There is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions. You need to decide what works best for you. You’ll probably find that your goals will change as time progresses. If this happens then obviously your plans will need to change as well. This is OK. Developing a business plan, even a rudimentary one, is a great
process to go through. It helps you to stay focused.

No matter what you decide to do if you have a plan you will be able to better handle the changes and choices that life throws at you.

I suggest you find, and buy your vending toys on eBay. There you will find all types of toys and supplies for your bulk toy vending machines. A couple things to remember:

1. Only buy from reputable sellers (100+ feedback with 99% or better rating).
2. Read the auction carefully, most sellers are very upfront about the details.
3. Always use PayPal, it is the safest way to protect yourself from fraud.
4. Buying vending toys is great but be sure to get a display too!

If you want to see the selection of vending toys on eBay click the button below:

Vending Rules Answer:

I would like to first confirm that your placement ratio will be able 1 in 20 the first couple times you try. Once you’ve placed a couple honor boxes you’ll not only gain confidence but you’ll also have spoken with customers and have a better idea of what “sells” them on the idea of letting in an honor box. Plus once you get a few customers word-of-mouth really begins to help. Unfortunately in the beginning you have a little bit of “the chicken and the egg” dilemma.

You are 100% correct NOT to put the boxes out for the general public, you’ll get wiped out.

How do you overcome their concerns? Its not that hard, but you have to project lots of confidence. You and I know that theft is inevitable and expected; that is why we MUST have a mark-up of 100%. Honestly if your locations had a constant loss rate of 20% or less I say you had a successful business. Obviously though I’d never tell a location that. I’d explain to them that you understand their concerns and thank them for looking out for you. Tell them that people only steal if they feel anonymous, and you have several strategies to reduce that. First, you use menus and Talker Cards so people realize you know what’s in the box and give them polite feedback. Second, you stay in contact with the employees and ask what they like and dislike in the box. People will steal from the faceless vendor but not from “Kim” – this is where doing your route with a child once or twice really helps out The more “human” you are, the less likely they’ll steal from you. Third, I’ve tested “deputizing” someone in the office. You get one person to volunteer to keep an eye on the box and they get a free candy bar for every cycle the box is “even” (anything above 95% is fine – but don’t tell them that).

Then end telling them that this is a test. You’ll return in two weeks and see how it goes. If it doesn’t go well you’ll simply pull the box. You’ll find that many locations do just fine. Especially if you (very nicer) tell employees that they got a 2nd chance, so keep an eye on each other because one week of “free candy” will cost them the box forever.

Be prepared that some locations will smile and act very nice and then empty the box out without leaving a penny – and act like nothing happened. I know it sounds crazy but it happens occasionally so don’t be upset when it happens. That’s the cost of doing business. Just know never to go back and learn to spot potential locations like that in the future.

Like all things in life vending is simple, but not easy. The concepts are very straight forward but the implementation takes some time and guts. The first step is to decide what kind of vending you want to get into. This requires you to analyze: your start-up budget, your time, and your goals (both personal and financial). If you want to have a $600K/year business your start-up will be different from someone looking to make and extra couple bucks to pay off debt (or begin investing). You also need to decide if vending is going to provide cash flow for you to invest or is it an investment in and of itself.

With bulk candy/gumball machines I never use a contract. The location would NEVER sign one anyway. Find a local store that you visit often and talk with the owner/manager. Offer the machine and a 25% commission. You can also offer to give that money to their favorite charity (most of my locations choose this option).

Vending Rules Answer:

So long as they didn’t damage the machine – nothing. This is not that unusual. Often we suspect some kind of “foul play” if we find our machine moved slightly when none exists. Have you considered that maybe they needed more space or simply someone just liked it better in another spot.

My only real concern is that if they move it #1 someone could get hurt and they might try to come after me legally and #2 they could damage the machine slightly. As a quick aside, I’ve NEVER had either one happen in all my vending years.

This is why it is important to cultivate a good relationship with your locations. Sometimes I’ll mention that if they needed the machine moved I would do it; saying that I don’t want “one of them” getting hurt moving my machine. That way I know what is going on.

P.S. – Be aware though that if they move your machine more than once in a year the next move might be out the door. Make sure you talk with them to find out the problem. If they are concerned with space offer to get them a smaller machine if they can “reserve” the space for you.