Industrial vending continues to expand. In its latest revenue report, Fastenal Company , a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies, announced that net sales increased $147.0, or 13.0%, from the third quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018. This increase was driven by higher unit sales related primarily to continued strength in underlying market demand and contribution from our growth drivers, most notably industrial vending and Onsite locations.
The company signed 5,877 industrial vending devices during the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 23.2% compared to the third quarter of 2017, and signed 17,093 industrial vending devices during the first nine months of 2018, an increase of 13.3% compared to the first nine months of 2017. The installed device count on September 30, 2018 was 78,706, an increase of 14.0% over September 30, 2017. Sales through the vending devices continued to grow at a pace of approximately 20% in the third quarter of 2018 due to the increase in the installed base, and to a lesser degree, an increase in revenue per device. These amounts do not include approximately 15,000 vending devices deployed as part of its lease locker program.
