Water Vending Machines

Water vending machines provide a perfect example of how changing trends in nutrition awareness have translated into opportunities in the vending machine industry. Two major types of machines are available on the market. The first type is designed to vend bottled spring water, often alongside soda pop, juices and other chilled drinks. The second type is a drinking water vending machine, which customers use to fill their own water containers with fresh, cold water for a relatively inexpensive price.

Water Vending Machines and Branding

While vending machines designed specifically to market branded bottled water are still relatively uncommon, it’s a growing segment of the $40 billion-a-year vending machine industry. As water brands such as Dasani and Evian continue to increase in popularity, vendors are latching on to consumers’ name recognition of those brands and turning the bottled water craze into a significant and reliable source of income.

Bottled water provides an excellent alternative for health-conscious consumers who prefer to avoid the sugar, caffeine and chemicals contained in commercially prepared soft drinks. Especially in large urban areas, where tap water is usually recycled through a filtration system and highly chlorinated to meet high demand, many people prefer the taste and purity of bottled water, and they’re willing to pay extra for the luxury. By combining intelligent vending machine placement with widely recognized brand names and logos, water vending machine operators can realize significant profits.

Water vending machine operators are also cashing in on the recent trend towards ensuring that only healthy foods and beverages are offered in public schools. Consider the following facts:

• In the year 2000, only 8 percent of U.S. states outlawed the sale of junk food and sugary drinks in public schools. By 2006, that number had risen to 32 percent.
• Over the same period, the percentage of schools offering bottled water for sale in vending machines jumped from 30 percent to 46 percent.

These numbers continue to rise, and are generally indicative of trends outside the public school systems as well. People everywhere are making healthier choices, and vendors who offer those alternatives are enjoying the benefits.

Important Details About Drinking Water Vending Machines

Machines specifically designed to fill customer-provided containers (usually gallon jugs) with fresh drinking water are also becoming increasingly popular. These units typically cost several thousand dollars, and are coin-operated, requiring little in the way of service. They are automated to deliver fixed quantities of water, using a mechanism similar to what’s found in a gasoline pump. In fact, most vendors need to do very little upkeep other than collect deposited monies and refill the machine’s water tanks.

However, there are a couple of things to keep in the forefront of your mind when considering purchasing and operating a drinking water vending machine. First, and foremost, these units are not designed to vend anything but drinking water. While many vending machines offer more versatility (and therefore have a higher profit potential), these do not.

Secondly, it’s essential that vendors perform regular tests to check the levels of bacteria in the water for sale. Early studies being conducted suggest that because the water stands for a longer time, the bacterial levels can be higher. Fecal coliforms and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are the two bacterial culprits you need to watch for.

If properly maintained, these units can perform very well wherever travelers gather or stop to rest: campgrounds, rest stops, national and state parks and any place with few or no sources of drinking water and a high volume of thirsty traffic.