This is the one page here that argues you probably want something other than a vending machine. Read the numbers and decide for yourself — but read them before you give up 13 square feet of leaseable floor.
What it costs you
Nothing, in the normal arrangement. The operator buys the machine — roughly $3,000–$8,000 new for a glass-front combo with a card reader, $1,200–$3,500 refurbished — pays to move and install it, buys every case of product, and absorbs spoilage and theft. You supply floor space and a power outlet.
Their money comes out of the spread. Product runs 45–55% of the shelf price in the machine. On $600 a month in sales that is $270–$330 of gross profit, and out of that comes card processing (5–7% of cashless sales), fuel and drive time, the machine amortized over five to seven years, service labor of roughly 45–75 minutes per visit including the drive, and whatever commission they pay you.
That arithmetic is the entire reason thresholds exist. Below a certain sales volume the visit costs more than the margin it collects, and no amount of enthusiasm on your side changes it. When an operator declines a small property, they are usually not negotiating.
What you actually pay is the electricity. A modern LED glass-front cooler draws roughly 6–10 kWh a day, about $20–$40 a month at typical commercial rates. An older non-LED machine can run two to three times that. It is a small number, but it is a real one, and it is worth knowing before you agree to supply power to three machines.
One more honest note on the phrase itself: free vending machine means free to the property, not free product. Vending prices run roughly 40–80% above grocery, which pays for single-unit purchasing, the drive, the labor, and the spoilage. Telling your members that number before the machine arrives is a much better conversation than explaining it after.
Does your coworking space qualify?
The practical floor is about 60 daily badge-ins, which is usually 100 to 150 desks sold. Below that, most operators decline — and the reason is arithmetic, not attitude.
Coworking is where a traditional machine most often underperforms, and it is worth understanding why before you ask for one. Members already get free coffee, frequently free beer or kombucha, and they are ninety seconds from a street with cafes. Capture runs 3 to 6% of daily badge-ins — sixty badge-ins is two to four vends a day, roughly $150 to $300 a month. That is below most operators’ service floor, which is why the calls do not get returned.
Then there is the floor space, which nobody puts in the comparison. A 38-inch machine occupies roughly 12 to 14 square feet with service clearance. At $35 to $60 per square foot per year, that is $420 to $840 a year of leaseable space you have given up. A 10% commission on a $250-a-month machine pays you $300 a year. The machine can genuinely be a net negative on space alone.
What works instead is an unattended smart cooler or a small market: a glass-door cooler with a card reader where members grab and go, or a compact self-checkout kiosk. Lower cost per service visit for the operator, a much better fit for a members’ pantry, and it can be run as a paid amenity rather than a commission deal.
| Your coworking space | What operators typically say |
|---|---|
| Under 60 badge-ins a day | Smart cooler at most. A full machine will sit and the operator will quietly deprioritize you. |
| 60–150 badge-ins | Smart cooler, or one drink-forward machine if you have space you genuinely cannot lease. |
| 150–300 badge-ins | Unattended market becomes viable and is almost always the better answer than machines. |
| 300+ or multi-floor | Market in the main pantry plus machines on off-floors where a market is not staffable. |
| Suite operators with private offices | Behaves more like a small office building. Use the office thresholds instead. |
These are working ranges, not guarantees. Route density beats every one of them: a property that sits ten minutes from a machine an operator already services can get a yes at numbers that would otherwise be a no.
How commission actually works
The typical structure is 5–15% of gross sales excluding sales tax, paid monthly or quarterly. What moves the number is volume, exclusivity, how many machines you host, and whether you are asking for premium or branded product that costs the operator more.
Many small accounts get 0%, and that is normal and honest to say. On $400 a month in sales, 10% is $40 — and the operator’s own take-home at that volume is often under $100 after product, fuel, and processing. A commission at that level either does not get paid, or it gets paid by raising the shelf price, which your own people then complain to you about.
That is the tradeoff nobody says out loud: commission comes out of price. Fifteen percent on a $2.00 item is thirty cents, and it does not come from nowhere. If the people buying from the machine are your staff, your residents, or your guests, a high commission is a tax you are levying on them and collecting a fraction of.
Structures worth asking about instead, especially under about $800 a month in machine sales:
- A flat monthly fee per machine ($15–$50). Predictable, and it does not distort pricing.
- Lower shelf prices instead of a commission. Often the better deal when the buyers are your own people.
- Free product for a break room, an event, or a staff allowance. Frequently worth more than the cash.
- Free-vend — you buy the product at wholesale and the machine dispenses at $0.00. No sales, so no commission. This is the right answer more often than people expect.
Whatever you agree, ask for the sales statement. Machines report per-item sales through telemetry, so a monthly statement is a reasonable ask. A commission percentage on a number you cannot see is a number you are taking on faith.
What is different about a coworking space
What to require in the placement agreement
This is the part almost nobody writes down, and it is where the next two years of this arrangement are actually decided. Most placement agreements handed to property managers are one page and protect the operator. None of the clauses below are unusual asks; a good operator will agree to most of them in the first conversation.
Also specific to a coworking space
- A right to remove or relocate on short notice, since your floor plan will change and you should not need the operator’s permission to reclaim leaseable space.
- A defined product tier that does not duplicate your free pantry, attached as an exhibit.
- Event-day restocking, if you host evenings — an empty machine on event night is worse than no machine.
This is a checklist, not legal advice. Have your own counsel review anything you sign — particularly the insurance, indemnity, and exclusivity language.
Ask for a machine for your coworking space
VendBuddy makes software for vending operators, and we pass property requests to operators working in your area. There is no cost to the property; operators pay VendBuddy when we refer a location, which is how this is funded. We do not own machines and we are not the operator — the placement agreement is between you and whoever takes the account. If no operator near you is taking new placements, we would rather tell you that than leave you waiting.
Request a machine for a coworking space →When a vending machine is not worth it for your coworking space
Say no if any of these are true
- Under about 60 daily badge-ins. Ask for a smart cooler and revisit at 150.
- A generous free pantry you are not willing to differentiate from.
- Any placement in space you could actually lease. The commission does not cover the square footage.
- A cafe or convenience store in the same building lobby.
- A space that markets aggressively on everything-included and is not prepared to explain a paid option to members.
Nobody else in this business will tell you that, because everyone else on this search result is paid when you fill in a form. A machine that sits half-empty in the wrong spot is worse than no machine: it generates complaints, it uses your electricity, and it is oddly hard to get removed once it is there.
Questions
Other property types
The model is the same everywhere; the thresholds and the operational details are not. If you manage more than one kind of property, these are the other breakdowns:
Request a machine for your coworking space
VendBuddy makes software for vending operators, and we pass property requests to operators working in your area. There is no cost to the property; operators pay VendBuddy when we refer a location, which is how this is funded. We do not own machines and we are not the operator — the placement agreement is between you and whoever takes the account. If no operator near you is taking new placements, we would rather tell you that than leave you waiting.
Request a machine for a coworking space →