Classic Mode

Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

Issue: 1949 May

quantity, waiting for furth er price decl in es
on sugar. The soft drink trade was prob·
ably hit harder by unfavorable legislation
recently than any other merchandise trade,
due to a number of tax proposals, also ex·
tension of the P ennsylvania soft drink tax
for two years.
Trade gossip has it that sales of soft
drinks have been off for some months. One
of the first reports for the new year- Dr.
Pepper-says most of its bottlers either had
increases or held their own during the first
two months of the year. The big soft drink
season , of course, is now just ahead. Walter
Mack (Pepsi-Cola) is reported to be visit-
ing state conventions of bottlers to urge a
national advertising campaign to boost use
of carbonated drinks, and to say that single-
flavor vendors are unfavorable to the in-
dustry. Ci trus Products Co. (Kist) recently
made a survey on use of vendors to sell
soft drinks. A leader in soft drink trade
field (name withheld) was recently quoted
in New York as saying the soft drink vend-
ing field is crowded and marked by un-
profitable competition. He said too many
operators have been led to enter the field
without studying th e full potential market.
Firms Merge to
Make Two Vendors
THE
ji/e,,/
PROFIT-BOOSTER
FOR SPRING AND SUMMER
!)Jeaf Ari:5iocrai
100CYo
TO
600CYo
PROFIT
Aristocrat is th e onl y sma ll scale w ith jump.proof mechanism-a pate nted de vi ce preven ting
fre. w e ights. Aristocrat is sturdil y constructed , fi nished in acid .. proof porcela in. And e very
sca le so ld ca rries a five .. y ear g uarantee and the a pproval of the Dept. of Weights a nd Measures.
Don't Delay ! Get Full Information Today!
IDEAL WEIGHING MACHINE CO.
1012 WEST 43RD ST.
NEW YORK - Practi cal Produ cts Co.,
Minneapolis, Minn., and the Gross-Given
Mfg. Co., St. Paul, have merge d th eir fa -
cilities for the manufacture of Refresh-O-
Mat, the new low-priced cup dispenser, and
the Smokeshop, th e 612-pack all-electric
cigarette machin e, so that a greater degree
of effi ciency in production can be main -
tain ed, segregating the coin machine prod-
ucts from th e products which they presently
manufa cture.
The new com pany, handling the present
two machin es and other coin machine mer-
chandisin g products to be announced short-
ly, will be known as the Automatic Prod-
ucts Co. of 2632 Nicollet Ave. , Minnea polis.
Sales for both products to distributors will
be handl ed by the Automatic Products
Sales Co., 250 W. 57th St., N. Y. C., under
the direc tion of Samuel Kresberg, execu-
tive vice president, and Maury Auerbach,
director of sales. Auerbach was formerly
with National Vendors and Lehigh Foun-
dries.
Oak's New Plant Producing
450 " Acorn" Vendors Daily
CULVER CITY, Calif.-With complete
fa cilities for the manufacture of th e Acorn
vendor now under on e roof, Oak Mfg. Co.
has step ped up production in its new
5,000 foot plant to 450 per day. In addition
to th e main plant, a 5,000 foot warehouse is
being constru cted at the same location.
Th e firm announces th e appointment of
Harry R. Evans, wid ely known vending
man , as factory representative. Evans will
appoint new distributors in th e territories
open and coordinate the activities of dis-
tributors already in th e fold. At present he
is in the South and will subsequently cover
the rest of th e country.
Company officials state that the Acorn is
not only becomin g increasingly popular in
the United States, but in foreign countries
as well .. Growing shipments have gone for-
DON'T FORCET! '
Wh en you buy quality vending merchandise direct from th e fa ctory you save money
•
and increase your profit margin!
We ma nufacture th e fin est and largest assortment of bulk merchandi se in th e
country-and sell direct to the operator at fa ctory prices.
Th ere are no lower prices! There is no higher quality!
SEND FOR FREE SAMPLES AND PRICES TODAY!
DON'T
FORCET!
.
When you operate the ACORN Vendor, you slash service
costs to zero and boost gross because th e Acorn is durable,
si mpl e to service a nd packed with eye a ppeal. Why continue
to operate old-fashioned, clumsy vendors in this streamlined
era of th e ACORN?
-
-
Priced for Operator's Pro fi t
$ 13.95 ea.
$13.45 in lots of 100
F.O.B. Los Angeles
Operators Vending Machine Supply' (0.
