Vending machine locations

Offices and manufacturing plants are the most common vending machine locations: Automatic Merchandiser’s State of the Industry survey¹ found that the two together make up more than half of the locations operators serve. Micromart recommends a location with 150 or more people on site a day (Micromart FAQ³). A vendor blog puts commissions at 5% to 20% of gross sales. No survey publishes average sales by location type, so this page ranks locations on headcount, commission, and the rules that apply, and leaves sales to your own count.

Using the scorer above

The scorer above adds points for six things a location has or lacks: people on a typical day (up to 35 points), hours open (15), other food and drink nearby (20), whether people stay for hours (15), a secure indoor spot (10), and an outlet (5). The weights are our rubric, not a study. The headcount bands sit at 50 and 200 because The Vending Locator⁵ prices its placements on those tiers, from $500 for a location with 50 or more employees to $2,000 for 200 or more.

The scorer also suggests a machine. With no outlet, it suggests none. A secure space where people stay gets a smart cooler, because a cooler unlocks before it charges. A location with fewer than 50 people gets one combo machine. Anywhere else gets a spiral snack or drink machine with a card reader. The location types below follow the same logic.

Location types and what is published about each

The commission ranges are from VendBuddy⁶, a vendor blog that cites no survey. We could not find a commission or sales survey by location type from NAMA or the trade press. One of our locations takes 15%.

Automatic Merchandiser’s 2026 summary² does not break locations down by type. The 2022 edition’s public summary gives growth rates and the combined office-and-plant share, without a full table.

Offices by headcount

An office has a known headcount that is there every weekday. The commission rises with headcount, from 0% to 5% under 50 staff up to 8% to 15% at 150 or more, per VendBuddy. Hours are the weak point. An office open eight to ten hours on weekdays scores 10 of 15 for hours in the scorer above. Ask how many people are in the building on a typical day, since hybrid schedules mean the payroll count can overstate it. I’d pick the machine from that daily count and set the payroll number aside.

Manufacturing plants and warehouses

A plant that runs more than one shift keeps the machine selling outside office hours, and a break room far from the gate has no food competition. In the micro market section of the 2022 survey, manufacturing locations grew 7.5% on the year before and office locations 4.5%. A badge-access break room is a secure space where people stay, which is the case for a smart cooler that can carry fresh food. Smart coolers compared covers which models handle it.

Gyms

VendBuddy puts gym commissions at 10% to 18%. A staffed front desk makes a gym a secure space for a cooler, and one of ours is at a gym.

That is one machine at one gym. It does not tell you what another gym will do.

Hospitals

Hospitals have staff on every shift and visitors at all hours, so they score the full 15 for hours. VendBuddy puts hospital commissions at 12% to 20%, the highest floor in its list. Public hallways are open to anyone, so a cooler fits a staff break room better than a lobby.

Schools and campuses

K-12 schools come with the Smart Snacks rules below, which limit what a machine can sell to students. Universities do not: the federal rule covers schools in the school lunch program. VendBuddy puts school and university commissions at 8% to 15%. A dorm hallway is a captive audience with long hours; a classroom building empties at night.

Apartments and hotels

An apartment complex has residents at home in the evenings and at weekends, when offices are empty. VendBuddy puts apartment commissions at 5% to 10%. A key-access mail room or fitness room is secure enough for a cooler. Hotels have guests at all hours and a front desk; VendBuddy puts hotel commissions at 10% to 20%, and the 2022 survey said micro market locations at hotels and motels “jumped” that year.

Laundromats and auto shops

People wait at both, and both are usually small. VendBuddy puts laundromats at 0% to 5% commission and does not list auto shops. For a waiting room with a few dozen people a day, the scorer suggests a single combo machine.

Transit and other public property

Public agencies award vending by bid, with the commission set in the contract. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority¹⁴ put 43 machines out to bid in 2024 for staff-only areas serving more than 2,000 employees. The winning bid paid 19% on non-perishable items with a guaranteed $72,000 a year, for three years with two one-year options. Three proposals came in. Those machines serve the agency’s workforce, not riders. A guaranteed payment is owed whatever the machines sell, so I’d want a route big enough to carry it before bidding on a contract like this one.

What makes a vending machine location work

Headcount. Micromart’s lease program asks for 150 or more people on site a day and a signed location contract of at least one year that renews automatically (Micromart FAQ³). 365 Retail Markets⁴ says it has no recommended employee minimum because it sells equipment for any size of location. The locator tiers start at 50 employees.

People who stay. The scorer gives 15 points to a location where people stay for hours, such as an office, plant, dorm, or hospital floor, and none to one people pass through. That weighting is ours; we found no study measuring it.

