A store owner's placement offer usually comes as an estimated withdrawal count and a proposed commission split — not a monthly profit figure. That estimate does not say whether the placement covers the location's cut, the processor fee, the cost of the cash sitting in the machine, and your own refill time. Two offers with the same "withdrawals a month" pitch can land on opposite sides of zero once those come out.
Open the free route margin calculator
The commission split, before you see a dollar. Nearly every placement agreement pays the location a percentage of the surcharge, a flat monthly fee, or both — off the top, regardless of your costs. A 50% split means half of every surcharge dollar was never yours to begin with.
A flat per-transaction processor fee. Routing and settling a withdrawal costs the same fixed amount whichever way the surcharge is set, so it eats a bigger share of a low surcharge than a high one.
Vault cash cost of capital. The cash loaded into the machine either could be earning a return elsewhere or costs a cash-servicing company to hold — either way it is a real monthly cost, and it is the line most often left out of a back-of-envelope estimate because it is "your own money."
Refill labor, drive time, and the machine itself. A location across town costs more per visit than one on your existing loop, and the machine's lease or amortized cost runs whether the location is busy or slow.
A convenience-store owner offers a placement estimated at 90 withdrawals a month, a $2.50 surcharge, a 50% commission split, no flat fee, a $0.30 processor fee, 8% annual cost of capital on a $2,000 average cash load, 4 refill visits a month at 15 minutes on-site and 20 minutes round-trip drive over 8 miles, a $0.67/mile rate, a $25/hour target rate for your own time, and a $60/month machine cost:
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross surcharge revenue | $225.00 (90 × $2.50) |
| Location commission (50%) | $112.50 |
| Processor fees | $27.00 (90 × $0.30) |
| Vault cash cost of capital | $13.33 ($2,000 at 8%/yr) |
| Mileage | $21.44 (8 miles × $0.67 × 4 visits) |
| Your labor | $58.33 (2.33 hrs at $25/hr) |
| Machine cost | $60.00 |
| Total cost | $292.60 |
| Net profit | −$67.61 (−30.0% of surcharge revenue) |
| Profit per withdrawal | −$0.75 |
A "90 withdrawals a month" pitch that sounds like it should clear over $100 instead loses money every month it runs — before counting anything the calculator does not model, like a slow season or a shortage on a refill. Negotiating a lower commission split or a flat placement fee instead of a percentage, or finding a location on an existing refill loop instead of a special trip, are the levers that actually move this number; raising the surcharge alone hands half of any increase straight back to the location.
Subtract the location's commission or flat fee, the per-transaction processor fee, the vault cash cost of capital, refill labor and travel, and the machine's own monthly cost from the surcharge revenue the estimated withdrawal count would bring in. A store offering 90 withdrawals a month at a $2.50 surcharge, split 50/50, looks like it should clear over $100 — after the real costs it loses about $67.61 a month instead.
Because the surcharge is not the only line moving. Half of it goes to the store, the processor takes a fixed fee on every withdrawal regardless of the surcharge, the cash sitting in the machine has a cost of capital whether or not it is used, and refill visits cost drive time and mileage on top of the machine's own monthly cost. A withdrawal count that sounds busy can still leave nothing once all five come out.
Only if the commission split does not eat the increase. A 50% commission means half of every extra dollar of surcharge goes straight to the store, so raising the fee closes the gap more slowly than it looks. A lower commission percentage or a flat placement fee instead of a percentage split often moves the number more than the surcharge fee itself.
It is the return that cash could earn sitting somewhere else, or the fee a cash-servicing company charges to hold it — either way it is a real monthly cost of the cash loaded into the machine, not free money because it is technically still yours. Skipping it makes every placement look more profitable than it is, worst on low-volume machines where it is a larger share of a smaller surcharge.