Are Vending Machines Still Profitable in 2020/2021?

Honestly the scenario right now with all the retail sector in business is suffering and is almost closing down

People are unwilling to spend anything right now : no travel plans, no sumptuous meals, no good time and scarcity of jobs.

Right now here in Canada, without the CERB or CRB people will loose homes and cannot even pay the rent on time.  Jobs are being cut.  Working hours are halved.

This is the situation that I felt when I was still in Asia doing business where there is a massive currency speculation as I have mentioned on my previous article.  The good thing was I was like 15 years younger and got burning energy to do extra work without expectations and without so many dependents since I was still single at that time and there is nothing much to loose.

hong kong currency crises

The Asian financial crises lasted for more than 2 years as I could remember but it bounced back big time and the rest is history and explains why the Asian Economy as a whole have ridiculously high savings rate which tells us that you need a backup plan for the unexpected and rainy days to come.

Personally Im expecting just to make ends meet in 2020 and 2021.

survival

We will surely know the real picture on 2022!

no money

Even if you are willing to do extra work on the vending machine business then it would be futile and here are some of the facts presented on this article.

Vending business on the canteen type is suffering greatly because they are not allowed to open until recently here in Richmond, BC on some schools.  And the problem is adhering to social distancing.

Some people who are paranoid will opt to just bring their own lunch or eat at home.

The schools here in Vancouver, BC are partially open and only certain times that the students can enter the school and have to promptly leave when classes are over

Even if you have a diversified portfolio on the vending machine locations, your business is not 100% profitability as used to before since some offices and locations only have 30% occupancy rate.

If you have locations in Movie Theaters then surely your vending machine business will get a terrible hit.

Vending machine businesses that rely solely on corporate accounts revenues may fall as big as 95%.  I got several lcoations in downtown offices that I faithfully visit every week and only every 6 weeks because lots of them are working from home.  Offices that i collect $200 every week is now $50 every 6 weeks and you still need to maintain the machines.

Vending Business is down Due to customer facilities are closed

vancouver business closed

Vending Business In Schools Are Closed For the Most Part

When it comes to vending machines in schools, there is one thing you need to know about those locations. Many of the locations that you see there are not open for very long as to what time of the year they actually close. They may have been shut down for a certain amount of time during the summer and then once the weather gets nice, they will begin to open again and this is what you need to know.

When you think about the vending business in Schools, you have to understand that it does require some work to do in order to keep it going. 

For example, you may find that you have several locations that are going to have to be shut down at the same time. This is not good news for the vending business, as you might get one location that doesn’t make money and then another one that does. 

This is something that could happen, however, as long as you take the time to look over these locations to make sure that they are going to make it to the end of the year. 

The last thing you want to happen is to start to lose money on your vending business in Schools.

Vending Business – Distribution Centers Are Still Very Good For Getting Your Business Off The Ground

courier

In the early days of the vending industry, people who had been working in distribution centers were mostly the ones who thought that vending machines were a great business and we’re making money. 

The main reason why there were so many people who thought that this was a great business to start was because the government was giving away billions of dollars for large distribution centers to be built. 

These distribution centers were going to allow businesses to sell various products to people and companies, so all of the jobs in the vending industry could be found. 

This was a great business to get into, but as soon as the distribution centers went down, the vending business was gone as well. 

It is very difficult to find people to work in distribution centers and even harder to find people who are willing to make money with vending machines. 

  • Many people that were in the vending industry at the time did not want to try and get involved with vending machines because they didn’t think it was going to be profitable enough to be worth the time that they were putting in.
  • Many people who were in the vending industry at that time were in fact working at distribution centers, but most of them made no money. 
  • There are other people that make a full-time living off of vending machines. 
  • Those that do make the money are those that work in distribution centers and are able to get more sales than they are charging for the products that they are selling. 
  • That’s what they are actually making money with when they have their own vending business and want to see it succeed.
  • There are also some people that want to have a vending machine business and they believe that there is a very good chance that it will succeed and will be very successful. 
  • They have worked hard for the last few years to try and get into distribution centers and make money with vending machines. 

Many business that are re opening are preventing vending macine being used for fear of COVID19

business bankrupt

There are a lot of people who are paranoid on the virus and are extra careful on going places and usage of facilities.  Many establishments are half hearted to allow people to use vending machines for the fear on the spread of COVID19.

Luckily I got numerous vending locations that still allows people to use the vending machines and it helps me pay my bills for the moment.

Here are some other factors why the vending machine business is not viable in 2020 and 2021:

  • Vending machines will remain dormant with many closures or partial closures in Downtown and Offices
  • Vending machines will have no sales because there are no people no sales and no coffee to serve
  • Vending machine sales is down due to people laid off till 2021 and reduced hours
  • Vending machine business that rely on corporate locations are down by 95%
  • Vending machine business is down even thou you got plenty of diversified accounts

Vending machine business will come to a test this coming winter and before spring 2021.  

This will be a real test on the retail industry and the US and Canadian economy as a whole if everyone will survive. 

Most retail businesses will be hanging by the thread and be very fragile.  

As I mentioned it will just be survival.  

  • Retail businesses need to work extra hard for nothing and expecting nothing for the time being till 2022
  • Frugality must be instilled
  • Keeping healthy is essential in order to survive
  • The real test is the survivability in the Year 2021

Newton’s Law of Gravitational Energy will prevail.  Anything that goes down will eventually comes up again.

Leave a Comment