cheap way, and if the route pans out, he THEN goes and buys a machine to place.

brilliant!



Z

 

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[G-man422]

Hey Vincent,

I got your PM and wanted to comment a little on the post. My experience is limited in Full Line Vending (chips, candy bars, soda, etc) but have extensive knowledge in Bulk Vending (candy, gumballs, peanuts, toys).

That being said, I know that full line vending can offer some great income possibilities. I have a few questions about the machines.

1) Are these machines able to accept bills? If not, how many people walk around with $2 in quarters in their pockets? Change machines might have to be added for an additional cost in order to maximize sales.

2) Are the coin mechanisms plastic, and what coin denominations can they accept? Often plastic coin mechanisms are easy to break or "cheat" with washers, cardboard circles, you name it. Just be aware of this.

3) How much does a bag of chips sell for in an average Quebec vending machine? This (and all other snack prices) is your competition.

4) How long have these machines been on location? If it's not an established location, be aware that the proper authority may not be aware the machine is there, and you might get booted from a premature location.

I can say from my own experience that I learned the most in the vending business by purchasing good quality used machines off of Craigslist, and then learning to place them myself. It might not be the best avenue for everyone, but I suggest you do just that to start out. If you like it and are good at it, go buy some more and start making some real $$. Best of luck!

PS: zen******* is correct, you should read "My Vending Uncle" ( My Vending Uncle ) Also, please feel free to ask any questions and I'll help you where I can.

 

[GuestUser8117]

Hey welcome Vincent, I'm from Quebec too.

 

[Jake]

I know nothing about this but wouldn't that machine need to be replenished constantly to generate a decent return? 52 items = $52. I think the route would have to be pretty close together with a high amount of sales to get any sort of return. Would the checking and filling of these machines be outsourced?

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Dont let the cheese ball sales page throw you. one of the better books on the subject I have read.

I used to have alot of vending machines at my apartment complexes. they made me great money.

My Vending Uncle

good luck, go kick some .....!



Z

 

[Vlavoie]

To respond to G-man
1) These machines don't accept bills but in Quebec, almost everybody have at least 2 dollars in coins on them.
2) The mechanism is made of metal. They accept 0,25$ , 1$ and 2$.
3) In quebec chips and snacks in vending machines sells around 1,50$-3,00$.
4) The problem with these machines is that they dont have emplacement now, I need to find them.

To respond to Jake :
I can get each item for 1$ and sell them for 2$ so I make 1$/sale. To replenish them I can hire some somebody at a little price. It takes around 15 min to fully replenish a machine.

I will definitely read the book ''My Vending Uncle''.

Hi Omerta I'm happy to know that I'm not the only Quebecer on the forum !

I will call the seller and ask if I can buy maybe 2 or 3 at the begging and see how it goes. If it works well I will buy more. I won't buy the 29 machines at the same time if they don't already have an emplacement, I think it will be too hard for a begginer. It could be a good opportunity for somebody who already have some experience in the domain. What do you think?

 

[Redwolfe]

Is there anyone on the forum currently making money with vending machines?

 

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[Wuping]

Any updates?

 

[Vlavoie]

Here is my update !

So, I discovered a forum on vending machines, it's called Vendiscuss.net. I posted a thread like this one to see what the people there think. They said that this opportunity was a little bit expensive for and wasn't a very good opportunity.

1st : You can't change the price on the machine, it will always be 2$. The problem with this is if somebody wants a 25% commission, you cut on your profit. On a soda machine or on some other machine, you can change the price so if somebody wants a 25% commission, you can sell your product 25% higher so you make the same amount of money, you dont cut on your profit.

2nd : On vendiscuss.net, they told me that Pringles machine aren't very popular. It would be better to have bigger machine that offers more items then just pringles.

3rd : In Canada, the 2012-2013 2$ coins are made with different alloy, so the weight changed. It makes a big problem in vending machine business because these new coins doesn't work in all the older machines. I made a test with these machine and it didn't work...

Because of these 3 reasons, I decided not to buy these machines. I searched for other vending machines to sell and there are a lot in my region at some good price. I think I will buy some soda and multi choices machine, where I can change the price of my items and that accept new 2$ coins.

Last week I made around 50 calls in some local business and didn't find a location. Everybody told me that they already had vending machine or that they dont need one. I will still continue to make calls. I will try to secure location before buying the machines.

 

[rocksolid]

Good stuff. I looked into buying machines a few yrs ago and I was always told to make sure the previous owner kept books on his machines and how much they were making. Books can be faked I guess but it's better then just taking their word for it. I also have another forum to ask questions on called vendingchat.com

 

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[Rick Grantham]

Thanks for sharing this Vlavoie

I wasn't aware the the My Vending Uncle or Vendiscuss.net .

