Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The economics of vending machines

thehustle.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 166 posts

Re: The economics of vending machines

#131

Post by dhosek »

klodolph wrote: post #86
ComputerGuru wrote: post #71

Earlier 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 barely has a presence on the west coast, you are probably better off looking for local chains. Just playing around with Google Maps I could see about 10 Dunkin’ Donuts in the SF bay area (pop 8 million), and about 20 Dunkin’ Donuts within the Kansas City limits (pop 500,000). I couldn’t find any Dunkin’ Donuts in the Portland or Seattle areas but I didn’t look very hard. My impression is that the folks…

They're closer together than that in Chicago's loop, although I think 7-Eleven wins the density contest. There's one block that has two 7-Elevens on it and there's another across the street from one of the two corners that doesn't have a 7-Eleven on it. (Interestingly, Google maps doesn't show all the locations when I pull up the relevant block.)

Re: The economics of vending machines

#132

Post by namdnay »

dylan604 wrote: post #64
namdnay wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Sunday morning...on the way home? What cultural thing that I'm not aware of would the population in mass be coming home...(church?) that would cause such a large queue at the cheese shop?

City dwellers driving back home after the school holidays (two weeks in Jan/Feb/Mar, staggered depending on the city, to reduce congestion on the slopes)

Skiing is serious business here :)

Re: The economics of vending machines

#133

Post by [deleted] »

pnathan wrote: post #96
kilroy123 wrote: post #3

This is a topic I know a fair amount about. For a brief while, I worked at a startup that made software to manage vending machines and handle digital payments, from the device stuck on the front, to accept credit cards. Basically, the name of the game is location location location. It's very tough to find a good lucrative location to put your machine at. Why? Because there's likely already a machine in such location.…

Are there white papers / briefs out there that have hard information on what quantifies a good location vs not?

[deleted]

Re: The economics of vending machines

#134

Post by tezzer »

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’.

There's a Dunkin just built in Sunnyvale on El Camino, not open yet but they're moving in the furniture. First one I've seen outside of an airport here.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#135

Post by dylan604 »

namdnay wrote: post #132
dylan604 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sunday morning...on the way home? What cultural thing that I'm not aware of would the population in mass be coming home...(church?) that would cause such a large queue at the cheese shop?

City dwellers driving back home after the school holidays (two weeks in Jan/Feb/Mar, staggered depending on the city, to reduce congestion on the slopes) Skiing is serious business here :)

Can't be that serious if you're driving back Sunday morning. Serious would be skiing at least half-day, and driving back Sunday afternoon! Or ski full day, and overnight drive it back!

Re: The economics of vending machines

#136

Post by kelvin0 »

kilroy123 wrote: post #3

This is a topic I know a fair amount about. For a brief while, I worked at a startup that made software to manage vending machines and handle digital payments, from the device stuck on the front, to accept credit cards. Basically, the name of the game is location location location. It's very tough to find a good lucrative location to put your machine at. Why? Because there's likely already a machine in such location.…

I bet this would make a great game! I already have a title: 'Vending machine magnate'.

In any case, congrats to these entrepreneurs, and thanks for sharing.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#137

Post by phkahler »

kzrdude wrote: post #39
skelseys wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article seems to suggest that there's lots of small players competing over marginally profitable locations. There's also a negative externality which can lead to these people destroying their whole business: as people compete over machines that don't make much, they cut costs by not refilling as often and not maintaining the machines. This means that the general level of trust in these machines goes down. After…

This suggests that the machines should use clearer branding, but it needs to be a brand that combines maker + operator.

>> This suggests that the machines should use clearer branding, but it needs to be a brand that combines maker + operator.

Interesting factoid. If you want to manufacture a machine and put large beverage company branding on it they have standards. Things like: it must bring a room temperature beverage down to xx degrees in yy minutes or less.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#138

Post by BorisMelnik »

kzrdude wrote: post #39
skelseys wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article seems to suggest that there's lots of small players competing over marginally profitable locations. There's also a negative externality which can lead to these people destroying their whole business: as people compete over machines that don't make much, they cut costs by not refilling as often and not maintaining the machines. This means that the general level of trust in these machines goes down. After…

This suggests that the machines should use clearer branding, but it needs to be a brand that combines maker + operator.

I think branding is important but also just the "feel" of the machine. Personally I trust the machines with newer looking componenets, fresher looking snacks that with features like a CC reader than I would an older crusty machine. Either way, agree trust is huge.

Re: The economics of vending machines

#140

Post by gnicholas »

samcheng wrote: post #85
ComputerGuru wrote: post #71

Earlier 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’.

LA is known for their many donut shops, mostly owner-operated. https://time.com/longform/national-doughnut-day-photos/ Here in the Bay Area I have a 24-hour donut shop about a quarter mile away. I have been making a point to patronize them, so they survive COVID. Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of California, and is shrinking nationally. There are much better options out there if you look...

> Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of California, and is shrinking nationally.

Dunkin' just opened a location in Redwood City, on Woodside Road near El Camino. So they're not pulling out of CA. There are also locations in San Mateo, Fremont, Half Moon Bay, and Concord.

Definitely not as common as Starbucks, but they're growing their presence, not shrinking these days. Source: my wife went to school on the east coast and is a big Dunkin' fan...

Post reply on HN