Port Melbourne, VIC
Head offices, showrooms and depots on the same street — three different amenity problems, one solution.
Port Melbourne along Salmon Street, Bertie Street and the Todd Road spine mixes corporate head offices with trade depots, transport yards and light manufacturing. The tenants look nothing alike, but the vending brief is the same in each: staff numbers are too small for a catering contract and too large for a shared kitchen cupboard, and the retail on Bay Street is a drive rather than a walk from most of the industrial edge.
The problems we're asked to fix
Sites of 30–120 people fall between a kitchen tin and a catered pantry — neither works.
A single combo machine covers exactly that band, self-funding, with no office manager doing a Costco run.
Drivers and yard staff start before anything is open and finish after it closes.
24/7 cashless access at the yard entrance or crib room, refilled on telemetry rather than a fixed calendar.
Showroom and head-office sites don't want an ugly machine in a visible space.
Current-generation glass-front units with clean fascias, positioned and colour-matched to the space during the site visit.
Productivity & amenity
The cost question
| Line item | Typical Australian pricing | With us |
|---|---|---|
| Machine purchase | $4,000 – $12,000 | $0 |
| Monthly rental | $150 – $600 / month | $0 |
| Delivery to site | $150 – $450 | $0 |
| Installation & setup | $150 – $300 | $0 |
| Restocking visits | $60 – $120 / visit | $0 |
| Servicing & repairs | $120 – $350 / call-out | $0 |
| Public liability & product insurance | $30 – $80 / month | $0 ($20M cover) |
| Removal at end of term | $150 – $400 | $0 |
Typical pricing reflects commonly quoted Australian commercial vending rates and is indicative only. Our figure is not indicative: the host business is never invoiced.
Experience you can check
Written and maintained by Dan Barnes — owner-operator, Free Vending Machines Australia
I have been placing and servicing vending equipment in Australian workplaces for over two decades — offices, warehouses, gyms, hospitals, schools, remote camps and government sites. Everything on this page reflects how we actually run installs in Port Melbourne, VIC: the machines we physically stock, the lead times our crews hold to, and the service standard we carry at our own cost. Nothing here is licensed boilerplate.
Port Melbourne, VIC workplaces vary hugely floor-to-floor — a 20-person studio and a 200-person distribution centre need different machines, not the same one twice. Before we commit to a machine we check three local realities: access (lift dimensions, loading dock hours, stair-only levels and after-hours security), power (a dedicated 10-amp GPO within about two metres of the wall position), and genuine daily foot traffic rather than payroll head count. That last one is why a machine stays on site free indefinitely — we size it to the traffic it will actually get.
1. Two-question request
You tell us the workplace type and rough head count. No paperwork, no credit check, no sales visit required to get an answer.
2. Site check within 24 hours
We confirm head count, foot traffic, power location and access (lifts, stairs, loading dock, after-hours security) and pick the right machine.
3. Delivery and install
Our crew delivers, levels and commissions the machine, tests the cashless reader end-to-end and takes the packaging away. Nothing is invoiced.
4. Telemetry goes live
Every vend, temperature reading and fault code streams back to us. Low stock is flagged 2–3 days before a row empties.
5. Ongoing service, still $0
Restocks, cleaning, repairs, parts, product-mix changes and $20m public liability are all carried by us. Ask us to remove it and we do — no exit fee.
These are our three workhorse combination machines — photographed as they leave our workshop, stocked with the Australian brands your team actually buys. We recommend one based on your head count and floor space, never on what happens to be in the truck.
CV3 combo — slimline snack & drink
890mm wide · 1830mm high · 830mm deep
CV4 combo — mid-size with priced shelf labels
1000mm wide · 1830mm high · 830mm deep
CV5 combo — high-capacity site machine
1200mm wide · 1830mm high · 880mm deep
Service area
We deliver, install, restock and service free workplace vending machines right across Port Melbourne, VIC and the surrounding business, industrial and health precincts.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. We are a mobile service-area operator — machines come to your site, there is no showroom to visit.
Proof
Warehouse · Truganina, VIC
Night shift was tapping vending machines in the servo across the road. Now they don't leave the site. It's paid for itself in productivity in the first month — and we paid nothing for it.
Read the write-upEducation · Box Hill, VIC
They let our wellbeing committee sign off every single product line before anything was stocked. That is the only reason this got approved.
Read the write-upOffice · Barangaroo, NSW
Booking the dock and getting building management to approve a vendor is usually painful. This crew handled all of it — the machine appeared, plugged in, and the staff just started using it.
Read the write-up
Free download
A 20-page plain-English guide: what vending actually costs in Australia, how the $0 placement model is funded, the $20 million insurance position, what makes a site viable, and the exact questions to ask any vending supplier before you sign. No cost, no obligation, no sales call unless you ask for one.
FAQ
It can be, if the site has long hours, visitors, or shift overlap. A 30-person depot running 5am–6pm often out-sells a 60-person office that empties at 4pm. We assess the traffic pattern, not just the headcount, and we tell you honestly if it won't work.
Yes, provided both groups can reach it without crossing a forklift path. Where they can't, a second unit at the warehouse end is usually approved on the same site agreement.
Established site offices and long-run projects, yes. Short-duration builds under a few months generally aren't worth the install and demobilisation for either side.
No. Nothing. There is no rental fee, no delivery fee, no installation fee, no service call-out fee, no restocking fee and no removal fee. You are not invoiced by us at any point. The program is funded by the margin on products sold from the machine, so the only money that changes hands is a staff member tapping their card for a drink.
We carry $20 million public liability cover, plus product liability on everything stocked in the machine. The machine itself is our asset and is insured by us. Your business is not asked to extend its own policy, add us as an interested party, or accept liability for the unit. Certificates of currency are issued on request and are routinely accepted by government, defence, health and tier-one construction procurement teams.
First we fix the product mix — nine times out of ten weak sales are a range problem, not a site problem, and a two-week mix review turns it around. If a site genuinely can't support a machine, we remove it at no cost to you and there is no exit fee, no minimum-term penalty and no invoice. You are never left paying for a machine that underperformed.
No minimum term and no lock-in. The site agreement is a one-page placement document covering power, access and positioning. Either side can end it with reasonable notice, and we collect the machine at our cost.
Cashless only — tap card, phone or watch. No coins, so no coin jams, no float, no cash on site and nothing for anyone to break into. Card surcharges are absorbed, not passed on.
Two quick questions and you're on your way. No contract lock-ins, no hidden fees.
Keep exploring VIC
These pages sit either side of this one in the VIC silo — the same market from a different angle, the workplace types we install into most, and the cover that applies to every site.