Classic Mode

Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

Issue: 1949 May

slightly and the labor situation is spotty
ing with the idea of opening a shuffleboard
parlor.
and unpredictable.
-George Keith
Beverage venders report receipts slightly
off, but normal for the kind of weather,
with business better because of Lent, as
fasting does not include abstinence from
Business in general has been about aver-
soft drinks. Industrial lay-offs had their ef-
fect on the picture, too.
age, with the nicer weather bringing out
more of the hibernators who are not seen
Quarter figures, while not highly encour-
aging, still compare favorably with the from the time winter sets in until spring
arrives again. From all appearances, it looks
General coin machine business passed the
same period last year, and stand up well in
first quarter of the year at a stand-still.
comparison with the general business posi- like it should be a good year for travel,
as many of the new '49 cars are making
Receipts have been fairly good generally for
tion.
their debut among local motorists. The
the first three months, but not up to ex-
The unemployment figures were cush-
price is far from low, too, so there still is
pectations in many cases. As March ended, - ioned somewhat for milk venders by an-
some money around. This should be good
the effects of Lent tended to keep things
other price decline of one cent a quart,
news to arcade operators as the summer
about on an even keel with the month
with further drops imminent. This tended
wears on toward fall.
before.
to make . the quarter comparably good.
Throughout the Buckeye State, legisla-
One authority estimated that automatic
Candy was inclined to level off, so that
tion on coin-operated devic s has been ex-
phonograph receipts were about equal to
business was only as good as last month.
ceptionally heavy during recent weeks. The
last month. For the quarter he believes
Lent made its influence felt here, too. The
business was off approximately 25 per cent.
quarter was a little better than last year ' Industry appears to be bearing the brunt
of many narrow·minded and mercenary cru-
He blames this mostly on economic condi-
because of more favorable prices and sup-
saders' attacks. This has taken place in
tions generally.
plies, but the volume was off for the three
several Ohio cities.
A well-qualified distributor takes this po-
months.
An ordinance providing for taxing of coin-
sition: "We have had our recession. We
Cigarette sales increased slightly from
operated amusement devices was passed by
are better off now than most industries.
last month, the upswing being gradual, as
Cuyahoga Falls council. This ordinance also
There is nothing alarming in the situation.
expected, until it reaches the full swing of
provides for taxing music devices, such as
It will get better, or at least, not worse
the open-air months. The quarter was not
"juke boxes, and individual layouts for
from here out." He also stated he thinks
quite as good as last year, but in relation
operators are mostly expecting too much,
public amusement, such as shuffleboard."
to the general economic picture it was very
Operators of these devices must pay a $25
and thinks they should forget the lush war
satisfactory. No decided drop in smoking
annual fee for each device. Violators of the
days, and view things with lowered sights.
is looked for here. Raleighs continued to
make strong gains because of the coupons, ordinance may be fined not less than' $10
The six-for-two-bits machines are doing
nor more than $49 for each separate of-
but not at the expense of the leaders. The
wonderfully well, it is reported. The con.
quarter finds the line up thus: Lucky Strike, fense, according to terms of the new bill.
sensus is that the threatened legislation of
Camels and Chesterfields, with Philip Mor-
a $75 tax on every box will not pass, though
Akron's phonograph and pin ball opera-
ris in close pursuit, particularly in the last
there is nothing concrete on which to base
tors called in vain on Mayor Slusser of that
quarter.
ci ty to veto an ordinance Council passed to
this hope.
