Vending Machine Business PlanWhen does another machine make a route less efficient?
Another machine weakens a route when its incremental contribution is smaller than its extra route and location costs, or when it consumes enough time to reduce service at existing machines. Compare the whole route before and after. Average profit per machine hides this constraint.
In this 28-day illustration, two identical machines need four complete rounds. Each round includes 15 minutes loading, 40 driving and 15 at each machine. Adding a third stop raises driving to 65 minutes and mileage from 20 to 35 miles per round. Paid labor costs $20/hour and vehicle operation costs $0.50/mile; neither is a national tariff.
| Route input or result | Two machines | Three machines |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes per round | 85 | 125 |
| Four-round paid hours | 5.667 | 8.333 |
| Four-round paid labor | $113.33 | $166.67 |
| Four-round vehicle cost | $40.00 | $70.00 |
| Total route cost | $153.33 | $236.67 |
| Rounds feasible in eight hours | 4 | 3 |
Price the incremental decision
If enough labor is available, the third stop adds $83.33 of route cost per period: $53.33 labor plus $30 vehicle cost. Suppose the new machine produces $140 contribution after stock, card fees and percentage commission. With $40 extra fixed location and maintenance costs, it adds just $16.67 before depreciation, interest and tax. At $100 contribution it reduces operating profit by $23.33.
The minimum incremental contribution in that unconstrained example is $123.33. This is not a machine sales target: divide that cost by the new location’s contribution per dispensed unit to obtain its required volume. Equipment purchase and loan principal require a separate funding decision.
Apply the time constraint before accepting
With only eight paid route hours, four 125-minute rounds do not fit. Only three complete rounds fit; all three locations get three visits in the calculator’s all-stops-per-round model. Recheck every slot’s stock coverage at a 28/3 = 9.333-day interval. The new stop’s $16.67 unconstrained gain is not evidence of viability when old machines lose sales.
Try a different access window, more hours, a separate service run or greater stock capacity and price each explicitly. The profit calculator includes loading, refill, service, driving and a hard route-hours limit. It models an entered route; it does not solve a shortest-path or vehicle-routing problem.
Collect actual route times, parking and access restrictions, machine receipts and the written location agreement. Re-run the comparison if a machine’s demand differs from the others: the homepage models identical cohorts, so use separate scenarios for different locations.