Exclusive Souther n Cali f ornia D istributor f or
Oak Mfg. Co.'s ACORN VENDOR
Phone: Richmond 5264
1023 S. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, Calif.
38
PAY-AS-.
YOU-EARN
FINANCING
PLAN
LOS ANGELES 37, CALIF.
ward to Cuba , Puerto Rico, P anama, Nica-
ragua, and Guam. Coin mechanism on the
Acorn is adjustable to take any foreign
coins.
.
The factory reveals that the Acorn is now
available with die-cast cabin ets, having th e
same cap.acity as globes, for territories
desiring them.
Operators Vending Machine Supply Co.,
exclusive Southern California distributor
for the Acorn, is accepting Suns, Stars,
and Opera tors Vending's Ace machines on
trade-in for the Acorn and removing th e
obsolete machin es from the market.
Bonanza Has Financing Plan
For California Operators
LOS ANGELES - Bonanza, In c., manu-
facturers of th e Nllgget automatic hot pop-
corn vendor and th e Swi/t y-Shine automatic
shoe shin e machine, announce a tim e pay-
ment plan for California op erators permit-
ting th e purchase of both machines at one-
third down and the bal ance in monthly
payments.
Said C. F . Wurdig, Bonanza executive :
"First to reduce post-war machine pri ces,
Bonanza once ~ga in gives the operator an
opportunity to increase ea rnings. By taking
advantage of this time payment plan, Cali-
fo rnia operators can expand th eir routes
and· reap the benefits of volume sale with-
out drainin g off th eir working ca pital."
Bonanza scooped the fi eld with its low-
priced popcorn and shoe shin e machines at
the CMI Show, and sin ce th en has steadily
expanded to meet growing demand for its
vendors .
"Our purpose in entering th e manufactur-
ing field was not ·just to turn out low-priced
machines," Elwood Lorman said. "Anybody
can make low-priced ma chines. Our object
was to make low-pri ced machines whi ch
would be so trouble-free and easy to service
that operators would make a nice profit
without those twin bugaboos- high cost of
eq uipm ent a nd high cost of servicing -
drivin g them to tb e wall."
Expand
WITH N.EW MACHINES
COIN MACHINE REVIEW
Regionlll Business Reports
' - - - - - - - - - - By REVIEW ~EPORTERS----------~
Se cond Qua rte r Outlook
The fin:t three months of 1949 passed by and a ll
sorts of reports were piling up during Apri l as evi.
dence of wh a t to expect this year. In genera l , oper-
ators of coin machin es h ave report e d th a t busi n ess for
most machines was off during the fir st quarter-o r
d id not come up t o ex p ectat ions. R eports in s uffi cie nt
number and also enough sec tion s of the countr y were
ava il a bl e to support last month' s s um mary that the
"spring pickup thi s year was slowe r than u su a l and
a l so in l ess d egre e."
Probably manuf,c turcrs of coin machin es are s ho w-
ing mor e optimism a t the present time than other
d ivi sio n s of the trad e . but manufacturers of vendi ng
machine s have lost their h igh pla ce of l eadershi p in
the po s twar op timi sm.
Th e outlook for the second qua r t e r is buoyed by
the ge nera l expecta tion that the best th ree month s o f
th e year come a t thi s tim e in normal periods. There
a re muny who believe that operation o f co in m ac hin es
is rea l ly ge tting back to norm a l. But the entire
indu s tr y now recognizes that gen e ra l co n d ition s rea ll y
d e cide wh at happens 10 the co in machin e busin ess as
8 whol e .
And , as to the gene ral business outlook fo r th e
second quarter, the ex pert s were sa ying th a t April o r
May wou ld be th e cr iti cal mOJ:lth s in which it would
be decided how much recession , and es pec ia ll y un·
e mployment , there WOli ld be during th e yea r. Oper-
ators now genera lly hold the view that a recession h as
b een under way for som e months and their chief
hope is that everyt hin g will l evel otT as soo n as
possible.
But in April even the exp erts could not b e su re
tha t t h e l eveling off process h ad fu ll y t a ken p l ace.
Man y held that the decline would cont inu e int o 1950
but that it would be gradua l , and wit hout a ny general
upsets to business. So, the coin machine trade e n-
tered i t s best period with this gene ra l view o f co n d i-
tions h anging over it.
S h u ffl eboard co ntinues to be a bright spot in t h e
am usement indu s try , with exce ll ent promotions of
!ournam ent s and public inter es t being sc h edu l ed.
