A few years ago, I wrote about how I started a kid’s gumball machine business when I was a teenager with the help of my dad. This has been a really popular post on my blog, in part because many people were surprised that gumball machines can generate over $1,000 in profit each year relatively passively.
In this post, I am going to go over the numbers behind why gumball machines are so profitable. I will be sharing my profit from gumball machines and how much profit other gumball machine owners have made.
Towards the end, I will share some tips on how you can increase the profits of your gumball machine too!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links. This money helps to support my blog, so thank you if you do make a purchase through my links!
Table of Contents
- Are Gumball Machines Profitable?
- How Much Profit I Made From My Gumball Machine Business
- How Much Can Gumball Machines Make
- Are Gumball Machines Always Profitable?
- YouTubers Who Prove Gumball Machines Are Profitable
- How to Make More Profit with Gumball Machines
Are Gumball Machines Profitable?
For people looking to make some extra money, gumball machines can be a lucrative investment. Depending on the machine and location, gumball machines have the potential to generate quite a lot of profit.
While in the past gumball machines used tokens or coins, today’s versions sometimes feature card readers that can provide additional revenue. With these machines, owners receive a percentage of all gumball sales as profits.
Furthermore, gumball machines are cost-effective because they require little maintenance and are easy to service and repair. Overall, gumball profit machines may be just the opportunity entrepreneurs need to boost their income!
How Much Profit I Made From My Gumball Machine Business
When I had my gumball machine, I would typically make around $100 per month. On an annual basis, my one machine could make between $1,000 and $2,000.
There are a few factors that impacted how much profit I was able to make. The main factor would be location! I would say that I had abnormally high earnings compared to average because of where my machine was placed.
My parents owned an ice cream store. It was also located across the street from a high school! As you can imagine, there were plenty of adults and teenagers nearby.
More importantly, most of these people entered the store with the desire to treat themselves. This made getting a gumball in addition to their other purchases a no-brainer!
My machine’s profits were only down in the winter months, when people were less interested in stopping for ice cream. Despite this, even in winter, I would make over $30 in profit each month.
How Much Can Gumball Machines Make
Most gumball machines will make between $20 and $100 per month in profit. The best thing about a gumball machine is that they tend to pay for themselves within the first case of gumballs sold. This makes this both an affordable business to start as well as one where you will see profits quickly.
From my experience, this is exactly how things went for me when I started a gumball machine business as a kid!
To make over $100 per month, you will probably need to invest in a specialty machine. Specialty machines might be equipped to take card transactions or are more unique than traditional machines. An example of a specialty machine is an oversized gumball machine or ones that have light-up features.
Are Gumball Machines Always Profitable?
Unlike other businesses, only a few factors impact a gumball machine’s profitability. Location, weather, machine type, and incentives all play a role in how much gum people will buy from a machine.
You might be surprised to learn that people will buy multiple pieces of gum from a single machine if it is placed in a good location. For example, parents who have multiple children will need to get gum for each of them. And if the color isn’t one the child likes… the parents will often pay a few more cents to try again. After all, it only costs a quarter!
You’ll also find that one person can be a repeat customer if it is in a location they are visiting for a long time. Often gumballs will lose their flavor in about 5 to 7 minutes. If the person is still around there is a good chance they will want another.
How Location Impacts Profitability
Location is a major factor in gumball machine profitability. Having the machine placed in a visible and busy spot can make all the difference in how much revenue it brings in.
If your machine is making less than $20, then you should think about changing its location. You need your machine to be visible to as many people as possible. Ideally, this would be in a spot where families frequent.
Popular locations for gumball machines include busy intersections, shopping malls, supermarkets, and movie theaters; these are places where people are likely to have some extra spending money on hand.
It is important to note that foot-traffic can be heavily impacted by the weather. In colder months, people tend to venture outside less often. The businesses where you place a gumball machine may be impacted.
For this reason, malls are often an ideal location to place a machine. People tend to visit them year-round regardless of weather!