Pop corn did only as good as last month.
collect a 3 per cent amusement tax on their
Games are believed to be in better shape
The failure to gain is possibly due to drop
machines. The Mayor refused to sign the
than music, being only around 15 per cent
in theater attendance and to Lent. The
ordinance, saying that "it would be hard to
off on the quarter, with a slight gain this
quarter was good, but affected by unseason-
enforce it and little help to city finances."
month over last. Greater Cincinnati in-
ably warm weather and money conditions: He said he wouldn't veto the ordinance,
stalled 2061 new video sets in the past
Chewing gum reports a steady quarter,
"because, if it's Council's attempt to get
month, for a total of 17,079 for the area.
with hardly any perceptible change from
more money, it's all right with me but I
About 10 per cent of these are in public
month to month. The same must- be said of want it understood that it's council's plan
places, and it is still anybody's guess how
nuts of all kinds.
and not mine."
much the coin machine business is affected
by the pictures.
Ilis statement came as owners of the coin-
Popular records are reported in a slump,
and for the first time in many months, folk
operated devices started a full-scale cam-
Shuffleboards have made amazing gains
paign for repeal 'of the ordinance taxing
and race tunes failed to show expected in-
in the past quarter. It is. estimated, un-
creases. The quarter business was nothing
their gross take.
officially, that there are now between 2000
like it should have been, It is reported, with
and 3000 boards in operation in the area.
The operators would rather have a flat
the pops running third in demand.
They continue to do increasingly heavy
rate licensing measure, as long as the ma-
business, and installations are going on
chines are to be a source of revenue to
Scale business for the month and for the
apace. It must be reported, however, that
Akron. Joe Elfant, president of the Summit
quarter was firm, and just about met antici-
only a small percentage of these games are
COUlity Music Operators, Inc., said the asso-
pations.
coin-operated. At least one operator ~s toy-
ciation is preparing a new ordinance and
Unemployment figures are reported down
by increased actIVI ty in making merchan-
disers to sell the product.
Bulk vendor reports agree with reports
from many other centers, that the pickup
has been less than normal. Operators are
not expanding routes under present condi-
tions.
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predicts it will bring in more money than
the one council passed.
About a dozen of the new 100-tune coin
phon os have been installed in the Akron dis-
trict_ So far, operators say they haven' t had
enough experience to determine whether the
wider selection will produce enough more
patronage to pay for the much higher cost
of the boxes_ They are demanding long-
term contracts with the tavern and store
keepers who in stall them_
The license fee for automatic record play-
ers in Wellston remains at $30 per machine
per year and will not be re duced to $15,
since city council fail ed to act on an ordi-
nance providing for the reduction_
Portsmouth City Council gave first read-
ing -to an anti-gambling Iflw which would
prohibit the exhibition of pin ball machines,
although they are not specifically named in
the proposed measure_ The ordinance as
drafted names slot machines and pun ch
boards specifically. Council voted 5 to 1 for
tbe ordinan ce on the first reading.
Toledo Council's Committee of the Whole
unanimously approved increasing the pin
ball machine fees from $100 a year to $175.
By the action , the city would get an esti-
mated $140,000 more in fees th an last year.
A special Council committee eliminated a
proposal to license vending machines. Coun-
cil approved the increases in city license
fees, including pin ball machines, shuffle-
boards and amusements. A reducti on in the
number of pin ball machines was predicted
because of the higher tax and the elimina-
tion April 1 of payoff devices.
The Ohio Department of Liquor Control
gave a conditi onal "green light" to shuffle-
board tournaments in taverns h aving state
liquor permits. Such tournaments are per-
missible, th e department ruled, " provided
the permit holder is not in any way con-
nected with the game outside of havin g it
played on his premises for a fee." Such a
plan would be simil ar to that of bowling
alley leagues. Enforcement officers s,aid tav-
ern operators may not charge entran ce fees
to shuffleboard tournaments nor give away
free meals and prizes. Potato chips and
pretzels are not considered as fo od.
In Columbus, shuffleboard seems to be
taking an increased hold a nd ap pears to be
doing well in co mp etition with the new tele-
vision station Y . n'ow in opera tion here. A re-
MAY, 1949
port is that some taverns elsewhere have
been doing such a thriving busin ess lately
that the taprooms which have television sets
are ripping them out. Customers, it was
said, drink more slowly when they're watch-
ing TV, Also television attracts non-drinkers
and light drinkers who elbow the heavy
spenders away from the bar. And, fina lly-
too' many arguments were encountered, it
was reported.
