AUGUST, 1949
For the Wrong That Needs Hesista,,,ce ___ For
tl"e Ca •• se TI"at Needs Assistance _
For tl.e
F •• t •• re i,,, the Distance - a,,,d the Good That
It Can Do!
PAUL W. BLACKFORD, Editor and Publisher
W ALTER W. HURD, Executive Editor
LOUIS KARNOFSKY, Advertising Manager
LOS ANGELES 15
NEW YORK 17
CHICAGO 1
1115 Venice Boulevard
FItzroy 8269-FItzroy 7114
35 East Wacker Drive
CENtral 1-1112
441 Lexington Avenue
Murray Hill 2-5589
Summer Tro.de Ahove Predictions
BUSINESS REVIEW . .. Coin Machines Shore Conditions
That Mark 1949 Summer As Normal
For the Coin Machine Industry, the
months of July and August usually pass
pretty much the same. Since the war coin
machine manufacturers have been getting
into the swing for fall trade by mid-August
and the arne general practice may be
anticipated this year. Manufacturers of
machines have by this time made a sound
estimate of what volume of production the
trade may be expected to absorb, but indus-
tries that cater to the general public are
still in the midst of trying to estimate what
output level will meet current demand-and
no more.
Press, radio and other mediums are alive
with opinions and guesses on the trend of
business and operators will be inAuenced
decidedly by the views on general business
that are heard everywhere, It will inAuence
their fall buying.
On the cheerful side, the con uming pub-
lic is showing much more optimism, buying
more goods than had been expected. Retail
trade has held to a much higher volume
than reports on dollar sales really show, be-
cause lower prices do not give the same
high dollar volume as last year.
This year, business and industry has
slowed up much faster than the con uming
public, has speeded up the recession during
May and June and into July by doing so.
Industry has shown more alarm than the
mass of consumers. Back of thi s slowing up
in industries is an effort to find a produc-
Call
PH. 7351
For (oin-operated Equipment,
Parts and Supplies
A. Laymon, Inc.
DISTRIBUTOR
1429-31 W. Pico
AUGUST, 1949
by Walter Hurd
CHICAGO- The summer tourist and vacation business reached higher
levels in July than had been predicted; recent reports indicate a normal
season and operators of coin machines are sharing in the wide variations that
prevail in conditions that may be called normal.
Prediction on summer tourist business tended to be on the gloomy side,
earlier in the year, many bu iness leaders fearing that the so-called rece sion
would discourage summer travel in general. Even as late as mid-June many
of the travel agencies were inclined to be pessimistic_ The oil companies in
March were revising their estimates of gasoline downward for summer traveL
Memorial Day, usually regarded as the first indicator of what summer
travel will be, was not on the optimistic side. But the principal summer resort
areas noted a pickup in reservations by late June and the long July 4 week-
end seemed to put summer travel into a full seasonal swing.
Business establishments that cater to tourists have reported conditions that
tion level in keeping with what will be the
level of demand for goods-and this is a
real problem .
In addition to the high level of con umer
pending, other cheering points in the sum-
mer business picture include the activity
in the auto and building industries. What
happens to steel by September will be
(See BUSINESS REVIEW, Page 12)
• C a I en d ar...
Th e R eVlew
Aug .4
Aug . 7
Aug. 14
IMPORTANT DATES
-Coast Guard Day.
-Friendship Oay_
- V-J Day.
CONVENTIONS
Aug. S-II-International Apple Assn .• annual con-
vention, Chicago .
Oct. 24-2i>-National Assn. of Popcorn Manufac-
turers, annual convention, Palmer
House, Chicago .
oct. 24-29-lnternational Assn. of Ice Cream Manu-
facturers, 45th annual convention, Los
Angeles.
Nov. 7-9 -National Assn. of Retail lea Cream
Manufacturers, annual convention, Hoi.
lenden Hotel, Cleveland .
Nov. 14-17-Amerlcan Bottle.. of Carbonated
Beverages, annual convention, Detroit.
Nov. 27-30-Nationa I Automatic Merchandising
Assn ., annual convention and exhibit,
Atlantic City, N. J.
may be called "spotty" and such is a nor-
mal season. In all normal years, some terri-
tories and some lines of bllsiness gain from
summer travel while others lose. Operators
are almost totally dependent on the traffic
which locations draw for patronage of th eir
machines, and hence their business goes
up or down during the summer as traffic
in locations rises or fall. Many operators
do some hifting for the summer but the
major part of coin machine placements
seem to stay put, and in readin-ess for fall
bu iness.
Earnings of most types of co in machine
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
REPAIRS and PARTS
Buy and Sell Slots
•
OVER 20 YEARS IN
SERVICING SLOTS
G. B. SAM
541 E. 3211d S ....... Los An.,.. .. 11. Col.
ADams 7688
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