My Testimonial  "Buy, Build & Sell"
Hello From Linda Dalton, The following is my background in starting, operating and building vending businesses,
as I experienced it...
"I started with the idea of making some extra money to help pay the household expenses". Being a wife and mother of 3 sons, there was always a need for more money! Wanting to add to the family income without leaving home to work a 40 hour work week, I started picking up the newspapers and reading the "Business Opportunity" sections every day to see what was available. Through my research, vending appeared to be the most lucrative, with the least money invested. I could also do it myself without employees, but what type of vending?
Surprisingly enough, my first personal experience in vending was with vending cart locations...we (my family & I) sold fresh cut flowers in a large office complex located in downtown Kansas City, MO. Along with carts located in a few major shopping malls. One very successful flower cart we had custom made, including a refrigeration unit and locking doors built in under the display table, to store the flowers at night. I had charity sponsors that I gave a certain percentage of each purchase...this helped to produce more sales...by helping a good cause. Kansas City Magazine ran a two page feature article that included my picture on the front cover!
Now for more research (what about crane amusement vending machines?):
                Call on businesses to find locations.
                Find the machines to place on the locations.
                Find the product to fill the machines.
                Hire movers to move the machines to the locations.
                Organize and develop a route schedule to service the new business.

One of my first accounts with crane machine vending...was a theater, placing one crane game machine. Servicing once every week, or as needed. It was a very nice income to start. Then I worked on that theater chain, contacting the managers, one at a time, to place machines in each of their locations. My next account was a large convenience store chain. They had 72 stores locally and I was asked to bring a "sample" machine to the monthly managers sales meeting to see how many stores wanted the machines. This was very exciting. I gave each manager that attended the meeting a quarter to play the machine. The managers that liked the experience of playing the game...ordered one for their store! The total managers that wanted the crane game machines was 15! I had the Director of Operations sign a 5 year contract for my crane business, (to be exclusive in their stores with this type of machine). The price of these machines at the time was $2,500 each.
I was really in business now! With a weekly cash flow...starting out with 15 amusement crane games (stuffed animal vending machines). The machines were found from a local vendor and also distributors in New Jersey and Colorado. The out-of-town machines were found from an ad in a vending trade magazine. Purchasing the machines direct from the wholesaler, I had them delivered to a storage warehouse. Then the movers placed them on the new location sites. Most vending operators buy machines from local distributors to start, for convenience and ease.
My daily routine to handle 17 crane locations: Ordering Product: I ordered all toys and stuffed animals from out-of- town on Monday morning, direct from the manufacturer. The product usually arrived by Friday. If I ran out, I would buy direct from local wholesale stores in town. I always paid as I went. Either C.O.D. or check so there would not be extra bills later. A few times I did go with Net 30 day terms.
Organization: I had a key box on the wall that my husband made for all the keys, each set of keys was numbered and named. (DO NOT put the location names and addresses on the key tags, you may loose them). As soon as possible, get all locations keyed alike. The keys were placed in rows of which day to be used, then rotated. In my "basement home office", I had a large white dry erase board, to visualize what locations I would be servicing on a given day. It was similar to a big calendar, adding in service calls or changes for whatever needs would happen. If I couldn't get to one, I would write it on the next day. Then I could see my week at-a-glance. All the paperwork was done when I got back from the route, and the bank deposit was done at that same time. I also had a lot of help and support from my family and friends! Servicing: I would count and gather toys and bag them for each location, servicing 4 to 5 locations per day. Each location had a separate money bag and I would pay the locations 30% commissions. While I was there counting the money, I would give the cashier a copy of the receipt, including the commissions, and the rolled quarters or dollar bills that would equal 30%.
(Higher commissions are usually paid for amusement routes).
The route gave me about 25 hours a week and still time to be home when the children came home from school. I had my own hours and enjoyed what I was doing. I felt good about putting money in the bank to help with the bills. This is a great home-based business if you are willing to do the work. I was able to find used equipment for less than $1800 each and after about a year and a half, was able to have all the machines paid off. Making monthly payments in the amount of one machine per month. Now I felt that I had something to sell, so I started to market the route.
To figure the selling or buying price of an existing route...
The National vending industry standard is approximately 70% of the Gross annual income.
After only a couple years: I sold the amusement route and expanded into other types of vending machine equipment. Including: (soda and snack vending machines, in nursing homes and other various locations) and that's another success story!
My philosophy is Buy, Build and Sell! It worked for me and it can work for you!!
Wishing you much success in your vending business, ----- Linda Dalton, Owner/Author/President
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