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Keep on the look out for these vending machine business mistakes. They cause more people to fail than anything else.

1) Business Opportunity Scams
Business Opportunity promoters or shows are getting a lot of attention these days as a soft economy drives people to look for job-replacement opportunities.

These people are professional salesmen, not professional vending machine owners. They will make incredible claims that sound plausible, and may even have some numbers worked up to show you how amazing the opportunity is. Don't believe them. Most of these outfits are run by people who have never refilled a soda machine, or dealt with the frozen compressor. The don't know the business. Some of them, unfortunately, are so bad they'll take your money but never even mail you your machines. If they don't offer COD, don't give them a dime upfront. Also, be extremely wary of the quality and cost of their vending machines.

2) "Professional" Locating Companies
Again, these people know more about marketing and sales then they know about finding good locations. As in any business, though, there are the rare handful of companies that do a good job - its just that you're much more likely to meet a bad one than a good one. If at all possible hire someone from your area. Locals will do a better job than someone across the country, no matter how well-connected they are.

3) Spending Too Much Up Front
This is the classic new business mistake. Don't spend so much money that you don't have enough to make it through the first and possibly the second year. Sure, vending is more likely to be successful than other new ventures, but it takes time to really know how to pick a good location. You're also going to have inevitable issues with site owners, with broken machines, and with Murphy's law.

Start small. Though many to most vending machine dealers will push you to buy ten or more units, you're probably going to be MUCH happier in three months if you only buy one or two, maybe three or five at most. Get comfortable with five machines, then scale up. Its so much easier than scaling back to five machines from 20, especially because buying 20 machines means quite a lot of debt for most people.

4) Buying Old or Used Equipment
It looks like a great deal, but its not. You'll be under pressure to get as many machines as possible, either from the salesperson or from yourself because you want to make the numbers your optimistic projections promised. Don't fall for this. New machines sell more. A lot more. They don't break as often. If they do break, they have warranties, and the replacement parts aren't a nightmare to get. Buy new, top-quality vending machines. Please.

5) Buying an Established Route or a "Turn-Key" Business
Many "established" routes are actually marketed before they're established. Its only after you buy the "established" route that any effort is put into developing the route, and then its only to do as little as possible to make it barely acceptable. Truly established routes are valuable, and when and if they do come up for sale, the real ones will usually be from someone getting out of the business. Pay close attention there: if someone is getting out of the business, there may be a reason other than relocating to Bermuda.

Turn-key businesses are suspect for all the same reasons. What's worse, frequently the way they're set up is so wrong that you're actually at more of a disadvanctage than if you had started from stratch yourself.