AUTOMATIC AGE
16
October, 1937
V ariety is the Spice of L ife
By Jack Nelson
Vice-President, General Sales Manager
Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation
M
e r c h a n d is in g
today
is vastly different than
it was years ago. Peo
ple want variety. A large selec
tion of whatever they intend to
buy. Years ago a saloon or tav
ern would carry one or two
brands of whiskey and usually
only one brand of beer. But to
day, a tavern would soon go out
of business if they failed to have
a large assortment of liquors
and several kinds of beer. This
holds true with all types of mer
chandising. No longer can the
small store or merchant survive
the competition of today, if his
shelves are not fully stocked
with the variety of products in
his line of business. Not many
years ago drug stores featured
one, two, or three brands of
toothpaste, shaving cream, and
all such staple products, but to
day, a drug store in order to re
main in business must carry a
variety, a large selection of all
of these products. People have
been educated through advertis
ing in magazines, newspapers,
and on the radio, to expect a se
lection to choose from. Picture
to yourself a clothing store with
a limited stock to choose from.
How long would they last in
business today. And the same
holds tru e w ith departm ent
stores, chain stores, and all other
types of businesses merchandis
ing their products to the public.
The old saying holds true, “they
want what they want when they
want it.” This statement or say
ing, is more true today than it
ever was before. The intensive
consumer magazine advertising
J a c k N elson
costing millions of dollars has
firmly instilled in the minds of
the multitude that they can have
“ what they want when they
want it,” just by asking for it.
V a r ie t y A p p e a ls to P u b lic
And so, variety has an appeal
to public taste and by giving the
public a large selection to choose
from, they buy more. The same
holds true in the coin operated
business. Operators with an as
sortment of various type ma
chines are generally the most
prosperous o p era to rs because
they collect more than one profit
from their stops. On a recent
trip through the territory, I had
the opportunity of calling on
many locations where there were
an assortment of four and five
different type machines on a
single location, all owned and
operated by the same operator.
In one of the locations called on,
there were as many as eight
pieces in operation, all making
money, and all owned by one
operator.
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Here was variety, the kind
that customers want today. And
the diversified line of machines
owned by this operator made it
possible for him to get the repu
tation with this location owner
to be the one and only operator
in the community. This reputa
tion is automatically bestowed
on the operator by the location
owner because the lo c a tio n ’ s
share of the receipts each week
are large enough to make the
necessary impression in actual
cash to entirely satisfy the loca
tion owner that his operator is
the best in the world as far as
he was concerned.
In discussing the set-up with
the location owner, he explained
to me with an air of genuine sat
isfaction that he was proud of
his operator, because the opera
tor co-operated with him in giv
ing him the various types of ma
chines so that he in turn could
make more money. He said, the
machines serve as entertainment
to his customers, and they all get
a genuine kick out of playing
the machines. This keeps the
customers in his place longer
than usual, and naturally, the
bar gets a heavier play. The
women, too, have an opportunity
to entertain themselves as well
as the men, whereas years ago
the women folks never paid
much attention to the coin ma
chines.
Nowadays it is very
common for two or three women
to join in playing all of the ma
chines, and the thrills of the
game by this competitive play
keep them entertained and sat-
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