“I want $5,000 a month.” What does that actually take?
Run the math backwards. Set the monthly income you're aiming for and this calculator tells you how many machines it takes, what they cost, what the payments look like — and the part most calculators skip: how many restocking stops a week that route demands, and what your time is actually worth per hour.
Questions we actually get
How many vending machines do I need to make $5,000 a month?
It depends on what each machine nets, which is volume × margin − monthly cost. At 35 sales a day and typical margins a single machine can net roughly $700–$900 a month financed, so a $5,000 target usually lands between 6 and 9 machines. Change any slider — volume, ticket, commission — and the machine count updates instantly.
How much does it cost to start a vending machine route?
Financed at 2.5%/mo, the up-front capital requirement is close to zero and the cost shows up as monthly payments. Paid cash, a 7-machine route on $4,995 combo machines is about $35,000 plus your first product fill — budget roughly one full fill per machine as working capital.
How much work is a vending machine route really?
Plan on roughly 30 minutes to service a machine plus drive time between stops. Restock frequency depends on how fast you sell relative to machine capacity — this calculator computes stops per week and hours per week for your exact scenario, then divides your net income by those hours so you can see your effective hourly rate before you buy.
Is a vending machine route passive income?
Not entirely — and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. It's semi-passive: the machines sell around the clock, but product buying, restocking and the occasional service call are real hours. Higher-capacity machines and fewer, better placements are the two levers that push it closer to passive.
Keep running the numbers.
Want a human to check your numbers?
Tell us the location and the budget — we’ll match it against comparable placements and quote you the right machine, not the biggest one.