Mr. Zippy’s Express Ice and Water House Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mr. Zippy’s?
Mr. Zippy’s is a coin and bill operated vending device that can deliver both purified water and ice to the consumer. Mr. Zippy’s Express provides the customer with several options. The customer has the choice to purchase 1 gallon, 3 gallon or 5 gallon purified water. The customer also has the choice to purchase a 10 lb bag or 20 lb bulk ice. The machine will accept quarters, tokens and bills. The ice machine has a quarter hopper so it can dispense change.
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Can you detail the available features?
Mr. Zippy’s comes standard with one 2000 lb ice maker to produce ice with a 2000 lb storage tank. It can be ordered with an additional 2000 lb Ice maker to increase production to 4000 lb ice per day. The standard machine can deliver about 200- 10 lb bags of ice per day and if you upgrade to the additional ice maker you can deliver over 400- 10 lbs bags of Ice per day.
Mr. Zippy’s also comes with a 2000 gallon per day reverse osmosis unit to produce purified water for both the water delivery system and ice production side.
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How was Mr. Zippy’s developed? When was it first produced?
Mr. Zippy’s was developed by the engineering team at Jim Coleman Company based upon customer demand by car wash operators looking for additional sources of income. Since Jim Coleman Company has been in the car wash business for 40 years vending out water for washing cars it was a logical decision to produce a machine to vend out both purified water and ice to the customers. The car wash operators are used to operating a coin operated vending machine and Mr. Zippy’s expands the available products that the car wash operator can sell. Mr. Zippy’s is a new product for Jim Coleman Company and is just now being released to the industry in the fall of 2007.
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Where is the vending machine manufactured?
Mr. Zippy’s is designed and manufactured in Houston Texas by Jim Coleman Company. Jim Coleman Company has been manufacturing coin operated vending machines for 40 years. Since we have been manufacturing Reverse osmosis machines to produce spot free water it was a logical choice to continue to produce RO machines for drinking water.
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Why would a carwash owner/operator be interested in these machines?
Car wash operators are always looking for opportunities to sell more services or products to there customers. Mr. Zippy’s Express Ice and Water House is attractive to the car wash operator because this is simply an extension of there present business model. They already own coin operated car wash equipment and this is simply a coin operated ice and water vending system.
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What is the potential income from a Mr. Zippy’s Ice and Water house?
This is extremely hard to predict based upon so many varying conditions across the United States. Based upon existing water machines and ice machines in the field a customer can see a nice return on there investment. As always the location is extremely important to the success of a machine. The best locations should have good visibility from the street and have high traffic in front of the location. The best customers for ice and water during the week days are construction workers and lawn maintenance personnel or anyone that works outdoors. On weekends the best customers are people that are camping, boating or having parties. Based upon interviews of other ice machine owners they are reporting that their machines earn $3,000.00-$4,000.00 per month of income. These machines only sell ice and Mr. Zippy’s sells both Ice and Water. Based upon interviews of water machine owners they report sales of $2,000.00 -$3,000.00 of income per month. So the potential income from Mr. Zippy’s could be $4,000.00- $6,000.00 per month. Income can vary widely based upon the location.
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Are these units feasible only in the summer?
These units do produce more income from ice in the summer but the water sales are consistent throughout the year. However you will sell ice to customers every month of the year.
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What considerations should a potential customer be aware of?
Mr. Zippy’s Express Ice and Water House requires a health permit because you are dispensing a product that is a consumable. Individual states and cities have different requirements regarding the dispensing of ice and water. You will need to contact the authorities in your state for exact regulations. You will also need to notify your insurance company that you will be vending drinking water and ice.
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Can I monitor Mr. Zippy’s remotely?
Yes, from the inside of Mr. Zippy’s you can connect a DSL line that will allow you to monitor the income and potential errors or faults via the web. You will be able to see the status of the machine and how many ice bags you have left in the machine.
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If Mr. Zippy’s goes out of service can it call me?
Yes if you bring in a phone line and purchase the paging option then Mr. Zippy’s will call you whenever it goes out of service.
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What Maintenance is required for Mr. Zippy’s?
Weekly maintenance is required on the machine. You will need to go through a check list every week recording pressure gauges settings and flow meter settings. Based upon the pressure gauge settings you may need to change out filters. Daily Maintenance is simply cleaning the machine and checking bag inventory. Also every 90 days you will need to submit a water sample for bacteriological testing.
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What exactly does the Texas law require of water vending machines?
- A state water vending license issued by the state.
- The distribution of vended water to be performed by or under the guidance and control of a bottled water and vendor operator who holds a Certificate of Competency.
- A water sample to be tested for bacteria every 90 days. The results of the test must be submitted to the state of Texas and a copy kept for two years. If the machine ever fails the test the machine must be shut down and cleaned and sanitized until the machine passes the Bacteriological test.
- Copies of the written maintenance program to be available for inspection.
- Copies of cleaning and Maintenance records to be available for inspection.
