N~w [Oln Ma~h I n ~ ~~~ortunItle~
I
Below lhe Border
by HAROLD S. KAHM
No. 3 -
MEXICO
The opportunities for coin machines in
Mexico, generally, are based upon two
factors: first, the general scarcity and nov-
elty of maGhines, and secondly, the nature,
temperament and psychology of the Mexi-
can people.
The Mexicans are first of all a leisure-
loving, pleasure-seeking people. Time means
nothing. When you make an appointment
with the Mexican the chances are about
fifty-fifty that he will keep it at all. He
may simply not show up, and will be
amazed and hurt if he is later reproached
for his defection. His reason, if he offers
one at all, is likely to be that he met some
friends and didn't like to hurt their feel-
ings by breaking away.
A business man will think nothing of chat-
ting idly with a friend while a dozen cus-
tomers are waiting to be served. The cus-
tomers will wait. They will chat with each
other. Nohody is in a hurry.
Just what does this mean to the coin
machine field? Simply this: that the Mexi-
can has more time to play automatic games,
and he will not stop playing because of
lack of time. When an American might
dash off a game or two after a quick lunch,
before he has to hurry back to the office,
the Mexican can devote himself to his
amusement steadily for an hour or more.
In virtually every city in Mexico, two hours
for lunch is the established rule; from
Juarez to Vera Cruz, Mexico tries to enjoy
itself during the lunch hours. And the
Mexican loves nothing better than a new
kind of amu ement, particularly if it costs
only a few centavos.
Mexico generally is wide open for every
type of automatic game, including those
concerned with such American sports a
baseball, basketball, etc., for all American
sports are popular in Mexico.
There is an excellent opportunity for '
fortune telling machines of all kinds, few
of which are now to be found anywhere in
the country. Mexicans, particularly the
women, are both romantic and supersti-
tious, and the average Mexican girl yearns
to peer beyond the portals of the future.
She want to know what kind of man she
will marry, and when, and whether she will
be rich or poor. She mayor may not really
believe the fortune-telling machine, but
she enjoys dallying with the unknown
future, and discussing it - perhaps with
laughter-with her friends.
Postcard pictures of famous bull-fighters
are in great demand at all times in Mexico,
yet one must frequently go far and wide
to find a place that sells them. When photo-
graphs of bull-fighters are displayed in a
store window, the sidewalks are frequently
blocked. A chain of vending machines of-
fering these pictures, either photographs or
AUTOMATIC·
PHOTOGRAPHY
postcards, to the public would do a tremen-
dous business throughout the coun try. The
bull-fighter is twenty times as popular in
Mexico as movie stars in our own country.
Crowds would not block the sidewalks to
see a display of photos of Clark Gab le and
Hedy Lamarr, but people of all ages will
come for blocks in Mexico to see some
posed photos of the popular bull-fighters.
Chewing gum is popular everyw here in
Mexico, but chewing gum vending ma-
chines are scarcely ever to be found. The
opportunities here are wide open.
Mexicans, oddly enough consider in g the
large percentage of illiteracy, are prodig-
ious readers. One of the largest book stores
in Mexico City, for instance, is located at
the en trance to Alameda Park. Americans
go up to the modernistic, glittering struc-
ture expecting to find a refreshment stand;
but there is no refreshment stand; there are
books. (Not magazines.) Mexican books
are usually inexpensive, small-sized, paper-
bound edi tions that would lend themselves
ideally to vending machines. Not only do
these books include the usual literature,
but also a wide variety of frank sex books,
many of which border on the pornographic;
the Mexican attitude toward these thin gs is
similar to that of th e French. There is
room in every city in Mexico for book-
vending machines.
To the Mexican love of music is added
the love of parks, and lounging in them.
The establishment of coin phonographs in
the public parks and squares throughout
Mexico would produce an enormous and
continuous revenue. The average Mexican
is unhappy unless he is listening to music,
and public officials are sympathetic to this
demand. Every city and town in Mexico
has its public parks and squares where the
people gather every afternoon and evening
to enjoy themselves.
Gambling in any and all forms is popular
in Mexico, for the Mexicans are gamblers
by nature. Although in some communities
gamb ling outright is prohibited by law,
save for the National Lottery, there are
many kinds of coin-controlled games of
chance that will delight the Mexicans in
these locations, particularly those of the
"steam shovel" type, with colorful, glitter-
ing cheap jewelry for prizes. Mexicans love
jewelry, and have no compunctions about
wearing cheap stuff so long as it sparkles.
There are no five-and-ten-cent stores in
Mexico, and machines vending popular ar-
ticles, such as combs, handkerchi efs, jew-
elry, perfume, and any other items in the
five-and-ten category will have an enor-
mous appeal. Just why regular five-and-
ten stores have not yet found their way to
Mexico is one of the mysteries of industry,
but their absence does afford a tremendous
The remarkable coin-operated PHOTOMATIC
machine, a worldwide public favorite, automat-
ically takes, frames and delivers a fine personal
picture in only 40 seconds! Requires no attend-
ants; very little weekly servicing. PROVEN a
steady money-maker. Investigate without obliga-
tion. International Mutoscope Reel Co., Inc.,
44-01 11th St., Long Island City, New York.
opportunity for merchandise vendors, par-
ticularly in locations which are some dis-
tance away from one of the open-air mar-
kets. These markets, where everything is
sold from hairpins to furniture, are usually
a good distance from the better class resi-
dential districts, and th e people in these
districts would appreciate a more conven-
ient means of buyi ng small necessities,
ranging from soap to razor blades.
The drug stores, throughout Mexico,
const itute virgin territory for weighing
scales and all other types of machines, for
they are still operating in the same man-
ner as did drug stores in the United States
fjfty years ago; they sell nothing but
drugs. Merchandise vendors of all types
might readily be placed to advan tage in
these drug store loca tions, for they would
provide extra revenue for the stores with-
out in any way competing with their regu-
lar lin es. The Mexican drug stores alon e
can absorb an enormous number of coin
machines of all types.
Perhaps the greatest real factor of all
in favor of the Mexican coin machine
market is that Mexicans, even down to
the lowest class peons, have become ma-
chine conscious, and progress-conscious.
Modern Mexico i becoming streamlined.
Mexico, within twenty years, may be as
completely modernized as the United
States; it is already a land of automobiles,
radios, washing machines, electrjc refrig-
erators, and streamlined architecture, and
this influence is making itself felt not only
in the larger ci ti es such as Juarez, Mazat-
Ian and Chihu ahu a City and the capi tol
itself, but in the smaller towns as well.
The new, growing generation is being edu-
cated in thl! school to appreciate the im-
portance of modernization and mechaniza-
tion. It is more than likely that Mexico,
because of the temperament of its people,
may become one of the most important
coin machine countries in the world. And
tbat time is not far away. The locations
are ready now.
•
Tribute Paid To
Coin Industry
CHICAGO. - "Genial Jim" Gilmore,
secretary-manager of Coin Machine Indus-
tries, Inc., declared at a recent installation
of CMI officers, "Never have I worked with
such a fine group of officers and directors
of CMI, or with such a fine industry." He
praised the sp irit of cooperation which he
maintained was responsible for the increase
from 21 members at th e beginning of his
term three years ago, to the present 106
members.
•
*
*
*
"What's your opinion of these women
who imitate men?"
"They're idiots!"
"Then the imitation is successful."
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•
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