milk vending machine

[Whitewalker]

Don't underestimate the time involved in keeping social media activity up to date , interesting and creative. It really is an art.

Yes and if it’s was just my imagination I’d be concerned but with a wife 3 teenagers and a few others involved it spreads the load .

 

[bobk]

I agree, to do it properly will cost money, but again, what the heck does 40K of capital buy you in farming these days?

Oh yes , spend 40 grand to get get some twit rocking up at 5 in the morning to say his milk is sour @Derrick Hughes

 

[ollie989898]

Oh yes , spend 40 grand to get get some twit rocking up at 5 in the morning to say his milk is sour @Derrick Hughes

The people I know who have spent the money on a milk vending machine get people at 5 in the morning telling them the machine has run out of milk and they would like some more!

Doesn't take long to recoup your money if you're flogging the stuff for the money that many of them do. Best of all it's all business done with the farmers favourite- liquid cash.

 

[farmboy]

The costs soon add up, vending machine, building/hut for the machine, pasteuriser, building for the pasteurizer, milk cooling, transfer pump, vehicle to transport the milk if on another site, marketing, e.g. signs etc.

They’ve done one here and definitely this. It’s another tie, people will soon get pee'd off and stop coming if they rock up and find machine empty. From what I’ve seen around and about I wonder if it’s in danger of being done to death

 

[thewalrus]

Flat out in social media. As in one or 2 posts a day which costs nothing or next to nothing. I’m sure if you asked them what % of their day is spent on marketing what would it be .

it’s not volume it imagination. Any how my vending machine is sitting in the shed , the bottles are on order and we’re making finishing touches before we kick off so time will tell and I will see for myself.

I suppose the point I’m making is never underestimate marketing. You can have the best product in the world. Without marketing no one will know you have it or how to buy it from you. Building up a social media account with Many thousands of followers takes interaction and time/effort and as you say imagination! It doesn’t have to cost money




good luck and best wishes with the venture takes a brave person to try something new

 

[Tim G]

From what I’ve seen around and about I wonder if it’s in danger of being done to death

And yet just about every convenience shop, supermarket, petrol station etc sells milk.

 

[farmboy]

And yet just about every convenience shop, supermarket, petrol station etc sells milk.

Not every person gives a sh!t where their milk comes from or is prepared or able to pay a premium for it I’m afraid

 

[Tim G]

Not every person gives a sh!t where their milk comes from or is prepared or able to pay a premium for it I’m afraid

Not every person wants to drink milk, and alarmingly not everyone that does, knows that it comes from a cow. But that's only part of it. Some will want to know where it comes from and how it's produced, some will buy into it because they can reuse glass bottles, some will believe it to be healthier, others will use it because they want milk as fresh as possible, for some the novelty of using a vending machine will be the draw. I know of someone with a vending machine not far off the M25, if you stood in his yard for half an hour I'm sure you would see just about every section of society using it.

 

[Whitewalker]

I suppose the point I’m making is never underestimate marketing. You can have the best product in the world. Without marketing no one will know you have it or how to buy it from you. Building up a social media account with Many thousands of followers takes interaction and time/effort and as you say imagination! It doesn’t have to cost money




good luck and best wishes with the venture takes a brave person to try something new

Thanks, the way I look at it , if I bought a pickup at 20k it would cost me money and depreciate . The same money spent over the last few years as I have pieced bits of this together has the potential ability to add value and give a return. The vending machine and pasteuriser has second hand residual value if it all goes flat and the other farm improvements are a bonus .

yes it’s a bit scary to do something different but also exciting. I hope it also helps that we live on a main arterial route which when the water main was replaced a counter had thousands of users a day 20 years ago and it’s got busier.

If it goes t1ts up at least I give it a go .

 

[upnortheast]

And yet just about every convenience shop, supermarket, petrol station etc sells milk.

& every tap in the country has water,
but brilliant marketing shifts thousands of litres in plastic bottles at a premium price

 

[farmboy]

Not every person wants to drink milk, and alarmingly not everyone that does, knows that it comes from a cow. But that's only part of it. Some will want to know where it comes from and how it's produced, some will buy into it because they can reuse glass bottles, some will believe it to be healthier, others will use it because they want milk as fresh as possible, for some the novelty of using a vending machine will be the draw. I know of someone with a vending machine not far off the M25, if you stood in his yard for half an hour I'm sure you would see just about every section of society using it.

I’m not disputing any of though. All I was saying was in this area I can think of a lot popping up now and surely at some point the market will become saturated.

 

[kiwi pom]

If someone round here did it it would be good (pasteurised though) I think it would sell well, I'd certainly buy it. Got to do it properly though and be spot on with hygiene etc.
It would only take one bad operator and a health scare to harm the whole industry. It's why I'm against non pasteurised sales.

 

[Tim G]

If someone round here did it it would be good (pasteurised though) I think it would sell well, I'd certainly buy it. Got to do it properly though and be spot on with hygiene etc.
It would only take one bad operator and a health scare to harm the whole industry. It's why I'm against non pasteurised sales.

Please don't start that argument.

 

[Steve welder]

There seems to be a growing demand for raw milk though

 

[kiwi pom]

Please don't start that argument.

Not wishing to start an argument at all. Just pointing out that I think there is a market for pasteurised vending machines too. Some people would use them but not a raw milk one.

It would be interesting to put two side by side on the same farm, using the same milk and see if you could taste the difference.

 

[Tim G]

Not wishing to start an argument at all. Just pointing out that I think there is a market for pasteurised vending machines too. Some people would use them but not a raw milk one.

It would be interesting to put two side by side on the same farm, using the same milk and see if you could taste the difference.

Of course there is a market for pasteurised milk from a vending machine, and for the op putting a machine in the local pub carpark it would have to be pasteurised milk. No one mentioned raw milk until you said are against it. The debate about whether it tastes different etc has been covered before.

 

[Sid]

Have a friend with 3 different brand of machines. The difference is amazing, some are easy some are hard work.
Also they say it's a full time job keeping them all running and marketing etc.
You don't just plug in, walk away and watch the cash roll in!

 

[Whitewalker]

Have a friend with 3 different brand of machines. The difference is amazing, some are easy some are hard work.
Also they say it's a full time job keeping them all running and marketing etc.
You don't just plug in, walk away and watch the cash roll in!

is it any harder than doubling your cows or adding an enterprise or quitting and getting a job . What is easy these days?

everything is hard work now

 

[upnortheast]

You don't just plug in, walk away and watch the cash roll in!

Whatever the project, the folk that take that view don`t last long. The ones who do the attention to detail & make it work are the ones who succeed.
Robot milking the classic example

 

[Sid]

Robot milking the classic example

Spot on!