Another Newbie Saying Hi

[JustCraig]

Good evening peeps,

I stumbled upon this forum last night and I have to say I am very impressed. It's great to have a small community of operators sharing their knowledge.

I just thought I would spend a couple of minutes introducing myself and will hopefully become a regular poster on the boards.

Although I am coming here as practically a newbie, I have actually operated a couple of vending rounds in the past (one around 5 years ago) which Included Vending Towers, Beavers, SWP's and some retro arcade machines. The round had 16 sites and about 25 machines in all.

The second round I had was just towers and beavers (or the cheap versions of) and built it up to around a dozen sites and about 30 machines. My sites have always been pubs and bars and have never really looked beyond that.

I have been thinking about getting back in the game for a few months now but When I look around now at the pubs and clubs I used to supply, a vast majority have shut down so although I want to start up again, I also want to approach it with a completely new (and up to date) plan - Hence labelling myself as a newbie (times certainly have changed)

I do have a few other projects on the go (nothing major, I sell a bit on eBay and operate a couple of subscription based sites and a couple of ecommerce suites) that pay me a nice additional income but I do miss being involved in the coin-op business.

I guess my main concerns would be:

1) Would it not be fair to say that we are hitting saturation point with vending?

2) From what I have read takings seem to be in decline from 5 years ago - is it not a worry that this trend will continue? (again I am not active at the moment so this is nothing more than hearsay)

There seem to be many more operators fighting over fewer sites than there used to be (although that is not based on any scientific research - just opinion)

Am I worring too much? Is there still money to be made if starting from scrach? or it this just a big boys game?

[Snackmore]

Welcome aboarb

I would say there are still plenty of sites out there but finding a premium one gets harder. I am only a small operator and in my first year but pretty pleased so far. I think the key is service and as some have stated on here it is apparent that the big boys cant do this, regardless of how they dress up their profits to the site owner. I would like to think that my sites see through this balony. Staying local is the key.

[JustCraig]

Thanks for your imput - Absaloutly, I agree - starting local is defo the plan.

Another thing I have been reading about are these charity boxes - I imagine they are a pretty easy sell but where do you get them from? do you have to sign up to some sort of franchise?

[Snackmore]

Speak to Hurleys, if you do a search on here you will find a thread about them, some have them on here

[JustCraig]

Chears I will have a look now

[Vend And Glow]

Hello Craig and welcome to the forum i am a newbee too!

[Coin Operated Group]

Nothing to do with market eing saturated, we are in recession. Businesses closing constantly weekly rather than having new business (new sites!) opening weekly obviously puts a strain on the vending usiness.


Anyway, welcome to the forum mate and hope you do ecome a regular poster

Oh and y the way my b key doesnt always work

[JustCraig]

Thanks for all the welcomes :)

I agree with what you are saying about the recession, but I read an article a while back that I thought made an interesting point and although it was aimed at market traders, it did get me thinking about what impact it would have on any 'pocket change' industry - including vending:

In a nutshell, it argues that due to the rise of things like people paying via chip and pin and on-line banking, people getting paid directly into banks rather than cash in a little brown envelope has inadvertently caused less and less people to carry pocket change, which in turn has had an effect on the 'pocket change' industries - Market traders, vending machine operators, etc.

I am not saying I agree but it does make you think.

Having said all that, I have high expectations and will soldier on regardless...

[Vend And Glow]

Thanks for all the welcomes :)

I agree with what you are saying about the recession, but I read an article a while back that I thought made an interesting point and although it was aimed at market traders, it did get me thinking about what impact it would have on any 'pocket change' industry - including vending:

In a nutshell, it argues that due to the rise of things like people paying via chip and pin and on-line banking, people getting paid directly into banks rather than cash in a little brown envelope has inadvertently caused less and less people to carry pocket change, which in turn has had an effect on the 'pocket change' industries - Market traders, vending machine operators, etc.

I am not saying I agree but it does make you think.

Having said all that, I have high expectations and will soldier on regardless...

I can honestly say i don't normally have any cash (coins) on me and i think you are right to a certain extent that it effects vending. However on a night out for example i always carry cash.

I think if it was possible to use paypal on a vending machine or just scan your card or mobile phone then i think things could be different.

At this time though although the technology is there its rather expensive to fit to a vending machine.

[JustCraig]

You are spot on - on a night out I have pockets full of change - I oftern put a lot of it into Fruit machines/SWP's and even the condom machine if things are going well lol :)