Profits in Vending Machines
Jason Sanderson is an intelligent and ambitious man in his mid-twenties. He volunteers for the Alberta Baer Theater in Billings, Montana as an usher for events, seating people at concerts and plays. He uses his communications device to tell patrons to watch their step and enjoy the show. He has been doing it for four years with the support of the staff members at Billings Training Industries (BTI). He takes great pride and pleasure in doing this public service and for being recognized for his contribution to the community. He has recently become the owner of Sanderson’s Sodas, a drink-vending company currently operating one very large machine at BTI. He already has an employee, Ed, who takes pride in keeping the machine stocked with a wide assortment of products.
Previously Jason had worked for a vending machine company known as Mr. Gumball, servicing machines and keeping them stocked with products. This job was anything but lucrative; Jason was more involved in keeping the machines operational than stocking them. So Jason and his support team kept searching for a job that he might enjoy and would pay a decent wage. They developed a job delivering mail at Montana State University-Billings that paid Jason $8.00 per hour for one hour per week. Unfortunately, after the anthrax incidents with mail, another university employee began to go to the local post office to open the mail prior to delivering it to its university recipients, and Jason lost the job.
Earlier in the year, Jason’s support staff heard that there was money available through the Montana Job Training Partnership’s Careers through Partnerships Project, a demonstration project funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, administered in partnership with the Rural Institute. Money could be accessed through the Careers Project to provide services and equipment to get people jobs or put them into their own businesses. Since Billings Training Industries staff members had attended the initial project training session, the organization was approved as a vendor for the project, and was able to directly apply for funds, in Jason’s name. The first employment idea that Jason and his team looked at was employment at a local Independent Living Center, entering data into a computer. He would buy the computer, using Careers funds, and be hired by the Center. When this opportunity did not materialize, they decided on Jason’s vending company.
This is what they knew:
- Jason had a background in vending from Mr. Gumball.
- Jason wanted to make money.
- Jason took pride in ownership.
- Jason took pride in serving others.
They went to work researching companies who sold new or used vending machines. They found a company in Washington that would sell Jason a new machine and ship it to Billings. There was one problem; they had decided to put the first of Jason’s machines in their organization’s break room, but it already had a machine supplied by a local soft drink retailer. Finally, after some extensive negotiating with the existing provider (proving, once again, how much money vending is worth), he removed the machine, and Jason’s was put in its place. Sanderson’s Sodas was born.
Jason has now been in business for a few weeks. His company buys products at about $.21/per can and sells them for $.50, somewhat more than a 100% mark up. The machine has a 480 can capacity, making a fully loaded machine worth approximately $240 to Jason. In his first week of operations, Jason made approximately $40. If he remains at that sales level, he will earn $160 per month, which is much more than the limited income from his previous employment. There are already plans for expanding the business, perhaps installing another machine in an offsite location. But that is just another business decision for Sanderson’s Sodas.
How to contact this small
business owner:
Jason Sanderson
Sanderson Sodas
c/o Billings Training Industries
604 Hewitt Drive.
Billings, MT 59102
(406) 652-5120