https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/passive-inco…
Just read the article above. Mainly talks about people getting into the vending machine business.
Does anyone have experience with something like this or ATMs or could provide insight? I don't think its a scam, just something that is a little to make profitable.
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Probably stuff that works better when buying in larger quantities?
Friend in college had a vending route. It's a bit more work than described, but much of it seemed to be the locations - a prized location could have you restocking 2 times a week, but shitty ones could be once a month. Once you have it all set up, seems fairly autopilot.
The ones that did well for him were shitty offices, student dorms, and near construction sites. This was over 6+ years ago though. These days, most people may not have small bills so you might have to get a cc reader. Also, probably wouldn't work as well in a big city like nyc where there's bodegas every other block. He was in bala cynwyd/univ city (philly).
Laundromat might actually be better.
Are there small business owners aside from restaurants, bars and bodegas?
I went so far as writing offers on laundromats and began due diligence. I went into it thinking it would be a absentee business, but it's far from it if you want to run a successful operation. Biggest hurdle is that replacement machine prices have gone through the roof. These things break down all the time and if you are not willing to fix the machines yourself, you're going to bleed cash paying someone to do it.
I’ve seen some facilities that are more modern / have newer machines that take credit card or phone app payments.
Do the modern machines generally require less frequent maintenance / have fewer repairs needed?
The useful life is 7-10 years on these machines. You will have the old school laundromats that are running with their 25+ year old machines which will always have "out of service" signs up.
I love the modern laundromats with air conditioning, free wi-fi, brand new machines, neon lights, bright white walls and high ceilings. You just need to take into account the capital investment on those new machines and understand if your location can bring in enough revenue. If you can set up a successful wash & fold business within your laundromat, you're usually able to exceed traditional P&L estimates.
I was going to say the cost of machines is probably the hardest part. I'd imagine too that people who use they essentially run them hard (bigger loads than they should), which probably cuts down on the life of the machine.
As an absentee business, probably not that many that are out the box. Probably a couple once you are up and running, but I think some people go into some of these businesses thinking they can set them up in a week than just collect the check.
I think the vending machines that only take credit cards are the way to go.
This depends on where your laundromat is located. You would be surprised how much of laundromat clientele still uses coins and the switch over to credit cards can lose you a lot of customers.
Good point. Its crazy to think of how many people still rely on change on a day to day basis. I never use change.
I have a very close friend that owns 40 atms. His closest machine is right down the street from his home and the farthest is well over an hour away. His machines are newer and everything is digital so he knows which ones are getting low on cash at any given time and which ones need to be serviced
where does he get the cash froml does he have to contract with a bank?
What kinds of margins do those churn out? Are there significant economies of scale?
Wondering as well
The ATM business is like drop shipping. For every 1 person who makes money, there are 100 who lose money.
For the ones that have more withdrawals and require more money, he contracts with a cash vault supplier for a fee. For his smaller producers, he uses his own funds.
How much does he need to put into each ATM
Also how long is each cycle before needing a refill for each machine?
How about vending machines that sell stuff other than snacks..
You could have a section for food, cigs, zyn, pot one day
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