offering some inspiration to operators in their efforts
to help the cause along. That is why THE REVIEW is
undertaking to gather uggestions and ideas from many
ource and to anaylze them as they come under the
points outlined in our program for the Industry.
We have never lost sight of the fact that the operator
himself actually does business with the location owner,
and seldom comes in actual contact with the public in a
business way. orne of the members of the trade who
have accomplished most in building up local good will
say, however, that from a purely selfish business point,
every operator should seek to come in contact with more
people locall y.
Especially hould the operator seek to make more
public contacts by enlistin g as a member in local CIVI C,
fratern al, charitabl e and patriotic organizations. To join
the e variou s organizations costs money, it is true, and
to be active in them requires a great amount of time.
Every operator would have to be the judge of how mu ch
he can spend on such activities, investin g what he feels
will yield a good return on the investment.
There are peopl e in the trade who have done thi s sort
of thing as a matter of policy, and they say to a man
that it pays well in personal satisfaction and in con crete
bu in ess return s al so. They say also that there are very
few operators who actually make intelligent plannin g
and effort to get into public and community actlvltIes
that would help the community and also win good will
and credit to the operator and his business.
So, maybe this is the first lesson , the first step for
the aveIage operator who wants to do public relations .
He will take note of his city and the most inRuential
organization s in it, and carefully plan what and how
many he can enter, or support in some way, not only
for th e good he can do a a citizen but al so because it
will h el p him to get more locations, and make more
money.
Since operators must deal directl y with location
owners, it is always a point of good busine s to go where
location owners go, to get into some of the organizations
and programs that the average loca tion owner gets into.
obody know better than th e operator that a lot of loca-
tion owners are heel s, have no interest in the betterment
of the community or anythin g else, but at the same time
those that stay in bu sin ess must cater to the public -
the same publi c that patronizes our coin machines.
So, follow the parade of location owners. And the
man who wants to he a succe sful operator will naturally
follow the most succe sful location owners, or maybe
prospective location s. In so doin g, the operator wins
location owners and al so win s public favor. Two birds
with on e stone.
The Economic Picture
A condensed report on business today and how
present trends affect t he Coin Machine Industry.
Operators will probably differ as wid ely about what to expect in 1950
as do men high in the business world, and a lso the economic experts. There
are still debates as to whether we will have inRation or deRation .
There will be a lot of finan cial and business reports of corporation s during
January and f ebruary to give a final picture of wha t actually happened in
19.,19. orne of these will be of direct interest to the coin machine trade,
particularly th e reports of suppliers. Some of th e large coin machine manu-
facturers also issue financial reports, including Mill s, W urlitzer, Rowe,
Automati c Canteen, ABC Vendin g, etc., that are published for publi c informa-
tion. Reports of these firm have shown a favorable upward trend in recent
month s.
Operators may note with interest a statement by a Coca-Cola offi cial to the
efTe ct that the recession in 1949 cut total sal es of oft drinks below the hi gh
level of ] 948.
A !>tated in this column last month , th e
nation qui ckl y recovered from th e major
strikes in steel and coal. Man y of th e
experts think that the boom whi ch stal'ted
ea rl y last fall will not return but th at
busin ess will move along anoth er year as
in 1949, with man y spotty conditions and
adju stm ents in different industries. Finan-
cial newspapers call atte ntion to th e m any
props to lm. in ess tha t will kee p th e coun -
try goin g ahea d a nd ga inin g in th e over-all
picture.
orn e retail orga niza ti ons have lately
called attenti on to th e possibility of re-
cession in 1950, sayin g th a t lower farm
in come will cut bu ying power in terms
of billions. F a rm ers th emselves are begin-
nin g to talk more about recess ion. But
1950 is im portant politically and stron ge r
government support will likely be give n
to farm prices. Opera tors in citi es in th e
big farm territori es will probabl y h ear a
good deal about the fa rm probl em.
Lots of cash fo r vetera ns helped Christ-
mas tra de a nd will also help start 1950 off
in better stride. Th ere are re port that this
extra mon ey is not helpin g coin machin es
mu ch sin ce \'etera ns all ha\'e som e definite
plan for usin g th e money.
The 19.\9 conve ntion of Na tion al Auto-
JANUARY, 1950
ma ti c Iercha ndi sin g Assn. showed a good
spirit amon g ma nufacturers of ma ny types
of machines, with th e good prospect that
som e real expansion in use of n ewer types
of vendors will be made in 1950. ow, a
mu sic conventi on is just ahead and it
should h elp to spur th e mus ic busin e s on
to a bette r year. And a general convention
in June will rally th e Indu try for th e
second half.
A r evi ew of some of the many fa ctors
th a t innu ence busin e s, in cludin g th e coin
machine bus in ess, foll ows:
AUTOMOBILES- NAMA, at its an-
nual conventio n, made a bi g step forward
in inviting auto a nd tru ck makers to dis-
play th eir equipment. This give recogni-
tion to the tra ns porta tion cost problem
whi ch all ope rators mu t mee t. Repo rt is
that auto industry pl ans same high level
of output in 1950 as in the year j ust closed.
Steel strike held up pri ce cuts th at were
scheduled to come, but outlook is that
general pri ce cuts will com e in mid-1950.
New cars-three years old or less-are
only about one-fou rth of total in use; half
of ca rs in use are 10 years old or more_
High level of auto industry will be a bi g
prop to bu in e s during 1950.
BANKS- Loa ns to busin ess began to
decline late in November, after a ri sin g
per iod th a t started last Au gust; demand
deposits were in creasin g around Dec. 1
but total bank clea rin g (check ) h ad de·
clin ed for a period of three month s. Mon ey
in circul a tion made a seaso nal increase be-
fore th e holidays, but total was helow a
year ago. Convention of Investm ent Bankers
Assn. reported most s igns fo r 1950 as on
th e favorabl e side, even f oresee some h ope
for tax cuts.
BUSINESS FIRMS - Business failures
reached th e high for the year last April ,
a nd have nu cw a ted up and down since-
but the tre nd si nee April has been a de-
clin e in total failures. Total is still well
below th e ra te of failures in 1939. F ailures
are chie ny amon g new con cern s, a bout 70
per ceM bein g firm s th at started in ce th e
war.
CREDIT- Buying of autos on credit
climbs about 4 per ce nt in on e month.
Wh e n rec ords are in , 1949 is expected to
set a record in consum e r credit. But th e
ra te of ill crease in credit volume definitely
slowed up in 1949 ; repayments are in-
creas in g. Low inte rest rates aid credit sales.
Opera tors may gain in buying equipm ent
in 1950 both in reduc tions in pri ces a nd
also so me in creases in credit on new equip-
ment.
CONSTRUCTION- From the operator's
ta ndpoint, th e construction outlook is un-
favorabl e. Th e downward slide in n ew
factori es, n ew busin ess es ta bli hment of
most kind s, is expected to continue. The
first three month s of 1950 are ex pected
to show a dec ided slowi ng in capital spend-
in g. New sc hools, hos pitals, etc., will gain
at a ra pid rate, according to re ports. Th e
usual trend was reversed sli gbtly in No-
vember, wh en a n in crease in new stores,
restaura nts, fillin g stati ons, etc" was re-
ported.
EMPLOYMENT~At th e tim e of thi s
review, employment totals we re still r ecov-
erin g from effects of maj or strikes. Official
reports show that industri al (factory ) em-
ploym ent was on a downward trend in th e
fall , eve n if the strikes had not happened.
Thi tre nd will be wa tched with om e an x-
iousness in early 1950. Re ports from
opera tors late in 1949 would agree with
the re port th at fa ctory employment was ofT.
5