(cont t'nued from page 66)
out that raising prices and getting a better
commission rate is sometimes not enough. Other
things you can do include not servicing your
locations quite as often, using vehicles that are a
little less costly to operate, maybe organizing your
people so they do more than one function when they
go to a location, so that they might service the
machine as well as collect, for example. All this is in
Dr. Malone's analysis.
PLA Y METER: What about the purchasing of
equipment itself? Are there any guidelines an
operator should follow in deciding what to buy, how
much to buy, and what he should pay?
NICHOLS: In my case, I'm trying to wait until I get
information on a piece of equipment before I buy.
That's why I like this Critic's Corner. It gives you a
little idea about how a game might do. That's
another thing that I learned around at these state
conventions. I'd ask a number of people, "What's
your best game?" And they'd tell me their best
game or they'd say, "Well it's between these two."
So many times I'd come away with what I think is
very valuable information and sometimes about
machines I didn't have, had actually held off buying.
PLAY METER: That brings us back to this matter
of communication. You mentioned earlier that you
were able to learn a great deal just from openly
communicating with other operators across the
country. How can the operators in a given area
begin to communicate with another?
NICHOLS: I think there is nothing more important
in our industry than the state associations . State
associations are not only important in themselves
but they're important to MOA. And, of course,
MOA is very interested in state associations, has
actually helped to develop many state associations.
In fact, Fred Granger, our executive director, feels,
I thirlk, that probably the most important thing that
the MOA has done is to aid the development of st ate
associat ions.
PLAY METER: How many state associations are
there now, do you know?
NICHOLS: There are 28 states that are listed as
haviQg associations. Some of them are very
successful and some of them less so, less active .
PLAY METER: Two years ago when we interview-
ed Russ Mawdsley, then president of the MOA, he
said there were 28 state associations . That means
that there were then and still are 22 states yet to
get together and form a state association. That also
means zero growth in two years. What do you think
the problem is?
NICHOLS: Well, there are some states that had
associations that sort of died out and then, just in
the last year or two, have been revived. I suppose
that's why the count remains the same.But I think
probably t he greatest growth in state associations
has been that they're more successful now, the
ones that do exist.
I do know that there are three or four states right
now that are interested in starting state associa-
tions and they're inquiring about help . As I said
before, MOA is very interested in state associations
as we offer them all kinds of help. The MOA staff
(conh'nued on page 72)