Thi s is progress of the right kind and sh ou ld l ead
make rs and owners of o th er types of machin es to
search th e field fo r some such id eas to boo s t th eir
own types of ma chin es.
P e rhaps th e biggest qu estion mark hin ges abou t
general sales of candy and ciga re tt es at th e PQ~ sen t
tim e. Although tota l cigarett e sa l es made a good
s tart for the year, there are more questions now abo ut
the rest of the year. Tot al cand y sales and a l so th at
of candy bars dro pp ed for th e fir st t wo months of th e
year, according to officia l re ports, but so m e r epor t s
also show that candy operato rs can have sa les i n -
c reases when general sales a re declining.
A lat e East er ha d i t s effec t s on ret a il trad e and
also on various types of coin machin es. Earl y reports
in April, however, were encouragin g because the
sp ring pickup was st ill go ing right ah ead , alt h oug h
d e l ayed in th e beginn ing .
R egiona l reports by R EV I EW correspo nd ents follow:
BUSINESS BAROMETER
APRIL
)949
Chicago .............. B
Cincinnati... ....... N
Columbus .......... N
Los Ange les ...... B
St. Louis ..............
Spokane ............. A
Twin Cities ........ B
Was h .• D. C .... __ .. B
N
B
N
B
N
B
N
B
BAN B N N
BAN N N N
B A A NAB
N N N N B B
NAN N N
BAN A B
B A B B B B
NAB N N
B
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
B N
N N
N-NORMAL
A-ABOVE NORM AL
B-BELOW NORMAL
Chieago
Some trade leaders here summarize th e
"state of the Industry" by saying that in
wis area quiet prevails in all circles and
there is also a general feeling that things
have pretty well leveled off to somethin g
like normal.
The trade associations, CMI and NAMA,
were still occupied with legislative reports
and problems in April. Leaders in both
organizations say legislation has been much
less serious than might have heen expected.
But there is also anticipation that city tax
problems will flare up considerably during
the second half of the year.
.
As to general busin ess in the area, new s·
papers report "Chicago steel plants laying
off workers in seasonal slump" and oth er
similar evidence. There is also a trend to
cut to shorter weeks, as in all industrial
centers. The trend is not considered serio
ous, but a rather normal leveling off. Farm
activity has increased seaS Midwest and is a big factor in general
business.
. Music here is helped some by reports
from other sections. The view prevails that
gains may be expected in the music busi·
liess during the next few months. Some
trade leaders say this is based partly on
the fact that phonograph play has been
pretty stable in many centers for months,
and then a normal seasonal gain is under
way now.
Games demand in the area is said to be
normal but manufacturers of games say
the national picture has shown a slackened
demand for six months or so, and that
legislation has been a delaying factor since
Jan. l.
Shuffleboard is still making big headway
in manufacturing circles and also in place·
ments. The business is highlighted by the
coming . championship tournament called
the "Four·State Standard Shuffleboard
Championship Tournament," scheduled for
the Coliseum, Chicago, June 16·19. Obvi·
ously the biggest public shuffleboard even t
ever planned, it will be an event in th e
shuffleboard expansion move.
Soft drink vending seems to be normal
for the season, aided by strong promotional
effort s by makers of drinks and vendors.
Leaders in the candy industry have been
quoted n.ationally in current reports that
total candy sales are off considerably, in·
cluding bars. Some vending operators,
however, say machine sales are holding up
w.ell. Factory employment conditions, defi.
mtely spotty, affect all types of vendors in
the industrial sections in a big way.
Cigarette vending, legally confined to in.
dustrial filld other plants, is thus affected
by the spotty changes taking place among
fa ctories. Pop corn sales are being aided
FOR THE SUMM ER POPCORN SEASON
YOU CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO
OPERATE /{uhkeIJ!
HICH
In
Quality
$119 50
F. O. B.
LOS ANGELES
FOR EITHER 5c OR 10c MODELS
Low
In
PRICE
During the past 12 years Kunk el eng in eers have consistently added new improvements to th e Model K-one mMe reason
why this dependable vendor has proved its superiority on all typ es of locations • • . Manufactured by a firm -with 30
yea rs ex pe ri ence in coin-operated ma chines, th e Model K 's outstanding fea tures have made it tops among l ead ing operators.
Write for Full Information 'T oday!
COLDEN STATE VENDORS
Approved by
Underwriters' Lab.
MAY, 1949
3016 Asbury Street
Los Angeles 31 . Calif.
39

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