Free vending machine placement: a plain definition
A free vending machine placement is an arrangement where a vending operator supplies, delivers, installs, stocks, services and insures a machine at no charge to the host business. The host provides floor space and power. The operator is paid from the margin on products sold through the machine. There is no rental fee, no lease and no lock-in contract.
How the program is funded, in one paragraph
Every cost in the program — the machine, the freight, the install labour, the stock, the refrigeration servicing, the payment terminal and the insurance — is carried by us and recovered from the margin on what the machine sells. That is the whole model. It also explains the one real constraint: a placement only works where enough people walk past the machine, so we assess each site honestly and decline the ones that will not support it. A machine that sits empty costs us money and does your lunchroom no favours.
Six claims on this site, and how to check each one
Do not take any of this on faith. Each row below pairs a claim we make with the question that proves or disproves it. Ask all six before you sign a placement agreement with us or with anyone else — the questions are just as useful on a competitor.
| What we claim | How to verify it |
|---|---|
| The machine is free | Ask for the placement agreement before you agree to anything. It contains no rental line, no minimum spend and no exit fee. Read it in full — it is short. |
| We are insured | Ask for the certificate of currency for public liability. We send it on request before the machine is delivered, which is what most facilities and WHS managers file. |
| We service the machine, not you | Ask what happens when the compressor fails on a Saturday, and who pays. The answer is that we do, and no call-out is invoiced to the host. |
| We install where we say we install | Ask for two sites of a similar type within thirty minutes of yours. We will give you referees who have agreed to take the call. |
| You can end it | Ask what removal costs. It is nothing, including freight, and there is no notice penalty. |
| The numbers on this site are real | Ask how a stated turnover figure was measured. Machine sales are recorded by the payment terminal and telemetry, so figures come from transaction data, not estimates. |
What we put in writing before an install
Nothing about the arrangement needs to be verbal. On request, and before the machine is delivered, we provide the following documents so your facilities, WHS or procurement team has a complete file.
- The placement agreement in full, including removal terms
- A certificate of currency for public liability insurance
- The agreed product list, including any exclusions your site has asked for
- The machine specification: dimensions, weight, power draw and clearances
- Site check notes covering position, access path and egress clearance
- Named contact details for the person responsible for your site
Where our experience comes from
The content on this site is written from operating machines, not from research. Install lead times, doorway and clearance requirements, the effect of a heatwave week on water sales, the behaviour of a compressor in a dusty workshop, the fact that a machine at reception outsells the same machine in a back corridor — all of it comes from placements we run and service around Australia.
Where we quote a figure we say how it was measured. Sales figures come from payment terminal and telemetry data. Temperature and stock claims come from machine reporting. Where something is an estimate or a typical range rather than a measurement — electricity cost, purchase prices for machines we do not sell — we label it as a range and explain what moves it.