Play Meter

poM THE EDITOR Hello, anyone there? S omething happened last month that is very hard for me to unders· tand. In fact, it's causing me quite a bit of frustration because it was such a shock. To explain what happened, and so you can perhaps put yourself in my place, picture this: You have long been concerned about your community and its reputation. Often you are called upon to testify or participate in some community event. You don't mind doing it because it is, after all, benefiting the industry, the community, and your business. After many years of serving faithfully, you find out that the community is sen· ding out a resource package and everyone is mentioned except you. All you can think about is the time and ef· fort you've devoted to the cause. Would you be a little upset? That's what happened recently with AMOA. We were shocked to receive our membership package-the directory and plastic thing to put on a desk-and also find a resource package for the industry. It is described as "a resource guide for those people Cinside and out· side of the trade) who seek general informa ti on about the coin machine in· dustry." It sounded great, especially since I wrote an editorial about how AMOA should be doing this very thing. So what was in this package? A list of questions about how to get just about every magazine in the industry-except Play Meter-and 12 pages of articles from one other magazine. Needless to say, I was upset. I kept thinking about the considerable time we've spent on the phone trying to help people who have been given our number by AMOA. AMOA president Gene Urso (who I would like to say has been a wonderful president as well as a sincere person) was quite surprised. He mentioned it to PLAY METER 10 SEPTEMBER 1992 John Schumacher, who most of you pro· bably don't know is the executive vice president of the association. Gene told me to call Mr . Schumacher and he would explain how such an oversight happened. Calling Mr. Schumacher was a terri· ble experience and I would like for everyone in the AMOA to know that I will not deal with him ever again. He ex· plained that his staff put forth "no effort" to gather the information and did not see any problem. In fact, he said he did not owe me any kind of explanation. Even further insulting was the fact that he hinted that it was done on purpose because of my editorial, which question· ed why AMOA elects to refer calls to us and other trade magazines instead of providing the information itself. Now you may think this sounds like sour grapes on my part because we were so blatantly omitted from the package. Maybe it's a little valid, but it goes much deeper; I would have been upset if any of the trades were so brazenly overlooked. If an association is going to send out a package like this, maybe a little effort was called for. Six years ago, a very good friend and AMOA board member, Jim Hayes, ask· ed me if we would be willing to donate a page each month for industry issues. I agreed and have provided that space since that time-at no cost. The associa· tion has been free to use the page for what it sees as important-Washington Conference, National Dart Tourna· ment, International Flipper Pinball Association, etc. Now for Mr. Schumacher to say that we are not important enough to the in· dustry to rate a simple mention in a 13-page resource guide is pretty demeaning. One consolation was hearing from operators telling us how bad they felt about this happening. What I question the most is the motive and who made the decision. AMOA is a national associa· tion, representing a vital segment of this industry. Doesn't it have any sort of responsibility to provide accurate infor· mation? More importantly, shouldn't the association have someone who is sensitive to calls like mine? As upset as I was, I pity the poor operator who is not familiar with AMOA and tries to find out about our industry from Mr. Schumacher. The entire coin-op industry is straining to maintain an even keel in turbulent times. Companies in all parts of the in· dustry are trying to keep their hold on market shares in a dwindling market. Play Meter has always been very close to operators and sense their special needs within the confines of the in· dustry. For all of those operators who have confided in us and called us for in· formation, thanks for your confidence. For those who called expressing their outrage at AMOA for the slap in the face, please don't hold it against the association. There are operators on the board who truly care about this industry and are devoting time and effort to seeing it grow and mature. I still believe that joining an association is crucial to a company's success. The one in charge of the AMOA office is not someone who has made this in· dustry his life, nor is he taking part in its future. Since it is an election year, let me borrow a popular campaign slogan: "Maybe it's time for a change." 0 Valerie Cognevich Editor