How much does a vending machine make?
A vending machine makes its daily sales times the profit left on each item after product cost, commission and card fees, minus fixed monthly costs; in the example one machine clears about $373 a month.
Each item in the example leaves $0.86 after its own costs. At $98 of fixed cost per machine per month, a machine needs about 4 sales a day to break even.[3]
Sales per day decide the answer
Location matters more than any other input, because product cost and commission scale with sales while route costs do not.
| Items per machine per day | Monthly sales | Monthly profit | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $1,825 | $490 | 21.4 mo |
| 15 | $2,738 | $882 | 11.9 mo |
| 20 | $3,650 | $1,275 | 8.2 mo |
| 30 | $5,475 | $2,059 | 5.1 mo |
Ask a prospective location for foot traffic and hours, and treat the first month's actual sales as the real number. The break-even calculator and the profit calculator work the same arithmetic for other small businesses.
Costs that are easy to miss
- Commission. Many hosts ask for a share of sales; it comes off the top, before your product cost.
- Card fees. A small fixed fee per swipe is a large share of a $2 sale. Compare processors with the credit card processing fee calculator.
- Spoilage and theft. Expired stock and damaged items raise the real product cost per item sold.
- Your time. Restocking, cleaning and collecting cash take hours each week; put a wage in the route cost.
- Taxes. Sales tax on vended items, local licenses, and income tax on the profit, which is reported on Schedule C for a sole proprietor.[2]
Machine cost and depreciation
A vending machine is business equipment, so its cost is recovered through depreciation over its recovery period rather than deducted as a monthly expense, unless an expensing election applies.[1] The calculator's payback figure is a simple cash measure: machine cost divided by monthly profit before income tax. For pricing the items themselves, the markup calculator shows the price for any markup on cost.
Frequently asked questions
How much profit does a vending machine make?
It depends on sales per day. In the example, 18 items a day at $2 leaves about $373 a month per machine after product, commission, card fees and route costs.
How long does a vending machine take to pay for itself?
Divide the machine price by monthly profit. At $3,500 per machine and the example sales, about 9 months.
What commission do vending locations charge?
It is negotiated with each host. Enter 0% if the location takes nothing; busier locations tend to ask for more.
What markup do vending items have?
In the example a $0.85 item sells for $2, a 135% markup, but commission and card fees take part of that.
Are vending machine sales taxable?
Often, yes. Sales tax rules for vended food and drinks vary by state, so check with your state revenue department.