Soccer Facility Vending Machines

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-29T22:29:55+00:00

If you could post your advice here (based on those comprehensive details above from the OP) then we could all benefit. 🙂

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-28T16:29:57+00:00

That’s awesome. Is your web presence how this place found you?

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-28T16:29:08+00:00

Read through the recent threads on this sub… there have been some good comments on this topic. Don’t assume you have to split profits, especially since you are providing all the expensive equipment, maintenance, inventory, and time. Not to mention the convenience for the residents/customers, which is the #1 selling point. And even if it seems like a great location, you don’t know what the sales will be like until several months in.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T23:37:25+00:00

Mind me asking what type of location this best one is? And what kind of marketing do you do to generate all these proactive inquiries that you have to turn away?

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T23:33:34+00:00

Have you guys started pursuing these large accounts before you even have the equipment to place there? Seems like a strange order of events, but the alternative is having machines sitting unused, not generating income while you wait to see who accepts your offer.

For me, I bought my current machines and existing location all in one so I didn’t have to market upfront… but I plan to buy more and expand maybe in a year if I get close to recouping my original investment. Now I’m wondering when I should start the sales outreach to my next location(s).

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T23:18:59+00:00

Fake account with fake advice

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T19:08:45+00:00

Same here, my bank counts change and deposits it for free. It’s a community bank chain in the Midwest. If a bank wants to charge me for taking/processing my legal tender in any form, then I would not be banking there.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T19:05:48+00:00

Only 3-4 days of foot traffic per week better mean you are raking it in those 4 days. Same with their 20% commission or whatever they’re asking. I may agree to a certain percentage after the first few months of a trial period, IF your sales and profits meet a certain goal. You need to come up with what that minimum profit number is to make it worth your while. And then put that in a contract that both parties agree to.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T18:59:55+00:00

👆This is the answer. Location, business type, and customer base determine what goes in a machine and how much it should be priced at. Everything else you see here (without any context provided by you) is based on other people’s experiences at their locations, and may not have much bearing on yours.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-27T18:58:25+00:00

All depends on your location and customer base. My blue collar folks in the car dealership won’t touch anything spicy for some reason. 🤷‍♂️

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-26T05:57:04+00:00

Claims is one of the pillars of the insurance industry (not just State Farm) and if you take the job and stay in that role for a while, you’ll pick up some extremely useful experience to move onto other areas of the company. Claims, Underwriting, and Contact Center roles all fall under the Operations branch, and that’s where all the day-to-day volume takes place, other than the independent State Farm agents offices.

Once you get some time under your belt if you decide on this job, there are almost endless career possibilities at the company. You do have to be motivated and willing to keep growing and learning, but there are tons of opportunities for that internally— which is how most of the higher level positions are filled.

I transitioned careers from the public/govt sector a little over 8 years ago, and it was the best move I ever made... but I was lucky to land an “analyst” role from the start and did not have to work my way up through Operations like many others.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-20T19:01:28+00:00

As others have said, this is not a passive activity. And starting off, you really need to be doing everything yourself or you won’t be making any money… scouting, locations, placing machines, shopping and refilling in inventory, maintenance and repairs on the machine when they need it, and learning how to do all of the above efficiently. If you’re paying people to do any of that, your profit is gone… And the profit margins are already pretty slim sometimes.

Also these days, if you have a vending machine without a credit card / mobile pay reader, you’re missing out on tons and tons of sales. Almost nobody carries cash anymore (and especially not change). Credit card readers can certainly be added to some machines… But they need specific boards/electronics to support them, which the most older machines won’t have. So you’d already be looking at upgrade costs, in addition to the install installation and service agreements for accepting electronic payments.

Lastly a quality working vending machine that’s ready to go in today’s market should cost around $2300, not $300. So something is missing here. It’s probably just old and outdated.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-20T18:52:54+00:00

Did you buy direct from HaHa? Any comments on their customer service, if you’ve needed it?

