Vending machines are key to public school alimentation, but their snacks and drinks are usually overpriced. Most have heard from students all over campus how much of the price difference is from the store’s bulk / packaged, but they still buy the products from the vending machines. Most vending machines make $200 a day (vending.com), which is a considerable profit, knowing that vending machines could cost $3,000-$5,000 each. One of the very frequently asked questions is: Where do all of the profits of the vending machines go? Most reasons are that the schools often have agreements with vending machine companies, where a portion of the profits go towards supporting school programs and activities. This revenue helps schools fund extracurricular activities, sports teams, and other educational initiatives.
A primary factor contributing to the higher prices of school vending machines is the cost of stocking and maintaining them. Vending machine companies must cover expenses such as purchasing the products, restocking them regularly, and ensuring the machines are in good working condition. These costs are then passed on to the consumers or the students, resulting in slightly higher prices. Additionally, schools may have specific requirements for the types of products sold in vending machines, which can limit the selection and potentially increase costs.
It’s important to note that the prices of items in school vending machines can vary from school to school and region to region. In Santiago, most of their vending machine prices range from $1.25-$3.00 per snack or drink. Other schools’ vending machines can have different prices since the prices may also be influenced by factors such as the cost of living in the area and local market conditions. A primary reason other schools/districts could vary in different prices is that they could have different snack varieties.
The public health advocacy institute (phaionline.org) explains how a traditional cold beverage vending machine consumes an estimated 3000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year (kWh/yr), translating to an average annual energy cost of $313 per machine. This could be a lot of money for an unsuccessful vending machine, but it’s almost impossible for a school vending machine to be unsuccessful due to all of the students at the school. As explained earlier, the annual price of a vending machine ($313) can be slightly more than the daily earnings of a vending machine ($200). If a school vending machine earns $200 each day, that is way more profit than what the school pays the vending machine company per year.
It’s evident that most vending machines are overpriced and earn way more profit than what their owners or renters are paying. Students continue to buy snacks from the vending machine since they are a more convenient source of snacks, but most of the time, their inclusions are higher priced than an average storebought packaged deal worth of snacks. The system could be worse, but there Is no point in complaining about the price if the students continue to buy the snacks, and the vending machines will continue to profit.
