How This Retiree Built 15+ Vending Locations, $5,500 a Month
A 66-year-old retiring from the car business built a 15-location vending route mostly on his own, drawn in by vending's low capital threshold.
$5,500
Monthly Revenue
15
Locations
18
Machines
If I hadn't found Mike and the community, there's no way I would have started this on my own. Had no idea what to do.
Background
Joe, 66, is from the Milwaukee area and was preparing to retire from the car business after years of 12 to 13 hour days. His wife, a couple years younger, still runs her own business. Joe was a professional bowler for seven years, earning spots in the Milwaukee and Wisconsin State Halls of Fame, and once tried a fulfillment-center business that fizzled out for lack of product.
I was getting ready to retire from the car business, and I was like, "Well, I can't just do nothing."
The Challenge
Joe had looked at other passive-income options before, including rental real estate, laundromats, and car washes, but they all carried a high barrier of capital. He'd also come across negative reviews of vending online, though he chalked those up to individual missteps rather than the business itself.
I looked, I think initially on YouTube or X, and there were some people that had some bad experiences, and that was their fault, that was not the business's fault.
The Turning Point
Early community calls reframed his mindset around getting his time back and being his own boss after years of long days in the car business. The low investment threshold and passive-income potential sealed the decision, and Mike and the community walked him through what he had no way of figuring out alone.
It wasn't a get-rich scheme. It was the passive income, it was the low threshold for investment that attracted me to the business.
Where They Are Now
Three years in, still running the business mostly solo, Joe has about 15 locations and 18 machines — a mix of combo machines, chilled AVS machines for salads and sandwiches, micro markets, and coffee machines, plus a coffee-service deal at an apartment complex. He's generating $5,500 a month, with three more locations pending and a goal of 20 by year-end. He's planning to hire one or two people for picking and stocking next. Anchor accounts include the Jefferson County courthouse and the health and human services building, and the freedom has let him spend more time golfing with his wife.
I can do it when I want to do it, how I want to do it. I'm my own boss.
