Short answer: whether a vending machine for your office makes sense depends on how many people are actually in on a normal day, not how many are on payroll. Operators look for roughly 30 to 40 or more people on site. A 50-person company with half its staff hybrid can have fewer than 40 people in the building on an average day. This estimator works out your real number in under a minute. Nothing you type leaves the page.
It's for office managers, facility managers and business owners in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia who are thinking about a machine, or who were asked "how many people do you have?" and weren't sure what to say.
The estimator needs JavaScript. The formula is written out below, so you can do it on paper in two minutes.
The formula
People on site on an average workday =
- In-office staff: payroll minus fully remote minus hybrid, all counted in full;
- plus hybrid staff × days in ÷ 5 (three days a week is 0.6 of a person);
- minus the share away on leave, sick or travelling;
- plus visitors who wait or stay.
Worked example: 50 on payroll, 5 fully remote, 20 hybrid at 3 days, 5% away and no visitors gives 25 + 12 = 37, less 5% = about 35 people on an average day. That's 15 fewer than the payroll number, and it sits just under the 40 where our site scorer gives full marks for size.
What the number means
| People on site on an average day | What operators usually say |
|---|---|
| Under 20 | Too small for a full-size machine to stay stocked. Ask about a compact machine or skip it. |
| 20–39 | Borderline. A compact drink machine or a smart cooler can work, especially with long hours or shift work. |
| 40 or more | The size where a standard snack or drink machine is worth an operator's restocking visit. |
These bands mirror the size rule in the scoring code our /host qualifier runs (40+ staff scores full marks for size, 20+ scores partial) and the thresholds operators quote online, where "50+ employees" is a common rule of thumb. They're a guide, not a cut-off: hours, a break room and whether there's food nearby all move the answer.
Why payroll overstates most offices
Hybrid work is real, but smaller than it feels. Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey found that in May 2026, 78.8% of employed Canadians worked only outside the home, 9.8% had a hybrid arrangement and 11.4% worked only from home, and the hybrid share has changed little since 2023. Office jobs are more likely than average to be hybrid, so an office's share is usually higher than those national figures. The 2021 Census, taken during the pandemic, put BC's work-at-home share at 22.6%.
Most Vancouver offices are small to begin with. In the City of Vancouver's 2026 business licences (extract of September 28, 2026), the 5,398 office-type licences in the Downtown local area report a median of 4 employees and 65% report fewer than 10. Across the whole city, 1,181 of 10,579 office-type licences report 40 or more. If your office is one of those 1,181, the hybrid adjustment decides whether you're comfortably over the line or just under it. Our Vancouver headcount report breaks those numbers down by type and neighbourhood.
Other sites
This estimator is built for offices. For warehouses, count the largest shift plus the overlap at shift change, since that's when a machine sells most (see our shift-work setup guide). For apartment buildings and gyms, the site scorer counts residents and members differently: 1.5 people per unit, and 30% of members on a typical day.
What to do with your number
If you're at 40 or more on an average day and have a break room, kitchen or common area with an outlet nearby, a machine is usually worth asking about. It costs $0 to you: the operator covers the machine, install, stocking, service and removal, and you provide the spot and an outlet (a drink machine uses about $15–20 a month in power). If you're between 20 and 39, say so up front and ask for a compact machine. A good operator will tell you honestly if the site is too small, which beats a machine that sits half-empty.
About this data
- Estimator: the formula above, run in your browser. It stores and sends nothing.
- Hybrid shares: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, May 2026 (released 2026-06-05); 2021 Census commuting release (2022-11-30).
- Vancouver office sizes: City of Vancouver business licences, folder year 2026, status Issued, extract 2026-09-28; 10,579 in-city licences in office-type business types. Employee counts are self-reported and some businesses report their whole company. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. No business is named.
- Size bands: the size rule in VendFynd's own site-fit scoring code (40+ staff full marks, 20+ partial).
Sources
- Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, May 2026: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260605/dq260605a-eng.htm
- Statistics Canada, "Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed commuting patterns for good?": https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221130/dq221130c-eng.htm
- City of Vancouver, Business licences (open data), extract 2026-09-28: https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/business-licences/
- Open Government Licence – Vancouver: https://opendata.vancouver.ca/pages/licence/
- Operator thresholds ("50+ employees, 200+ units, or 100+ people walking by"), r/vending, March 2026: https://www.reddit.com/r/vending/comments/1s8ajx7/how_to_find_potential_locations/