I’ve been slowly expanding my vending machine business over a couple of years. Originally when I started my route in November 2007, I had pie in the sky dreams about being full time in vending by now. This has not happened. I’m sure that I’m not in the minority when it comes to vending. I’m sure some people are just looking to make a few extra bucks, but I’m willing to bet that most people are like me, they want to kiss their job and micromanaging boss goodbye. I know that a lot of people don’t make it in vending, but I’m not one of those people. Even though I haven’t reached my goals, I’m not throwing in the towel. I figured I’d write about my experiences in the hopes that it may help out some other future vendors.

My first mistake in vending was paying too much for a small route. This purchase wasn’t a complete disaster but I could have spent my money wiser, I ended up having to close out about half of the original accounts as they were under-performing. I just recently bought 30 used vending machines off of Craig’s List for $50 apiece. Now this was a deal! They were double headed Oaks already assembled, barely used and in excellent condition. If I can find a few other deals like this, I’ll be able to grow my business while keeping my expenses down.

But a lack of money for new machines isn’t where I got derailed in vending. Expanding a vending route is a lot harder than I anticipated. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I guess it’s harder than I thought. I’m always losing locations, having businesses close, and having to move under-performing locations – it’s a grind. The hardest part of vending is the part I’m in, the expansion. Once my route is established it will become a lot more stable with only about 5% of my locations needing replacement, but until this point is reached I’ll grind away.

I’ve recently turned a page in my vending mindset; I’ve decided to fully commit to my full time vending goal. Until this point, it’s basically been a hobby because I already have a regular full time job, but this job is no longer working out for me so it’s time for me to make the jump into vending with both feet. I’m committing to getting up to 100 machines as quickly as I can. Currently I only have 30 locations, so this means locating about 60 machines, 30 are the Oaks I already own and 40 will be machines I’ll have to buy.  I’m hoping this can be realistically accomplished with the help of a locator over the next 2 months. I’m not sure if this is realistic, but the thought of losing my job in this economy has definitely lit a fire under me. Wish me luck.

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