dissappearing business

[part-time-operator]

i did a quick calculation and at current rate of decline my business will cease to exist in 12-18months haha!

how's it going for everyone else?

[Shropvend]

Hi mike
Business is pretty tough everywhere for a lot of people, hang in there mate spring and summer sales are just around the corner. Look after your good sites and gradually get rid of poor performers. Finding new sites is vital they are out there you just need to find them.

Re Lee

[Style]

Im in my first full year full time so have been expanding since I went full time in June. Managed to keep turnover pretty constant through the winter because of the increase in sites and machines I have out. Would be interested to hear what % you guys expect business to increase by through the summer months?

Andy

[dorsetvending]

Turnover increases 3 to 4 fold in Summer. Winter best shut up shop down here very seasonal. Many pubs in Cornwall close for 3 months its that dead the further west you go

[Style]

3/4x thats amazing. I cant see mine changing much. Some of my best sites are rugby and football clubs which are obviously busier during their seasons. Could do with an extra 25%

[part-time-operator]

yeah but don't you guys think it's strange way to run the business spending increasing time and money on new machines and new sites, (and generally my new sites are further from my base and harder to build clusters with so many operators) for the same turnover. feels like there are red flags all over

really messes with your take home pay when constantly buying machines and earnings per hour goes down the more hours you're spending on site finding. can't be doing that indefinitely. i hope its a bumper summer!

[dorsetvending]

The 2nd hand machine market s quite good really so you can buy machines for relatively small beer. Finding new sites is the way I deal with the quiet Winter period .....I see it as a decent use of my downtime.

We are in fairly different scenarios, so it is difficult to really comment without knowing the full picture, but all you have to do is accept the shitty times and enjoy the good. I try not to spend all the cash in the Summer as its fools gold.....I know I have a long Winter to endure

[Style]

At the end of the day if you have sites you need to buy new machines for you are increasing your income. Gotta be good news!

[part-time-operator]

i think that the 2nd hand machines being cheap is a good indicator and people don't want to sell established rounds unless you offer them a lot of money. for me getting out more machines is necessary to maintain income not to increase it. I think we're all going to have to accept a much lower return on investment in the future.

Different regions will be different but my logic is that round here if a parent takes little jimmy for a haircut, they can find a machine in most hairdressers, if they go shopping, if they get their fish and chips on a friday, if they go to the pub over the weekend etc pretty much everywhere is a machine that will take 20p/50p/£1/£2 and empty their pockets of change.

They're not going to buy from every machine they see, so the more machines we collectively put out the more we are diluting sales . At some point there is a maximum amount of money people will spend on toys/sweets and it's just being spread across more sites.

so I was joking about the business disappearing but it's going to level off. make hay while the sun shines!

[Mark@YorVend]

Thats quite a good point really, kids can only eat so many sweets, and parents cant buy their kids sweets in every place they go!
I think the problem is too many people coming into the business, as they see it as an easy earner. I know the general rule is that if a site sells less than £10 a month its best resiting the machine. Although I agree to some extent, I have about 10 really crap sites that I only go every couple of months and take £15 - £20 out, and are really just gathering dust!
My thinking is, if I re site these machines, I know full well tubz vending or another operator will get a machine In, and then go looking for other sites nearby. By keeping all my tatty est machines in these sites, im making it harder for other operators to even get a foothold. Most only manage to get about 3 or 4 in this area then give up and advertise them for sale on ebay (where I duly oblige in taking them off their hands :)
I know im not being very charitable, but anyone that hands their redundancy cheque over for 20 or 30 towers and expects to be raking it in after a couple of months deserves all they get!

(Ive just snapped a locking mech so im in a bad mood)