Is this machine actually worth the spot? Free, no signup. All defaults are editable starting points.
ATM operators sign locations on best-case transaction counts and buy machines against projections. The honest average is 100 to 150 transactions a month, not 300. Start with your bar (40) and monthly take-home goal ($3,000). Pick a location preset: C-store, Bar or venue, or Weak site, each filling monthly transactions, surcharge, interchange, commission, load trips, and vault cash as editable starting points. The location card prices the margin killers: per-transaction commission plus any flat monthly location fee, processing per transaction, connectivity and monitoring, and amortized maintenance. The cash-loading card prices every load trip (minutes plus round-trip miles at your vehicle cost) and the vault cash trap: parked cash carries an annual opportunity-cost rate, charged monthly, so a $5,000 float at 5 percent quietly costs $20.83 a month. Results show gross, every cost line, true net per month, and dollars per route hour. Verdicts are KEEPER, MARGINAL, WEAK, or PULL IT. The break-even line names the transaction count the spot needs, the what-if box prices any promised count before you sign, and the route planner turns your goal into machines like this, warning past 160 route hours a month. Planning arithmetic only, not financial advice. No signup; runs on your phone.
Example only, not typical pricing. C-store defaults at a $40 bar: gross is 150 transactions times ($3.00 plus $0.25) equals $487.50. Processing is 150 times $0.20 equals $30; location commission is 150 times $0.50 equals $75; connectivity $25 and maintenance $30. Load trips are 4 trips times 45 minutes equals 3.0 hours at $40, which is $120, plus gas of 4 times 24 miles times $0.67 equals $64.32. Vault cash cost is $5,000 times 5 percent divided by 12 equals $20.83. Total cost is $365.15. True net is $122.35 per month, or $40.78 per route hour, so the verdict is WEAK. Break-even is ceil($260.15 divided by ($3.25 minus $0.70)) equals 103 transactions; this spot runs 47 above it. A spot promising 200 transactions would net $249.85 a month. The route planner turns $122.35 per machine into 24.5 machines and 73.6 route hours for a $3,000 month.
What is the vault cash trap?
Dead cash parked in a machine carries an annual opportunity-cost rate, charged monthly. $5,000 in a machine at 5 percent costs $20.83 a month whether the machine gets used or not, and weak spots park that cash for nothing.
How is the break-even count calculated?
Fixed monthly costs (location fee, connectivity, maintenance, gas, your time, vault cost) divided by per-transaction margin (surcharge plus interchange minus commission minus processing), rounded up. The C-store example breaks even at 103 transactions.
What does WEAK mean if the spot is still profitable?
Net between $0 and $150 a month. It earns something, but the route hours and vault cash tied up in it could do more somewhere else.
Why does the planner warn about stronger locations, not more weak ones?
Past 160 route hours a month, adding weak machines just buys you a driving job. The flag tells you to renegotiate commissions or place better spots instead.
Should I use gross revenue to compare locations?
No. Gross is what operators brag about; net is what pays. A $650 gross with $400 in costs is a $250 machine, and this tool shows why before you sign.