Classic Mode

Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

Issue: 1949 October

Cigarette Prices - One
Year Afler The Raise
On e year ago durin g August and Sep-
tember, and later, ciga rette operators wer e
co nfronted with a gene ral pro bl em of
adj ustin g pri ces, and also machines me-
chanically, to conform to a n in crease of
eight cents per ca rton on cigarettes by
th e manufa cture rs_
There were ma tters of price poli cy for
operators to decide, as well as to adjust
many machines mech a nically. Th e re were
many situati ons in whi ch operators, by
absorbin g pa rt of th e in creased cost, could
still sell at 20 ce nts per pa ck whil e stores
were advan cin g to 21 or 22 ce nts retail.
Oth er operators were also in crea in g the
price by as much as two or three cents
a nd thus in crease th eir margin , ra th er
th an abso rb part of th e in creased price
a nd till sell at 20 cents.
Many operator reported th at the move
to boost ma rgins gave them a com fortable
return for th e first tim e in th eir operatin g
ex perience, because ciga rettes had always
been regarded as a low margin produ ct.
Th e question of pu blic rela ti on wa
also involved, and ma ny operators sa id they
wo uld sti ck to 20 cents ra ther th a n risk
incurrin g consumer ill-will by increasin g
th e margin too much, as th ey put it. This
point was widely di scussed in operating
circles and in trade mee ting .
State taxes on cigarettes entered into
the situ ation also, and in a number of states
ma de it necessa ry for opera tor to set their
machin es at 25 cents a nd th en penny the
packs to return change. Ma nufacturers
of machin es went in to action a t on ce to
help opera tors adjust th eir machin es to
the new pri ce itu a tion . Th ere were moves
to' put 25-ce nt mechani sms on th e market
a nd to offe r mechani sms th at would give
penni es in ch an ge.
( See ONE YEAR, Page 36 )
Cigllrette Bevenlles DrOll In
Jllly F(!r 2nd Time In Yellr
W ASHI GTON- Th e offi cial revenu e re-
port of sales tax stam ps on cigarettes for
th e month of July a rou sed som e fears a gain
th a t total cigarette sales in 1949 m ay show
na tion al consumpti on as levelin g ofT. Cigar-
ette stamp sales for July were down a
littl e more than 6 per cent from th e July
1948 mark.
Cigarette revenu es also declin ed last
Apri l, compared with April 1948, hence
two month s in th e year have now dropped
below last year's score. Th e drop in July
a lso redu ced the total gain for th e first
seven months of the yea r to less than on e
per cent.
T he cigarette trade explains that sales
of revenue stam ps for any one month does
not always show th e actu al sales to con-
um ers, th a t wholesalers and retail ers m ay
bu y heavy in on e month a nd redu ce pur-
chases th e foll owin g month. Manufacturers
also Ru ctu ate in the ir purchases of stamps.
But the fact th at two month s in th e first
seven h ave shown declin es will cau se more
anxiolls watchin g of future sales trends.
Th e Agri culture Dept. issued its re port
on the tobacco trade situation a t about
th e same time of the rcvenu e report for
Jul y. The AD report gives data f or th e
fi cal year endin g l ast Jun e 30 a nd thi s
12-month period shows ciga rette output as
about 3 per cent a bove th e previou s fi scal
yea r. Experts h ave predi cted that cigarette
sales for 1949 will r un about 3 pe r ce nt
a bove 1948.
Th e AD r eport sta ted: "Cigarette pro-
du ction, which has i ncreased steadil y for
several years, is begi nnin g to level off."
Now th at 40 states al so tax cigarettes,
REBUILT CIGARETTE MACHINES
SOME HAVE NEW PAINT JOBS
All mach ines have been thoroughly overhauled by trained Rowe servicemen ,
are in top mechan ical condition and excellent appea ranc,e .
Set for 20c: Operation
8
8
10
10
Col.
Col.
Col.
Col.
Rowe
Rowe
Rowe
Rowe
Imperials
Royals
Royals
Presidents with Crusader-type operating bar
F.O.B. Shipping Point :
$50.00
70.00
70.00
95.00
ROWE SERVICE CO.
LOS ANGELES OFFICE: 2620 So. Hill St., Phone PRospect 3228
SAN DIEGO OFFICE: 727 Third Ave., Phone FRanklin 4246
OCTOBER, 1949
th e sta te tax r eports will be watched more
closely for inform ation on what sta tes or
regions are showing the in crea e, or de-
crease in sales. Some of th e states issue
monthly reports and others do not even
ma ke an annual breakdown of r evenu es
from cigarettes. Th e Florida report for July
indi cated a declin e in cigarette sale as
compared with July 1948, but this may be
due to an off-season in tourist trade.
