Sanity Check--Is $180k too much for this route?
Hi all, I bought my first 5 vending machines in Oct '24 and have since brought my total to 8 machines in 6 locations. I have the opportunity to buy an existing route of 14 machines that has a gross profit of $120,000/year. I have verified this with the owner and have seen the Cantaloupe data. YoY growth for the past 4 years seems to be about 6%.
The owner is asking $180,000 for the route, inventory, and delivery vehicle (a Ford van with about 100k miles on it). Our current profit margin for our 8 machines is about 55%. While we'd really like to take on this route, I feel in my gut that this is just too high a price. What is a fair and reasonable price for this route? How should I go about negotiating? I spoke with the seller today, and they seem locked into the $180k price.
Posted Mar 5, 2026, 2:37 AM UTC