Hours. A plant on three shifts or a hospital sells through the night. The scorer gives 15 points at 16 or more hours a day and 5 under eight.

Food on site. A cafeteria, a micro market, or a coffee bar in the building takes sales from a machine. The scorer gives 0 points when food is on site, 10 when it is a walk away, and 20 when there is none nearby.

To turn a headcount into sales, use your own estimate of buyers a day. Cantaloupe’s payment data⁷ put the average food and beverage vending purchase on its network at $2.01 in 2025, $2.45 on a card. How many people buy each day at a given location type is not published.

Rules on where you can put vending machines

K-12 schools: Smart Snacks

The USDA’s competitive food standards, known as Smart Snacks, cover all food and drink sold to students on a school campus during the school day, other than reimbursed meals (7 CFR 210.11⁸). The rule defines the school day as midnight before until 30 minutes after the official day ends, and the campus as all areas accessible to students. A machine in a staff-only room falls outside that definition; one in a hallway does not.

• Snacks: at most 200 calories and 200 mg of sodium per item, no more than 35% of calories from fat, under 10% from saturated fat, and no more than 35% sugar by weight.
• Elementary drinks: plain water, milk up to 8 oz, and 100% juice up to 8 oz.
• Middle school drinks: the same, with milk and juice up to 12 oz.
• High school drinks: adds calorie-free flavored water and drinks under 5 calories per 8 oz in containers up to 20 oz, and drinks up to 40 calories per 8 oz in containers up to 12 oz.

Regular soda is not on any grade’s list, so a school machine stocks a different product mix from an office one.

Federal property: blind vendors have priority

Under the Randolph-Sheppard Act, blind vendors licensed by a state agency get priority to run vending facilities on federal property (20 U.S.C. 107⁹). Where another operator’s machines are on federal property, part of their income goes to the blind vendor or the state agency (20 U.S.C. 107d-3¹⁰):

• 100% of income from machines in direct competition with a blind vendor’s facility on the same premises.
• 50% from machines not in direct competition, or 30% where at least half the hours worked on the premises fall outside normal working hours.
• Locations where those machines take in $3,000 a year or less are exempt.

Before pitching a federal building, ask the building manager whether a licensed blind vendor already operates there. We did not survey state laws that extend a similar priority to state buildings; ask your state’s agency for the blind before pitching one.

State and city property: healthy-vending quotas

California requires that at least 35% of the food and one-third of the drinks in machines on state property meet nutrition standards (Gov. Code §11005.4¹¹). Food qualifies at no more than 35% of calories from fat, 10% from saturated fat, and 35% sugar by weight.

Cities set their own terms in bids. The Los Angeles Recreation and Parks¹² request for proposals of July 2024 covered 43 locations, set a minimum commission of 20% of gross receipts, required at least 20% of items to meet its healthy guidelines, required card payment, and barred machines older than three years. The term was five years plus two five-year options. The City of Worcester¹³ received two bids in 2025 for its facilities: one at 25% on drinks and snacks, the other at 7.5% on drinks and 3.5% on snacks. The city awarded the contract to the second bidder.

Private property: written permission

On private property, the rule is the owner’s say-so. A tenant in an office building may need the landlord’s approval to put a machine in a common area. Get the agreement in writing with the commission, the term, who pays for power, and how either side can end it. Of those terms, I’d spend the most time on the ending, because the machine only earns back its cost while it stays in place. Pitching a location covers the agreement and what to bring.

Accessibility

Where a business provides vending machines, the 2010 ADA Standards require at least one of each type to meet the operable-parts rules (U.S. Access Board, §228.1¹⁵). Controls must sit between 15 and 48 inches above the floor for an unobstructed reach, work with one hand without tight grasping or twisting, and need no more than 5 pounds of force. Check where the card reader and the coin slot sit on a machine before placing it.

How to find vending machine locations

1. Pitch them yourself. Walk in or call the person who runs the building, with the score from the scorer above and a proposed commission. How to pitch a vending machine placement has the steps.
2. Pay a locator. We pay a locator $250 per placement. Advertised prices run from $500 to $2,000 by headcount, with no refunds at the one company that sells guaranteed placements. Before paying any locator, I’d find out in writing what happens to the fee if the location asks for the machine to go. What vending locators charge compares them.
3. Bid on public contracts. City, county, transit, and university procurement pages post vending requests for proposals with the commission and product rules spelled out, as in the Los Angeles and Cleveland examples above.
4. Buy a route. An existing route comes with locations and machines already in them. Buying a vending route covers what to check in the location agreements before you pay.