Ohio cigarette revenu es declined in July,
althou gh the previou s month h ad shown
gains ove r June 1948.
ebra ka re ported
a declin e fo r July, below th e previou s
month and also th e same month in 1948.
Ma sachusetts had r epor ted a declin e in
May and this state will be watch ed more
closely after hikin g it cigarette tax on e
cent recently.
Currently, the cigarette trade is inte rested
in tobacco markets a nd th e inRu ence to-
bacco costs may have on cigarette pri ces.
Th e Georgia-Florida Ru e-cured tobacco belt
marketed its n ew crop some weeks ago, a nd
\vas closely watched a th e first indi cation
of pri ce trends. Official re port says that
price level on thi s crop drop ped about 10
per cent as compared with last year, but
sin ce pri ces are still very hi gh as com-
pared with prewar p ri ce, th e pri ce of ciga-
rette will not be affected.
Earli er reports promised a bum per cro p
of burley, wi th lower p ri ces, but more
recent reports have sugge ted th a t th e cro p
may fall below 1948, also that a lot of
the new crop may be poor i n quality. Th e
burley c rop m a rk e t s tarts e arl y i n
December.
Operators of cigarette vendors have been
affected in th e past umm er month s more
by employm ent Auctuation s than hy any na-
tion al trends in cigarette consumption. Som e
cities have had serious unemployment prob-
lems, and in these cigare tte vendor have
~ hown a downward trend in sales.
Since th e federal governm ent is now care-
full y checkin g on sta tes and cities th a t may
h ave in creases in unemploym ent, it may be
possible to compare th ese with re ports on
cigarette sales-in those states that issue
monthly re ports on cig. revenu es.
New Chicago Lock
CHICAGO-
ewest addition to the Chi-
cago Lock Co. lin e is a 1% in ch bronze
padlock, designed to meet th e need for
maxim um security and weather resistan ce
at moderate cost. Lock has a 5 pi n-tumbler
locking mech anism whi ch permits pra c-
tically unlimited key changes, is made of
olid bronze carefully ma chin ed for de-
pendabl e operation. Lock is known as
No. 6841.
3S
CVu (Jrenier
ELECTRIC AND MANUAL
CIGARETTE VENDORS
-.A-m erica
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:lined ! Cig arette
merc~anJi:Jer:J
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The Du Grenier CAN D Y MAN
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ONE YEAR
( Continued front P age 35 )
In so many cases it was necessary to
adjust machin es to acce pt 25 cents that it
appeared as if the quarter coin might
attain a new popul a rity in th e vend ing
ma chine trade, that th e quarter might
rival th e nickel and dim e a vendor coins.
One year after, wh at do operators think
of th e reEults th at followed in the wake of
th e histori c cigarette pri ce hoost ? Most
operators seem to have com e to acce pt the
s ituation as perman ent but th e re is still
di scussion of what pri ces do to sales. Some
operators will say today that a 23-cent
price reduced volume- but th at th ey like
th e in creased margin.
Wh at is th e prospect for a reduction in
ciga rette pri ces by ma nufacturers ? Th ere
is evide ntly some pressure on this point,
for some of th e ma nufacture rs have stated
in quarte rly and annual re ports th at there
is no pros pect of reducing prices to the
old level in th e foreseeabl e future_ They
point to th e high prices bein g paid for 1949
toba cco as evidence that a pri ce reduction
is hardly practi cal now_ Other costs in
manufacture also still remain high. So,
one year after , th ere are no signs that
cigarettes mi ght be reduced to the old
pri ce. And th e tax trend is still upward.
Royal Shuffleboard
Announces New Game
VENICE, Cali f.- Royal Shuffieboard Co.,
designers and manufacturers of th e famou s
R oyal Shuffiehoard , announ ce a new mon ey-
makin g skill gam e call ed R oyal Flush. Th e
ga me, combining all th e fascinating features
of poker and pool, is compact in size and
is made of th e fin est ha rdwood.
On each play, te n balls are released on
coin activation, with each pl ayer usin g fi ve.
Pl ayers take altern ate shots for th e highest
poker hand_
10,800 sq uare feet of manufacturin g spa ce
a re available at the Royal pl ant for th e
new gam e whi ch is now in production _ If
necessary, output can be stepped up to 50
a day.