How to Select a Profitable Type of Machine
The type of gumball machine that is used can also have a big impact on how much money it brings in.
Basic machines are typically smaller and less attractive than specialty machines, so people may be less likely to use them.
To select a profitable machine for your location, you will want to ask yourself a few questions. Here are some things you might think about to help you make the most in your location:
- If the site only fits a small machine (or a boring one!), how can you make it more attractive?
- Is there a lot of foot traffic going by? If so, is it typically adults or kids?
- Are there other machines in this location, such as a game room?
- Is it possible to place near the front door or a window?
- Is the location safe enough from theft/break-in?
- What size machine can fit in this location?
At the end of the day, think long and hard about who exactly will be purchasing your gumballs. I always loved to add incentives to my machine, like prizes. Keep reading to the next section, as I will break this down further!
Increasing Profitability with Additional Incentives
Gumball machines that have prizes are probably the most profitable.
For customers, these machines offer the opportunity to win something exciting! Just like when they use a claw machine, you’ll find that customers will keep inserting quarters in the hopes of earning a special prize.
Add incentives that make sense for who you think is most likely to purchase from your machine. Kids would love to get a small toy or sticker. If adults are more likely to walk by, then a dollar will probably be more attractive!
I have a whole post on things you can put into a gumball machine to make more money. It includes over 10 different ideas you can try. If you aren’t sure, you can even test out what is most profitable for you! This is easily done by changing the prizes each month and recording the results.
YouTubers Who Prove Gumball Machines Are Profitable
There are many people who run gumball machine businesses that are profitable. Some are kind enough to share their earnings and profit margins on YouTube so we can all learn from their experiences.
In writing this post, I came across many fantastic examples of monthly gumball machine profits. If you’d like to learn more about how much profit you can make with your gumball machine, I recommend checking out some of the videos I’ve linked below.
Quick Play earned $200 in one month
The YouTuber QuickPlay has several gumball machines. Most of their profits from their machines are in the average range, between $20 and $100.
That being said, they had one machine that was particularly impressive when it came to it’s profits. Their 7 foot gumball machine brought in over $200 in profit in less than one month!
ET Vending earned $30 in two weeks
Another gumball machine youtuber, ET Vending, shared that their medium sized gumball machine brought in about $30 of profit in under two weeks. With some quick math, you can see that their machine likely brings in $60 per month, which is a very respectable amount of profit.
If you take a look at the video in the link, you will see that they have a very typical gumball machine. Actually, their machine is identical to the one I had.. Right down to the color!
GalaxyGames843 earned $44.50 in one month
I would say that the $44.50 that Galaxy Games843 made was a bit on the lower end compared to the other machines mentioned in this post. I would guess that this is because they have a bit of an older-style machine and it is a bit smaller.
Reyes the Entrepreneur earned $21.26 in one month
Though Reyes only earned a profit of $21.26 from his machine, I found his reported profit to be a bit more accurate than some of the others. That is because he actually accounted for the cost of the gumballs and subtracted the expense from his earnings to give us the real profit amount.
He also shares that the earnings of his machines were impacted by their location. He also used cheaper machines from Gumball Machine Warehouse, which may have also impacted earnings. Toward the end of the video, he talks about malfunctions and other machine issues, which would cost more money/time to fix and overall make it harder to turn a good profit.
At the time, Reyes owned several machines that dispensed both gum and candy. Eventually, he moved on to larger vending machines before leaving the gumball and vending machine business completely.
How to Make More Profit with Gumball Machines
The best way to increase your profit margins would be to increase the number of machines that you own. The more you have, the more money you will make.
Additionally, you can increase your profit margins by investing in machines that are able to dispense multiple products such as candy, snacks, and toys.
My final tip for increasing your gumball machine’s profitability is to find machines that are more interactive. Though these machines are less common, people love being able to play games and win prizes. This means that they are likely to purchase multiple gumballs in one visit!
Have you run a gumball machine business before? Do you think gumball machines are still a profitable business?
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