Soft drink vending machines combine pre-existing brand recognition with convenience. This powerful combination can, in turn, translate into low-maintenance, reliable revenue streams. The most successful soft drink vending machines use a combination of branding, selection and placement to achieve a high sales volume.

Soft Drink Vending Machine Placement: Things to Consider

Figuring out where thirsty people gather is only part of the equation, since soft drink vending machines also attract impulse buyers. While conventional wisdom suggests placing machines in areas where people go to eat and drink, such as inside or near cafeterias and food courts in schools, on college campuses and in malls and office buildings, the convenience of vending machines opens up many other possibilities.

Remember that the key advantage of soft drink vending machines is that they allow people to purchase drinks where they would otherwise not be able to. Thus, they can be profitable in any high-traffic area that isn’t serviced by nearby food and beverage outlets. For example, some of the more progressive public and college libraries permit patrons to enjoy food and drink while reading or studying, but very few of them offer on-site libations. The same logic applies to hotel and motel lobbies, office units, public and government buildings and high-traffic stores and businesses that lack their own food services. Soft drink vending machines placed in these areas enjoy a monopoly, of sorts, over thirsty shoppers and passersby.

Use Branding to Your Advantage With Soft Drink Vending Machines

While it may appear, on the surface, to be cheaper to stock a soft drink vending machine with generic brands of sodas and juices, machines that offer brand-name products tend to be more profitable over the long run. Vendors can even lease machines directly from major soft drink manufacturers (such as Coke and Pepsi). While the up-front costs associated with this option are usually higher, keep in mind that your vending machine unit will come with built-in advertising.

Since teens and young adults comprise a very significant demographic in the soft drink industry, it’s also essential to appeal to this market to maximize profit potential. It’s a well-known fact in the marketing world that young people, who generally have a higher ratio of disposable income than adults, are willing to spend more to get the products they want. Most youths, when given the choice between spending 80 cents for a can of generic cola or a dollar for a can of Coke, will choose the latter.

Purchase the Right Soft Drink Vending Machine

New technologies allowing for credit and debit card purchases and purchases that don’t require exact change work to help soft drink vending machine operators attract business through convenience. To choose the right machine, it’s essential to consider the needs of your target market. Are they likely to be carrying credit or debit cards? If not (and many students, for example, don’t), then you can save yourself some money by opting for a less expensive unit that simply accepts paper money and makes change. However, it is important to bear in mind that operators can charge a premium on their products if card sales are permitted. Most shoppers don’t mind spending a few extra cents if it means they don’t have to dig for change or find a place to get cash.

Finally, if you’re wondering how to finance the purchase of a soft drink vending machine, you should be aware that many manufacturers offer low-cost financing plans, which include small or no down payments, low interest rates and low monthly payment schedules. Thanks to the surging vending machine industry, manufacturers want to ship units quickly and are more than willing to offer competitive financing arrangements to facilitate the sale.

Owning and operating newspaper vending machines can be a reliable way to supplement your income or, if you’re ambitious and conscientious, earn a living. With relatively low maintenance costs and the modest time commitment required to service them, newspaper vending machines can return healthy profits without requiring a burdensome capital outlay. In addition, the rise of specialty publications has created even more opportunities for newspaper vending machine owners looking to diversify.

Newspaper Vending Machines That Sell More Than Just the News

Periodicals of all sorts can turn a profit when marketed properly through vending machines. Beyond local and national newspapers, vendors offer a wide range of other publications, including:

• popular magazines
• specialty newspapers (sports newspapers, local real estate, automotive and employment guides)
• city guide books and periodicals
• trade publications

Of course, the determining factor in deciding which additional publication types to offer will depend strongly upon the market you’re servicing. For example, a booming, up-and-coming community will likely attract many new residents who may be unfamiliar with the area’s real estate market and want to do some simple poking around to get their house-hunting started. Such a municipality is likely to have a relatively high circulation rate of local real estate guides, which are frequently compiled by publishers who round up the area’s real estate listings. This is especially common in smaller communities that may not have their own daily newspapers where current real estate listings can be published. The end result is opportunity for a periodical vendor.