Officials of the company point out th a t
th e new game is a natural for operators,
inasmuch as th ere are no mainte na nce costs
36
or expensive scoreboa rds or score pad
necessary, while at th e arne tim e the proven
playin g appeal of the game plus its low
price is conducive to hi gh profits_
Royal created a sensa tion in th e trade
with its outstandin g shuffieboard, which
fea tured a welded structural steel frame
to support th e pl ayin g field a nd et the
accuracy of th e playin g fi eld to ten thou-
sandths of a n in ch. With th e shuffieboard
fi eld sta bilized, dema nd for th e R oyal con -
tinue apace, and produ cti on is bein g ma in-
tained on a tea dy scal e_
While a network of di stributors has
already bee n esta blished, some choice terri-
tories are still availa bl e_
Los Jlngeles
Johnny H a wley, veteran coin ma chin e
man , has opened J. R. H a wl ey Distributin g
Co. at 2845 W. Pico Blvd_ H e is specializ-
in g in the ale of established routes an d
also di stributin g new and used amusement
gam es, shuffieboards, phonographs, cigar-
ette machin es, a nd arcade equipment, as
well as sellin g the Hawley Adapter, which
connects Select-O-Matics to 3D-wire counter
boxes_
Vacation' time a t Southland Distributin g
found Stan Turn er returnin g from a week
at Lake Arrowh ead just in time to reli eve
secretary Mildred Moberg who hied off to
Seattle to visit her family ; while Ollie
Sutton, of the servi ce department, returned
from a two-weeker back East.
Bob Young, popu lar service man and
ope rator, proud pappaed for the third tim e
on Se ptember 8 wh en Chri stoph er Harti g
Youn g made hi s app earance in the world_
Smiling, pipe smokin g Harold M. Meier,
op erator of phonographs, cigarette ma-
chines a nd postage stamp vendors, is Los
Angeles County's biggest coin machine
operator (340 pounds ) .
With visions of the 230 pound bl ack bass
cau ght last yea r still fresh in hi s mind ,
Ronnie Malandra took off for San Clemente
for orn e deep sea fi shin g.
Mark Jennison, ma na ger of th e local
Mills Sales offi ce, reports Mills new 21 bell
is goin g grea t.
Larry Hanford of Lompoc and Bob
Chacon of Laguna Row-shoppin g.
General Music's secretari al sta ff was
stripp ed kind of thin fo r a whil e last
month wi th Nan cy McLa ren and Rose
McCabe both out of action : aney due to
her mother's illn ess, and Rose beca use of
th e nu germ _
Graham Clapp of th e up-co min g R. B.
Clapp Co. spent ten days fi shin g in the
high Sierras and snagged a mess of
Golden Rainbow Trout.
Coin Row was gri eved to lea rn of th e
death of Willi am Leuenha gen, fath er of
W. H . Leue nh agen, on September 8.
Ni ck Carter uncrated and in taIl ed
Genco's new Glider before another ship-
ment of PX-8 Electrics rolled in th e door.
Music Op erator Bob Donahue drove
down from Pismo Beach in his new Dodge.
Th e puzzler defyin g solution at Auto-
matic Games is who sli pped George Warner
a Mi ckey Finn during his Muri etta H ot
Sprin gs vaca tion_
Harry Williams of th e Chi cago manu-
f acturin g firm of th e sam e name pent
several days vi sitin g th e trad e here.
The Wurlitzer factory prepared for an
easy cha nge in its 1100 mod el so th at it
can sell six tun es for a quarter, and now
it's paying off in in creased phon o rece ipts.
Tommy Swab of Lone Pine makin g ni ce
recovery aft er hi s recent nose operation.
W. E. S imm ons is busy th ese days ha n-
dlin g a tremend ous sa les crew in th e 11
Western states sellin g a device whi ch cleans
th e coolin g system on your car. J ack
Gutshall, Larry 0 ' eil and Ed Wisler are
a socia ted with Simmons a nd have estab-
lished territories on th e deal.
Lucill e and Paul Laymon chose a north-
ern route in returnin g from their trip to
Chi cago a nd drove home vi a Yellowston e,
Bryce Canyon and Zion Nationa l P ark ,
arrivin g here on September 25th.
IS THEBE II SCHOO~BOY
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changer because it is built for fast, easy servicing and long life-
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7Ae 'I1icklL6t6
ettnplLlt~
2525 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles 6, Calif.
Phone: FAirfax 1107
COIN MACHINE REVIEW

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