No Contract: What That Actually Means on Paper

Everyone in this industry says free setup and no contract. It is worth knowing what that phrase is doing, because it can cover a lot of different paperwork.

There is still a document

No contract does not mean nothing is signed, and anyone telling you otherwise is being loose with words. There is a short service agreement, and it exists for boring reasons.

It says we can get into the building to restock, that the equipment stays ours, who carries liability for what, and that you will give us power and a place to put it. That is broadly the whole thing.

What it does not contain is a term, a minimum spend, an auto-renewal or a penalty for ending it.

How you end it

You tell us. We schedule a date, we come and take the equipment out, we leave the space clean, and that is the end of it. Removal is at our cost, because it is our equipment.

The only thing we will ask for is a reason, and only because we would rather fix the problem than lose the site.

The clauses worth looking for in anyone's agreement

Take this list to whoever you are talking to, us included.

An initial term with auto-renewal. Three years that rolls into another three unless you give notice in a specific window. This is the most common one and it is easy to miss.

Equipment cost recovery on early exit. Free installation, with the unamortized cost becoming payable if you leave inside a set period. That is a lease with the word free on the front.

A minimum monthly sales figure. If sales fall below a threshold, you make up the difference. This turns a free service into a variable invoice, and it is the clause most likely to bite a site whose headcount drops.

Exclusivity. A clause preventing you putting anything else in the building, including a coffee provider or your own pantry supply. Reasonable in isolation, irritating when you want to change one part of the setup.

Removal or restoration fees. A charge for taking out equipment you never owned.

Why we do it this way

Not out of generosity. A term locks in a customer who has stopped being happy, and a site where nobody is buying anything is worth nothing to us anyway. We would rather the arrangement stay in place because it is working.

It also means the pressure is on us every month rather than on you once at signing.

The one honest exception

Pantry service is different, because there you are buying the product rather than your team buying it. That is an invoiced service with agreed pricing. Still no term, but it is not free and we will not describe it as free.

Call (435) 512-2845 and ask to see the agreement before you commit to anything. It is two pages.