Thinking of investing in one of those vending machine routes. Any experience/input?

Question

My family wants to start a family business with roughly $15k-$20k of start-up investment. Are these ventures that I see all the time any good? I know that they are pretty good in & of themselves, but if you buy into a franchise or someones route, are they any good? I have seen them for about $10k to buy an existing route. Of course much homework is to be done with it, but just wanted to hear if anyone knows much about these.

Thanks!

garrison:
I never said I was trying to get rich. I am trying to build wealth! There is a difference.
now, to answer your question of my question: A vending machine route is a route with vending machines! I think you are trying to overthink this. You are purchasing a pre-existing route that someone has already established & take it over. You are responsible for maintaining the machines & stock. What more info do you need in order to figure out if YOU had any experience with it or not? After all, that was the question.

Answer 1

I used to work on a couple vending machine routes.

The problem with buying an existing route instead of a franchise is the level of training and support you get. I learned the mechanics of coin returns because that was all people fed them back then, coins. Today, payment methods also include paper money feeds, credit cards, and electronic pay from fobs and cell phones.

Assuming you can handle the technical details for a non-franchise purchase, be sure you are buying a workable route. Why is he selling? Machines in factories have environmental problems that they don't in offices. Machines in offices will have many more threatening to sue because of simply everything.

Do you have a good but economical source of stock? Do you have appropriate stocks? I used to get requests for chocolates but without a refrigerated machine, they melted, etc.

I have a friend who made a route to support him and family while he went to grad school. It did okay for him. So if you want to buy into a job, it can be good. It can be a tremendous head ache. Most folks don't live the methodical lives required for keeping good routes sustained. At first it seems easy, but any job can become work.

Answer 2

Vending Machine Routes

Answer 3

Look for Difresh Vending Machines and Alcomatic Breath Alcohol Testers. This factory based in Spain gives Life Guarantee in every Machine and they are in more than 100 countries since 2000. The best is that they sell machines at their manufacturing cost and they have only few cent margin on their exclusive products. They show you how few money can be transformed in a high mountain of money. They have clients worldwide and very good references. You can find Difresh factory and Alcomatic Factory using internet. I have more than 1000 machines installed since 2002.

Answer 4

Your question can't be answered because YOU did not give enough information. Just WHAT is "one of those vending machine routes"? If you are buying one from some company offering them in the newspaper, then you will spend a lot of money and make very little in return. Those companies make their money by SELLING MACHINES and not by running a street route.

ANY street route you can make a living from will take an investment of $100,000 to $250,000... you are NOT going to get rich from a $15-20k investment.