Personal Hello from Eric
Well if you took the time to find this page, then thanks for hanging around a while! The goal of this vending machine blog, VenderDefender.com, is to educate you, entertain you, & get to know you.
I am Eric Normand and have been in the vending business for about a decade. I'm married with 4 little critters (my children) that make every day like heaven 
with momentary flashes of hell thrown in for excitement :-p
In 1999, I started one of the first few vending machine companies online. Everyone knows it as USEDvending.com, where we buy and sell pre-owned vending machines.
Then, in 2001, I wanted to separate the new & used machines so that there was no confusion: 4MEGA-Vending.com was born.
I've seen many vending websites come and go, but thanks to our Lord, our business has grown every year!
Over the years, I've talked to, trained, & learned from literally thousands of vending machine operators - everyone from the 7 year old little girl that called me about 10 times in 1 hour, with a single question each time , before buying her first of several candy vending machines to the 50+ year professional vending business owners.
Along the way, I've heard many success stories (like people who after a bankruptcy created a successful vending business) and many horror stories (like my, now, good friend Ricky that was taken by a biz-op scam & then watched his entire life fall apart.) Stories that can make you cry - for their happiness & some, their pain. In some cases, we have been able to educate that person and make suggestions that have turned that pain into pleasure… those are really great memories!
The point is, I've learned tons from all these people & their experiences in addition to my own. Things like….
What makes them succeed?
What makes them fail?
What mistakes did they make?
What innovations did they create?
What did they do to turn it around?
What products move best?
How do they run their businesses?
What big step brought them to the next level?
I want to share these with you!
Now, I'm pretty analytically minded and have a dry sense of humor; so hopefully you can relate.
At times, I may not hold my tongue when maybe I should, but at least you'll get my honest insight & opinions!
More importantly, I want to hear from YOU. I'm serious!!!!
Feel free to post your comments via the link below each blog.
Who knows, maybe we'll do a featured story on your business!
Or, if you hear about anything cool related to the vending industry, let me know so we can discuss it.
Oh, before we forget, be sure to save us in your favorites!
Take care,
Eric
Comments
October 19, 2007
Raymond Dionne said:
Eric, have you heard of a trailer with many bulk vending machines? Your thoughts please. I would like to have one to take to various places with large crouds. Thanks for your comments. Ray D.
Hey Mr. Raymond, glad to see you're still building it. I haven't seen this done with bulk candy machines, but I have seen it with Snack & soda machines mainly at construction sites & ballgames. They were very successful! I would think a bulk candy trailer could also do well but to a more limited customer base. You may have a wide variance on products used depending on the type event & crowd you are attending.
Of course, for some of these events you're likely to be asked for a business license; so you may need one in several towns or at least a temporary exhibitor's permit.
With bulk candy machines, you'll need to use sun cards or a covering to help protect the product. Also, you'll need to have a changer onboard. Keep in mind that you'll need a large supply of product to fill all those machines just for a day or weekend; so, you'll have to make sure that you can move the product at enough events or through normal location placements to keep it from going bad.
Let me know how it goes.
March 10, 2008
Nancy Stuckey said:
Just got into the vending world and bought 15 candy machines. Setting them up next week. Any advice.
Nancy Stuckey said:
Just setting up my candy 15 machines. First time, retired and needed a little extra income. Any advice. Thanks.