When we launched, finding a vending machine location meant cold calling businesses, getting ignored, and wasting weeks.
Now operators are browsing 35,000+ verified locations across 290+ cities — offices, gyms, hotels, apartments, warehouses — and sending inquiries in seconds.
If you're still hunting for locations the old way, come checkout VendPlacer.
Happy to answer any questions about how it works.
After years of seeing vending operators struggle with the same problem — spending countless hours cold calling, driving around scouting locations, and dealing with gatekeepers — we decided to build a better solution.
Today we’re excited to share vendplacer, a marketplace built specifically to connect vending machine operators with businesses and property owners actively open to vending placements.
The platform currently includes 24,000+ verified locations across 280+ cities worldwide, including:
The idea is simple: instead of blindly pitching businesses, operators can browse available locations, filter by city and venue type, and send direct inquiries to owners already interested in hosting vending machines.
For property owners, listing is completely free.
For operators, the goal is to dramatically reduce the time spent hunting for placements and help scale routes faster.
We’re continuing to improve the platform and would genuinely value feedback from experienced operators here:
Would love to hear thoughts from the community and continue building something genuinely useful for the vending industry.
A friend of mine runs a vending route. He was spending more time finding locations than actually running his business — cold calling offices, getting ghosted, starting over.
So I built VendPlacer. Property owners list their spaces because they want a machine. Operators browse by city and foot traffic and reach out directly. No cold calling, no guessing who the right contact is.
We're live in 290+ cities worldwide now. Wanted to share it here since this community would get the most value out of it. Happy to answer any questions.
f you’re still cold calling or walking into random businesses all day, you’re doing this the hard way.
What’s been working way better for me lately is flipping the model: instead of chasing locations, I focus on finding places where the owner is already open to having a machine.
Here’s what I mean:
Most people waste time pitching locations that were never interested in the first place. That’s why the conversion rate feels terrible. You might talk to 50 places and get 1 yes.
Instead, look for signals of openness:
When you approach these, don’t “ask for permission.” Position it as:
“I noticed you already have/are the type of place that benefits from this. I can upgrade it, handle everything, and share revenue.”
Big difference in response.
Also, speed matters. The people who win locations aren’t the ones with the best pitch—they’re the ones who:
One more thing: once you land a good location, double down on that category. If a gym works, go get 10 more gyms. Same with apartments, hotels, etc.
Finding the first one is hard. Scaling after that is way easier.
Curious if anyone else has moved away from cold outreach and what’s been working for you.
If you run vending machines or you're just getting started, this is your spot.
Drop a comment below with:
- How many machines you're running
- What city/market you're in
- Your biggest challenge right now (usually locations, right?)
I'll start: been running a 12-machine route in the Dallas area for about two years. Biggest lesson — the location is worth more than the machine. A mediocre machine in a great spot beats a great machine in a mediocre spot every single time.
If you're struggling to find locations, two things that actually work: Google Maps scouting for waiting room businesses (tire shops, urgent cares, laundromats — captive audience, low competition), and browsing vendplacer.com where property owners list spaces they're willing to rent. Cuts out the cold call rejection since they're already open to it.
What's everyone working on?
Whether you just bought your first machine or you're a property owner with unused lobby space, this is the right place.
A few things this community covers:
For vending machine operators:
- How to find and secure locations
- What to pay for rent (and how to negotiate)
- Which venue types perform best
- City-specific tips and market conditions
- Route planning, scaling, and machine selection
For property owners:
- How to attract vending machine operators to your space
- What to charge for rent
- What the placement process actually looks like
- How to vet an operator before signing anything
The basics on location pricing:
Standard vending machine placements run $48–$75/month for a roughly 10 sq ft footprint. Higher-traffic venues (hospitals, large offices, entertainment) can go higher. Operators pay flat monthly rent in most cases — no revenue sharing required unless you're in a very high-volume spot.
How operators find locations:
Most use a combination of Google Maps scouting, cold walk-ins, referrals from existing accounts, and marketplaces like vendplacer.com where property owners list available spaces directly. The marketplace approach is fastest since the property owner is already open to hosting a machine.
How property owners attract operators:
List your space somewhere operators are actually looking. vendplacer.com lets you list for free — most property owners get inquiries within a few days.
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Drop any questions below. Both operators and property owners are welcome here.