THE AUTOMATIC AGE
V ol. 1
C H IC A G O , S E P T M B E R , 1925
N o. 2
E. H . F U N K E A D V IS E S O P E R A T O R S T O
KEEP SC A LE S IN G O O D R EPAIR IF
T H E Y AR E TO M ARE M O N E Y
’ W a y back in 1900 w hen the
bu tch er shop w as considered the
proper w eigh in g place in tow n , a
you n g lad began to v ig orou sly p er
suade the storekeepers near
busy
spots in M ilw aukee, W is., that p e o
ple should pay a penny to get
w eighed and that he w ould arrange
to place a coin operated scale in fron t
o f th eir particular store and give the
storekeeper a percen tage on all r e
turns, and that he w ould
fu rth er
make the collection s him self, keep
the scale in repair and i f necessary
drum up business fo r it. W h eth er the
success o f this effort w as due to his
dynam ic personality or the m erit o f
his arg-ument, w e d on ’t stop to com
m ent on bu t w e do kn ow that this was
h ow E. H. Funke becam e a scale
operator.
A t th at time he w as em ployed b y
the A u tom atic V en din g C om pany o f
N ew Y ork . R em aining w ith the N ew
Y o rk firm f o r several years, Funke
began to g et a hankering to see the
coun try, so in 1907 he packed his
bags and becam e general agen t fo r
the N ational N ov elty Com pany, o f
M inneapolis, taking care o f several
states. A fe w years later he again
becam e identified w ith the A u tom atic
V en din g Com pany, this time as W e s t
ern M anager.
“ A b ou t this tim e” said Mr. Funke,
“ I th ou gh t I w ould g o into business
fo r m yself. I began w ith one scale
w hich I located at A shland and Chi
ca g o avenues righ t here in Chicago.
Th is scale I operated fo r tw o or three
w eeks and then bou g h t fo u r m ore.
It w as hard to eke out a livin g on
h a lf a dozen scales, even in the early
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days, but I hung on and added a
scale or tw o each w eek. A ft e r a time
— which seem s lo n g n ow that I look
E. H. F U N K E
back— I was operating a sufficient
num ber o f scales to make a living and
I then looked forw a rd to the day
when I could build m y ow n scales.”
This latter plan o f Mr. F u nke’s was
accom plished with a bang when in
1923 he erected a plant containing
5,000 square fe e t and began to build
his ow n scales, under the style o f
Public Scale Com pany. A t the pres
ent time, Mr. Funke operates over
500 scales. M oreover, the scales he
has out on location s are kept in tip
top shape and to this Mr. Funke, w ho
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