Guide
The Three Ways a Venue Ends Up With a Nicotine Vending Machine
“Free” describes the invoice on day one. It does not describe the arrangement.
Free placement means an operator installs at no charge, usually keeping most or all of the sales. Revenue share means the operator owns and runs the machine and pays the venue an agreed percentage. Buying outright means the venue owns the machine and becomes the tobacco retailer. The three differ less in price than in who holds the license, who funds the stock and who carries the verification duty.
The three, side by side
| Free placement | Revenue share | |
|---|---|---|
| Venue pays | Nothing | Nothing |
| Venue receives | Often nothing, or a nominal amount | An agreed percentage of sales |
| Who owns the machine | The operator | The operator |
| Who is the retailer | The operator | The operator |
| What the venue is really giving | Wall space and a 21+ door policy | Wall space and a 21+ door policy |
Set against buying outright, where the venue pays for the machine, holds the license, funds the stock, processes the payments and keeps the revenue.
What separates free placement from revenue share
Mechanically, very little. Both are an operator putting its own machine in your room. The difference is whether you are paid, and the honest way to evaluate a free placement is to ask what the wall space is worth to you. If a machine occupies two feet of wall in a busy room and returns nothing, that is a decision to make deliberately rather than by default.
The questions that cut through all three
- What is my share, and a percentage of what — gross sales, sales after tax, or sales after product cost?
- When am I paid, by what method, and what report comes with the payment?
- Who holds the tobacco retailer license for this address, and who pays its fee?
- Who owns the stock at the moment of sale?
- Whose loss is it if the machine or the stock is damaged or stolen?
- What is the term, how does either side end it, and who removes the machine and repairs the wall?
- Is there exclusivity — does hosting limit anything else I can sell?
An operator who cannot answer all seven in writing is quoting a model, not an offer. The full list →
On earnings figures
The scenario tool on the revenue share page runs entirely on numbers you enter, not on borrowed averages. See it →
Which model Afterwrk runs
Revenue share. Afterwrk owns the machine and the stock, is the retailer, handles the operator-side licensing for the placement where applicable rules allow, services the unit, and pays the venue an agreed percentage of the net profit on it. The percentage, the basis it applies to, the payout schedule, the term and the exit are set in the venue agreement before anything is installed.
Last reviewed . A person rechecks the sources before this date changes.
Common questions
Is free placement ever the right choice?
It can be, where the wall space genuinely has no other use and the venue wants the amenity for guests rather than the income. Make it a decision rather than a default.
Can a venue negotiate the share?
The percentage, the payout timing, the term and the exit are contract terms. They are exactly what a venue should be negotiating.
What does Afterwrk's share work out to?
It is set per venue in the agreement, and we do not publish a single rate. Everything else about the deal — who pays for what, who owns what — is published.
See whether your venue qualifies
The assessment applies everything on this page to your actual address.