Vending Route Planner Calculator
Optimize vending machine routes by calculating service time, fuel, labor, and per-machine servicing costs.
About this calculator
This calculator estimates what it actually costs to run one full servicing loop across a set of vending machines. Total route miles is simply the number of machines times the average distance between stops — a straight-line approximation, not a real traveling-salesman route, so an unusually spread-out territory will understate driving distance here. Driving time is derived from that mileage at a flat assumed 30 mph average, which works reasonably for urban and suburban routes but will run short on rural highway stretches. Service time (restocking, cleaning, and cash collection at each machine) is added on top to get total route time.
Three cost components are then combined: fuel (route miles divided by your vehicle's MPG, times fuel price), labor (total route time times your hourly labor cost), and vehicle depreciation (a flat per-mile rate applied to total miles). Multiplying the per-run cost by how many times you run the route each week gives weekly cost, and monthly figures use a 4.33 multiplier, the true average number of weeks per month, rather than a flat 4. The calculator also reports cost per stop and machines serviced per hour as efficiency benchmarks — useful for deciding whether a route is worth keeping or should be consolidated with another. Because the mileage model treats stops as a simple sum rather than an optimized path, actual road distance and drive time may run higher for geographically scattered locations; treat the output as a reasonable planning estimate, not a routed itinerary.
Inputs
Results
Monthly route cost
$1,739.22
Monthly cost / machine
$115.95
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter Machines on route, Avg. miles between stops, and Service time per machine (min).
- Set Fuel cost ($/gal), Vehicle MPG, and Labor cost ($/hr).
- Adjust Visits per week, Vehicle depreciation ($/mi) as needed.
- Review Monthly route cost ($) and Monthly cost / machine ($).
- Use Route time (hours) and Route miles (one run) to inform your decision.
How the result changes with Visits per week
| Visits per week | Monthly route cost | Monthly cost / machine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $869.61 | $57.97 |
| 1.5 | $1,304.41 | $86.96 |
| 3 | $2,608.82 | $173.92 |
| 5 | $4,348.04 | $289.87 |
What each input means
- Machines on route
- Total machines serviced on this route.
- Avg. miles between stops
- Average driving distance between machine locations.
- Service time per machine (min)
- Time to restock, clean, and collect cash from each machine. Typical: 15-35 min.
- Fuel cost ($/gal)
- Current fuel price per gallon.
- Vehicle MPG
- Your service vehicle's fuel efficiency. Cargo vans average 15-20 MPG.
- Labor cost ($/hr)
- Hourly wage or cost for the route driver/operator.
- Visits per week
- How often you run this route per week. 1-2x is typical for snack machines, 2-3x for high-volume.
- Vehicle depreciation ($/mi)
- Vehicle wear and tear cost per mile. IRS rate is ~$0.67 (includes fuel). Depreciation alone: $0.10-0.20.
What each result means
- Monthly route cost
- Total monthly cost to service all machines on this route.
- Monthly cost / machine
- Average monthly servicing cost allocated per machine.
- Route time (hours)
- Total time for one complete route run including driving and service.
- Route miles (one run)
- Total miles driven for one complete route.
- Cost per run
- Total cost for one route completion (fuel + labor + depreciation).
- Weekly route cost
- Total weekly cost for all runs.
- Monthly miles
- Total miles driven per month for this route.
- Cost per stop
- Average cost to service one machine per visit.
- Machines / hour
- Efficiency metric: how many machines serviced per hour on average.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersMachines on route = 15, Avg. miles between stops = 5, Service time per machine (min) = 25, Fuel cost ($/gal) = 3.5 = 8 input(s) provided
- Calculate Monthly route costMonthly route cost = weeklyCost * 4.331739.22 = $1,739.22
- Calculate Monthly cost / machineMonthly cost / machine = monthlyCost / numMachines115.95 = $115.95
- Calculate Route timeRoute time = totalServiceTimeHrs + drivingTimeHrs8.8 = 8.8
- Calculate Route milesRoute miles = numMachines * avgMilesBetween75 = 75
Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the calculator use straight-line miles instead of an actual driving route?
Total route miles is computed as the number of machines times your average distance between stops, which is a simple sum rather than an optimized traveling-salesman path through your actual stop locations. For a compact, linear territory this approximates real driving distance reasonably well, but a geographically scattered route will drive more miles in reality than this straight multiplication predicts.
How does the 30 mph driving speed assumption affect the results?
Driving time is derived by dividing total route miles by a flat 30 mph average, which fits stop-and-go urban or suburban driving reasonably well. On a route with long rural highway stretches between stops, actual driving time will be shorter than this model estimates, since highway speeds run well above 30 mph, so total route time and labor cost would be overstated for that kind of territory.
What's the difference between cost per stop and monthly cost per machine?
Cost per stop divides one route run's total cost (fuel, labor, depreciation) by the number of machines, so it reflects the cost of a single servicing visit. Monthly cost per machine instead divides the full month's cost — one run's cost times how many times you run the route that month — by machine count, so it reflects the ongoing monthly cost of maintaining that machine's place on the route.
Why does the vehicle depreciation input differ so much from the IRS mileage rate?
The IRS standard mileage rate (roughly $0.67/mile) is meant to reimburse the full cost of operating a vehicle, including fuel, so using it here on top of a separately calculated fuel cost would double-count fuel. This calculator asks for a depreciation-only per-mile rate (typically $0.10-0.20) to isolate wear-and-tear cost, since fuel is already broken out as its own line item using your actual MPG and fuel price.
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