Buying Vending Machine Routes

When people talk about vending machine routes, they are usually referring to buying a route, not managing their existing route, but that's is occassionally the case.

Its easy to see how someone who does their own vending collection could start to refer to their business as their route. But for this article, we're just talking about buying a vending machine route.

Buying a route is a bit like buying a franchise in that you are getting a pre-existing setup. If its a good setup for a good price, then buying a route could be a great way to get started in the vending business. But if its a so-so setup for a high price, you are better off building your own vending machine business from the ground up.



A lot of vending routes seem to be sold by companies who specialize as brokers in vending routes. If that's the case, do your due diligence and check Chambers of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau and the other sources (like the FTC) just to make sure you are dealing with people on the up and up. The vending machine business and the whole "biz op" industry are generally made up of good people, but there are a few sharks in the water. Do your homework on the people you're about to exchange a lot of money with. If you turn up no red flags, that's an OK sign, but not necessarily a good sign. A good sign is to actually turn up positive feedback about the company, and a go sign is when you turn up positive experiences from 2-3 different sources.

Here are some questions to ask the vending route seller:

1) Why are you selling this route?
If they are retiring, or moving, that's a good sign. If they are staying in the business in any way, even just to focus on a different kind of machine or different locations, that's a red flag.

2) What kind of shape are their machines in, and what do they sell?

You'll want to go to every stop on their route to "meet" the machines you're buying. I also highly, highly recommend you bring a book and buy something from the vending machine you'll be buying, and then hang out for half an hour or so to get even a rough sense of what kind of environment your new machine will be in. Come back again later at a different time of day, even if its only for a drive by.

If at all possible, also talk to the owners or managers of the facilities that these vending machines are at. If their first response is an angry "Oh, that guy" when you mention the machines, there's a real possibility that you might get kicked out of that location one month after the sale.

3) How much does each location make per month, for the last six months?

Get their accounting records of each location. If its not broken out, or not available at all, or they are resistant to give you this information, seriously consider moving on.

4) Have you had any problems with vandalism or theft?

This could be a reason for someone to sell their route. If you want a gold star, call your police department and quiz them on the crime rate and current history of some of the major income locations on your prospective route.

5) Which machines have problems?

If they tell you they never have any problems with any of their vending machines, raise an eyebrow. Ideally, before you purchase this route, you'll go around with the owner at least once and preferably twice while they collect the monthly income, so you can see for real what they run into on a day to day basis in their business. Anyone who won't take you for the collection ride may be trying to take you for another kind of ride.

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