I agree with Coffee Guy
I gotta agree with you coffee guy, you are dead on with having them pick their own machine and grinder, own it themselves, leaving their purchases of beans unabated.
I know from personal experience, even in the early days, most roasters shipped out of state, much of the time the beans are still warm when they hit the shipping company, so you can be assured a high degree of freshness, coffee in general is rather forgiving in this area as well, so a day or 2 will make zero difference in how it's going to taste, if you are pushing it to 8-10 days, then you are doing just that, pushing it, but any decent roaster should get them to you well before that time frame.
Referencing back to the equipment "loaners" while they use your beans, you are right on in that area as well, the profits are in the beans, not the machines when you run it this way, I've always considered it a scary concept from day one though. 1st, you don't know what kind of abuse the equipment is going to endure "I assume the other local roaster is loaning you a used machine and grinder", so you may be getting something that may not prove to be as reliable as something you've purchased new and know it's history. 2nd, the loan"ie" can just pack it away and leave town. 3rd, you are adding yet another equasion into the variable, when I choose my beans, I do so for the quality and supply availability, not because I can't afford the equipment, I consider your primary initiation in this industry is purchasing your equipment correctly. Either go used and learn how to replace o rings, or invest some real cash into decent equipment, the asprin budget will go down and the profit margins will go up.