I Bought 3 Vending Machines… My Earnings SHOCKED Me!

79 thoughts on “I Bought 3 Vending Machines… My Earnings SHOCKED Me!”

1. Appreciate how you created a business, identified problems, listened to the consumer and took action immediately.

   1. She didn’t do anything of the sort. She just sold you a very dumb idea.

   2. @@Qlickysome choose to see opportunities, others see the negative and destruction 🤷‍♀️ dumb or not at least she tried

   3. @@wrokouta592 Well yeah, if there weren’t gullible people with no common sense videos like this wouldn’t exist.

2. Digging the content Codie, but have a number of questions: towards the beginning of the video, you eluded to additional expenses but either did not cover them or quickly glossed over them:

   1) Product expenses; it would have been nice to see some actual per unit cost figures and whether you were meeting your pre-defined cost goals.
   2) Did any of the Neutonic products sell?
   3) What did the replacement “motherboard” cost?
   4) What did you pay for the custom paint/artwork?

   5) Are these numbers sustainable long term?
   6) How do Sales & Income taxes affect your numbers?
   7) How much are you anticipating/setting aside for maintenance on the machines? Like any investment, using Real Estate as you referenced, surely there is a percentage of profits set aside for maintenance.

   When skipping over these important factors, it makes me raise an eyebrow at how “good” of a business idea this truly is.

   1. What I’ve seen being in some forems vending machines vary throughout the year. For the gym for say you might get less sales during the start of the new year since people have resolutions and less during summer for summer body reasons. But more during the winter

   2. All I gotta say is ditto that

      The devil 😈 is ALWAYS in the details

   3. Her modus operandi is to ignore these types of questions.

   4. 100%!!!
      I scrolled down for this comment!

   5. welcome to youtube. it’s all about the youtube views. gotta make it look super simple and cheap and profitable so people watch thinking it’s their ticket to success. all those nitty gritty details would detract from the primary goal of watch time / views (ie views = $)

3. So proud that they didn’t edit out the kids calling it a scam machine! 🤣

   1. in the end it bacme one! lol

   2. At least she’s upfront about it calling it a toddler’s gambling machine which by the way should be illegal to exist

   3. @@h.a.6790 toys at the very least are healthier than sugar-saturated snacks . . .

   4. Then going back to turn the dail beyond 60 to who knows what and still being greedy about it . Haha

   5. The fact that you can rig it to not win makes it a scam machine.

4. I’m loving this “vlog” format, it feels more human and practical for applying into daily situations. Keep it up 💪🏻

5. A friend of mine and I checked into vending machines and found out that it was used for laundering money, and was territorial, and prone to vandalism. Competitors will put slugs into a machine to keep it from working or sabotage the machine. As far as finding prime locations, good luck. Some businesses want you to pay them a monthly fee to put a machine on their property which cuts into any profits. Thirdly, the food items have an expiration date and any items that don’t sell must be thrown away. You are also at the mercy of inflation when you buy them. Its a dirty business and it all depends on a safe location. Its too risky and do it at your own risk.

   1. So true and What about transportation costs fuel for your van and Where are you going to store Anything with chocolate melts.

   2. All business is risky. Location matters and you decide whether the location is sketchy whether or not to place machine there. But cameras are your best tool. If it’s worth the risk. It’s not a matter of luck when it comes to finding locations it all comes down to your pitch. And not all require you to pay them. When we started in 2020 mid plandemic, we landed multiple locations without having to rent the space/pay commission or whatever you want to call it. It’s possible and they are high traffic locations. Yes, food has exp dates but if an item isn’t selling switch it around take to different location. It’s trial and error at first. But once you know your best sellers just stick to those. There’s pros and cons to every business. And there are also used machines out there they cost even less and are beasts like new. You just have to look for them. Definitely not passive income but there’s money in it IF you know how to run it like a real business

   3. Thank you. No knock on the video. But I looked into this years ago and, correct, businesses are not going to let you put up a vending machine for free. There’s a negotiation between you and the business and normally you have to pay them a percentage each month regardless of how much you make on that machine. The more prime the location, the higher you’ll be paying each month. The best locations are already taken and that vending machine owner in the best locations is NOT going to give up their spot.

