And let's not forget that an iPhone is basically a vending machine in your pocket ...
I have no idea why you're getting downvoted, what you wrote is true.
I've never gotten a bag of M&Ms out of my iPhone.
The economics of vending machines
121–130 of 166 posts
Re: The economics of vending machines
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Alcohol vending machines are rare, but still exist. There’s one outside of my in-laws house (rural Shiga-ken).
Even though I do not drink alcohol, I loved seeing Alcohol vending machines in Japan. A couple of hotels we stayed at had alcohol vending machines and I thought it was so awesome we were in a society where the trust level was so high that you could leave alcohol vending machines out in a public space and it did not cause trouble.
In America, that vending machine would last a couple of hours at most.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
This suggests that the machines should use clearer branding, but it needs to be a brand that combines maker + operator.
The issue there is the same issue that plagues sellers on Amazon or Ebay- brand loyalty is difficult to maintain when one operator often doesn't have the snack you want, or you can't find the operator in your area. Branding could help, but it's unlikely that most consumers will remember what operator their vending machine snack came from, just like I will never remember what 3rd party seller my Amazon product came fr…
>it's unlikely that most consumers will remember what operator their vending machine snack came from
Isn't that still a branding issue?
Have a bright orange gorilla swinging by it's tail as the mascot. On both sides of the machine and on the front (though transparent enough to see the snacks without issue). "Wait, gorillas don't have tails?" you question. Exactly, that's the brand name: Gorillas Don't have Tails.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#124If you find this topic interesting, there’s a book by Kerry Segrave called ‘Vending Machines: An American Social History’ that’s surprisingly readable for a book about the history of vending machines.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
That might not matter if these are passive investments. If you have a company servicing your machine, so what if your profit is low? Save your money and buy a second machine, then another one, then enjoy your exponential growth on your vending empire. If things are making money you aren't doing poorly, especially when you might not ever have to visit one of your machines and can work another job or pursue your intere…
The problem is that dividing owning the capital (of the machines) and performing the service doesn’t really make sense in this circumstance. This isn’t a situation where you’re creating efficiency by specializing. What does the servicing company need you for? If all you do is own the machines, they can do that themselves without complicating their business at all.
there's no capital risk for the servicing company.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#126Earlier 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…
>Most convenience stores in the USA won't accept $100 bills AFAIK.
At some point, with some marginal exceptions (such as dollar coins that have never been that widely used and a $2 bill ditto), the US at some point apparently decided that it was going to keep the same coins and bills in general circulation forever. So we still have essentially valueless pennies and $100 bills, while in circulation, aren't taken by a lot of places in the US. They're even a bit hard to get. I had to go to a couple of bank branches last time I needed to restock my "emergency" travel cash supply.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everything seems to suggest that this has already happened. The reason this works as a 'side hustle' is because it's only lucrative if you ascribe a very low value to your time (and your car mileage, and the stress of doing admin for your 'business'). The fact the big players don't bother, the number of 'entrepreneurs' doing this in their spare time, the fact that they repair, move and restock the machines themselves…
I'd add that what people here are calling a "side hustle" is something that quite a few people without a lot of marketable skills would call a job/income stream. And, yes, there are a lot of jobs/income streams that work for individuals who lack a lot of alternatives that don't work for companies that have offices, accountants, etc.
I think what makes it a "side hustle" is that it is practical to do on top of a full time job (multiple jobs). Obviously if you scale the number of machines up it starts to look more like a small business, but it looks practical to do one or two machines in your "spare" time.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#128Earlier 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’.
Dunkin’ Donuts donuts are an abomination, unedible, atrocious. It’s no surprise to me you don’t see them as much, I’ve been waiting for that particular chain to die for quite some time.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#129The juice doesn't seem worth the squeeze. 40% margin, maybe less and you need a shit ton of machines to make decent money. You also have to restock all the machines, so it seems like a difficult business to scale that actually gets harder the larger scale you are. 250 machines with 500k in revenue for 2 people doesn't seem like that much. With 40% margins, that's 200k and assumes you have no employees which seems unl…
You also need to find a place to put the machine. The article mentions paying up to a 25% comission to the owner of the place. Even if you somehow get amazing margins on the machine itself like 70% (assuming you refill the machine for free) it will turn into 45% margin after actually putting the machine down. >We surveyed 23 vending machine owners with various-sized operations and found that the average operator in o…
Gross is the income, not the profit, so you need to subtract the cost of the goods going into the machine to get the profit which will be a lot less than $1807.65/month.
Re: The economics of vending machines
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
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’.
Dunkin’ Donuts donuts are an abomination, unedible, atrocious. It’s no surprise to me you don’t see them as much, I’ve been waiting for that particular chain to die for quite some time.
Indeed, even 7-Eleven donuts are superior to Dunkin. And in Los Angeles, at least, donuts seem to be a popular immigrant business and there are a kajillion non-chain donut places everywhere.