Buying a vending machine is something that many entrepreneurs consider at some point or another, either because they are easy to maintain and seem like a perfect way to create an automatic income stream that requires very little maintenance work. However, vending machine routes do take a little bit of work and knowing what is required will separate the true vending businessman from the dabbler. The first thing that you’ll want to know is how much you can expect to spend on a these vending machines.

Vending machine prices vary by model, technology and whether you are buying new or used. If you are looking at a full size vending machine such as a snack vending machine or cola machine then you are looking at about a five or six thousand dollar investment if you choose to buy new. You could also find these machines used but you won’t get the same service, support and warranties that you would if you go with reputable vending machine companies that do business day in and day out with soda machines, candy machines and the like.

If you choose to go with the smaller venders that sell candy, toys or the like, the kind that you see parked in front of store entrances and in office buildings then you can get a bank of these for a couple of thousand dollars new and a few hundred dollars for used. Many times you can find great deals on these type of machines. Of course, you’ll need to worry about inventory as well, as deciding what you are going to sell which influence how much money you’ll make. The smart vending businessman will keep with the current trends and sell whatever the hot style or teen icon is currently.

Learning vending machine maintenance is a great way to save yourself some money. If you can learn to replace parts for your vender machines than you will not only save money by not having to hire a serviceman when one of your machines breaks, but you’ll also be able to buy slightly damaged machines at deeply discounted prices and fix them yourself, sometimes getting a machine worth several thousand dollars for just a few hundred and spending sixty bucks on a part to get it into full working order again.

The business of vending is a great one, and a vending machine owner that knows what he or she is doing can make a lot of money. If you can get great placement, and stock items that are appealing to a large percentage of “lookers” that walk by your vending machine then you will make money. Of course, unless you hire it out, you will still have to replace inventory, collect the money and do maintenance on your machines. However, this is one source of income that doesn’t require as much work as a conventional business.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Vending Machine, Vending Machines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.