r/WeirdSideHustles • u/KazuKazu_hyperbowl • 21h ago

Sharing My Sidehustle I make money checking if forgotten vending machines are actually abandoned

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I honestly didn't know this was a thing until a few months ago. From what I know, there are a lot of vending machines that are just sitting around in old laundromats, apartment buildings, repair shops, and other places where nobody really pays attention to them anymore.

What I do is basically check if those machines are still being maintained or not. Someone sends me a list of locations and I go there, take pictures, see if anything changed, check if the machine is still plugged in, and report back what I found.

Some people might think it sounds boring, but it is actually interesting because you find some weird stuff. One machine I checked was behind an old car wash and it looked like nobody touched it for years. There were weeds around it and the drinks inside looked really old. I honestly could not tell if it was still active or if everyone just forgot it was there.

From what I know, the owners need the information because sometimes it is hard to know if a machine is still being serviced or completely abandoned. My part is just collecting the information and sending it over.

Last weekend I checked 17 machines and made about $146. I never thought driving around looking at vending machines would make me money, but somehow it does. :PP

It is definitely one of the weirdest side hustles I have ever heard of, and now it is one of the ways I make extra cash.

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u/gfbhwo 7h ago

You can claim mileage as an business expense on your tax return if you are an independent contractor. For 2026 it's 76 cents/mile.

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u/natur85 7h ago

That doesn't actually prevent any costs, people constantly say "it's a write off", you're still paying costs.

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u/realboabab 7h ago

you gotta make money to ... lose money.. and then write that off to make money again!

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u/CapableBumblebee968 6h ago

Akshually you have to spend money to make money to then spend more money and write it off

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u/RhynoD 6h ago

Corporate taxes be like

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u/eW4GJMqscYtbBkw9 5h ago

Be like what?

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u/RhynoD 4h ago

Make a bunch of money, use that money to invest back into the company, oops the company suffered a bunch of losses but it's fine, carry those losses over for sometimes decades as tax write-offs so you don't pay taxes on higher earnings and end up overall making way more by paying far less than your fair share of taxes.

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u/rajrdajr 6h ago

  doesn't actually prevent any costs, people constantly say "it's a write off"

Taxes are a cost.  Provided you have, or will have, to pay enough taxes to take advantage of the losses, then the mileage expense deduction actually prevents costs (net operating losses for a business carry forward as well to be used for future taxes).  IIRC, actual mileage costs, if higher, can be claimed instead of using the default $0.76/mile but those higher costs require more thorough documentation. 

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u/gfbhwo 6h ago

I didn't call it a write-off. I said it's a business expense, which is a deduction. You basically save whatever percentage you would have been taxed if you didn't deduct it.

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u/BeautifulHindsight 3h ago

You say that like it doesn't help with the cost or have any benefit. Yes they still do incur and have to pay costs. But they pay less in taxes because of the write off.

Using your claimed cost of 50 cents per mile if the gov gives credit of 76 cents per mile as a write off on your taxes that means the gov is "paying" 26 cents per mile over the cost of said mileage. So you would actually make a profit off the write off.

Even if your mileage cost including wear and tear is more than the deduction it's still money you don't pay taxes on and thus your cost is 76 cents less per mile.

I am self employed and work from home. There is a tax deduction for having a home office. This deduction has made a huge difference in my taxes. It has meant some years I actually received a refund instead of owing like I usually do. For the years I still owed I owed a lot less. I can't remember the exact amount but it's several thousand dollars so it's not a small amount. But guess what I still have to pay my rent. Does that negate the write off for my home office? No because I pay less in taxes and in some cases the gov actually gives me money I wouldn't have made otherwise.

So I'm kinda curious, why do you think write offs are bad?

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u/mdallison 1h ago

Of course it doesn’t prevent costs. If it prevented them, what cost would there be to write off? It’s worth mentioning, though, because it can significantly affect the math on whether driving jobs are worth it. Say for every 76 cents you write off, at your effective tax rate, you get ~17 cents off your taxes. That moves the needle on viability. Remember, though, OP, you’ve got to track mileage. There’s apps for it.

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u/xhopesfall24 6h ago

“Write offs” only lower your taxable income. It’s not a 1:1 tax burden deletion.

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u/gfbhwo 6h ago

I never said it was 1:1. One hopes people understand deductions vs. tax credits.

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u/MossyPyrite 5h ago

Don’t hope too hard. Many people don’t even understand tax brackets.

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u/Numerous_Yogurt_5240 1h ago

Thanks I forgot that

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u/eW4GJMqscYtbBkw9 7h ago

You still have to pay the costs though - you just aren't getting taxed on those costs. So really, your getting back probably 14% of what you paid in costs. 

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u/gfbhwo 5h ago

"getting back probably 14% of what you paid in costs"

That depends very much on what your tax rate is. I don't believe there is a 14% tax rate - they go: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.

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u/eW4GJMqscYtbBkw9 5h ago

That's not how marginal tax rates work. The effective median tax rate in the US is around 14.2%.

You do not pay your entire income on your marginal rate.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marginaltaxrate.asp

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u/greenwoodgiant 6h ago

Just remember the amount you "save" from a write-off is whatever your tax % is of that amount. That $.76/mi isn't coming out of the tax you owe, it's lowering the amount on which you owe taxes.

So if you drove 100 miles, that's $76. If your income tax is 20%, you saved yourself $15 of tax, while those same miles may have cost you $50 worth of vehicle maitenance.

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u/gfbhwo 5h ago

Clearly. A business expense is a deduction, not a tax credit. Nowhere did I say it recompensed you for the actual expense incurred. I used this deduction myself and it saves you money but how much depends on individual circumstances and not least the vehicle you are using.

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u/greenwoodgiant 4h ago

Sure - it’s just a common misconception about write-offs and the way you phrased your comment left it open to the interpretation that you thought the 76 cents / mi “covered” the 50 cents / mi wear & tear. Wasn’t trying to insult you :)