Vending, explained for the people who own the space.

Spare Corner

Standards

Editorial standards

The rules every Spare Corner guide follows, from the first source to the last correction.

Sourcing

Every figure and rule in a guide is sourced to a primary source where one exists: codes and standards, statutes, agency guidance and public contracts. Where there is no primary source, we use a named public source, such as a manufacturer’s specification sheet or a trade association. Each source is linked where the fact is used, and every guide ends with its list of sources.

We do not invent quotes, case studies, customer stories, business names or tests, and we do not imply data we do not have.

On the rules that land on a host, such as the ADA, the National Electrical Code and IRS reporting, we cite the primary source, say what it means in plain terms and recommend a professional for the final call. We never give a definitive legal conclusion about a specific business.

Legal, tax and electrical guides carry a short note that they are general information, with the date the sources were checked.

Data and worked examples

Some guides cite open listings from a vending location service’s marketplace, labeled as described under Conflicts of interest. The listings are a snapshot that leans toward family venues and cotton candy machines, so we do not present them as a survey of all vending, and their visitor counts are reported by the venues and are not audited.

Worked examples use the same illustrative inputs across the site unless an article says it is testing others:

  • $8 per serving or sale;
  • $1.80 cost of goods per serving, the figure fixed in the host agreements in those marketplace listings;
  • a 40% venue share of net sales, the median across those listings;
  • a $100 monthly placement fee for a Standard location, or $200 for Premium.

Every example is labeled as an illustration, not a forecast, and shows its arithmetic so you can redo it.

AI assistance

AI tools assist our research and drafting. The editor, Don Harrison, checks each article against its sources before publication, and the desk that publishes it is accountable for it. The photos in our guides are AI-generated too, as described under Images.

Images

The photos in our guides are AI-generated depictions of typical scenes, such as a break room, a bar’s game corner or a laundromat. Each one is labeled “AI-generated image” in its caption. They do not show specific businesses, venues or people, and they never carry data or text presented as fact: the figures are in the article and its sources.

Bylines

Articles carry a desk byline rather than the name of an individual writer: the Spare Corner Owners Desk or the Spare Corner Facilities Desk. The desk named in the byline is accountable for the article. Each desk page sets out the desk’s beat and how it reports, and lists everything it has published.

Every article also names its editor, Don Harrison, who checks each article against its sources before publication, as described under AI assistance. Questions about an article reach the editors through the form on our contact page.

Corrections

When we get something wrong, we correct it in the article and add a dated note in a Corrections block at the end of the article, saying what was wrong and what is right. A substantial update also changes the article’s “Updated” date. To report an error, use the form on our contact page, with the article’s address and the passage in question.

Review dates

Every article ends with the date it was last reviewed and the date of its next review. Articles about money, legal rules and taxes are reviewed every 90 days; others every 180 days. A review rechecks each source, figure and link, and updates the article when something has changed.

Conflicts of interest

Nobody pays for coverage in Spare Corner: no paid placements, no sponsored guides and no payment for a mention or a link. When a guide uses figures from a company’s listings, such as the PinPoint Vending marketplace, it labels them with the source and the date of the snapshot.

External links are citations: they point to the source of a fact, open in the same tab and are not marked nofollow.

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