About Pack Placement

Pack Placement is an education and coaching company that teaches people how to start and run their own trading card vending machine business. We are operated by GageVendzz LLC, a California limited liability company based in Ventura, California. We teach one thing well: how to secure a location that sells before you spend money on a machine.

Our story

Pack Placement was founded by Gage Kushner, who owns and runs his own route of Pokémon card vending machines placed in local businesses around Ventura, California.

Gage started working construction at sixteen for $15 an hour, six days a week in the California heat. If he did not show up, he did not get paid. He wanted a business that did not depend on him being there every day.

When he went after his first machine placement, he had never made a cold call. He would call a liquor store, reach whoever was at the front counter, and get nowhere. It took about a hundred conversations with business owners to land his first machine.

Early on he made the mistake that shaped everything he teaches. He signed a six month lease in a mall he remembered from childhood. The mall had lost most of its foot traffic years before and the spot had no cell signal. He had never stood inside before signing. That lease cost him thousands of dollars, and it taught him to measure a location in person before committing to it.

About three years in, Gage has placed more than 25 machines in local businesses and now teaches other people how to do the same.

Our mission

Most people who try vending buy a machine first and then go looking for somewhere to put it. A lot of those machines end up sitting in a garage. Our mission is to flip that order, so that the people we work with secure a profitable location first and only then buy equipment, and so that they understand the real costs and the real timeline before they spend a dollar.

What we teach

We call our method Wall First. It has four parts.

1. Measure the location

Foot traffic is the wrong number. What matters is how long people stand and wait near the spot, at a counter, in a line or at a table. Our Dwell Test shows you how to measure that standing inside a business in about six minutes, and which warning signs rule a spot out even when the number looks good.

2. Reach the owner

Your pitch is rarely the problem. Getting past the front counter to the person who can say yes is. We teach outreach by phone, direct message, email and walking in, and how to find the actual decision maker.

3. Land the placement

How to present a placement offer to a business owner, how to set the commission split with the host business, and how to sign a host agreement before you buy anything.

4. Buy, stock and run the machine

Choosing the right machine and specification, ordering it from the manufacturer, sourcing product, stocking and restocking, managing the relationship with the host business and keeping simple books for the business.

What we offer

How the mentorship works

Mentorship clients receive:

• A private messaging channel with Gage, seven days a week, for voice notes and questions. This is one on one coaching, not a group program.
• The full written and recorded curriculum covering location selection, cold calling, direct messaging, email, walk ins, closing, host agreements, machine setup and installation, product sourcing, account management and basic bookkeeping.
• Research on business owner and decision maker contact details in the cities you choose, on request.
• Introductions to our vending machine supplier, including any discount or financing terms that supplier offers our clients, and to our card sourcing channel.
• Access to the Pack Placement member community.
• Continued access to the curriculum, community and messaging channel for as long as Pack Placement runs the program.

The 90 day plan

The full terms, including what happens if you complete the plan and have not secured a placement, are set out in the written program agreement.

What it costs to get started

Our program fee is separate from the cost of starting the business itself. These are the ranges Gage has seen in his own route. Your costs depend on the machine, the supplier and your market.

Machine financing is offered by some manufacturers and third party lenders under their own terms. It usually takes 30 to 90 days after placement before a new machine makes its first sale.

Who it is for

Our program is built for:

• People with a job and some savings who want a second business they own
• People already running snack or drink machines who want a higher margin product
• Card collectors and resellers who want to move into vending

It is not a fit if:

• You need this to pay rent in the next 60 days
• You cannot fund a machine on top of the program
• You expect the business to run itself from the first month

What we do not do

• We do not sell vending machines, cards or inventory. You buy those directly from third party suppliers, in your own name.
• We do not run your business for you. Any business you build is owned and operated by you, and you keep everything it earns. We take no equity or revenue share.
• We do not provide legal, tax, accounting or financial advice.
• We do not guarantee any income or business result. Any placement guarantee is set out only in your written program agreement, including its conditions.

How we contact you

When you register for a class or apply on our site, you can choose to receive text messages and phone calls from us by ticking the separate consent boxes on the form. Neither box is required.

If you tick the text message box, we send only transactional messages from our SMS program, Pack Placement Notifications: registration confirmations, class reminders and join links, call booking confirmations, reminders and rescheduling, and account messages. We do not send promotional texts. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out at any time or HELP for help.

If you tick the phone call box, our team may call you about your registration and booked calls.

We also email you about your registration and our programs. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.

See our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for full details.

Policies at a glance

• Free Weekly Live Class: free, no payment details needed.
• Placement Playbook ($27): 30 day refund. Email gage@packplacement.com within 30 days of purchase.
• 1 on 1 Mentorship ($3,000): governed by the written program agreement signed before payment, including its guarantee and refund terms.
• Full terms: Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Frequently asked questions

Company information

Pack Placement is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Pokémon Company. The experiences described on this page are Gage's own and are not typical. Your results depend on your location, your effort, your capital and your market.