Buy payphones and retire
Promises of “passive income” from owning payphones, vending machines, or similar coin‑op assets are scrutinized as modernized Ponzi or pyramid-style schemes, especially when pitched as a path to early retirement. Commenters contrast legitimate investing and small businesses—where capital, risk, and ongoing work are real—with scammy offerings that hide operational headaches, territorial disputes, and crime behind turnkey, high-return claims. The conversation broadens into whether truly passive income is even desirable or ethical at scale, touching on rent-seeking, retirement, and the role of automation and index investing in achieving financial independence.
Retirement, Work, and “Retire to Work”
- Some posters say they enjoy work and don’t want to retire; others argue retirement is about no longer needing to work, not never working.
- Several note you might be forced to “retire” by health or cognitive decline.
- There’s tension between “work gives meaning” vs “retire early, then choose meaningful work on your own terms.”
Payphones, Ponzi Schemes, and MLMs
- The payphone pitch is seen as a classic “passive income” hook masking a Ponzi‑style fraud.
- Debate over terminology: some distinguish Ponzi schemes (fake returns) from MLMs/pyramid schemes (real product but exploitative structure), others see MLMs as “legalized Ponzi.”
- The thread notes multiple actual fraud convictions around similar schemes.
Vending Machines, Territory, and Crime
- Many point out vending and payphone revenue is far from passive: restocking, maintenance, cash handling, contracting for locations.
- Location contracts (airports, stations) are described as scarce and sometimes “mobbed up” or enforced with threats and vandalism.
- Money laundering via cash-heavy businesses (vending, car washes, laundromats, storage) is discussed; some argue online “wash trades” now make digital laundering easier.
Passive Income: Definitions, Morality, and Limits
- Competing definitions:
- “Make something once and get paid for years” (books, software, royalties).
- Pure capital returns (dividends, interest, rent).
- Scammy “no work, high return” pitches.
- Ethical debate: is passive income just investing and risk‑taking, or inherently rent‑seeking and parasitic?
- Categorical imperative / “what if everyone did this?” is invoked; others say that misuses the philosophy.
- Several classify “passive income” as a near‑synonym for rent seeking when it adds no value, but not when capital or product genuinely enables others’ work.
Investing, Index Funds, and Real Estate
- Index funds are widely cited as the realistic, boring form of passive income; critics note long flat periods and inflation risk.
- Extended back‑and‑forth on whether governments implicitly prop up equity markets to protect older asset‑holders.
- Some describe multi‑family real estate syndications as genuinely high‑yield and low‑touch for limited partners; others counter that recent returns are unusual and policy‑dependent.
Personal Anecdotes and Cautionary Tales
- Stories of hacked payphones, physically stealing phones for tiny payouts, and vending routes that turned into hard labor.
- A detailed account of a failed dropshipping venture highlights how “soulless,” spammy businesses are demotivating even when they make some money.
- Multiple commenters close with a general rule: be extremely wary when someone tries to sell you a supposedly low‑risk, high‑return passive income opportunity.