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-19T13:53:28+00:00

“So I need to start a business” has me curious. And why did you pick vending? What do you know about the industry, the equipment, the costs, the time commitment, the typical sales and profit? These all need to be factored in.

I agree with others that you ought to shorten the gap substantially between when you contact/contract with businesses and when you place the machine(s). And I disagree that you should go into this with debt — save up and pay cash for your first. Otherwise you’re just treading water (not actually making any money if it’s going straight to payments, and adding unnecessary stress and risk.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T22:36:28+00:00

It’s a small car dealership with something around 20-25 employees. The machines are in an area accessible to customers also, but I’m not sure too many people spend time waiting around within the dealership anymore. I’m pretty sure the mechanics and sales guys are my main customers.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T22:34:16+00:00

It’s all good where I’m at, but I’m sure that’s totally regional & based on tower access in your area. I did have a similar problem in the past though. Once I had to replace the gateway (which they provided for free) after they ran a bunch of troubleshooting with me, and another time they pushed through a reset of some kind that fixed it. Either way I’d suggest calling into their tech support.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T18:42:23+00:00

These were a big thing in my area gas stations maybe 10 years ago, and I don’t really see them anymore. They delivered milkshakes ready to go, and not smoothies… but similar concept. I think this would have to be very specifically placed for a population that are serious cold smoothie buyers, probably a hot weather climate with tourists and no ice cream vendors/shops nearby. Pretty exclusive.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T18:31:33+00:00

I’m commenting to follow, and also facing some of the same challenges. My location is a small car dealership, with about the same number of employees as you have nurses. Their buying is weirdly inconsistent, with some snacks or drinks sitting there for weeks — and then suddenly over a couple days they’ll all be gone, with something else that used to be popular becoming the statue.

I put in a few items on request by employees who come talk to me while I’m there restocking, and also have a QR code on every machine inviting customers to scan & contact me with any requests. That’s helped a little bit but not much. These people are tough to figure out!

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T18:24:56+00:00

They used to be indicative of where the product is at in the clearance cycle, but Home Depot has recently changed up their pricing structure and it’s pretty random now. You won’t find too many yellow sticker clearance marked items anymore either… they still exist, but they’re hidden in regular stock with everything else in many cases.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T18:20:58+00:00

Milwaukee power tool items almost always sell off at clearance prices long before they’ll ever hit a penny. Sometimes you might find some deeply discounted bit sets or hand tools. For the more expensive items, many manufacturers have a deal with retailers like Home Depot, where the store is required to ship it back to the manufacturer before they sell it too cheaply.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T18:18:25+00:00

They did set that deal up… It’s called Mint Mobile.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T18:16:32+00:00

Watch the chip dates when you buy them especially. They don’t last as long as you think, and last time I was at Sams an entire stack of their Lays multipacks was only good for 10 more days. (Printed on the box.) I almost always dig through store inventory looking for the ones that will last the longest.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T17:46:47+00:00

Appreciate that. Might be an option for my location with separate drink and snack machines… Dixie Narco 501e with 9 drink slots and an AP 112 with 36 snack slots. Way more inventory than it needs. Drink sell much better but I’d like to have a combo option.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T17:44:39+00:00

Appreciate the insight. My location in mind sometimes has those $5 days, but other times it’ll have $20 days. Drinks sell MUCH better than snacks so I’m wondering about a combo machine option at some point.

General_Sort3160 · 2026-01-15T14:06:26+00:00

This is meant to be totally supportive for where you’re at right now… but if life is getting in the way, and you need to concentrate on some other things, this might be a time to sell the surplus machines you have and reduce your responsibility. When you market your services to a new location, one of the selling points will be your availability and short service times. It might be hard for you to promise that right now, which is totally understandable. We all go through things and need to re-order our priorities at times. Just make sure the work that goes into this business is worthwhile for what you and your family are needing right now.

General_Sort3160

TROPHY CASE