Vending Machine ROI Calculator

This calculator builds a monthly profit-and-loss statement for a vending machine from the ground up: daily revenue (vends per day times average price) minus daily cost of goods sold (vends per day times average product cost) gives gross profit, which is then scaled to a 30-day month. From there, four real operating costs are subtracted — location commission (a percentage of gross revenue paid to whoever hosts the machine, commonly 10-25%), monthly electricity (higher for refrigerated machines), monthly insurance, and restocking costs (trips per month times cost per trip, covering fuel and time) — to arrive at monthly net profit. Payback period divides the machine's purchase cost by that monthly net profit, showing how many months of operation it takes to recoup the initial investment; annual ROI annualizes net profit and expresses it as a percentage of machine cost, while profit margin shows what share of monthly revenue survives as profit after every cost — COGS, commission, electricity, insurance, and restocking — is subtracted out.

The model treats vends per day, price, and product cost as flat averages, which is a real simplification: actual vending performance varies significantly by location foot traffic, product mix, and seasonality, and a machine's early months often underperform its steady-state run rate as a route builds a reliable customer base. It also doesn't account for machine downtime, theft or vandalism, or eventual repair and replacement costs — treat the payback period and ROI here as a best-case planning estimate for a healthy, established location, not a guarantee.