Vending Machine Placement Proposal: Free Template 2026

A vending machine placement proposal is a one-page written offer to a venue: which machine, where it goes, who services it, what the venue earns, and how either side ends it. Use it when the person you pitched has to get approval from someone else. The template below is free to copy.

Most proposal templates circulating online are a sales letter with a logo on it. This one is built backwards from paperwork venues have already signed: 329 host agreements across Pinpoint's inventory, 84 of which state a revenue share, so every number in the template below has a benchmark behind it rather than a guess. The conversation that gets you to the proposal stage is covered in how to approach a business about placing a vending machine.

What is a vending machine placement proposal?

A vending machine placement proposal is a short written offer that names the machine, the exact spot it would occupy, the service schedule, the venue's share of revenue, the insurance the operator carries, and how either party ends the arrangement. It is not a contract. It is the page a manager forwards to the person who can sign one.

The distinction matters because the two documents have different jobs. A proposal persuades, in two minutes, standing up. A location agreement binds, and takes 14 clauses to do it — that full document is in our vending machine contract template. Operators who send the agreement first lose the venue to legal review before anyone has decided they want a machine at all.

When does a venue need a written proposal instead of a conversation?

A venue needs a written proposal whenever the person you can reach is not the person who can sign. At an independently owned bowling alley the general manager often decides on the spot and no document is needed. At a franchised site, a property-managed building, a municipal facility or a chain location, that manager's yes is the start of an internal approval that happens without you in the room.

Four venue situations call for a written proposal every time:

• Franchised venues, where the franchisee needs the franchisor's sign-off on anything branded in a public area.
• Property-managed buildings, including apartment complexes, where a management company or board decides. Our guide to getting a vending machine into an apartment complex covers who signs in that case.
• Chains and multi-site operators, where a regional manager approves vendors for every site at once.
• Any venue that asks you to "send something over", which is an approval process being described politely.

The reverse is also true, and it is where operators lose months: a proposal posted to a venue that has never met you converts close to nothing. Industry write-ups of vending cold calling and our own scouting agree on that point. The proposal is a follow-up instrument, not a prospecting one.

What does a vending machine placement proposal template say?

The template below is a complete one-page proposal for a single machine at a single venue in the United States. Every bracketed field is something you replace before sending, and nothing in brackets should survive into the copy the venue reads. It assumes the conversation has already happened, and it names a specific spot, because a proposal without one reads as a mailshot.

VENDING MACHINE PLACEMENT PROPOSAL

Prepared for:  [CONTACT NAME], [TITLE]
               [VENUE TRADE NAME], [VENUE ADDRESS]
Prepared by:   [OPERATOR NAME], [OPERATOR LEGAL ENTITY NAME]
               [PHONE] - [EMAIL] - [WEBSITE]
Date:          [DATE]      Valid for: 30 days

1. THE OFFER
   [OPERATOR LEGAL ENTITY NAME] proposes to place, stock and service
   [NUMBER] [MACHINE TYPE, e.g. cotton candy] vending machine at
   [VENUE TRADE NAME] at no cost to the venue. The venue supplies floor
   space and a standard 110V outlet. The operator supplies the machine,
   the product, the servicing, the insurance and the licensing.

2. THE MACHINE
   Model:        [MAKE AND MODEL]
   Footprint:    [WIDTH] in x [DEPTH] in x [HEIGHT] in
   Power:        [AMPS] A, standard 110V outlet, approx. [kWh]/month
   Payment:      Card and contactless; no cash handling by venue staff
   Photograph of the machine attached.

3. THE POSITION
   Proposed spot: [EXACT LOCATION, e.g. "lobby, east wall, 6 feet left of
   the main entrance, clear of the fire exit route"]. The machine does not
   obstruct an exit, an extinguisher or an accessible route. The venue may
   require the machine to be moved on [24] hours' notice.

4. WHAT THE VENUE RECEIVES
   Revenue share: [__]% of sales after expenses, paid monthly by the
   [15th] of the following month, with a statement showing the meter or
   telemetry reading for the period.
   "Expenses" means, and is limited to: product cost, card processing
   fees, sales tax collected and remitted, and customer refunds.
   The venue pays nothing, at any point, for any reason.

