There are so many different varieties of products to vend out of a vending machine. And with a great vending machine from Piranha, you can really amp up the variety in your unit! Once you go to your discount store to get your products, how do you set the proper price to make a profit AND keep prices reasonable?
Take your items and find out the individual cost. Average wholesale cost for snack items can range from $0.15-$0.75 and drink items can range from $0.25-$1.00. Basically, you want to take the price you pay for your item, and multiply by 2. Usually, that equates to a fair price to operate your business and provide your services for that location. There’s really not any formula or exact equation to set your prices. You can adjust them however you like. But this would be the general rule.
You can also make things simple by grouping similar items and setting prices according to type of item. For example, all chips $0.75, all candy bars $0.95, all can sodas $0.75, etc. There’s always exceptions for specialty items that will need to be adjusted. Healthy food items tend to cost more to purchase; therefore those items need to have higher prices to compensate.