Found in public restrooms, gas stations, convenience stores, motels, outdoor recreation areas and many other places, medical supply vending machines offer a convenient, low-cost alternative to hunting down an all-night pharmacy. Packing single-use over-the-counter medicines, contraceptives and first aid products, these machines provide an essential service to customers as well as steady income for their operators.

The most basic medical vending machines offer 4 to 8 selection chambers, and are typically either wall-mount units or furnished with a space-saving stand. Elaborate, bulky units are generally not used to sell medical supplies; rather, the cabinet of a typical medical vending machine averages about 24 inches in length by 18 inches in width. Units are usually only a few inches in depth, depending on how many selection chambers there are, and how many products each individual chamber holds. As with vending machines designed for other products, medical vending machines can be configured to accept coins or card payments. You can also find units that accept bills and make change (which tend to cost more) or ones that don’t.

When shopping for a medical vending machine unit, keep in mind that manufacturers often charge for a unit’s individual components, rather than a single base price for a complete model. The cabinet itself is frequently sold at a fixed rate, with wall mounts or stands available for an extra charge. All reputable manufacturers offer solid customer warranties with their new products, so you should avoid purchasing medical vending machines that don’t come with at least a standard 12-month warranty on all parts.

Products That Sell in Medical Vending Machines

Once you’ve chosen the unit you want to purchase and have done your homework in finding a marketable, well-traveled area to locate your machine, all that’s left is to decide which products to stock.

Medical vending machine owners consistently report pain killers such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen among the top-selling drugs. These items sell particularly well in places where travelers stop to use the restroom, such as hotels and motels, rest stops and camping and picnic areas. Vendors can purchase single-use packets, containing 2 to 4 pain killing caplets, for individual sale to consumers at significantly higher rates than pharmacies charge. Customers are willing to pay extra for the convenience, and few people looking for immediate pain relief are going to forgo it in the interest of saving a few nickels and dimes.

Antacids and cold symptom treatments, such as nasal decongestants and cough suppressant tablets, also sell particularly well, the latter even more so during cold and flu season (spanning approximately November through March). Most vendors operate their medical vending machines like mini drug stores, offering a selection of products a person might look for in a pharmacy. To cater to a need that will always exist, many operators choose to include contraceptives as part of their product selection.

No matter which products you opt to stock, the industry’s track record shows that brand name products sell better than generic ones, so keep your machine stocked with the familiar names people trust, such as Vicks, Pepto-Bismol and Bayer. Remember, brand recognition is a low-cost form of advertising your vending machine; take advantage of the pre-existing popularity of trusted brands to help your medical vending machine garner more revenue.

Vendors can turn a cool profit operating ice vending machines. Thanks to improvements in temperature control technology, ice vending machines can now service consumers 24 hours a day, requiring little more than an electrical outlet and product restocking. Responding to the needs of their customers, ice vending machine manufacturers are now also offering units with never-before-seen features that can attract more customers, thereby increasing profits.

Features to Look For in Ice Vending Machines

Most ice vending machines you’ll encounter are a little like portable ice houses. They will automatically weigh and bag ice for a customer once payment has been entered. The best of them are designed to service the needs of both individual and bulk consumers, since flexibility is the key to maximizing revenue.

Thus, units which allow for scaled pricing, giving discounts to customers who buy more ice, are usually the most profitable. While most of the ice vending machines available for a modest price are coin-operated, units that permit customers to purchase ice using a credit or debit card are certainly worth considering, for two reasons. First, the convenience of being able to pay with a card can win customers who might otherwise have gone elsewhere to buy ice. Second, higher-end units with electronic payment capacities can help you recoup your up-front investment costs faster, since operators generally increase the price of ice when offering the ability to pay by card.

Ice vending machine manufacturers who offer their customers state-of-the-art technology also provide management support tools. With the rise of electronic communications, ice vending machines that permit operators to monitor sales remotely are gaining greater and greater popularity with vendors. Using a hand-held communication device such as a Blackberry, or a standard Internet connection, operators can interface with their ice vending machines to track sales and anticipate any service needs. As part of their warranty plans, some manufacturers even offer round-the-clock technical and mechanical support to customers, should a problem ever surface and affect the operation of the machine.

Other features that you can find in top-of-the-line ice vending machines include:

• vending of both bagged ice and bulk ice (for coolers)
• machines that seal bags automatically
• variable production capacity (the amount of ice dispensed can be customized to be as small or large as you choose to allow)
• computer-operated ice delivery systems

Ice vending machines can also be custom-painted to include a company name, graphic or logo. For a modest additional cost, available either from the manufacturer or from a private party specializing in sign and graphic design, you can customize your ice vending machine to attract more business. By accessorizing your ice vending machine with clear, strong lettering and attractive graphics that display the price of ice, people will spot your machine from further away and take notice of it, even if it’s just for another time. Ice sales remain relatively constant throughout the year, and vending machines that service the consumer’s need for ready-made ice are becoming an increasingly popular way for vending machine operators to make money.

Candy vending machines come in all shapes and sizes, from single-unit gumball dispensers to elaborate multi-purpose models that vend everything from candy bars to licorice. Up-front investment and maintenance costs vary, depending on how elaborate a machine you’re planning to operate. Here’s a broad-strokes breakdown of what you can expect to find on the market.

Generic Candy Vending Machines

Whether you’re looking to spruce up your storefront with a gumball vending machine or want to satisfy your customer’s sweet tooth by offering a variety of low-cost treats, you can find a new or used machine that will fill your needs. The simplest units are single-chamber, vending a lone product for a fixed rate (usually a quarter) and dispensing a pre-set quantity of candy. Typically, machine operators can calibrate the machine to provide customers with greater or lesser quantities of candy. These machines typically service the market for bite-sized treats, such as Skittles or M&Ms.

However, proprietors seeking to offer more variety in a bid to increase revenues can opt for multi-chamber units. Manufacturers offer candy vending machines that are typically divided into 2 to 12 sections, each with its own individual coin slot. These units provide customers with not only more to choose from, but they also allow for individual section pricing, so that operators can stock select chambers with pricier treats. Another advantage of opting for a multi-chamber candy vending machine is it makes it easier to determine what type of candy sells best. An operator only needs to look and see which section has emptied out the fastest to get an instant picture of which products are the most popular.

Vending Machines Units Designed to Sell Branded Confectionery Products

In the United States alone, consumers spend about $64,000 a minute on products sold through vending machines. A large majority of those sales are comprised of branded goods, such as potato chips, soft drinks and candy bars.

Various vending machine designs are available on the market for investors looking to profit from the country’s sweet tooth. However, getting into the candy vending machine business isn’t a simple proposition of buying a unit, stocking it and letting the cash roll in. As with any business, key marketing and promotional considerations must be made to maximize profit potential.

Most candy vendors wisely offer a range of products, including chocolate bars, nuts and gum as well as healthier alternatives such as granola or fruit bars. However, associating your vending machine with well-known candy brands can attract business that might otherwise have passed you by. For this reason, it’s not a bad idea to approach your procurement of a vending machine through a well-known candy manufacturer. Most of them offer their own dedicated vending machine units for lease to individual operators, which can put you at an instant advantage in the marketplace.

By acting as an independent distributor of brand-name candy products or selling candy, nuts and sweets in bulk, you can enjoy a slice of the $40 billion-a-year pie that is the vending machine industry. Shop around for the best price on a new or used vending machine, make sure to do your research, place your machine properly and perform the proper maintenance–this is an easy way to turn a profit.