Like most everyone starting out, I read everything I could about vending before starting out. I joined a chat group and found a lot of excellent free information available by reading about other people’s experiences in vending, but eventually you have to learn some things the hard way. Or maybe not the hard way, but by learning from your own experiences.
Why Triple Head Aren’t the Best Choice
So, now that I’ve been in business for a couple of years I can say unequivocally that double headed machines are the way I’m taking my route. Initially I started with triples, the kind that sells 3 different products but has one lid on top. I quickly found out that triples are too big for a lot of locations, it sounded like a good idea when I was starting out. As a newbie I thought more selections equaled more money, but it actually worked out to be just the opposite. I ended up having a lot of unnecessary product waste.
That’s not to say some locations can’t handle a triple, but a location would need to be very busy to make a triple worthwhile. I see some of my locations that have the 6 or 8 U Turns and this is just amazing to me. If my triple has candy going bad, I have to assume that they are either serving up stale bad product or having a lot of product waste. Another problem with this type of vending machine is that they offer you no flexibility.
Why Double Heads Are the Way to Go
So why am I moving to the doubles? A couple reasons. One, I think they make the product look better, the product can be seen 360 degrees while in the triple it can only be seen from the front. I recently traded out a couple of my triples for doubles and my sales doubled, when my profits double, I immediately start wondering why. One of these locations did have a rundown triple so this may have kept sales down, so I’m not sure if this can be 100% attributed to the double machines, but it’s something I’m going to be toying with in the future.
Another great thing about these machines is that they can be configured into any type of machine you need. You can put up to 3 separate heads on a single stand, make racks, or use them as singles or doubles.
My Comparison of Northwestern 60s and Oaks
So far I’ve tried both the Northwestern 60 and the Oaks. I bought the Northwestern 60s new from Sam’s Club; currently they’re going for $61.02 a head. Once you add in two heads, a stand and the plate, a double head costs about $170 from Sam’s. If you shop around you can find plates and stands cheaper, so you can knock about $20 off of this price. I bought my Oaks used off of Craig’s list for $50 each double head. Each machine was also fully assembled, so this saved me a lot of additional work.
Well, these two brands are considered among the best in the business, so either one is an excellent choice, but I guess I like the Northwestern 60s the best. For one thing the Northwestern is a great looking machine, the paint is glossier and the front is beveled silver so that it really pops, but without a doubt the best thing about these machines is how easy they are to service. Honestly it’s like other machine designers never actually put any thought at all into how the machine will actually be serviced. With the Northwestern, you pick up the head; twist it a couple degrees and it easily rests on the base allowing you to easily scoop out the coins. The Oak is a fine looking machines and definitely of excellent quality but the servicing is a nightmare. You have to juggle the head in one hand while you try to dig the coins out or you have to remove the head entirely to get to the cash. The one thing I do prefer in the Oak over the Northwestern is that the Oak has a smaller head; this allows me to fill it up more so that it looks better but still keeps the profit loss to a minimum.
Obviously at $50 a head I’d by a couple hundred more of the Oak, but I’ll keep shopping around for the cheapest used vending machines I can find. The Northwestern is well worth the money and since I’m in the vending machine business for the long haul, I don’t mind making the investment.