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Soda price in your vendor?
- Thread starter Waxman
- Start date
i knew a guy who had a soda machine close to a park,all the buss around the park had soda machines.the older ones
what he did was tape a $1 bill to every 6th can and once the kids figured it out it worked great for him.
i have the same machine you have, its funny to watch, some people will buy a soda and the dollar gets closer they don't know what to do i had people buy 1 soda and the bill was taped on the next can they could not figure out that they could get a free can. or some people will buy 2-3 or more to get a free one.
wile writing this reply a lady asked for change, while giving her change she said she had to put her ear plugs in because she did not like water in he ears.
this is a ss carwash
go figure live long enough and see it all
what he did was tape a $1 bill to every 6th can and once the kids figured it out it worked great for him.
i have the same machine you have, its funny to watch, some people will buy a soda and the dollar gets closer they don't know what to do i had people buy 1 soda and the bill was taped on the next can they could not figure out that they could get a free can. or some people will buy 2-3 or more to get a free one.
wile writing this reply a lady asked for change, while giving her change she said she had to put her ear plugs in because she did not like water in he ears.
this is a ss carwash
go figure live long enough and see it all
chaz
Active member
At $1 it’s like break even. I assume you are gonna go buy the drinks at retail, then load the machine. If you have sugar free product there’s a short shelf life, plus cost of new chiller and electric. At $1.50 it sounds high for a can. Maybe put other product like tire foam in the slot. I let the pony keg across the street sell the snacks....I sell at wash stuff.
mjwalsh
6 bay SS w/laundromat
Waxman, & others,
We have an AMS machine that KR shipped to us way back in 2009. We had the chiller-compressor replaced by a local HVAC outfit about 6 years ago. I wonder if anyone has been successful doing that without calling a refrigeration outfit who tend to have a bunch of specialized ways to make sure there is no violation of Freon laws. We installed a cleanable filter-screen & keep the lint away more so now. Along with moving it not so close to the back wall ... we have not had an problems with he chiller-compressor since. Hopefully, we won't ever have it go out again
The local outfit got us for around $1000 that time about 6 years ago. I looked up the part # etc & the exact chiller-compressor can be bought way cheaper online. I am wondering if you or anyone else has recently replaced the chiller-compressor knowing that you were within the environmental laws. It seems like I heard that because the chiller-compressor comes pre-charged it can be done legally with ordinary tools ... I am not sure though???
About a year ago ... we were a bit overwhelmed with other repairs at the time ... so we called a local refrigeration company again. It turned out to be just an easy to replace on the motor's capacitor. My Fluke 325 was more capable of checking the "mfds" of the bad capacitor than the totally tight lipped & defensive guy they happened to send down so we kind of wasted our repair dollars unnecessarily with that more recent specific service call. I am not sure if those outfits want those type of service calls. The techie definitely did not want to share any of his "secret methods"!
We are at $1 average price for small plastic refrigerated bottles that also includes some 100% juice. If we can keep our expenses down ... hopefully we won't have to raise too high. We notice when the supermarkets have better prices. At Sam's Club they have our sales tax permit on file but the other stores like Walmart & others we have to show the checkout person a copy of our sales tax permit.
chaz
Active member
gotta sell a lot of drinks at just $1 each just to cover your repairs. Plus the aggravation of sourcing the product and the various stores , stocking time etc. sounds like it’s not worth it?
MEP001
Well-known member
I tried tire foam. Tastes terrible.
Kevin James
Active member
I wouldn’t charge anything less than $1.50, it’s a convenience to be able to get a soda or a cold water when it’s handy. Waxman, also vend bottled water, there's a nice profit in bottle water
Car_Wash_Guy
Well-known member
I have a ton of soda and candy in my refrigerated AMS vender. I mark pretty much everything up 100%. Soda is $1.25. I sell more of that stuff than car care products. I get al the kids from the neighborhood riding their bikes up to the wash and dumping change in there.
mjwalsh
6 bay SS w/laundromat
Waxman & others,
It seems like the car washes that has some staff on site most of the time & are not 24/7 do better with vending machines ... not sure. As far as your 12 oz aluminum cans ... we switched to 10 oz including for the bottled water. Even though we maintain a free drinking fountain by our sink ... it is surprising how many get the sealed bottle water. I think 24 oz is too large of a quantity based on our specific experience!