   4. @@gr8fulgirl469 Up front costs, but you can also write those off as expenses when doing taxes. I’m not an expert, but I’d believe that’s how it works.

   5. @@thebookishcomadre “we landed multiple locations without having to rent the space/pay commission… they are high traffic locations”

      Why would they let you do that for free?

6. That kid immediately nailed it as a Scam Machine lol — the next gen is smart af

   1. Kids knew this in the 80s too. There’s always going to be some kids that either have been taught well, or think through things on their own, & some that don’t. Plus, there are many different ways to be smart. A kid who falls for these machines, might be really smart about something else.

   2. @@miriamrobarts Exactly right. You can be dumb in one area and smart in another. That’s why things like street smarts exists and a lot of really smart people don’t have it sometimes.

   3. They only know from social media apps, I mean what do you expect when kids watch channels like Mark Rober

   4. Like you guys don’t gamble, life is a risk

   5. they are smartonly in these small areas their attention span is dying and the average iq has decreased for the the first time in many years

7. Codie: Can you host my machines where you pay rent and utilities for free?
   Business owner: Yes, I also have tons of customers that you can monetize for free!

8. Big lesson: test your machines before putting them in place.

   1. And have a Larry that you can call that has a circuit board in stock to just run out there and replace.

   2. Total fail lol

   3. And make sure they do not get busted, tipped over, smashed or stolen.

   4. Fun fact you should test everyone prior (we did) BUT they will jostle and get messed up sometimes in transfer. Aka what happened to us. So you need to test in both and next time I’d have extra components on hand!

   5. @@CodieSanchezCTwhere did you source the machines?

9. Ms. Sanchez, you forgot: 1) Maintenance costs on the machines. 2) Real estate costs where the machines are placed. 3) TAXES — property taxes on the machines themselves, state tax, federal tax, sale tax, and other business taxes. 3) Business insurance, because someone could sue you for getting sick eating your products from your vending machines. Except for the taxes, all of these out-of-pocket costs are tax deductible as part of running your business.

   1. so what do you think are the more realistic nuimbers?

   2. Most importantly…payment processing

   3. Yeah, the part about paying zero dollars to proprietors for hosting the vending machines within their businesses feels a bit like a con here. It’s not realistic and I feel like many viewers eager to make easy money likely won’t realize that shop owners won’t just say, “Sure, come in and make money off of me!”

   4. I don’t think you can sue a vending machine for you eating something bad, you would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt for that which you would never be able to do. Kind of like covid, You can’t sue someone for giving you covid because you can’t track where you got it from. As for the real estate points, there’s different models people use to structure their business. Some people pay and some people don’t because the company WANTS to have a vending machine but they don’t want to be responsible for filling it/maintenance. So yes you can get spots for free just like she did.

   5. Wrong. They let her put her machines there cuz they are all friends of hers. What kind of stupid business owner wouldn’t set up a tray of snacks for 20 bucks if they thought there was demand?

10. I’ve done self-start vending; it is not a cake walk. It is very much a volume game because one thing that wasn’t mentioned is profit sharing. Usually you have to share a percentage of your profits (or pay rent) to the owner of the area your machines are in. Additionally, repair is crazy! I learned to do it myself, but that adds a significant amount of time. I would say I averaged 10-12 hrs p/machine p/month; that includes travel time to locations. The card readers come with a monthly service fee and a percentage p/sale as well. Vandalism is a concern in addition to theft if you have an outdoor unit.
    Sourcing items isn’t tough with a Costco/Sam’s membership; you can very easily mark up some items 200-300% and still be in a reasonable price point for the consumer.
    It’s not a bad business, but it is hard/constant work with incredibly slim margins once the bills are paid. You are not making over $100k without well over 100 machines and an employee to help out.

