Vending machine location agreements in Wyoming

Why the agreement is in writing even between friends

Put every placement in writing, even with an owner you know. A commission deal remembered differently is the single most common way a route loses a location.

Wyoming sets no state form for these agreements. That freedom is the problem. Without a signed page, a new store manager inherits a machine and no reason to keep it.

One page per location is enough: who owns the machine, where it stands, what commission is paid, how often, on what measure, and for how long. Names and a date at the bottom. Every later dispute reads that page.

The two state rules that touch the agreement directly are both tax rules, and they are covered below. Everything else here is the practical shape of a fair deal.

A separate sales tax license is required for each place of business in Wyoming. — Wyoming Statutes Annotated, Title 39, W.S. 39-15-106(b), retrieved 2026-09-29

Commission, the percentage, the measure and the cycle

Commission is usually a share of what the machine takes in. Ten to twenty percent of gross sales is the range most operators and owners negotiate over, and the honest way to run it is to agree the percentage of gross receipts, not of profit.

Agree the measure precisely. Gross receipts from the machine, counted monthly, is the cleanest base, because it is the same number the state already expects you to record for each machine.

Pay on a fixed cycle and keep the proof. A check or a transfer with the cycle's total attached reads as a payment for a placement. Cash in a drawer reads as nothing if the owner changes.

One tax trap hides here. Wyoming's rules say commissions paid to sales agents for their services in making sales are not deductible from the total sales price. In plain terms: you owe sales tax on the full vend price, and the location's cut does not shrink the taxable base.

Wyoming sales tax rules state that commissions paid to sales agents for their services in making sales shall not be deductible from the total sales price of property or services sold. — Wyoming Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax Rules, Chapter 2, Section 5(g)(i), retrieved 2026-09-29

Reporting what you pay the owner at year end

Commissions paid in the course of a business to someone who is not your employee are reportable to the IRS. The reporting form is the 1099-NEC.

The threshold is $600 in payments during the calendar year. For payments made after December 31, 2025, the threshold rises to $2,000, so a single $900 annual commission check in 2026 is below the reporting line.

The practical move is to collect a W-9 from every location owner at signing, not in January. Owners change, stores close, and the person who can sign a W-9 is not always the person behind the counter at year end.

Keep the commission ledger tied to the per-machine revenue record. The machine's monthly total times the agreed percentage should equal the sum of the checks, and that check reconciles itself every cycle.

$600The IRS requires Form 1099-NEC reporting of payments totaling $600 or more in a calendar year to a person who is not an employee for services, or $2,000 after December 31, 2025. — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-09-29

Term, power, repairs and who does what

Write the term in months, not vibes. Twelve months with renewal by agreement is standard, and a shorter first term suits an unproven location.

Say who pays for electricity. Most agreements give the location free power for the machine, and the sentence costs nothing to write. Without it, an owner who reads a power bill differently has a grievance you never settled.

Assign repair and vandalism clearly. You service the machine. The owner reports a jam or a break the day it happens. Who covers a machine dented by a forklift is a fair thing to negotiate, and an unfair thing to settle after it happens.

Add removal notice. Thirty days written notice before either side ends the placement keeps a machine from being locked in a back room one morning. It also gives you a graceful exit from a location that never earns.

Each Wyoming sales tax license shall be posted in a conspicuous place at the place of business for which it is issued. — Wyoming Statutes Annotated, Title 39, W.S. 39-15-106(c)(iii), retrieved 2026-09-29

Where the machine sits decides what you owe

Sales tax in Wyoming is sourced to where the sale happens, and for a machine the sale happens at the machine. A sale received at the seller's business location is sourced to that location.

Each machine stands in a county with its own combined rate. The state rate is 4%, and counties can add their own option taxes, so two locations a mile apart can owe different totals on the same candy bar.

The license follows the same geography. A separate sales tax license is required for each place of business, which is why a growing route's license list looks like its location list. Consolidating the returns across locations is covered in the setup guide.

When you scout, check the rate where the machine will stand. The difference compounds across a year of quarters.

Under W.S. 39-15-104(f)(i)(A), when a product is received by the purchaser at a business location of the seller, the sale is sourced to that business location. — Wyoming Statutes Annotated, Title 39, W.S. 39-15-104(f)(i)(A), retrieved 2026-09-29

4%Wyoming's state sales tax rate is 4%, made up of a 3% excise tax plus an additional 1% excise tax, and counties may impose additional option excise taxes. — Wyoming Statutes Annotated, Title 39, W.S. 39-15-104(a) and (b), retrieved 2026-09-29

A separate sales tax license is required for each place of business in Wyoming. — Wyoming Statutes Annotated, Title 39, W.S. 39-15-106(b), retrieved 2026-09-29

The records that make the agreement auditable

Wyoming's rules expect a record per machine: its location, its serial number and its revenue for each monthly period. That record is also the agreement's backbone.

Commission paid on a measure nobody wrote down is a number nobody trusts at renewal time. The per-machine sheet settles it. The owner's percentage applied to the recorded monthly total is the check amount, every cycle.

The rule for machines that give no receipts is the gross receipts formula. Worked through on the sales tax page, it backs the tax out of whatever the coin box counted, so the recorded total does double duty.

Keep the sheets in the same binder or folder as the signed agreement pages. An audit, a sale of the route and a renewal negotiation all read the same set.

Wyoming rules require vending machine vendors to keep records showing each machine's location, its serial number, and its revenue for each monthly period. — Wyoming Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax Rules, Chapter 2, Section 12(dd)(i), retrieved 2026-09-29

When a location wants out, or you do

Endings belong in the agreement for a reason. A machine that sits in a closed break room earns nothing and still ties up a license, a stock order and a space on the route sheet.

Use the removal-notice clause rather than a vanishing act. Owners talk to each other in a town, and a route that leaves clean keeps the next door open.

Move the machine's license paperwork when the machine moves. A new place of business is a new license, and the old one stays pointed at an address with no machine behind it.

A route that keeps churning locations is a route worth a bigger question. The route sale page covers what the whole thing is worth when you would rather sell it than drive it.

A separate sales tax license is required for each place of business in Wyoming. — Wyoming Statutes Annotated, Title 39, W.S. 39-15-106(b), retrieved 2026-09-29

Questions