Potential Downsides of the Vending Business

I’m forever writing about what a great home based business vending is and while I definitely think this is true, this doesn’t mean that it’s all sunshine and roses. Running a few machines to make a little extra cash is easy, but running a large enough route to replace your job is another thing entirely. More people will fail at the vending business than will survive, very few people make it to the point that they can kiss their boss good bye.

Here are some of the downsides:

Locating is a never ending process, each year you will need to relocate about 5% of your machines. You’ll lose locations for a variety of reasons – businesses close down, business owners simply change their minds and sometimes competition comes in making the location no longer profitable. Most of this is beyond your control and something you just need to accept.

A small percentage of the human race sucks, these people will intentionally break your machines, steal your money and steal your product. Theft is calculated at about 1% – 3% a year. Not too bad, but still unpleasant. Another potential risk is robbery while you are servicing your route. This has never happened to me, but it’s something you should be aware of. While you are out servicing your route, you may have a significant amount of money on you; this makes you an attractive target. It may be a good idea to vary your schedule and be discreet in your dealings.

Product waste is a big expense, it will be higher when you first start out and are growing your route than it will be once you are more stable. When you first start out, you’ll have a lot of underperforming locations that will end up costing you more money in product than they make in profit.

A fully loaded vending machine is pretty heavy; they can weigh over 50lbs, especially if they have a huge cast iron stand. Breaking them down is an option, but this is irritating and time consuming.