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The economics of vending machines

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Re: The economics of vending machines

#71

Post by ComputerGuru »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #57
howlgarnish wrote: post #17

Surprised to see no mention of Japan in the comments. As any visitor can attest, the country has way more vending machines than anywhere else I know of, and in way more categories. Soft drinks, tea (hot and cold), coffee, beer, hard liquor, tobacco, snacks, ice cream, rice, toiletries, even the semi-apocryphal used panties. The article below outlines some reasons why, but it seems to boil down to high cost of labor &…

If North America was speckled with machines vending hot canned coffee, I would use them far more often than e.g. Starbucks. I drank so many Boss coffees last I was in Japan, they're so convenient -- no line, not too-hot-to-drink, open 24/7, such as in the early dawn. Just a wonderful thing.

I’m not sure what you refer to as early dawn, but here in the Midwest all Dunkin’ Donuts and many Starbucks are open at 5am.

Side note: it blows my mind each time I’m in California and I have to drive forty five minutes or more to find a Dunkin’.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#72

Post by Liquix »

howlgarnish wrote: post #62
mc32 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about the UK but in the US when there used to be cig vending machines it would be under the supervision of staff, so like in a bar. In Japan they are out in the open in non descript corners and alleyways, although there is usually a streetlight.

They do require a "tobacco passport" to operate, which aims to make it harder for kids to buy them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo Then again, this is the same country where it's sufficient to self-certify by tapping a button that you're over 18 when buying hard liquor at the 7-11.

Is underage drinking a problem in Japan? Genuinely curious, I know salarymen feel obligated to drink with their bosses but have never heard about unruly drunk Japanese teenagers

Re: The economics of vending machines

#73

Post by ed25519FUUU »

bluGill wrote: post #51
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have trouble believing this would still work; why should a barber shop get only a fraction of what people put into the machine? They see that thing all day and will know how much money goes through it, what's stopping them from kicking Buffet out and buying their own? I think the modern equivalent around here is the odd slot machines and cigarette vending machines at pubs; I'm fairly sure they aren't owned by the p…

Because the barber wants to go home after a long day of cutting hair not go restock the machine. Better to get a small profit on an unused corner than deal with inventory management.

Except someone else sees the machine taking in cash, and says to the the barber “I’ll give you a 20% cut to swap out to my machine”. When the economics wake up, it’s a race to zero.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#74

Post by scottlocklin »

skelseys wrote: post #31
zxcmx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's good money for something accessible to almost anyone. It doesn't require much capital, doesn't seem very regulated and needs no deeply specialised skills to get started. No franchise. No middleman or supplier lock-in. No fixed rental payments. Easy to pull in friends & family labour if you need to scale, and if you miss restocking it's no biggie. Nobody yelling at you. Flexible hours. Rarely have to talk to peop…

If this business is so lucrative, why isn't organized crime involved? It seems like a field where they have a number of comparative advantages: 1. Good at negotiating with local businesses. 2. Good at motivating low-paid employees to handle large cash sums without pilfering. 3. They love cash businesses. 4. More tax efficient than people doing 'side hustles'. 5. Good at managing kick-backs to eg. motel staff. My gues…

The US mafia was for a time at least. Used to be common knowledge.

https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5f5lph/e...

Re: The economics of vending machines

#75

Post by innocenat »

greggman3 wrote: post #60
Tor3 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I counted 16 vending machines side-by-side outside a random shop I visited in "my" town (the town where I stay when I'm in Japan). And yes they're everywhere. I appreciated them particularly the first couple of years I visited, as at that time shops insisted on you paying as accurately as possible, they tended to refuse accepting banknotes if that implied returning a lot of coins. Strange thing, and that has since ch…

Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye. Most convenience stores in the USA won't accept $100 bills AFAIK. I can see if it was some tiny store and they couldn't make exact change then yes…

Nowadays I think I only saw liquor/beer machine only in hotel. I don't remember last time I saw them on the street anymore.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#76

Post by superhuzza »

namdnay wrote: post #40
em500 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of weird and wonderful vending machines around the world: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/live-crabs-and-lego-s...

There are cheese vending machines in several towns in the Alps: https://www.filbing-distribution.com/s/cc_images/cache_60041... Quite useful actually, avoids long queues on Sunday morning when everyone wants to pick up some cheese on the way home

I used to live in a small French village, and one year a pizza vending machine appeared.

It actually made really decent pizza. I think it was restocked by the local pizza place, to handle late night business because they closed absurdly early.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#77

Post by drpgq »

AQXt wrote: post #32

It might not be a good investment, according to the article: - Many of the best locations — places with heavy foot traffic, or large worker populations — are already saturated with machines. - Some owners have to make 100+ calls before landing a decent location. In the end, they often end up paying the owner a commission of 10%-25% of gross sales to drive home the deal. - And these figures are pre-expenses. The busin…

Yeah it seems like being a Lyft or Uber driver where your hourly pay ends up getting driven towards the minimum wage.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#78

Post by SilasX »

greggman3 wrote: post #60
Tor3 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I counted 16 vending machines side-by-side outside a random shop I visited in "my" town (the town where I stay when I'm in Japan). And yes they're everywhere. I appreciated them particularly the first couple of years I visited, as at that time shops insisted on you paying as accurately as possible, they tended to refuse accepting banknotes if that implied returning a lot of coins. Strange thing, and that has since ch…

Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye. Most convenience stores in the USA won't accept $100 bills AFAIK. I can see if it was some tiny store and they couldn't make exact change then yes…

>Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye.

Similarly, I was surprised in Amsterdam when a family got on a bus and didn't have a ticket (or whatever) and so just gave the driver a 50 Euro note, and he made change and gave them their tickets.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#79

Post by jpomykala »

I work at telemetry system called VendingMetrics. We initially created this with my dad who got over 20 years experience in vending. I must to say, it’s much harder business than everyone thinks. Different machines, different settings, firmware, motherboards, external devices. Many things can go wrong but yeah if you are lucky and like old-tech it could be work for you. :)

Re: The economics of vending machines

#80

Post by lotsofpulp »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #71
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If North America was speckled with machines vending hot canned coffee, I would use them far more often than e.g. Starbucks. I drank so many Boss coffees last I was in Japan, they're so convenient -- no line, not too-hot-to-drink, open 24/7, such as in the early dawn. Just a wonderful thing.

I’m not sure what you refer to as early dawn, but here in the Midwest all Dunkin’ Donuts and many Starbucks are open at 5am. Side note: it blows my mind each time I’m in California and I have to drive forty five minutes or more to find a Dunkin’.

It blows my mind that someone would want to find a Dunkin’ in CA where there’s far better options, but to each their own!
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