~ Cl£VE1AN D
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Up Rents
idle machines.
CLEVELAND. (RC)-Izz Schmall, he
of the bushy hair and big smile, never lets
a machine remain idle. He has an interest-
ing way of putting machines to work for
in-between times. Every time any organi-
zation is going to have an affair, a benefit
dance, a picnic, a ball or what have you, he
drops them a note. He reminds them that
they're interested in making money, and
that he can help them out. He offers to
rent them one of his machines. Sometimes
he sends them out on a flat rental base, but
usually on a commission.
It works beautifully. For instance, he
had one nickle Bell machine which worked
every Sunday for him during all of last
summer. It was at a different location each
Sunday, but always at some picnic. There
were more than enough picnics and since he
didn't have to pay the highest percentages,
he found that the money in the cash box
at the end of the day netted him a great
deal. In a single day he would find as
much money as might be in a different spot
in three or four. Now he sends out other
machines, as well, on temporary location.
What's more, he recommends the method
to all who care to try it, seeing that he
hasn't begun to cover the total number of
possible places available.
To Hold Spots
-offer a trade!
No Junk Pile
for machines w hen Schlieqel's
around.
CLEVELAND. (RC) - Max "Prosit"
Schliegel has been gathering together a
number of the older machines in town. Re-
member the old Four-Ways, with the large
globes which would vend four different
kinds of merchandise? And do you remem-
ber the old machines of many other types?
Operators have shied away from them for
some time, in favor of the newer ones, but
Max has been gathering them together. He
was a mechanic before becoming an opera-
tor, and knows all about mechanical de-
vices. He's been fixing up all these old
machines, making them as good as new.
A coat of paint, a lot of sandpapering, a
final coat of varnish-and the job is done.
And that's why his machines are appear-
ing in spots which have never had them
before. Max is picking these older ma-
chines up every day for a song. He is plac-
ing them right and left, and everything
they take in is pure gravy. And if you see
Prosit any time now, you'll find that he's
always singing. There doesn't seem to be
an op around the Forest City who has better
reason to sing, either!
CLEVELAND. (RC)-Bill Waters, the
man behind a large number of the local
pin games is telling a new story these days.
He had a couple of machines in the largest
or nearly-the-largest drug store in town.
They were little gold mines, and the man-
ager became rather envious. He wanted to
buy the machines, was willing to pay prac-
tically any price, couldn't understand why
Waters wouldn't sell them.
Waters argued with the proprietor-man-
ager until he was out of breath, but there
was no convincing the good man. And then
Bill got a bright idea: "Tell you what,"
he declared, ''I'll trade you. I'll give you
a half interest in the machines. Satisfactory?"
It certainly was, but the manager wanted
to know what Bill wanted in exchange.
"Nothing much," was the reply. ''I'll leave
it up to you! I only want a tenth interest,
in exchange for the half. I'll take it either
out of your drug counter or your soda
fountain!"
It worked, the location is still on Bill's
list, even if he does change the machines
every couple of weeks, to put in the newest
and the latest. The manager had to see the
light, when Bill took that angle--they're
pals now.
Trailer [aIls Honeymooners
Five Pennies
CLEVELAND. (RC)-Not long ago we
were telling of young Will Herman, one
of the country's younger experts on all
kinds of writing. Seems that he acquired
an interest in a coin machine rou te here, and
was doing right well with it, too. That
wasn't the only thing he acquired, for there
is now a wife also, and the route is being
cared for by her brother. What's he doing?
At the present writing, he is somewhere
in the United States, travelling by trailer,
on an extended honeymoon. Will refused
to say before leaving, but he hinted darkly
that a good part of the trailer was paid for
by pennies and nickels that "came in."
CLEVELAND. (RC)-Five pennies make
a nickle, says Art Stone, and pennies are
still money in this country. He's one of
those operators you meet from time to time,
who are seldom heard from. He works
only part time on his route, and is a sales-
man the rest of the time.
He runs nothing but pin games, and
then only the penny variety. Art insists
that if he were giving full time to the job,
he would never touch a thing but the legi-
timate article. As it is, however, with part
time only, he finds the penny games with
prizes are real money makers. They don't
make a nickel.
Payouts [ut Down
with out loss to ops.
CLEVELAND. (RC)-With the recent
trouble in legalizing all coin-operated ma-
chines, a number of local operators have
been experimenting with a new way of cut-
ting down on the payouts, and aiming to-
ward eliminating them altogether. It takes
a lot of time and a lot of work, to say '
nothing of cooperation, but the final results
should be well worth the trouble.
A number of operators go out together,
end up at one of the locations where one
or another of them has machines. They
start to play the machine, pay no attention
to the payout, bet on the outcome. It
doesn't take long before the audience that
gathers catches on. They start betting, too,
and the payout comes in for only a mini-
mum of attention.
In a short time the audience gets into
the habit of betting on the games. This
gives the machine an automatically wider
appeal, because it makes it possible for the
spectators to have a stake in the play. It
takes several visits (all of which the loca-
tion owner appreciates) and a lot of side
talk and ad libbing-but the final result is
100 percent value. The bolder ops (the
young and daring ones usua ll y) have start-
ed removing the payout headaches, or cut-
ting out the pay chamber. And there have
been no earthquakes. The audiences are
betting. Money is turning over right and
left and there haven't been nearly as many
complaints as were anticipated.
It looks as if this is a step in the right
direction towards solving a really bad prob-
lem.
Street [ars
win out over automobiles.
CLEVELAND. (RC)-George Markey
had a bad auto accident quite a few years
ago and has refused to drive a machine
since. When he invaded the bulk-vending
field, operators were sure he'd break down
and get a car. But he would not do it,
claiming he'd take care of them by street
car or not at all.
Carfare took a lot of his money, and a
lot of his time went to pot, but he kept at
it. Then, about a half-dozen years ago,
the Cleveland Railway Co. inaugurated a
system of passes. Passes you may recall,
cost only 1.25 in Cleveland and entitle
the holder to travel any distance and any
number of times in the course of a week.
Which solved the problem of carfare. The
problem of time was also solved in a nice
way. George was always a bookworm-y chap
and found that he could get a lot of read-
ing done on the street-cars, a thing that you
can't do so well while waiting for a red
light.
So tbe figure of George with a machine
under each arm is a familiar one on Cleve-
land street cars, and he hasn't bought his
car yet. At a matter of fact, he probably
never will, since he claims that a lot of
extra money is in his pocket each week,
by virtue of riding the car company's out-
fits instead of his own.
bother any of the other operators because
the penny machines are never put into spots
that could take a larger one.
He tells a friend whenever he gets hold
of a large spot. He works the penny games
with prizes for high scores, and finds they
really pay. There isn't much competition
in this angle of the business and business
is always good.