Anticipate a High Pedestrian Volume When Placing Newspaper Vending Machines

The secret to achieving a steady income from the operation of newspaper vending machines is really little more than simple common sense: put them where people gather. However, if common sense were common, everyone would have it, and many don’t. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing where to place your newspaper vending machine:

1. Is the vending machine easily visible to pedestrian traffic?
2. What attractions, businesses or services are nearby that promote a steady traffic stream? For example, newspaper vending machines and bus stops or subways stations are a match made in heaven. Ideally, you want to look for a constant stream of potential customers who might be in the market for something to read. Transit terminals (i.e. bus or train stations) are also good bets.
3. Are you locating the vending machine somewhere people are likely to be carrying change? Outside drugstores, supermarkets and strip malls are wise, popular choices for good reason.
4. Are there nearby businesses which also sell newspapers and periodicals? If so, you may want to locate your vending machine in an area where you’ll have more of a stranglehold on the immediate marketplace.

Typical Features of a Newspaper Vending Machine

Most newspapers feature an interlocking door device that is connected to a coin slot mechanism, which provides a single release when the correct amount of currency has been fed into the machine. While these reliable, standby models are still being produced, manufacturers also offer machines that employ more up-to-date technology, and these are becoming increasingly popular. At the low end of the more modern models are vending machines that accept paper bank notes and make change, so customers don’t need exact change in coins to complete a purchase. Furthermore, today’s vending machines come equipped with tools that can help you analyze sales trends, storing time and date of sale data for vendors to review at their discretion.

Invest wisely: research the various newspaper vending machines available for sale, perform cost-benefit analyses on the various offerings and know your marketplace. If you put the right newspapers in the right place, the profits will soon follow.

What was initially looked upon as a mere novelty is now becoming a viable business, as live bait vending machines are becoming more and more common. Offering fishermen the convenience of round-the-clock access to fresh night crawlers and other creepy-crawlies, bait vending machines can both draw a high volume of business and charge a premium, above and beyond the bait shop price for fishing worms.

As vending machine technology improved, refrigerated systems that permitted proper storage of live bait became viable for the first time. Bait is generally sold in Styrofoam containers, which can be stored in the same individual chambers designed to hold chilled drinks in regular soda vending machines. Vending machine manufacturers now also offer specially designed models with cooling and storage systems created specifically for delivering live bait.

Bait vending machines are attractive to fishing shop owners who want to offer their customers access to bait outside of normal shop hours. It simply takes a relatively meager initial investment to add this significant revenue stream. A fully functioning unit typically costs several thousand dollars, with costs varying depending on the availability of units in specific areas. However, as a case study of one Georgia bait shop shows, it’s fairly typical to expect business to pick up steadily once the machine is operational.

In Georgia, a bait vending machine unit cost about $4,000 when the client purchased it and set it up outside his shop late one spring. He’s in the business of selling and renting fishing equipment, and his store offers live bait for sale during regular business hours. By the end of the summer, he was selling more than 800 units of bait per month–at a rate of $2.25 for a dozen minnows and $3.75 for night crawlers. His machine more than paid for itself within 12 weeks of operation, and the client says he expect his current sales rates to double within the next 12 months.

One Pennsylvania entrepreneur took the concept one step further. After acquiring his first bait vending machine in 1993, the man then reinvested his earnings to finance the purchase of further machines, building an arsenal totaling over 30. He’s now moving more than 10,000 bait units a month, generating an average of about $5,500 in income. With relatively few costs and a modest investment of his time, he manages his network of machines, which have been earning him a living for almost 15 years.

Ideal Locations for Bait Vending Machines

Store owners who normally sell their own bait aren’t the only ones profiting, either. Bait vending machines are making profits in parking lots near popular fishing areas, on docks, piers and boardwalks, and particularly in waterfront boat and fishing equipment rental businesses. They provide early-morning anglers with a convenient solution to a common problem, and customers are generally more than willing to pay higher rates for bait if it means they don’t have to bother digging up their own.

If you’re considering investing in a bait vending machine, expect to part with a few thousand dollars, or to finance one through a manufacturer’s financing or layaway plan. Shop for a unit that can keep the internal temperature at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and operates on 110 volts of electricity.