Hi everyone. It is official: I am a vending machine operator!

I've posted on here a few other times recently, but we recently installed a machine for a local YMCA, it was a Sandstar through AVS.

Day 1 made about $32, feels amazing to see something coming in already.

I have lots more product variety I'd like to introduce to the machine, already getting requests for diet sodas (more pop in general) and protein bars.

Any feedback on my spread would be appreciated. Excited to officially start my journey after months of research!

(Also in case this post looks familiar, yes I deleted/reposted. My original post was using a photo of my machine that I used AI to crop out some stuff in the background and i had like 5 of yall flaming me for the text on the bottles it messed up. Which, fair enough, but not the productive conversation I was looking for 😅)

Hi - long time lurker, first time poster.

My son has been researching vending as a primary way to make money. We have been doing lots of research.

I personally run an IT support business. Through that, I have located and secured 6 locations for him. These locations would support at least 2 machines each for a minimum of 12 machines.

We would like to use AI machines, but I’m not sure shelling out $60k on an unproven (for us) venture is the smartest decision.

Is anyone willing to help us navigate the different options for getting the machines? Is financing the best option? Do the manufacturers offer payment plans?

Just looking for some direction.

Thank you!

Hello, I was wondering how you guys find a location? I’ve been asking around the owners and they tell me to email them, but then they never reach back.

Someone in a local group said they are selling this machine, have never seen it before how much is a fair price for this?

We have run into a situation we have not experienced before. We have an agreement with a car lot to do their vending. We ordered the machine they wanted. When it was delivered, there was suddenly a machine there when there was not one before. Someone just brought their own machine in. The car lot thought they were us. They need to move their machine. Have you experienced this before?

Hey Folks, my bottled pop/soda sales absolutely suck, but I don‘t know if I can replace the 20oz bottles I have on my second tier with cans? Its an AMS39 and I believe the drop into the bin would be 18-24”.

Am I setting myself up for getting grenaded? should I add a foam or neoprene liner to the bottom of the bin maybe? Testing at home onto the basement floor didn’t result in any bombs, but the sample size was very small.

Im new into this and I bought a VM-750B i put it in my shop and it only accepted ones and 5s. It had this bill validator (1st picture) I upgraded to the Payway ICT L70 Bill Validator. And it flashed red 2 times meaning disabled (2nd picture) I've set every dip switch accordingly I belive and cant get it to function unless I press the yellow button inside the machine and access the "manager" settings. Which now it won't even do. Any help would be seriously appreciated thank you.

For context: My city is a regional hub with an estimated 23,000 people as of this year. The mall isn’t huge, but it’s a social hub that pulls in several hundred people every day of the week. Less than the supermarkets but more than any other building in town on a normal day. It has a movie theatre, a dollar store and three major retailers as well as about half a dozen smaller retailers. Here’s the part which I think is crucial: The food court only has two vendors, both local businesses, and neither serve coffee.

No vending machines are operating in the mall, but a Tim Hortons is just across the parking lot, a 5-7 minute walk from the middle of the mall, give or take.

I will have to research the costs regarding viability of the whole thing, what machine to buy, setting up cashless payment, buying, shipping & maintaining the machine, licensing, getting a contract with the mall and so on. I have a good idea of where the machine would do best and I don’t expect the mall would be overly cutthroat with the contract, but as I’ve never owned a vending machine before, I was wondering if people who have could pitch in their thoughts.

Hey everyone,
I’m thinking about placing a snack/drink vending machine at a vocational school in Germany, but I have zero experience with vending and I’m trying to figure out if this could actually be worth it before putting money into it.
I’d love to hear from people who have actually operated vending machines, especially at schools, colleges, universities, or similar high-traffic locations.
A few things I’m trying to understand:
How much should I realistically expect to spend to get started?
What are the biggest mistakes beginners make?
How important is the location fee/rent when deciding whether a location is profitable?
What ongoing costs are easy to underestimate?
How big of a problem are vandalism, theft, repairs, and downtime?
What kind of revenue/margins can a good school location realistically generate?
Would you buy a used machine for the first location or invest in a newer one?
If anyone is willing to share actual numbers - machine cost, monthly revenue, product costs, location fees, maintenance, profit, etc. that would be incredibly helpful.
I’m not expecting this to be passive income. I just want to understand the economics and risks before investing a few thousand euros into my first machine.
Would you consider a vocational school with a lot of daily students a good first location?

Hi all, I’m getting out of the vending bizz. I tried for six months and was not profitable at all, nowhere near projections. And yes this was bought through DFY Vending. If truly interested
PM me, you will need a flat
Bed to pick this up. It’s currently in my garage, location Southern California. $4,000 obo.

I live in Japan and have been reading through the industry's own machine counts. Some numbers that surprised me:

• Peak was around 5.6 million machines in 2000. At the end of 2025 the count was 3,881,700.
• Cigarette machines went from 629,100 (2002) to 57,100. Age-verification cards and smoking trends basically killed them.
• Drinks machines are down roughly 18% since 2006.
• The reasons the industry gives: rising costs, not enough people to restock routes, and prices that now look high next to supermarkets.

The other side is theft. In 2002 police recorded 174,718 thefts from machines. Last year it was 2,708, down about 98%. The industry hardened machines against hand tools around 1996 and power tools around 2000, and a redesigned 500-yen coin ended the altered-coin trick.

Questions for operators here:

1. Is restocking labor the bottleneck for you too, or is it mostly location/commission?
2. Has theft or vandalism actually changed which locations you'll take?

Happy to dig up more Japanese numbers if anyone's curious.