Experiences from an Entrepreneur

Despite what politicians and economists are telling us about the economy improving, I’m here to tell you that it’s currently very tough out there right now for vendors. Not only are businesses closing down left and right, shrinking the market for placing our machines, but recently I’ve had a few businesses close down and take my machines with them. No advance warning, while out making my rounds, I just pull up to the location to find out it’s out of business. I have my business card taped to the back, but I guess when businesses are going under the last thing they care about is the vending machine owner. I understand they’re neck deep in their own troubles, but I’ve lost three machines recently, both good locations so, I’m not only out the money and product in the machine, but a good location and a $150 machine. It’s a triple whammy of pain for me.

Another thing I’m worried about is if the economy keeps getting worse, will machine break ins and thefts increase? So far, I haven’t had any machines get outright stolen – just those lost due to business closing, but I would tend to expect an increase if the economy keep getting worse. So far, my local paper has reported a decrease in crimes despite the poor economy but I’m not convinced this pattern will hold.

The final problem I’m having with this bad economy is a lack of opportunity to expand my vending business. I just recently bought about 40 used vending machines off of Craig’s list for $50 a pop. They were metal double headed Oak machines fully assembled on stands, so I got a good deal, but now I’m having a tough time getting them located. Not only is my market saturated, but businesses are closing at an alarming rate here.