Hi All

[PabloV8]

Snackmore has got it right, I am thinking tax thresholds, sorry if I confused anyone.

[Charlie--]

I thought you were thinking VAT

So really you meant "how many people on here HAVE to register for VAT" as there turnover is over £81k

Yes I see that would require a lot of towers.

[dustyboy]

Hi charlie

I have no complaints about the products or services of the big two but currently use tubz vending as their branding is far superior.

As already stated this is a numbers game and the real world sales averages are half those estimated and the costs are far more than a few quid for diesel

Remember that the actual cost per pot has to include VAT and delivery so 50p is realistic for a start up like yourself.

You also need to give brilliant customer service so a 40 mile round trip to fix a coin mech jam is all part of the service.

Self siting and referrals are brilliant but if you want (and need) to expand quickly you have to accept that site finders just sit on the phone and canvas specific areas of business that have proven successful in the past. Unfortunately that does not mean that all pubs, all care homes etc are brilliant!!

Many of my 500 towers have been purchased from the Charlie's of this world for £50

Life is not easy. Good money can be made but you have to work hard and learn all the time

Best of luck

Dusty

[Charlie--]

Just to clarify I'm not disheartened with vending it's tubz vending that I feel let down by.

tubz vending quotes of a 35p average pot cost, however their pots costs are 46p each for the cheapest and at the top end is 58p for me - This includes VAT and delivery. - I was only looking at 7 (average sales) a week and I don't even get that, with their sites.

As for site finding for new towers I will do that myself, just miffed at the fact that I paid tubz vending as part of the package to find 10 suitable sites in a reasonable time and they have failed to do so!

I give great customer service to my current sites, but you can forget a 40 mile round trip as that is too far for just 10 towers, if I had 500 yes but not at 10.

[Snackmore]

Charlie

I know its too late now but why did you buy the franchise package? Why didnt you do what the vast majority do and pick up some cheap towers from disheartened vendors cheap and source your stock on your terms? Were you sucked in by the BS?

[Charlie--]

Yep sucked in by BS - The towers looked good the prices seemed good (at 35p a pot - which I have now found out is not correct!) site finding to boot - (which I find out is very poor too.) Yes hindsight is 20/20 I should have done what you said, but I wanted the backing and help from a brand, but it seems two weeks after taking my money, they don't care and only reply to half my emails and sometimes only do half a job at that too - Not had a site find for over 2 weeks now.

May be it seems that they think "why bother" as if that person gets ****** off they will sell cheap to a bigger player would buy more stock from tubz vending. If I do well I buy lots of tubz vending stock - win win for tubz vending.

[Snackmore]

Lets hope any would be vendors read your honest post before taking the leap!

[PabloV8]

Hi Charlie,

It seems you are having difficulty understanding the figures! Or refusing to face the reality!


Customer buys a tub = £1

I break the £1 sales as follows:

Tub cost = .50p

Some customers get .20p
Some customers get .10p
Some customers get .10p and .10p to charity

Worst case scenario for me is:
.50p + .20p. = .70p

The wheeling and dealing with swift and quick response sales people will always argue you get .50 profit (yeah, right) and always have an answer for everything. Remember they speak to people like us 30/40/50 times a day, so expect plenty of waffle.

So worst case scenario for me is .30p from this I have to pay .20 for a machine/stand/vat @ £180 ish. 180/.2 then /25 my average, therefore, a machine pays for itself theoretically in 36 mths give or take.

Then I give samples out to some customers who have good sales.

Although this is all academic as everything goes in the pot, as they say.

And of course, add transportation/insurance/liability insurance/telephone (and the list goes on) costs and your time - but you will still make money, just not as much as is flagged on websites.

I do not draw anything because at the minute I do not need to - so my working model appears to work as does my train of thought.

I would suggest that you need a really sizeable round of 200+ to consider taking a salary from this business.

Like I said, I expect it to stand/pay its own way this year, and to pay back to me what it owes.

I hope the breakdown clearly explains everything, and of course it is only how I work, I am sure others do it differently. But Dustyboy agrees with me that .50 per pot is realistic. Just look at the contents of each pot carefully over the coming months as suppliers reduce each pot by a given percentage etc. I had a mini Toblerone last night I swear that it has got a bit smaller, will compare with some old out of date toblerones from last march.

Happy munching.

[Charlie--]

Hi Charlie,

It seems you are having difficulty understanding the figures! Or refusing to face the reality!


<snip>

Not at all !- I fully understand MY costs and in most cases I would be lucky to get 20p-25p per tub (due to the cost from tubz vending for their products) - That figure does not include my other costs (like petrol), just Stock - Site % = Margin on a £1 vend.

20p-25p is the reality! (for me) - What I was sold was, that it would be in the region of 45p-55p margin on each £1 vend and on those calculations it makes a big different and the reason I thought this would work for me on the plan that I had laid out. I never had any intentions to have a 200+ round as this is only meant to be a part-time second income for me.

[Mark@YorVend]

Hi Charlie,

It seems you are having difficulty understanding the figures! Or refusing to face the reality!

Bit harsh Pablo!!

I think Charlie has grasped the fact quite well that the 35p 'average cost' per tub quoted on the tubz vending website is very misleading, and is fully aware that the true cost of their stock is 45p -55p once the vat and delivery is added.
Only thing for him to do is try and reduce stock cost, by finding a cheaper supplier or selfpacking, and look at getting the rest of his towers out asap, possibly with a couple of re-sites of his others.

If he hadn't already bought the franchise I would have suggested he looks at a limited VAT registered company. It can make more sense when your business requires a large amount of initial investment for machinery/stock over the first few months, to be a vat registered ltd company.