5. SERVICE AND RESPONSIBILITY
   Restocking:   [FREQUENCY, e.g. every 7-10 days], during [AGREED HOURS]
   Faults:       Responded to within [24-48] hours of being reported
   Cleaning:     Operator cleans the machine and the floor beneath it
   Contact:      [NAME], [PHONE], reachable [HOURS]
   Venue staff are never asked to open, restock, refund or repair.

6. INSURANCE AND COMPLIANCE
   General liability: $[1,000,000] per occurrence. A certificate of
   insurance naming [VENUE LEGAL ENTITY NAME] as additional insured will
   be issued before delivery.
   Licences and permits: [LIST], held by the operator.
   Sales tax: collected and remitted by the operator.

7. TERM AND EXIT
   Initial term: [12] months from installation, renewing for successive
   [12]-month terms unless either party gives [60] days' notice.
   Either party may end this arrangement on [30] days' written notice.
   The operator removes the machine within [7] days of termination and
   makes good any damage to the floor or wall.

8. NEXT STEP
   If this works, I will send a two-page location agreement containing
   these terms for signature, and schedule delivery for [PROPOSED WEEK].

   [OPERATOR NAME]              [SIGNATURE]            [DATE]

Attachments: photograph of the machine - photograph or sketch of the
proposed position - certificate of insurance - [TRADE REFERENCES]

What goes in each section of the proposal, and why?

Each of the eight sections answers an objection before the venue raises it, in the order venues raise them. That order is not decorative: a venue reading section 4 before section 1 is reading about money before it knows the machine is free to host, and that is the reading that produces a no. Here is what each section does, and the mistake that kills it.

Sections 1 and 2, the offer and the machine. The job of the first ten lines is to establish that the venue spends nothing and does nothing. Name the power draw and the footprint in inches, because the first silent objection at any venue is "where would it even go". Attach a photograph. A specialty machine that makes a product in front of a child reads differently from a snack cabinet, and the picture does that work faster than a paragraph.

Section 3, the position. Naming an exact spot is what separates a proposal from a mailshot, and it doubles as a compliance statement: say in writing that the machine blocks no exit, extinguisher or accessible route. Venues with public liability exposure check that first. Choosing the spot before you name it is what our 8-point location score is for.

Section 4, what the venue receives. State the percentage and the base in one sentence, because 20% of gross and 40% after expenses can land within a dollar of each other on the same machine. Keep the expense list closed at four items. The phrase "and other costs" lets either side re-argue every payment for the life of the agreement.

Sections 5 and 6, service and insurance. These two sections are why a cautious venue says yes. Most venue managers have met a machine that sat broken for three weeks with a handwritten sign taped to it. Name a person, a phone number and a response window. On insurance, $1M general liability is the figure venues ask for, and a certificate naming the venue as additional insured is usually wanted before delivery rather than after — the detail is in vending machine business insurance.

Sections 7 and 8, the exit and the next step. A 30-day exit is the most persuasive line in the document and it costs you little: across our signed inventory the risk is not venues ending agreements, it is venues waiting for a machine, a median of 62 days at the September 2026 snapshot. Close with a specific next step and a proposed delivery week. A proposal that ends with "let me know your thoughts" gets thought about.

What revenue share should you write into the proposal?

Open at 30% of revenue after expenses and hold 40% in reserve. Across the 84 Pinpoint host agreements that state a share, 56 sit at 40%, 11 at 30% and 14 at 50% — and those 50% agreements are retail and gas-station sites with foot traffic far above what a first placement usually has. Writing 50% into an opening proposal gives away the only negotiating room you have.

Three rules make the number defensible rather than arbitrary. Quote a percentage, never a dollar figure the venue will earn: that is an earnings claim, and the FTC Business Opportunity Rule attaches documentation obligations to those. Quote after expenses, with the four-item list, rather than on gross. And quote one number rather than a range, because a range is read as the lower end by you and the upper end by them.

What a venue accepts varies with how much traffic it brings and how much competition there is for its floor space. Rates by venue type, alongside the industry's own published ranges, are in how much vending machine owners pay locations. Independent write-ups such as Vending Exchange's commission explainer put the common band at 10-25% of gross, which lands in a similar place once expenses come out.

What should the placement script say if you walk in first?

