✅ MISTAKE #2 — Choosing Bad Locations

Finding a location is one of the most important steps in vending — but if you trust the wrong people or target the wrong types of places, you’re setting yourself up to fail before your machine even makes a sale.

Here’s who to watch out for:

1. 🏚️ Low-Traffic Businesses That Say “Sure, Bring It In”

Just because someone lets you put a machine in their building doesn’t mean it’s a good location.

Typical red flags:

Empty waiting rooms

Dead-end offices with few employees

Auto shops with vending machines already collecting dust

🚨 The trap: You get excited because someone said “yes” — but a bad yes can cost you just as much as a no. You’ll spend time and gas checking a machine that never makes money.

2. 🙃 Overly Eager “Free Placement” Brokers

These are middlemen who promise to get you locations fast — sometimes charging $300–$500 per placement.

The catch?

They don’t vet the traffic

They don’t know the clientele

They just want to close the deal and disappear

🚨 The result: You get placed in a hole-in-the-wall business with no foot traffic or an owner who loses interest after a week.

3. 👥 Friends or Acquaintances With “Connections”

You’ll hear:

“My cousin owns a gym, I’ll hook you up.”

“My friend runs a mechanic shop — easy money.”

The problem?

They rarely check how many people come through

They don’t understand what makes a vending machine profitable

They assume any machine works anywhere

🚨 Spoiler alert: A dusty corner in the wrong gym won’t make sales, even if it’s your cousin’s place.

4. 🚫 People Who Say: “If It’s Free, It Can’t Hurt”

Wrong. A bad location can cost you:

Your time (restocking for $20/month in sales)

Your gas (multiple low-performing stops)

Your reputation (if the machine isn’t maintained often)

🚨 The truth: “Free” placement is not free if it burns your energy and drags down your route’s performance.

5. 🧏‍♂️ Landlords and Managers Who Just Want the Commission

Some building managers will say yes — but only if you agree to pay them 20–30% commission… without showing any traffic data or considering your margins.

🚨 Red flag: If they’re more interested in your profit than your partnership, it’s a bad sign.

❗REMEMBER:

The wrong crowd will:

Place your machine anywhere just to say it’s “placed”

Tell you what you want to hear to close a deal

Lead you to think location doesn’t matter — when it matters most

If you’re serious about winning in vending, work with people who understand the business, traffic, and numbers — or learn to scout and pitch locations the right way yourself.

✅ The #1 Question to Ask Every Location Owner BEFORE You Place a Machine:

“How many people actually buy snacks or drinks here in an average week — and what happened to the last vendor?”

This one question exposes red flags fast:

If they say, “Oh, our last machine barely made anything” — that’s your sign to run

If they dodge the question — be careful

If they brag about how their last vendor “made a killing” — now you’re talking!

💰 BOTTOM LINE:

Placing your machine in the wrong location is like setting up a lemonade stand in the middle of winter.

It doesn’t matter how good your product is — if no one’s buying, you’re losing money.

I’ve helped clients walk away from bad deals that would’ve cost them thousands — and land goldmine locations they would’ve missed.

👉 Want help choosing profitable locations (and avoiding duds)?

✅ This is one of the biggest things I help my 1-on-1 coaching clients with — because it can make or break your vending business.

📘 Covered in: Beginner Course, Module 2 — Location Hunting & Negotiation

👉 Learn this now or continue to Mistake #3 — Pricing Products Too Low