Most people dream of financial independence. But unless you happen to be born into a rich family or inherit big bucks from a rich relative you never knew you had until the check hit your mailbox, it takes a whole lot of work to get there. The best way is to own your own business, but what if you don’t have any specialized skills or knowledge, and not a lot of cash to get things off the ground? Well, then a recent trend might be a good fit for you.
Here are Five Fast Facts on starting your own vending machine business:
- 💰 Getting Started - You can get a used vending machine from Facebook Marketplace or somewhere similar for as low as $500, but they may be more junk than machine. To get a good one (even used) will cost somewhere around $1,000-2,000, and for one of the fancy ones with a touchscreen and robotic arm it could be over $7,000. The best selling items are cold drinks, snacks, and candy. Forget that healthy garbage, it’s junk food for the win!
- 🧼 Keeping It Going - Depending on what you put in your machine and how much business it does, it typically costs around $200-300 per month to fill the machine. And don’t forget about maintenance costs and periodic cleaning! You never know what nasty, sticky substance is all over the money getting put into the machine. 🤮
- 📈 Raking It In - The vending machine industry rakes in over $18 billion each year. The markup is usually around 100%, so that’s solid. However, most operators have full time jobs outside of their vending machines, and the average machine generates a little over $500 per month. Gonna have to scale up hard to make the big bucks!
- 📣 Social Says - Part of the recent popularity of vending machines is due to social media. From 2019 to 2023, social media content about vending machines and passive income tripled on X and increased six-fold on Instagram! At what point should we be concerned that social media is driving business decisions?
- 💸 Big Picture Reality - More than half of vending machine operators earn less than $1 million. On top of that, food prices have been shooting through the roof. Just since last year, they’re up almost 11%. Well, of course they have! What hasn’t?
🔥Bottom line: We’re not trying to be Debbie Downers here. Vending machines can be a great business, especially if you can place your machines in a great location with lots of (hungry) foot traffic. If that’s the case, we say bring on those fat Paychecks! Just do your research and know what you’re getting into before you get started. It’s not a slam dunk, and it still takes a lot of hard work to run this business. But the potential is definitely there, so if you’re in the market for a new business idea, it’s certainly worth considering!
Are you thinking about starting a vending machine business?
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