12
T h e A u t o m a t i c A ge
just these few years have gone by,
that automobiles have come into our
streets, and you never see carriages,
you don’t see sleighs. A new and
great change has been made in this
country; and that is very much akin
to automatic merchandising, auto
matic vending.
The thought is this: That some
times we are so close to a business,
we see it every day, that we do not
see the possibilities nor have a vision
o f its future. The bankers put in a
lot o f money, twenty-five million dol
lars in our own business, and they
certainly were not fools. They are
enthusiastic about the possibilities o f
automatic merchandising. W e know
what can be done. W e are reaching
now those peaks o f business where
we realize that you cannot manufac
ture by machine and distribute by
hand. It is impossible. So, as we
reach these heights, manufacturing
by machine, we have got to distribute
partly, or a large part o f our prod
uct, by machine.
The vice-president o f the United
Cigar Stores told me the other day,
as a product comes into being and is
advertised, it goes over until it
reaches heights o f distribution where
it becomes commonplace and as it
reaches these heights the profits drop
off, so much so that the greater the
demand, the greater the sale, the less
the profit on a great many small
items. Therefore, it has got to be
taken up by machine.
Now, another thought for you gen
tlemen; my whole discussion, you
might say, is a theme o f vision. I
am going out to Los Angeles next
week on a business trip. I was just
looking over some pictures o f Los
Angeles, and just thinking o f those
people living in Lo.> Angeles for
many many years, who were born
there and grew up, seeing the city
© International Arcade Museum
grow about them. They did not have
the forethought to buy real estate; it
took people from Iowa, Michigan and
so on, to go into Los Angeles and
buy real estate and make the millions
that were made there. It is the same
with New Y ork City. The people
who have made money in buying
property in New York and selling it
and making investments, were mostly
from Europe and not from our coun
try.
W e are in a business; we also are
close to it— see it every day, and we
see the faults o f it rather than its
possibilities and future development.
It is the same with you gentlemen,
you might say; I am an outsider in
this business, so I am coming in and
trying to get the benefit o f it.
The drug stores o f this country are
not run by pharmacists today; they
are run by merchants. Many o f them
don’t know a “ dog-gone” thing about
pharmaceuticals but they are mer
chants. So in this vending machine
industry, you gentlemen are in it,
you are on the inside looking out.
The people that are coming in are
the merchants, with merchandising
ideas; they are going to make it a
great merchandising business, a great
success, unquestionably, without any
doubt about it. You who ai*e on the
inside very often see the faults, you
cannot see this, you cannot see that,
you cannot see so and so.
You cannot sell merchandise be
cause o f slugs. I happen to know
positively o f a number o f machines
— a lot o f you will laugh— but I
know o f machines today that won’t
take anything but silver, a certain
kind o f silver, a certain kind o f dime
or nickle; it has not anything to do
with the diameter or weight or
measurements or the milling on the
edge o f the coin, but it simply can
be done and it will be done within a
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