Scaling Through Hiring – Making Your Vending Route Passive

Once your vending business has locations and systems in place, the next level of growth is making it passive by hiring operators. This module walks through how to find part-time help early, calculate labor costs, and scale your team effectively while maintaining high profit margins and minimal personal time investment.

The Passive Business Mindset

The key to sustainable scaling is building systems and delegating tasks. With vending, that means hiring staff early—even if you only have two locations. By doing so, you build operational freedom into your business from day one.

Instructor example:

• Manages two vending routes in two different states

• Spends just one hour per week per route, primarily on oversight and checking numbers

Where to Find Employees

Instead of using traditional job boards, the most effective method for vending operators is posting in the gig section of Craigslist.

Why the gig section works:

• Targets people who want flexible side work (e.g., Uber Eats, DoorDash drivers)

• Attracts workers who don’t need a strict 9-to-5 schedule

• Stocking can be done any time of day, as long as it’s completed on schedule

Structuring the Role

Pay Range: $20–$25/hour (varies by region) Time Requirement per Machine:

• Roughly 1.5 hours per machine per week

• This includes 2–3 stocking trips per week

• Each visit averages 30–45 minutes

Example Calculation (2 Locations):

• Stocking Time: 1.5 hours/machine × 2 machines = 3 hours/week

• Additional Tasks: 1 hour for inventory + 1 hour for ordering = 2 more hours

• Total Weekly Time: 5 hours/week × 4 weeks = 20 hours/month

• Labor Cost at $20/hour: 20 hours × $20 = $400/month

Profitability Breakdown

Assume:

• Each location earns $2,000/month, totaling $4,000/month in revenue.

• Labor = $400/month

• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) = ~$1,200/month

• That still leaves around 50% in net profit, while the route remains largely passive.

Scaling Further: Operator Capacity

• An efficient operator can manage up to 14 machines full-time.

• This means you can scale locations first, then layer on more hours for the same operator before needing to hire again.

• As you gain warm intros and expand your locations, your operator's hours increase proportionally.

Summary:

• Hire early—even with just 2 machines—to build passive operations from the start.

• Use Craigslist (gig section) to find flexible, reliable part-time workers.

• Structure the job to allow for independent, time-flexible stocking.

• Keep labor costs low and margins high while still reclaiming your time.

• A full-time operator can manage 14+ machines, allowing you to scale aggressively before expanding your team.

This module gives you the blueprint for delegating operations and scaling sustainably with minimal day-to-day involvement.