The placement script is four sentences, delivered standing, to whoever is behind the counter, and its only goal is to learn who signs and whether the venue wants a written proposal at all. Our scouts run a version of it at every venue, Tuesday to Thursday, mid-morning — after the opening rush, before the afternoon one, when a manager has ten minutes.

"Hi — I place [machine type] machines in venues like this one. It costs you nothing, it takes about [30] inches of wall, and you'd get [__]% of what it takes. Who would I talk to about whether that's interesting?"

Then stop talking. The answer to that last question is the entire purpose of the visit. If the person behind the counter is the decision maker, the conversation is happening now and the proposal becomes a confirmation. If they name someone else, ask when that person is in, get the name spelled correctly, and ask whether to email a one-page proposal in the meantime. If the answer is "just leave something", leave the proposal with the position already filled in for their building.

Three objections come back often enough to script answers for: who fixes it when it breaks, what happens if it does not sell, and whether the venue is liable if a child is hurt. Each is handled in the pitch guide, and all three are also pre-answered by sections 5, 6 and 7 of the proposal, which is the point of sending one.

What gets a vending machine placement proposal rejected?

Placement proposals are rejected for reasons outside the document more often than for anything inside it. The venue already has an exclusivity clause with a soda or snack supplier. The site is leased and the landlord controls the common area. The building is franchised and the franchisor keeps a vendor list. None of those are objections you can write your way past, which is why qualifying a venue — covered across the five methods in how to find vending machine locations — comes before drafting anything.

Of the failures that are the proposal's own fault, four repeat:

What the proposal did	How the venue read it	Fix
Promised the venue a monthly dollar figure	An income claim from a stranger, with nothing behind it	Give the percentage and the base; let them do the arithmetic
Left the position blank or vague	A mailshot sent to 200 venues	Name the wall, the distance and the footprint
Attached a 14-clause agreement instead	A legal review, scheduled for never	Send the one-pager; the agreement follows the yes
Named no service contact or response window	The broken machine they already remember	Name a person, a number and a 24-48 hour window

Expect the base rate to stay humbling even with a good document. Pinpoint scouted and qualified 26,311 venues to reach 329 signed host agreements — roughly one signature per 80 venues approached — and that is with full-time scouts doing it daily. A proposal improves conversion on venues that were already a fit. It does not create fit. The arithmetic of how many venues you have to approach is in how many businesses you pitch to land a vending location.

FAQ

What is a vending machine placement proposal? A one-page written offer to a venue naming the machine, the exact spot it occupies, who services it and how often, the venue's share of revenue, the insurance the operator carries, and how either side ends the arrangement. It is the document a manager forwards to whoever can actually sign. It is not itself a contract.

Do I need a proposal, or can I just walk in and ask? Walk in first. The in-person conversation is what produces a yes; the proposal is what survives the walk to the general manager's office. Send a written proposal when the person you spoke to has to get approval from an owner, a franchisor, a property manager or a board.

What revenue share should I put in a vending machine placement proposal? Open at 30% of revenue after expenses and keep 40% in reserve. Of the 84 Pinpoint host agreements that state a share, 56 sit at 40%, 11 at 30% and 14 at 50%. The 50% agreements are retail and gas-station sites with much higher foot traffic than a first placement usually has.

Should the proposal include how much the venue will earn? No. Naming a dollar figure the venue will earn is an earnings claim, and under the FTC Business Opportunity Rule earnings claims carry documentation obligations. Give the venue the percentage, the base it is calculated on, and the monthly statement it will receive.

How long should a vending machine placement proposal be? One page. It exists to be read in two minutes by someone standing up, then forwarded by email. The detail belongs in the location agreement that follows it, which runs to about two pages across 14 clauses.

How many proposals does it take to land a location? More than most operators expect. Pinpoint scouted and qualified 26,311 venues to reach 329 signed host agreements, roughly one signature per 80 venues approached. A better proposal improves conversion on venues that were already a fit; it does not rescue an unqualified list.

Next step

Write the proposal if you have a venue in mind and a person to send it to. If what you actually need is the venue, that is the part no document supplies: the 155 venues on our list have already signed the agreement this proposal is trying to earn, a median of 62 days ago, across 33 states and 151 cities. See what is open near you, or read the pricing — a $1,199 enrollment fee, all of it back plus $1,000 if we do not present you a location within 6 months.