- The water vending unit to be inspected and cleaned monthly. However JCC recommends weekly testing and cleaning.
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Can Mr. Zippy’s be connected to a water well?
You cannot connect it to a water well in the state of Texas. Mr. Zippy’s has to be connected to a city or state approved water source.
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Please describe the installation process.
- Mr. Zippy’s Express Ice and Water house will be delivered on a truck and trailer. The local Mr. Zippy’s distributor will unload the machine with either a crane or a forklift. The machine weighs 9,500 lbs. and can be unloaded with a 12,000 lbs heavy duty forklift with 9’ long forks.
- Once the unit is set on a foundation it will need to be fastened down using anchor bolts.
- The local distributor will then install the mansard fascia on the roof of the building.
- The distributor will install the condensers on the roof for the ice makers.
- You will need to contact the local Manitowoc distributor to connect the condensers to the ice makers. They will charge for this service but if the Manitowoc distributor makes the final connection the warranty will be extended to two years.
- Also it will require a local electrician and plumber. The plumber will need to provide a ¾” water line and a 2” sewer line. Most local municipalities will allow the drain on Mr. Zippy’s to be connected to a storm sewer line.
- The electrician will provide a 100 amp electrical service to the building and will also run electrical circuits to the condensers and lights mounted on the roof.
- Once power, water and drain are connected the Mr. Zippy’s distributor will start up the unit and begin operation. The whole installation process should take about 5 working days to complete.
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What is the size of the Mr. Zippy’s Ice and Water House building?
The new ice and water building is 13’ wide by 8’ deep. Please see the drawing to show complete dimensions.
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What are the operating costs of Mr. Zippy’s?
- Purified water costs about .03 cents per gallon to produce and you can sell it for .25-.30 cents per gallon
- Purified ice costs about .25 cents for a 10 lb bag of ice (includes cost of bag) and you can sell it for $1.00- 2.00.
- Purified Ice cost about .01 cents per lb so 20 lbs of bulk ice cost .20 cents and you can vend it for $1.75 - $3.00
As you can see ice and water has a high degree of profitability.
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You might ask why ice is so expensive at the convenience store.
The ice is produced at a central plant and is hand loaded and delivered to the local store. With the high cost of fuel we will continue to see ice at the convenience store increase. However with Mr. Zippy’s Express Ice and Water House we have changed the business model so that there is no labor and fuel transportation costs.
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Where can you purchase Ice bags for Mr. Zippy’s?
Jim Coleman Company sells the ice bags for Mr. Zippy’s in quantities of 25,000 or 50,000.
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Do we need to buy the Ice bags from JCC?
Yes to keep the warranty in place. JCC cannot warrant an ice bag delivery system if we do not know what kind of ice bag the customer is using.
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Will there be an ice only machine?
We will have an ice only Mr. Zippy’s available before January 1st. The ice only unit will have the option and available room for a water softener and RO unit if the customer wants that feature.
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What will be the size of the ice only machine?
The ice only machine will be 10’ long by 8’ deep.
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Can I connect Mr. Zippy’s to my car wash RO system?
No you cannot because the RO system needs to be food grade and we have to make sure the water is disinfected properly. However we could delete the water softener from Mr. Zippy’s if the car wash provides soft water to Mr. Zippy’s.
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Is Mr. Zippy’s tested by any independent labs? Mr. Zippy’s has been tested by NAMA (National Automated Merchandising Association) to make sure that we are in compliance with “Standard for the Sanitary Design and construction of Food and Beverage Vending machines”. This is a rigorous standard that not all ice vending machines can meet.
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What about sales Tax? Sales tax issues will vary from state to state.
However in the state of Texas when ice is sold it is taxable but water sales are not taxable. The screen graphic inside the machine will display and separate the sales between ice and water for tax purposes. Also interesting to note that since Mr. Zippy’s manufactures ice then the machine sale is not taxable to the customer.
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Are there any state laws regarding ice bags?
Texas state law requires the location of where the ice is produced to be printed on the bags. We are printing a location number on the ice bags so we can track which machine produced the bag of Ice.
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Do we have a program for a customer that wants to purchase multiple Mr. Zippy’s Express Ice and Water Houses but does qualify to be a distributor?
We have a MLO program, Multi Location Operator, designed for people that want to purchase10 or more units. You can contact the factory for details.
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Will there be other costs related to Mr. Zippy’s?
You will have to include the following:
- Cost of the machine with options
- Freight from Houston to final destination
- Site preparation costs, machine can be mounted on an existing parking lot as long as the slab is minimum 5” thick
- Plumbing cost to provide ¾” water line and 2” sewer line to the machine.
- Electrical cost to provide 100 amp electrical services to machine. The electrician will need to run the electrical lines from inside the machine to the roof of the machine to connect the condensers and light fixtures.
- Distributor installation costs
- Manitowoc Ice distributor cost for connection of Ice machine to condensers
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