Just a heads up ... one of the reasons we switched from aluminum is because we were getting too many instances of the AMS puncturing the aluminum can ... causing an understandably unhappy customer! Not sure if the gauge changed on the cans or if there was some technicality with the AMS Sensit or not. It seems like it has been about 10 years since we switched to plastic 10 oz.
It seems like the car washes that has some staff on site most of the time & are not 24/7 do better with vending machines ... not sure. As far as your 12 oz aluminum cans ... we switched to 10 oz including for the bottled water. Even though we maintain a free drinking fountain by our sink ... it is surprising how many get the sealed bottle water. I think 24 oz is too large of a quantity based on our specific experience!
Just a heads up ... one of the reasons we switched from aluminum is because we were getting too many instances of the AMS puncturing the aluminum can ... causing an understandably unhappy customer! Not sure if the gauge changed on the cans or if there was some technicality with the AMS Sensit or not. It seems like it has been about 10 years since we switched to plastic 10 oz.
Waxman
Super Moderator
$9 per case at Walmart. I'm charging $1 per 12oz can. That's fine with me.
I bought a new chiller online from A&M Sales. It was expensive but I want sodas for sale at the wash and don't want a separate machine to sell them.
We installed the new unit ourselves. It's easy. The freon stays in the unit. AMS has a video that shows how to do it.
I bought a new chiller online from A&M Sales. It was expensive but I want sodas for sale at the wash and don't want a separate machine to sell them.
We installed the new unit ourselves. It's easy. The freon stays in the unit. AMS has a video that shows how to do it.
mjwalsh
6 bay SS w/laundromat
Waxman,
That installation online video might no longer exist??? I could not find it ... hopefully, you can provide a link to the specific AMS Combo 39 installation of chiller unit or complete chiller tray? video.
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chaz
Active member
Waxman.....just curious why you posed the price question if you are happy with the $1. Obviously you are in Carwash biz so no big deal what you sell drinks in your vending machine. Yeah if you do simple math on the case price at Walmart then reselling at $1 It sounds huge. But don’t forget there’s a value in going to Walmart, shopping , waiting in line , filling machine, electric, etc. Not to mention labor and cost of the new chiller....how many $1 cans just to break even? But like I said....it’s more convenience then anything. Good luck!
Waxman
Super Moderator
Waxman
Super Moderator
I wanted to know if I was in the ball park with my pricing ideas and I was. Sure, I could raise it to $1.25 or $1.50 and I may. I may see if bottles fit and if they do I may be able to get even more profit. But for now I'm just happy to have the chiller functional again and to be selling ice-cold Coke. And a SMILE
tdlconceptsllc
Well-known member
Anyone have any Refrigeration questions there not sure about thats what i do for a living from 8-5 besides the carwashes for going on 15 years lol
mjwalsh
6 bay SS w/laundromat
tdlconceptsllc,
I emailed an AMS Combo 39 refrigerated unit parts distributor & I got a quote of $800 that is someone who normally gives a very reasonable discount in the past when it came to other more general parts that we had to order for the AMS machine.
I am thinking that it was so high because it was a more complete unit. I am pretty sure that local outfit to save on their parts cost cut into the tubing in order to be able to replace just the most needed portion of the complete chilling unit. They did not leave any part of the old unit with us. I am thinking that by ordering the more complete slide in slide out replacement like Waxman did will leave us with the old more complete unit that we can take to a local shop rather than the "out in the field job" ... saving us some serious $$$ & also having a rebuilt "ready to go 'slide in & slide out'" more easier to replace in the field service ... back on line quicker ability. All three of us who work here are somewhat mechanically inclined ... with me being a bit stronger when it comes to electrical troubleshooting.
tdlconceptsllc
Well-known member
Most defiantly save the old unit for a spare $800 to me sounds cheap for a complete new unit with compressor, evap, condensor, fans and all.
