Posts Tagged ‘How to operate sticker machines’

What an illegal crane machine looks like

Now everyone knows what an illegal vending machine looks like I want to provide you with the actual legal verbiage to back it up.  First I want you to know that I have had a friend tell me that when you ad dollar to the prize that it is a bonus prize. For example he would have a pile of stickers from his sticker machines that would not sell. He created a display that had various stickers and tattoos on them along with the photo of a $1 dollar bill and a $5 dollar bill.

Next he would place a $1 dollar bill in with the sticker that would vend first. He says when they win a dollar on the first try they know that there is real money in there. He would place another dollar a little ways up and then he would place the $5 dollar bill in the middle of the stack and then another $1 dollar bill at the top of the stack.

I do not know how many of you have seen the inside of a sticker machine but they hold nearly a box of stickers at a time if you fill it up that much. He would empty the stack every single time he set machines up like this. His crappy stickers and tattoos are still today his best selling item when they are setup in this fashion.

The problem is that he is too stubborn to change his ways. This works for him and he makes money and that seems to be the underlining factor. I beg all of you not to be so stubborn and it will protect you and your assets as you accumulate them from your vending machine business.

Whether you have spiral gumball machines with a few capsules that have a small piece of gum with $5, $10, $20 dollar bills wrapped around them they are still bad news and could ruin your source of revenue.

Now to the law as it pertains to those of you with me in California.

Bureau Of Gambling Control – Number 10 Law Enforcement Advisory

Illegal Gambling Devices

California’s gambling device statutes are broad in their coverage and prohibit any person from owning, renting, or possessing illegal gambling devices. (Penal Code, 330a, 330b, 330.1.) An illegal gambling device has three features:

1. It is a machine, apparatus, or device (Coin operation is not required);
2. Something of value is given to play the device
3. The player has the opportunity to receive something of value be any element of hazard or chance (“something of value “ is not limited to coins, bills, or tokens, gift cards, game credits, or anything else with a value, monetary or otherwise.) (Penal Code, 330a, 330b (d). )

In addition, if a device can readily be converted to have the features of an illegal gambling device, (as listed in 1, 2, and 3 above), it is an illegal device. (Penal Code, 330b (d). )

As an additional example, a coin pusher is an illegal gambling device, whether or not it purports to have an element of skill, because the player can win coins by playing.

There is a very big Southern California crane machine operator that has dozens and dozens of crane machines like the machine we took a picture of.   He convinces his locations with a piece of paper that he has on the side of the machine that it is a game of skill and not chance and is therefore exempt from the California Bureau of Gambling Control. One day he and his location owners may regret treading down that path.

How to operate sticker machines

How to operate sticker machines

Just for the record sticker machines are not a whole lot different than operating other types of vending machines. It could be argued to the contrary once you get the hang of it but I think you could agree about the similarities.

Now the rule to filling sticker machines is based on the amount of revenue the machine will bring in. You will actually be able to dial in your product purchase precisely and what I mean by that statement is being able to order what is needed for your machines and not have a lot extra. You might ask yourself doesn’t that defeat the bulk vending mentality? To answer that question the answer is yes and no. As you know they call a majority of vending machines bulk vending machines or bulk vending. The reason behind this term is because of the way that you should be buying product. The more products you can buy in bulk the deeper the price cuts they manufacturers give to you on the products they offer. As you get your products cheaper you are increasing your profit margins and your cash flow instantly putting more money in your pocket every month. Doesn’t that sound great? The following is the basis for a very tightly run and clean machine sticker machine business. You never want to be stuck with extra product while you are first starting out. The goal when you first start the vending business is the following:

1. Locate and stock all of your machines.
2. Next to visit your machine for service and filling the machine with the proper amount of product.
3. The concept is fairly easy. Buy only what you need to fill all of your machines and nothing more.  Anything else is your hard earned money sitting there.

Now keep in mind that you do not want to spend more than 25% of your machines revenue on product either. You must keep solvent. These rules only to bulk vending machines IE; Candy, capsule and stickers, and tattoo machines

The basics are as follows.

Amount of revenue produced = Stacks of stickers per column in your sticker machine
$80 = 2 stacks
$120 = 3 stacks
$160 =4 stacks
$180 = 5 stacks

So on and so forth. You will love to see your quarters stacking up and your stickers sold out every month. You do not want a bunch of unsold product after you service your sticker and vending machines. Ordering product based on this revenue schedule will save you money and boost your revenue without leaving you with a lot of stagnant product. Another benefit to ordering product this way and running your machines this way is product turnover. To keep people coming to your machines you need good product turnover. As you stock your machine in relation to the amount of money you will be bringing will allow you to sell out your sticker machine product frequently. As you sell out your product and replace it with something new that will attract more sales. So the moral of this story is to sell out your product so you can replace it with something new and that will help keep those sales coming for you! Please note that running a sticker machine is a different ball game in comparison to your candy and capsule machines. Your customers cannot see the actual product in the sticker machine itself unlike a gumball or candy machine where they can see the actual product. Get live displays for your sticker machines and if that is not possible get a high resolution copy from your local copy shop. Sticker machine displays are a whole other subject that I will have

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