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You got into this for time: dinner at home, the game on Saturday, a calendar that's yours. Every trip you make to clear a jammed bill validator comes out of that time.
What's working: deciding on cash machine by machine
Going card only is tempting. Cantaloupe says 78% of vending sales on its platform were cashless in 2025, and the average cashless purchase was $2.45 against $1.57 for cash. Fewer jams, fewer nights counting quarters.
Cash hasn't gone away, though. Consumers still used cash for 14% of all payments in 2024, according to the Federal Reserve figures cited in this Vending Times piece. The same article says factories, schools, transit stops and lower-income neighborhoods tend to see more of it. A worker on a plant floor may not carry a card on shift.
The operators getting this right don't pick one rule for the whole route. They look at what each machine actually takes.
How to do it
Pull the split per machine. If your card reader reports sales, check cash versus card for each location over the last month.
Low cash, high hassle? That machine is a candidate for card only, or at least for emptying the coin box less often.
A real cash share? Keep the bill validator working. A customer who walks away from a card-only machine may not come back to it.
Weak signal? Basements and concrete back rooms can knock out a cellular reader, as Vending Times explains. Check the signal where the machine actually sits, not at the front door.
Do this before Monday
Pick your three busiest machines and write down their cash share.
Find one where cash is a small slice and plan your next visit around emptying it less.
If you can't see the split without opening the machine, that's the first thing to fix.
The tool for it
You can't decide machine by machine without the numbers. A card reader that reports sales shows you the split from your phone. Nayax is one of the common ones. (Partner link: VendBuddy may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.) Before you sign anything, this breakdown of card reader fees shows what the monthly and per-sale costs look like.
No machine yet? Then your first decision is which building. The payment question can wait.
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Sources: Cantaloupe 2026 Micropayment Trends Report, Vending Times: Does cash still matter?, Vending Times: When the signal disappears.
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