    1. Exactly all correct what you say. Plus New management of the location will kick you out for a new guy. Owned Vending in CA for 7 years. If I knew then back then I would have bought a self storage facility. OH WELL. Still trying to get rich and running out of time. haha

    2. Figured

    3. Appreciate your comment. Came to say the same thing. I tried doing ATMs machines, and it had all the same problems. Wasn’t worth the investment at all. Thanks for talking me out of vending machines! haha

    4. Great comment. I know a vending machine owner when I hear one. It can be a good business but it would have been good to see the costs included, such as the cost of the repair of the card readers that weren’t working. That easily takes out your profit for the month. As you mentioned transportation to and from the location and to wherever you shop to stock is not mentioned. I get the motivational value of the video but would have loved to see that info also

    5. I also suspect that selling non-consumables like plushies in a place that doesn’t have new clients everyday like a sports club limits the amount of sells you will make. Once all the kids of that club got their plushy, that will be it.

11. Can’t believe you installed the machines before they were working 100%.

    1. @tooolboxx I can believe it.
       Because she is in it for the YouTube views, NOT in it for the business of vending!

    2. Perfectionism is a way to lose time and opportunities

12. You went over everything except “How much you pay the owner of each location.”

    1. My first thought. Are these places allowing the machine for free?

    2. That’s my question as well.

    3. They probably allowed her to set them up for free because they will get free publicity by appearing in the video.

    4. Great point mentioning right there!!!!

    5. I have 145 machines. I don’t pay anyone anything. My ATM machines make the most money, by far.

13. WOW. I clicked on your video because of the tittle and had no idea you were going to low key expose the secret behind claw machines.

    1. Well I mean the machine was emptied out pretty quick so it’s not like the kids weren’t winning a prize.

14. LOL, the little girl was right, it was a scam machine. And you even proved it. 😂

    1. 😂😂😂😂🤣

    2. LOL it’s a lottery though and that makes it fun 😀

    3. Not necessarily. A scam would mean they can’t possibly win, clearly some kids are winning. Now I remember a “game” machine at a bowling alley that had prizes that had clearly been in there for years. Like a camera wasn’t even in stores anymore.

    4. Lol my thoughts exactly

    5. That is the reason they are known as “gotcha” machines. It’s a matter of luck with you against the programming of the machine.

15. Location is everything, I would move the machine in the gym facing people as they are leaving not entering. Most people go to the gym thinking of cutting snacking out and not eating before workouts. Also lighting helps alot. Best of luck.

16. “unhealthy vending machine”, “scam machine”, “2x the retail price”. Enough motivation for me to even bother looking at these vending machines. Like many other comments mentioned, she didnt mentioned about time she put in for shopping for stuff, re-filing, cost of maintenance etc.

    1. didnt she say the hours she needed to spend on it, I don’t understand where you missed that at the end there.

17. 15:55 that’s why the little girl called it a scam machine 😂

18. You ever read something that feels like it was never meant to be in your hands? That’s exactly how The Obscured Principles book felt. Ancient wisdom, modern exposure, and a terrifying amount of truth packed into one single source.

    1. I love this book.

    2. This book legit changed my life.

19. Awesome. I got approved for a $120k grant and im absolutely overwhelmed because i can now purchase a food truck, i just got the money in my account not long ago, no high interest, no gatekeeping based on credit scores. I poured heart and strategy into my grant application with the help of a grant writer, laid out how I’d serve my community, and I got the support I needed. God is good.

    1. Wow congrats! Can I ask what type of grant it was and how you found it?

    2. That’s amazing any tips for someone just starting their grant search?

    3. Would love to learn from you if you’re open to it. I need this kind of win. Can we connect?

    4. The grant was ahig, feel free to reach out for any more questions.

    5. Info on my bio, I hardly receive yt notifications

20. I own a vending business, you may not of known to mention that machines in new locations do great for the first month then start dropping off in sales after the “honeymoon” phase. Having said that you cannot figure up profits they way you did in the video. If it was like that I would be a multi millionaire… but I’m not there just yet.

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