Operators of the Eighties
September Profile: Mike Shepard, Seattle, Washington
Getting Started
After nine years of experience as
a distributor technician, Mike
Shepard decided to take on his own
route operation. A little less than a
year ago, Mike purchased a route
that had a total of 50 pinball and
jukebox units in operation. His
business is geared toward smaller
suburban areas and his locations
were fairly established in their
ways of dealing with games. Today,
A&S Amusements is a successful
operation that continues to find
ways to get ahead in this volatile
business.
Moving Ahead
To expand this operation, Mike
first began to add videos to his in-
ventory and acquire new locations.
In the past year his total number of
units have more than tripled and he
now has a mix of 65% videos and
35% pinballs and jukeboxes. Now
his monthly revenue shows an in-
crease of more than 300% above the
previous year.
In order to stay ahead in this
business, Mike emphasizes the need
for versatility. Resistance to change
along with constant demands were
barriers in many of his established
locations. Many location owners
were against changes in the game's
vend or did not want to alter their
former product mix. Mike took
strides to educate these locations,
making them a ware of the increased
profits realized by changing their
methods. Because Mike is a con-
Atari, Inc.
1265 Borregas Avenue
Sunnyvale, California 94086
ATARI®
C, A Warner Commun ,cat,on s Company
scientious businessman, he feels it
is critical to develop a strong trust
between himself and his customers.
As a result, they are more w1111ng to
accept some progressive and new
operating practices.
Mike's company has developed a
reputation for quality equipment.
His games are kept in top working
condition with little, if any down
time. Problems are repaired or
replaced on location, whenever
possible. With Mike's technical
background, he manages to meet
the primary service needs of almost
200 pieces of equipment.
Attention!
For the past few months we
have featured an Operator of the
Eighties in the Coin Connection.
We hope that other operators have
found these articles as interesting
and informative as we have.
We look at the Operator of the
Eighties column as one way to talk
in-depth with a wide variety of
operators. Atari is interested in
learning about your amusement
games business. If you are willing
to share your experiences with
other Coin Connection readers,
please write to: Editor/Coin Con-
nection, 1215 Borregas Avenue,
Box 427, Sunnyvale, CA 94086.
Looking Forward
From his observations of the in-
dustry in the past ten years, Mike
sees changes coming in the near
future that many people believe will
dictate the direction of this in-
dustry.
• Smaller operations are, and
will be, severely impacted by the
rising costs of business. Equipment
purchases are not only more selec-
tive, but because of increased
prices, they are less frequent. Al-
ready in this industry, like many
other volatile industries, smaller
companies are being bought out by
larger businesses due to the de-
mands of staying current.
• For any operator, it is crucial
to seek new ways of increasing the
return on investments and mini-
mizing operating costs. One way to
do this is to have an industry-wide
vend change on coin-operated
games. Yet, for many regions of the
United States, 50¢ pricing is faced
with too much resistance due to
slower economic growth. Through
combined efforts of all sectors of
this industry, a vend increase may
become a reality in the near future.
A&S Amusements is represen-
tative of many operators who have
experienced similar problems as
well as operating successes. An im-
portant point issued here is for
operators to evaluate their own
business carefully. Selecting the
proper mix of equipment is impor-
tant, yet operators must also select
the right type of customer as well.
Locations that have potential must
not place unreasonable demands on
the operator, and should be willing
to cooperate with changes that will
promote growth for both their busi-
nesses.
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