Any advice for Noob?

[Briand26]

Hello everyone :)

I have spoken to Hurleys, tubz vending and Barbara in the last week and I am ready to enter the Industry.

It would be great if you could share your opinion on;
Franchise v Independent?
New machines v 2nd hand?
Biggest challenges in first 1-3 months?
Start with 10 towers and build the biz or start with 25/50?
How many towers do you reckon are required to bring in gross profit >30K?

Thanks in advance.

Brian

[Tufty]

Hi,

I am really new as well but from my limited experience I would say...

Independent-much cheaper and gives you the freedom to choose supplier/sites etc,I haven't had any bad experience with the big 2 but I think a lot of people have and soon come to realise the sales figures they were fed were optimistic to say the least.

2nd hand-Again much cheaper when you are starting out,I currently have a couple of issues with the towers that I just made a post about but the guys on here are very knowledgable and usually any issues aren't major,if they are parts are readily available.

Biggest challenge-Probably site finding and stock control,I think I under estimated both how saturated areas are and how much stock I needed to buy to keep myself ticking over.

I think start with 10 is the way to go,it lets you get a taste of the current vending climate and gives you a good introduction to the machines and managing the stock. I think 25/50 sounds appealing but unless you buy an existing round the chances are you might have a lot of towers sitting in storage before you manage to find that many locations.

I am not sure about hitting that level of profit but some of the more experienced guys will know the economies of scale stuff and how many towers it takes. I try and think of my profit as about 30p from every tub sale,it depends on your rates of commission,fuel costs etc but I don't think that is too far off the mark.

I can't link to it just now but a really good member on here called Pablo made a start-up guide in the forum that is marked as a sticky,it is definitely worth a read.

Something I am trying to do already is diversify slightly so now I don't just have towers,I have some toy machines,bulk machines etc.

The more experienced guys will hopefully post on here soon and please listen to them over me as like I say I'm only a month or so in to it all.

Hope I haven't put you off, the members on here are great and very welcoming so you are sure to get lots of good advice :)

[nivending]

This business is all about sites.

For a £30k profit you'll need around 300 machines plus.

Next to impossible for a newbie.

Better to buy 10 used machines and pay for site finding. Then site and resite yourself as required

[PabloV8Haggis]

Brian, you are setting yourself a high bar to reach.
Advice,
By all means setup a vending business however, maintain a job whilst you are doing so. I have been doing this for 4 years come March. It took me three years to reach 300 sited machines. The siting is the hardest part and I see you have not said what area you operate from.
I managed to grow very quickly by reinvesting profits as a means to expand i.e. I did not require a salary.
Whenever you purchase a tower you also have to stock it, it takes a period of time to recover the initial expenditure and of course that is dependent on the type of site you secure. 300 machines at say 100 (sited/stocked 2nd hand if you can get them) is going to cost you £30,000 and that is a lot of money.
And as Laurie stated, you might well end up with machines lying about in a garage without a site as customers ask for them to be removed (trust me it happens). You would be far better placed by purchasing 10 or 20 machines, site them and get a feel for the business to see if it is for you. The beauty of this forum is that you will get plenty of unbiased advice from operators. I am totally independent and I would say that is the way to go, as you then make the decisions that suit your needs. And you will still get good advice from the 2 x big suppliers too boot. I started off with a 20 bundle form tubz vending and have never (so far) looked back. It has NOT been all plain sailing and I have many, many hiccups along the way.
So happy hunting, welcome to the forum and I hope you experience great successes.
Cheers
Pablo

[Ade]

def independant, avoid tubz vending they think you work for them and then throw their rattles out their prams when you dont want to buy their product. barbara can get you sites, hurleys can provide sweets, start with 10 used towers, keep costs low as you might not like it

[PabloV8Haggis]

So Ade, how did they rattle your cage?

[Ade]

lost me a major site that i had paid for via another operator and was turning over £200 a week, then proceeded to phone all my sites up stating foreign objects had been found in my tubs and i had no liability insurance

[PabloV8Haggis]

H,mmm! I understand your frustration and concern.
Unless you self pack, all contents of tubs are responsibility of whomever your purchased from.

It goes without saying, all self employed people/operators or whatever should have liability insurance as a matter of course even if it is for peace of mind, I am sure you where well catered for on that front.

Encroaching on another site is really not on, I have been victim of this on many occasions however, communications has always resolved that.

I have spent well over £100k with tubz vending and have had nothing but support. Spent a significant amount with Hurleys and encountered one or two problems however, the person concerned has now left Hurleys.

However, I have moved on, the forum is not really the place to bad mouth the main suppliers, if I really felt the need I would use the pm system

[Ade]

i am voicing my opinion from my experience which is exactly what the forum is about, anyone can make there own opinion were all adults lol.
no love lost with me and tubz vending so i dont need to hide behind a pm. i had liability insurance at time as i have now, i am also passed by local council to self pack, tubz vending just threw their rattle out because i didnt want to buy off them, as you said you have spent 100k so your really not going to experience this with them, which really backs up what i said originally lol.

[PabloV8Haggis]

Yes, your are correct, everyone is entitled to an opinion, even Donald Trump!

Personally, in this day and age I prefer to keep options open and free to trade with anyone, so prefer not to burn any bridges!

I mean, you never know if companies will go bust! Look at Carrilion