They spent $3,200 on two vending machines to start a side hustle. After six months, they say, ‘It’s not as passive as people make it out to be’.

About six months ago, an aspiring entrepreneur decided to jump into the vending machine business after seeing frequent discussions online.

They shared on Reddit’s r/passive_income how they spent $3,200 on two refurbished machines and another $400 to stock them with drinks and snacks.

They put one machine in an office building with about 50 employees and another in an auto repair shop. Office building space performed steadily, pulling in $280 to $350 per month. The auto repair shop, however, only fetches $120 to $180 and is described as “hit or miss.”

Don’t miss:

After factoring in gas, inventory, and occasional maintenance, the side hustle is generating about $130 to $150 in monthly profit. “Life hasn’t changed, but it covers my car payment so I’m not complaining,” they said.

But they soon realized that the work was not as hands-off as expected. “It’s not as passive as people make it out to be,” they admit, noting that they have to restock every two weeks and face unforeseen problems like accepting a jammed bill or an attempted break-in.

Other Redditors jumped to agree. “Most of what I see here is the opposite of passive,” one person commented. “Only if you have 30+ machines and hire a guy to stock/fix them for you.”

Many commenters shared their experiences. One said their auto body shop location was among their top performers, but it had more than 30 employees on site. Another mentioned making $30,000 with six machines last year and emphasized that they were successful in finding high-traffic places like warehouses and schools.

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And that was a recurring theme: location matters more than anything else. “If I only had one repair shop, I’d be broke or losing money,” the original poster said. “I’m learning location is actually the whole game here.”

There were also creative suggestions. Some recommend placing machines in bars with new products like makeup, glow sticks or mini phone chargers. Others suggested targeting apartment complexes, hotels, or homeowners associations with community centers and pools.