Free operator tool
Is this vending location worth it?
Pick a location type and nudge the numbers. The answer updates as you type.
Fine-tune assumptionsSales, costs, your time, machine cost
Worth it: about $175/month
Pays back in about 26 months.
- Monthly sales
- $475
- Per service hour
- $53.87/hr
- Payback
- 25.7 months
Estimate from your numbers, before paying yourself.
What if
- A $150 monthly fee$25/mo -$150
- Low spoilage (3%)$180/mo +$5
- High spoilage (12%)$158/mo -$17
- Half the time per visit$107.73/hr
- Double the time per visit$26.93/hr
How to read this
Four numbers, one decision.
- Monthly net profit
- What is left after product, spoilage, commission, card fees, rent and travel. It does not pay you for your time.
- Profit per service hour
- Net profit divided by the hours you spend servicing the location. Compare it to the value you put on your hour.
- Payback
- Months of net profit it takes to cover the cost of the machines. Never means the location does not repay them at these numbers.
- What if
- The same location with a fee added or removed, low or high spoilage, and half or double the time per visit. One change at a time.
Every result is an estimate from the assumptions you enter. It is not a forecast, a guarantee of sales, or tax or legal advice.
Questions
Before you sign a location.
How many people will actually buy from a vending machine?+
It depends on the site, and the only reliable answer is your own sales data from a similar location. The calculator asks for people on site per day and the share who buy (vends per person per day). Starting values for each location type are sample assumptions, not benchmarks, so change them to match what you expect or what you have seen.
What is a good profit per service hour?+
Compare it to the value you put on your own hour. If a location earns less per service hour than your time is worth, it is costing you money even when the monthly profit is positive. The calculator shows both numbers so you can see which side of that line a location falls on.
Should I agree to rent or commission?+
Use the scenario lines under the results. They show the same location with no rent, with rent doubled, and at low and high spoilage, so you can see how much of the profit a fee or a spoilage problem takes before you say yes.
How is spoilage counted?+
As a share of the product you buy. At 5%, five cents of every dollar of product cost is lost to expiry or missing items, and that loss is added on top of your product cost.
How is payback calculated?+
Machine cost times the number of machines, divided by monthly net profit before paying yourself. If monthly profit is zero or negative the calculator shows never, because the machine does not pay for itself at those numbers.
Are these numbers a forecast?+
No. Every result is an estimate built from the assumptions you enter. It is a way to compare locations and test what-ifs, not a promise of what a machine will earn.
What do I get when I enter my email?+
The full report: every line item in dollars and as a share of sales, a table of what happens if foot traffic moves 10% or 20% either way, a printable page, and a copy sent to your inbox. The headline results, the sales breakdown and the scenarios are free without an email.
Does the calculator save my numbers?+
The calculator runs in your browser and your numbers stay there until you ask for the full report. At that point we save your email and the numbers you entered so we can send the report.
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