| 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
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