Automatic Age

Issue: 1928 September

T h e A u t o m a t ic A ge
those who prefer to count the money
by hand.
There are other small and cheap
devices which claim to count the
coins by judging the height o f a
stack o f pennies. They are not ac­
curate as obviously some pennies are
thicker than others and such a
count will not be accepted by all
banks.
Computing scales calculating the
amount o f money by its weight are
alright in their way, but are not ac­
curate for the same reason. Coins
vary in weight according to the
length o f time that they have been
ln use. Even if they were accurate,
most banks demand that the coins be
wrapped so it would be necessary to
count them all over again and wrap
them when you get home.
The most practical machines are
those which both count the coins
and wrap them on the spot at one
time.
Most operators agree that the best
system o f paying commissions is to
count the money on the spot and
g Jve the merchant his share. I know
° f two other methods, however,
which are being used with success in
different cities.
One operator, whose location own-
€rs have a great deal o f confidence
him, dumps the collections from
each individual location in a small
bag together with the record card o f
the particular machine. When he
Sets home he counts the money in
each bag at his leisure, calculates the
commission due each location and
sends the merchant a check fo r his
share. Needless to say he makes his
collections in a very short time, but
I doubt if most merchants would be
satisfied with a plan like this one.
Another successful • operator fills
his machine completely when it is
first installed. His merchandise comes
ln boxes o f one hundred pieces. He
© International Arcade Museum
18
pays hio locations twenty per cent,
but he arranges to do it by paying
them twenty cents fo r each box o f
goods that he puts in the machine
when filling it. I f he uses three
boxes o f goods to fill the machine,
he gives the merchant sixty cents.
B y using this system he does not
have to count his pennies at all. I
think it is a good one where boxed
goods are used.
M y theory o f getting a route in
shape has always been to try all
available locations and weed out
those which do not pay. I described
this system o f installing a route in
my August article. I will now e x ­
plain what I mean by weeding and
how it can be done scientifically.
One side o f your record card
which is made out fo r each machine
should be ruled in multiples o f three
columns. One column fo r the col­
lection date, one fo r the gross
amount o f the collection or sales,
and the other column fo r the num­
ber o f operating days since the pre­
vious collection.

Machines are weeded or pulled out
when they do not, after a fair test,
come up to a predetermined daily
sales average. F or the sake o f il­
lustration let us set ten cents a day
gross as our weeding point. Let us
watch each machine that is in a new
location fo r a period o f thirty days.
Now, by reference to our record
cards, we can determine which ma­
chines are not doing ten cents a day
gross. This calculation is made by
dividing the total sales fo r the test
period by the number o f days it was
in operation, the result is the daily
sales average. I f it is below ten
cents, the machine is slated to be
moved to a new location.
A fter a few months all o f your
machines should be doing over ten
cents a day gross. There are then
two courses that you may pursue.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
14
T he A
u t o m a t ic
Y ou may raise your weeding point
to eleven or twelve cents a day and
proceed as before, or you can just
make it rule to move the ten lowest
machines that you have each month,
or more if you have time. This sys­
tem will build your route up effi­
ciently and steadily.
When an operator is installing a
new route he will probably use four
days o f his week fo r securing loca­
tions and installing machines and one
day fo r collections. As he gets his
machines out, collections will take
up more and more o f his time until
he finally will set aside one day fo r
getting new locations and shifting
machines and be busy collecting and
servicing the rest o f the week. Very
few operators find it advisable to
work on Saturday, unless it be in
their shop, as merchants are general­
ly busy and irritable and do not want
to be solicited or bothered with col­
lections.
The expansion o f your route will
depend entirely upon the amount o f
effort which you put into this day a
week looking fo r new locations. Re­
member, new locations are the life o f
the business. Keep your eyes open
fo r likely spots at all times. A loca­
tion a week brings your route to the
peak.

.


A
ge
Rubber Is Contained
In Chewing Gum, Say
University Scientists
There is nothing o f salvaged rub­
ber from discarded heels
or
worn
out inner tubes in gum one gets out
o f subway and other handily placed
vending machines, nevertheless
the
millions o f Americans who daily ex­
ercise their jaws on chewing gum are
putting a certain amount o f rubber
through the process o f mastication.
That was the word today from the
American Chemical Society Institu­
tion at Northwestern University.
“ Five per cent o f chewing gum,”
said Dr. W . L. Semon, an authority
on rubber, in an interview, “ is rub­
ber.” “ A wad, after chewing, weighs
only one-fourth o f what it did be­
fore. For in the mastication sugar,
dextrine and other ingredients are
dissolved.”
“ I f you ever get a slice that just
crumbled in your mouth, blame sci­
ence and oxygen,” said Dr. Sion.
“ For chemistry has not yet found a
good anti-oxidant which is non­
toxic,” he declared. “ When it does,
the life o f a slice o f gum may be ex­
tended fo r many more years.”
' '
My next article will deal with
some o f the growing pains and dis­
eases o f the industry. The vending
machine business is growing by
leaps and bounds. The operator is
being recognized as a legitimate bus­
iness man entitled to the same rights
and courtesy as any other man o f in­
dustry. Cer'ain detrimental forces
from within are staying our progress
and checking our recognition as a
clean modern business. W e must
purge our industry and cast these
mill stones from about our necks.
© International Arcade Museum
Discussing a more serious phase o f
science, Dr. Frank C. W hitmore, di­
rector o f the American Chemical So­
ciety Institute, and head o f the de­
partment o f chemistry at Northwest­
ern University, declared that Henry
Ford’s methods o f mass production
are now being applied to chemistry
in this country. As a result, he pre­
dicted that American chemical indus­
tries, which have long been behind
those o f European countries, are fast
mounting to the forem ost position o f
the world.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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