Austin ColemanMichigan & IllinoisPod Plug City Launcher
How to start a vending machine business
The machine is the easy part. Getting a business to let you put it in their building is what stops almost everybody, and it's the thing I do best. This guide takes you from zero to your first placed machine, and most of its pages are about the conversation that gets you the location.
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The model
A vending machine business is simple. Nobody tells you the hard part.
- 01Buy a machine. You can order one this afternoon.
- 02Get it into a business with foot traffic. This is the one that stops people.
- 03Fill it with something people want. Cards, collectibles, snacks.
- 04Split the money with the owner. Restock when the app tells you to.
That's the whole model, and the math works. You already know that or you wouldn't be here.
Step two means walking into somebody's business, finding the person who can say yes, and getting them to hand you floor space they have never given anybody before.
That's where it stops. People watch the videos, run the numbers, then sit on it for a year because they don't know what to say when they walk in.
Step two is the business. That's what most of this guide is.
This is what a yes looks like
Your town has these too
Every one of these was a cold walk-in, no broker and no introduction. Finding places like these, and knowing what to say once you're inside them, are the two biggest chapters in the guide.
Who wrote it
Every location I have, I closed myself.
I've never bought a route and nobody has ever handed me a location. Every machine I run is somewhere I walked in cold, asked, and got a yes. That's why I can teach this part.
I've made the cold walk-in in season, on four hours of sleep, between weigh-ins and practice. Owners, managers, and one guy who never looked up from his register. I've heard every version of no there is, which is why I can tell you what each one actually means and which ones are worth going back to.
I started at 19 with no money and no contacts, which is the proof that none of this needs a network or a budget. It needs you to keep walking in after it stops being fun.
I've wrestled since I was three and a half. You lose a lot of matches before you win anything, so I already knew what it feels like to get scored on and keep going. A store manager saying no doesn't land as hard after that.
I run in Michigan and Illinois as a City Launcher with Pod Plug, a Pokemon trading card and collectible vending company with 500+ machines in 38 states. They handle the machines and the product. The locations are mine to go get, so I got good at going and getting them.
Home is Grand Rapids and school is outside Chicago, so I'm on I-94 most weeks and I work both. Your main street probably looks a lot like the ones I walk into.
What's inside
Zero to your first placed machine
Two guides. The first is free and gets you a location. The second covers everything that happens after somebody says yes.
START HERE · FREE
How To Find Your First Vending Location · 14 pages- 01The four grading factorsWhat to grade every location on before you drive anywhere.
- 02Building The ListThe Google Maps method, and 100 real rows in one afternoon.
- 03What a good location looks likePlus the five kinds of place that waste your first month.
- 04Walking inWhen to go, what to bring, and the five things to say.
- 05The four objectionsWhat you'll hear on your first ten doors, and what to say to each one.
THE DEAL
The Ultimate Guide · first half- 06Before you spend a dollarThe order most people get wrong, and which paperwork actually matters in week one.
- 07The moneyWhat machines really cost, why you shouldn't pay cash for your first one, and the math that says whether a location is worth taking.
- 08The dealRevenue share, flat rent and free placement. The 13 things that have to be in the agreement. How selling to a chain differs from a corner store.
- 09Buying the machineNew, refurbished or used, what to inspect before you pay, and the freight cost nobody budgets for.
- 10Installation dayGetting it through the door, priming it, pricing it, and the first test sale.
THE ROUTE
The Ultimate Guide · second half- 11What to stock and what to chargeFilling a machine you have no data for, then reading your first 30 days and fixing it.
- 12The routeFinding your visit interval, the ten-step visit, and the four things that break most.
- 13Machine two and beyondThe six-point test for when you're actually ready, and what breaks as you grow.
- 14What actually stops peopleThe yes that disappears, the machine that makes nothing, and being young and not taken seriously.
- 15AppendixChecklists, the deal-terms list, and a unit economics worksheet.
PDF · Instant download · Reads fine on your phone
SEND ME THE GUIDE · $27This is for you if
- +You want to start a vending machine business and don't know where to begin
- +You've done the research and you're stuck on the part where you have to ask somebody
- +You already bought a machine and it's sitting in a garage
- +You have machines placed in bad spots and you need better ones
This isn't for you if
- −You want a business where you never talk to anybody
- −You're looking for someone to hand you locations
- −You want "passive income"
The upsell
If you'd rather have me on the phone
- 01You bring the questions, I give you straight answers.
- 02Where to look and who to ask for.
- 03What to say when you walk in.
- 04What to charge and how the split works.
- 05Anything else you're stuck on.
Questions
Before you buy
No. A lot of people do it backwards and buy the machine first. Lining up a location before you spend the money is the better order, and the guide is built that way.