Automatic Age

Issue: 1942 January

KEEP GOING-AT A PROFIT!
Some thoughts for the merchandise vending machine
operator for the coming year and hints on how to
stay in business
By R. H. ADAIR
Your future outlook for 1942
is one of either success or fail­
ure. You will either be out of
the vending machine business
entirely or else you will have a
sound business. There will be
no thing during times such as
these of an operator “just get­
ting by.” You can definitely
stay in the vending business, but
you Will have to think to do so.
If you operate 5c selective
candy bar machines you will
have less profit per bar as the
wholesale price will go up be­
cause of increase in taxes and
scarcity of candy materials.
Then, too, some of the candy
bars now on the market will be
discontinued so that your vari­
ety will not be as wide. Your
profits may drop because of this
and the fact that your truck or
car upkeep for servicing will
mount— unless you T HIN K and
apply sound action.
C a reless O p e ra to r O verlooks Facts
It can be seen readily that the
careless operator — who has
made no study of his location,
knows little or nothing of just
what his vending equipment
produces per location, has no
knowledge of just what candy
bars or other merchandise sell
to advantage—will certainly put
himself out of business. During
the past few years there have
been too many people making
money with vending equipment
—people who gave no thought to
the business of operating ma­
chines. They have been quite a
headache to the established oper­
ator, and it is nice to know that
they will soon disappear.
But now let us present a few
suggestions or solutions as to
how the established operator can
remain in business during ’42
and still make a profit.
W hat It Takes to
Make a Profit
First of all we take it for
granted that you have an index
card or operating sheet for each
and every vendor on your route
so you can tell week by week
what each machine is doing for
you. Go over these cards care­
fully and plan to close out those
locations immediately where
your lc or 5c merchandise vend­
ing equipment is not producing
the profit it should. It is more
important than ever to make
each and every one of your
vendors produce as much profit
for you as they can.
You must bear in mind that
your route as it stands today
will not now make the same
profit for you as it did before.
The reason for this, as you
know, is because vending mer­
chandise will cost you more and
your servicing costs will be
higher.
Service M achines System a tica lly
You do not have to be re­
minded as to the present situa­
tion on tires for passenger cars
and trucks or the increase in up­
keep which can be expected.
Right now to conserve as much
of your profit as you possibly
can—why not make sure you are
servicing your machines syste­
matically? It is surprising many
times to discover that by simply
changing the servicing time of a
few machines you can save
many hours time and put fewer
miles on your car or trucks. If
you can arrange your day's work
so you service 40 machines in­
stead of the 25 or 30 you used to
do, you will be time and money
ahead.
Increase Profit From
Present Locations
Don’t overlook the fact that
you can increase your profit
from the locations you now have
by installing lc candy, gum, or
peanut vendors. It takes very
little extra time to service such
vendors and the extra profit you
obtain from them can mean a
great deal. When your costs go
up on 5c candy bars you have no
choice but simply to absorb the
difference yourself.
On penny peanut or bulk mer­
chandise vendors you have the
advantage of being able to pass
any increase in costs to the
buyer. This you do by adjusting
the portion per penny so that
your relative net profit per
pound always remains the same.
Now more than ever before
every operator of 5c selective
MUTOSCOPE EXHIBIT PROVES CROWD-PULLER
"R ecreation
fo r the N a tio n " was theme o f In te rn a tio n a l M utoscope Reel C om pany's ex­
h ib it a t the convention and tra d e show held by the N a tio n a l A ssociation o f Amusement Parks,
Pools, and Beaches, a t the H o te l Sherman, C hicag o.
January, 1942
© International Arcade Museum
AUTOMATIC AGE
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
11
A
C H A M P IO N
ALW AYS
DOES
" W it h c o n fid e n c e in o u r
a rm e d
fo r c e ■ s , . ■ ■ w it h • th e
u n b o u n d i n q d e t e r m in a ­
tio n
of our
w ill
g a in
th e
p e o p le , w e
in e v ita b le
tr iu m p h . So h e lp us G o d .”
F ra n k lin D e la n o R o o s e v e lt
D e c e m b e r 8, 1941
Arthur H. DuGRENIER, Inc.
15 Hale Street
Haverhill, Mass.
candy bar machines should see
to it that he has plenty of penny
vendors on his route.
Less Com m ission to
Co m bination Locations
In the light of knowing that
costs will go up on 5c bars it is
well to repeat that penny gum,
peanut, or candy machines offer
a solution as to how you can re­
duce your expenses and thus re­
tain more of the profits.
Try to install both penny and
nickel merchandise vendors on a
straight 10 % commission for
both types of machines. By pay­
ing only 10 % on the penny ma­
chines you can offset any in­
crease in costs which may go on
12
the nickel bars. Even if you are
forced to pay 15% commission
on both penny and nickel ma­
chines you will still find that the
penny vendors produce enough
to offset the 5% extra commis­
sion you are allowing on the
nickel machines.
Don’t overlook penny vending
machines as they are good insur­
ance to hold locations from com­
petition— open up new locations
for your 5c candy bar machines
—and make extra profits from
existing locations. Plan to use
as many of them as you can on
your route.
Brighten Future W ith Profit
The path ahead is not a bit
AUTOMATIC AGE
© International Arcade Museum
black to the merchandise vend­
ing machine operator who now
plans to put his route on a real
business basis. He will simply
have to do this if he wants to
stay in business. The slipshod
careless days of operating vend­
ing equipment are a thing of the
past. From now on the opera­
tion of v e n d i n g machi nes,
whet her t hey be penny or
nickel; whether they fall in the
class of peanut machines, drink
vendors, or candy bar machines,
is going to be a real honest to
goodness business.
A year from now there will
still be plenty of merchandise
vending machine operators left
in business, in spite of the many
who will give up or be forced
out. You will find that those
operators still in busi ness,
whether they be small or large
in size, will conduct their opera­
tion with real business ability.
At a moment’s notice they can
tell the location and producing
power of each and every one of
their machines. They can tell
you from their books just what
profit is being made on their
business. And as far as the mer­
chandise used in their machines
— they will know everything
that is to be known about the
kinds of candy bars, why certain
types sell better, and just where
and when to use various bulk
merchandise and packaged
goods in penny machines. Their
knowledge on their ve n d i n g
business in all phases will be
complete.
It is never too late to change.
You alone know whether you
have to or not in order to be in
the vending business during the
coming year. The future should
hold no worries for the operator
who has his route in “top” con­
dition and keeps it that way. He
will keep going—at a profit.
Lena: “Oh, darling, I ’m
afraid our elopement will un­
string mama.”
Clive: “That’s all right,
dearest, we’ll wire her.”
January, 1942
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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