Vending Machine Locators - games they play!

Although using a vending machine locating service can help you to find locations quickly & the quality can vary dramatically as discussed below, but that is not the main concern you should have in hiring a locator to place your machines.

Along with the great opportunity that the vending business brings, there are also those that will take advantage of new vendors that are anxious and have no idea what they are doing. Regardless of how much research you have done, if you are just getting started, you're vulnerable!

Vending locators often want 50% of the money up front with the remainder due after the job is done. However, I've heard hundreds of stories about locators that would not return calls after they received the 50% deposit. So, it is best to find a locator that allows you to pay them the huge majority of payment after the job is done. Or just hire them to do a few machines at first to see how they do and then add a few more. Don't give a large group at once or you will not get the same quality of work since they no you have nothing more to offer (ie. no more work).

It is also best to find a locator that will let you watch as they find locations. This way you can learn to do it yourself for the next time. More importantly, this allows you to verify that the location really did agree to the placement as well as the terms that you expect, such as commission percentage - if any. I've heard stories of locators doing a job well, but later the vending operator learned that the locator had promised an exhorbitant commission in order to get the location. Yet, they always failed to tell the vendor about this!

In other cases, the locator has found locations, while out by himself, and later met the vendor at a meeting place to tell him about all the wonderful locations he has found. He may even give the operator a group of business cards for each location. Then, he asks for payment & may have some " emergency " that requires him to return home ASAP. He will assure the vendor that if any of the locations aren't perfect, he will replace them for free. Yet after he is paid, don't ever expect to hear from him again. His cell phone # will be uselessafter the vendor has paid him. Also I wouldn't be surprised if this stack of business cards in the vendors hand is totally worthless. You can walk into any business and get a business card for the manager without even speaking to him / her. I've seen it many times, he has their business card, but he never talked to them about the machines. That means he never got approval, and the vendor does not have a location. I've talked to vendors who had 30 cards for contacts at new "locations", but after all was said and done, he spent the day loading machines on a trailer only to learn that not a single location had agreed to anything. Be smart, take my advice...

Don't just go to the location, but make sure that at some point before the locator leaves town, you speak to the person that gave permission; at which point, you can also make sure that he agreed to your terms.