Looking forward to following your progress.

Cheers-
Rick

 

[Spyder]

I have looked at the idea of vending machines as well.
However, I was considering a different route.

I don't know what drunk driving laws are in Canada, but have a look at these.
This is what I am going to do.

Alco-Buddy | Alcohol Breathalyzer, Breathalyzer Vending Machine Business, Vending Machine Companies

 

[Spyder]

Oh, I am also considering these as a Phase II.

Why Phase II:
They cost more
More for entertainment

Boxing Machines - Coin Operated Boxing and Fighting Games | Factory Direct Prices ! | Global Boxing Machine Delivery From BMI Gaming

I could see these being a big hit at sports bars.
Especially on the nights that they showcase events like:
Boxing matches, wrestling, and UFC and other MMA fights.

 

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[Vlavoie]

The alco-test machine is a pretty good idea, drunk driving laws are pretty strict in Canada. I will do some research on that. The biggest advantage I see with this is that you don't sell product so you only need to collect the money.

For the boxing machine this is a gold mine if you can place them. I saw one in a bar in Quebec, and there are always drunk people making a line to punch this. It cost 2$ to make 2 punches. This machine can easily make 250-300$/week in this bar. The problem is that they are expensive, but for a phase II project it can be very good.

Thanks for sharing !

 

[MSneedhelp]

Hey Vincent,

I got your PM and wanted to comment a little on the post. My experience is limited in Full Line Vending (chips, candy bars, soda, etc) but have extensive knowledge in Bulk Vending (candy, gumballs, peanuts, toys).

That being said, I know that full line vending can offer some great income possibilities. I have a few questions about the machines.

1) Are these machines able to accept bills? If not, how many people walk around with $2 in quarters in their pockets? Change machines might have to be added for an additional cost in order to maximize sales.

2) Are the coin mechanisms plastic, and what coin denominations can they accept? Often plastic coin mechanisms are easy to break or "cheat" with washers, cardboard circles, you name it. Just be aware of this.

3) How much does a bag of chips sell for in an average Quebec vending machine? This (and all other snack prices) is your competition.

4) How long have these machines been on location? If it's not an established location, be aware that the proper authority may not be aware the machine is there, and you might get booted from a premature location.

I can say from my own experience that I learned the most in the vending business by purchasing good quality used machines off of Craigslist, and then learning to place them myself. It might not be the best avenue for everyone, but I suggest you do just that to start out. If you like it and are good at it, go buy some more and start making some real $$. Best of luck!

PS: zen******* is correct, you should read "My Vending Uncle" ( My Vending Uncle ) Also, please feel free to ask any questions and I'll help you where I can.

 

[MSneedhelp]

HI G-Man422
I would like to start a vending machine here in Los Angeles, but I only have 5k to start with?
What are the advices that you can give me like : do I have to get a locator or shall I do it myself?
Who do I talk to in big companies?
Would you recommend mix snacks like chips and soda or just candies?
Thanks!

 

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[GreatestManEver]

Hi Fastlaners,

This is my first post, I just registered but I read threads on the forum for about 2 months.
I discovered the website while reading ''The millionaire Fastlane '' . I think it is one of the best business book I have read.

My name is Vincent, I live in Quebec, Canada (My main language is french so I may make some english mistakes) and I'm 17 years old.

I have some money sitting in my bank account (around 10k$). My money come from a summer of work at a hotel. I will also receive a 50k$ inheritance in 4 months (I need to be 18). So in 4 months (at my birthday in April) I will have around 60k$ and I want to invest it to create a business or some passive income.

I did some research for real estate investing, but the market in my area is not very good at the moment.

Recently I saw an article on a website about vending machines. I was curious and decided to see how much it could cost to buy some. I saw a good opportunity in my area : 29 used vending machines for 11,6k$ (400$ each) all in perfect condition and with a supplier for the products. These used machine are normally worth around 1k each. With the supplier I can buy each item for 1$ and sell it for 2$. I think it could be a good investment. If I dont want to run 29 machine, I can sell some separetly for around 1k$ or I could rent them for a monthly payment.

With only 2 sales/day/machine I could make around 21k$ profit/year. (2 sales x 1$ profit/sales x 365 days x 29 machines = 21 170$)

I will try to negociate to maybe buy half of them at the beggining and see how it goes.

Do you think it is a good investment? Do you have vending machine experiences?

Vincent

After reading this thread, I'm curious to see how this worked out after 2 years, any words of wisdom you want to share with us Vincent.