Coinman of the Month
DONA D AN DERSON
Donald Anderson of A&A A muserre~: C ~:-=r. ,. . .,
Portland, Oregon , has been in : e
amusement business about th irty ye
~.;-= .::---= :~:::
time , he has built up his operation . u·c:c;..e_: - s~ e
-
then diminish in size .
Now , a shrinking business usuallJ, s:..~"';~-= =
_
business, but not in th is case . Wha: A ·~ ~ -=s ::ee~
able to do is monitor th e differe nt pa
examine what was maki ng money o
not . And then , hav ing fo und this au .
to carry out his plan of action . The
operation that is more efficient
smaller.
It required delicate surgery on
commission arrangements at his loco ·or.s. ;;
service charges on top of that for those oc~ o r~ ~ ,. . ,_;..
were marginal, eliminating th ose loco ·ar..s : ' c: ..L
mever make the grade , dropp ing produc: '. es :;..=: ~e-e
not doing him any good , and so on .
Entire routes were lopped off, and : e urr..:-e? o :
e mployees working for A&A dim inished acco~ci · r.::! ·,. .-t:
one time , Anderson reported, he had 49 e
'o ees.
Now he has almost half that number. H · ope~:ro
includes 14 employees in th e Portland o :ce. · ~ee
people at his Lincoln City bra nch office. and J·c e o:' e
who work his two arcades .
Presently Don is serving his second term as a membe
on the AMOA board of directors . He 's been a me be o
8
:ha national association for about 15 years. In addition ,
he 's one of the foun ders of the Oregon Amusement and
.\fusic Operators Association and, while still a member of
:ha: o rgan ization. he 's a past president of the association .
He and his wife Jolene are native Oregonians who
•ece n ly had so me un expected excitement when nearby
\ oun· St . Helens erupted. Although he lives only about
s'..x::· miles o r so from the volcano , fortunately for him ,
.;..::: e upcion had no effect on him- the wind was
i:- ou · g he other way , and the volcano dust was carried
: ~:o : e eastern Was hington area . But the second time
: He:e ns blew. the fi ckle wind dumped layer after layer
o_: L'olc nic ash in his backyard.
··; ;orgoc co put my ca r inside ," said Anderson , "and by
: :.; e ~ e 1 rem embered , it was too late . The car is blue,
i:u: r...he n I looked out, it had turned gray . The ash was so
' eOL' • i che air that by the time I had hosed the car off, it
t.. cs covered again." Adding to that, Anderson said the
cars hat wen t throug h the streets kept swirling up the ash
:har u·as alread y on the ground.
Luckily. fo r Don , the volcano did not adversely affect
his operation. In fact, he says it might even help. The
:o urist industry in the area expects the eruption will
probably help business th is year.
Maybe those tourists will feel like playing some of
Anderson ·s pin balls while they 're in the area to behold
mighty S t. Helens.
PLAY METER , August, 1980