Warmer weather is helping beverage sales,
with more of the same being reported as
summer comes closer.
Stark County Common Pleas Court will
have to decide the problem of whether gum
machines, which intermittently dispense
trinkets are classed as gambling devices.
Harold F. Becker, head of the Automatic
Gum Sales of Akron, complained in a suit
fil ed in Common P leas Court that Canton
vice squad members had seized 16 of the
vending machines from stores and restau-
rants there. Becker asked for a temporary
and permanent restraining order to stop
police from confiscating his machines. Th e
trinkets, he said , were to boost sal es. Sales
from the gum machines had greatly in-
creased sin ce the trinkets were added, it
was said.
Thomas England, Newark , sued the Auto-
ma tic Canteen Co. of America for $1,586,-
777 under the federal anti-trust laws; 'He
declared in the suit, filed in U. S. District
Court here, that the Chicago firm sought
to monopolize the sale of candy through
vending machines. He said the company
had refu sed to renew his distributor license
because he bought ,·.andy from other sources.
England said he se'.ls candy, nuts and chew-
ing gum through 3744 vending machines in
27 ' central Ohio counties. He leases the
machin es from the Chicago firm.
William D. Bailey, sup ervisor of the ex-
cise section of the Ohio Department of Tax-
ation, reported that cigarette tax stamp
sales for th e month of March, were up
$98,860 over the previous year. Sales to-
taled $1,498,575, while for the correspond-
in g month- in 1948 sal es reached $1,399,725.
For the year to ..date, total sales were up
2.19 per cent. Sales of cigarette tax stamps
for the first three month s of 1949 were
$4,005,292, while for th e corres ponding pe-
ri od last year the sales totaled $3,919,196.
Most oth er vendin g machin es are about
normal, in cluding nut vendors, scales and
stamp machin es. A saturation point for th e
latter has been reached, the Better Business
Bureau reported .
C. A rthur&
- w.
1,0$
Jlngeles
General business is below normal and no
amount of fan cy phrases or soft-soapy phi-
losophy can alter that.
Th e music picture is a littl e hazy. A
good percentage of operators report that
the first hot days of April gave them a lift.
Other operators report drops of as much
as 15 per cent compared to December,
while returns from Long Beach , Wilming-
ton , San P edro and Torran ce continue low.
Oil workers and longshoremen, who com-
prise the main buying power in the sea-
port towns, haven' t full y r ecupera ted from
the oil and longshore strikes of several
months ago.
Live action, flipp ers and power bumpers
have brought many new pin game players
into the fold , as well as stimulatin g new
interest from the regulars, with the result
that gross has jumped 25 per cent.
Cigarettes are down as much as 20 per
ce nt, a nd it doesn' t take a crystal ball to
find out why. Two major chain drug stores
started a price war, cutting th e carton fig-
ure to $1.49. Then some of th e independ-
ents got into the fight and are now selling
at 15c per pack , $1.39 per car ton . Cigarettes
via machin e are vending at 20 cents. The
situation hasn't been helped by commission
chiselers who are not only giving locati ons
three cents and more per pack , but offering
bonuses for loca tions as well.
Lowered candy pri ces have given oper-
ators a new lease on profit. One of the big
suppl iers in town is offerin g all popular
bra nds a t $2.67 to $2.79 per hundred bars.
Stamp machines boomed high th e week
before Easter, giving opera tors a who pping
good April. Cup dispensers are movin g into
th e warm weather season with a cash box{
snap. P op corn machin es are still off, but
operators hope for a summer spurt. Pros-
pects are bright for scales inasmuch as th ey
have been steady all year and May heralds
the start of th e summ er scale season.
A shuffleboard opera tor with a lar ge route
clai ms that six months a go his boards were
41

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