STAR*TECH
Journal
October 1995
IT s
SHC>WTIJVIE!
John Ridgway
The Betson Bullet
Buena Park, California
Industry trade shows are an ex-
citing time. The trade shows map
the direction in which our indus-
try will be going during the six
months following. These shows
are very important; luckily the
distributors have their own shows
immediately afterwards so, for
those of you who can't make it
to New Orleans this year, you can
go to your distrib's open house
instead.
right now for many operators,
that just means that you have to
look a little harder.
Many operators are feeling lost
right now. But then again, that is
true of many industries at the
moment. Technological changes
are bombarding us, but in our
industry we are rather isolated
from these changes because the
bottom line is that we really only
offer one product: entertainment.
The better the entertainment, the
more money you make. It's that
simple. Our real task is in gaug-
ing which entertainment to offer
to what audience depending
upon the location you have. And
there's a lot to offer!
"In fact, you can
monitor all aspects
of your pay phone
business right
from the
air-conditioned
comfort of your
office.,,
Anything that takes a quarter
should be considered, providing
you have the right audience. The
most dynamic aspect of the coin
machine business is that there is
always something out there for
just about any location. And
when things are slow, as they are
But that something is there! One
way to see what's out there is to
attend you distributor open
house, if you can't make the show
itself. And this year you will cer-
tainly see many alternatives to
the perennial video game.
I have one big suggestion: how
about pay phones! You already
possess locations that could ac-
commodate a pay phone. Better
yet, you're already at the location
anyway, why not collect a few
more dollars while you're there?
I will be looking long and hard
at this part of the coin op busi-
ness while at the show.
All you do is load the phone soft-
ware up on your computer at
your office, hook up your
phones, and then watch what's
going on from your office. If a
phone goes down, your monitor
will actually tell you exactly what
the problem is and in turn you
can take the part with you to the
location. In fact, you can moni-
tor all aspects of your pay phone
business right from the air-con-
ditioned comfort of your office.
And the long distance companies
now have to give anyone access
to their lines so, unlike a few
years ago, you now profit from
the long distance calls your cus-
tomers make. Then, the long dis-
tance company sends you a
check! How's that for a change!
I'll be talking more about this in
the near future.
So go to your distrib's open house
(even if you do make it to New
Orleans) and keep a watchful eye
out for some new and smart ways
of capturing your customers
quarters. Be it redemption, pay
phones, kiddie rides, vending,
jukeboxes, etc., there are cer-
tainly opportunities to make
some good money in the coin
machine business. Anytime. And
in any economy. You just have
to find the right product. Believe
me, it's out there right now!