Vending Prices

[wyatt]

Couldn't find a good thread on vending prices so I thought I would start one to get a baseline of what other people have had success with.

Vending is not a big part of the car wash business for me ( <10k per year ) but I'm curious how much you guys mark your vending up and what you like most?

I currently do roughly 100% markups on most things but little trees and towels get a bigger markup. I sell from laurel venders as well as spiral clear glass venders.

My top sellers:
-Unwrapped blue towels
-ArmorAll sponge
-Little Trees
-Wet Towel
-ArmorAll Glass wipes

 

[MEP001]

I prefer to stick close to the 100% markup. It seems fair.

IMO towels need to be as low price as possible and decent quality. We opened with 50¢ towels that cost about 19¢ each. They sold really well, sometimes emptying the vendor on a busy Saturday. With plans to add a credit card swiper to the most-used vendors, I switched to a larger towel and raised price to $1. Sales immediately dropped by about 80%.

 

[Damoni88]

Here in Louisiana we sell armor all sponge, microfiber towel, black jack tire shine, glass wipes, and little trees black ice. All $1.25 and they sell very well.

 

[Eric H]

I like to do about a 100% markup but sometimes I choose to go lower in an effort to move product. For example, the Armor All Outlast (item #24 in the photo) is priced at $2 because I was buying at almost $1.50 IIRC. I couldn’t get anyone to buy them at that price point. I replaced that product with Armor All Extreme Tire And Trim a few weeks ago. I am buying at $.58 each and selling at $1.00. I’m willing to take a little less to keep them product moving.
The Armor All Original sponge pal I am buying at .42 each and they sell all day long. I’m not sure how it would affect sales if I were to raise to $1.25 but I’m happy making .58 cents on it for now. I plan to up the price to $1.25 sometime in the fall or maybe January 1st.

 

[OurTown]

The Armor All Original sponge pal I am buying at .42 each and they sell all day long. I’m not sure how it would affect sales if I were to raise to $1.25 but I’m happy making .58 cents on it for now.

Eric, where are you getting these for $.42 each? KR has them for $.52+ each.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

The buy 10, get one free deal gets you 9%. That bring them down to about 47.5¢. I'm not sure where he's finding them for 42¢.

 

[Eric H]

Pat's .47 number is correct....I'm sorry to get everyone excited.
I can't find where I got that number but is is listed as .42 in my notebook. I may have keyed the number in wrong last time I checked pricing. I transpose number positions all the time, I may have Dyscalculia (Dyslexia but with numbers).

 

[chaz]

Plus gotta add freight into the cost. $1 for cleaning sponge is very cheap! I’m higher on many items than you...but keep by 10 varieties of little trees at $1

 

[Alpine Dreams]

Southwest Louisiana

Armor All Pads (Original) - $1.25
Little Tree (Black Ice) - $1.25
Microfiber Towel - $1.25
Blue Magic Black Jack - $1.00
Blue Magic Glass Cleaner - $1.00

Year-to-date net profit on vending ~$550.00. My site isn't too big on vending.
We went up from $1.00 on all vending to $1.25 on the popular items on April.
We purchase all items from KR except for towels that we purchase separately for super cheap.

 

[Waxman]

I buy when I get free shipping. Sometimes that means spending alot on a pallet load, but with proper planning this works best for me.

 

[wyatt]

Just found an interesting place to buy some vending that may be helpful for some of you. The Dollar Tree sells Armor All spray bottles/cans in their stores as well as online. Kleen rite sells them for $1.41 per bottle + shipping. Dollar tree is obviously a dollar per and if you want a large quantity they ship free to their stores.

 

[OurTown]

Just found an interesting place to buy some vending that may be helpful for some of you. The Dollar Tree sells Armor All spray bottles/cans in their stores as well as online. Kleen rite sells them for $1.41 per bottle + shipping. Dollar tree is obviously a dollar per and if you want a large quantity they ship free to their stores.

I looked at their website and it shows that this can only be shipped UPS and ship to store was not available. Did you see these in your local store? The last time I was in one of their stores it looked like the largest collection of junk I have ever seen.

 

[wyatt]

Hmm maybe I'm closer to their warehouse or something because it lets me ship to their store for free as long as I buy at least one case of 24. But I've been in their store a couple times now and the shelves were full of them.

 

[MEP001]

I looked at their website and it shows that this can only be shipped UPS and ship to store was not available. Did you see these in your local store? The last time I was in one of their stores it looked like the largest collection of junk I have ever seen.

Maybe your selected location doesn't offer ship-to-store. I show 12 within 30 minutes of me that I can choose. I didn't have to create an account to see them.

I've been in a couple Dollar Tree stores that were a mess, presumably because they were short-staffed and the customers are slobs. Halloween seems to be the worst with kids digging through and playing with everything.

 

[Randy]

I went to the Dollar tree web site and I can order cases of Armorall cans, bottles and pick it up at my local store. The only problem is we have to pay 10.1% sales tax on it.

 

[MEP001]

That still saves a lot over Kleen-Rire plus shipping.

 

[washnvac]

Wyatt---Holy Cow!! Thanks for the info on Dollar Tree. I have one near my location, and I have no sales tax. I can not believe they sell that stuff for a buck. I am going to place an order right now.

Retail at my locations:
Trees $1
Sponges/wet towels/glass cleaners $1
Terry towels $2
Microfibers $3
All bottles/cans $3

 

[Overachiever]

I've had so many issues with vandalism on my glass front vending machine that I have changed it to cards only and jacked prices up to 150-200%. Sales are terrible now but no vandalism, yet.

 

[soonermajic]

I had already started buying some stuff @ Dollar Tree. It is kinda like a 3rd World store! I can buy 24 refillable bottles of Totally Awesome, mix w/ 10 bottles dish soap & make a kick A$$ 55 gal drum of Pre-Soak! Costs me $34!!!

 

[wyatt]

Yeah I was shocked to see they sold some brand name things... I have my wife to thank because we only went in there looking for cheap Christmas decorations!