Automatic World

May, 1931.
THE AUTOMATIC WORLD
-,,'ifty-six
THE OLD HOME TOWN
By TOM MURRAY
Let's drop slugs, locations and bum machines just
a few minutes and let me tell you about my recent
visit back to my OLD HOME TOWN.
Most of us made an exit from some Old Home Town
somewhere. Do you ever go back? Do you long to go
back? Well. I went ba.ck and her,e 's how things are
going back home:
Myoid-maid school teacher, Sadie Belcher, is con-
ducting a beauty "Shoppe" on lower Peach Street, and
is really doing a lot of good around the place. But the
old town just ain't the same place it was when ge got to-
gether the first Silver Cornet Band. I'll never forget
that band. We had our bass drum lettered up like this:
"For Fun and Noise, We Are the Boys." Now wasn't
that hot, and can't you see how cut-upish we were? One
fellow in our band never cou1d learn to blow one single
note, but he was a good pay-off, so we tolerated him and
allowed him to stay in and just hold his horn. But as
I said, the old town has changed.
I walked over to the fee'd store and who was there
but myoid friend Sid Sawyer. an oldtimer of the place.
Sid was gla,d to see me and said: "Wa'l they tell me yer'er
printin' a magazi ne of some sort 'er t'other."
"Yes," I assured him, "I am." But I was successful
in checking the converastion in regards to the magazine,
and asked him to tell me all a.bout the town. He did,
and I'm telling it to you just as Sid told it to me:
"Wa'l," he began, "our girls around here are get-
tin' to where they ride too fer into the country before
asking the young fellers their n'lmes. and our grocery-
men have become walking encyclopedia,., regarding malt
and just how to put down a batch. FOl'ds just will not
slow up as they go throu!;h our town and poor old Sim
Swain carried his appendix to hi s e;rave with him last
week all because h e wa,s unable to do a quick leap from
the path' 0' one. Husbands are becoming more neglect-
ful, and will allow a hammer or an old sash weight to
lay around the place. ri~ht before the very eyes 0' their
wives. Sa.m Hudson. the cashier over at the bank was
shot through the foot th' other day. 3,n 'cause he failed
to have the money sacked an' ready. Old Number Seven
has lost its Sunday evening thrill, and instead th' boys
gather 'round th' radio over t' th' drug store. Even Bill,
th' drug store' clerk. ta.kes down the Christmas decora-
tions before July. You remember Pane Hicks, who used
to rub the Monday moming stiffness out of the livery
stable nags? Wa'l he's dealin' out free air, gasoline an'
information over t' th' fillin' station. But that drug
store, I remember when they used a whole shelf for
drugs, but now, it's a regular penny arcade and sandwich
shop. Our station agent has been took away and every-
body rides th' buses. And don't you know our two lead-
ing dry goods merchants came to blows th' other day
when they 'wedged' in the door 0' th' postoffice. And,
say, (here old Sid paused with his hand upon my
shoulder), remember my boy Charles? Wa'l he's over
yonder, over-ov,e r across the ocean. His mother visited
his grave last summer. She said he's buried in a pretty
place. They keep a flag down to the church with a star
on it all just for Charles. Wa'l t hat's about all the news,
I guess. Let's go meet the bus."
A GOOD METHOD TO CREATE BUS INESS
One of the best known methods to create business
is to see that your customers receive good products and
good amusement. Give them "bum" goods and you will
soon have a "bum" business. Your machines are going
to be given a trial and the goods or the amusement that
is received with that trial must be of a high type or
there will be no continuity from that customer . And
on the other hand, you can't give good products with the
initial purchase only and hold that customer's trade. You
must continue to give a good product all along.
Au-t{)matk merchandising macllin~E Eh'ouid irave, -and
will have. a string of regular customers, but a chain of
regular customers, and a growing chain, can only be
produced by serving a. high class and pleasing product
or amusement. The customer, no doubt, will admire to a
certain extent the beauty and attractive lines of your
machine but the beauty of the machine alone will not
hold his 01' h er trade. Too many operators depend upon
their machines a.nd locati ons to produce business and sad-
ly negle ct the main feature of products.
The writer of this article stood and watched a cer-
tain machin e selling candy bars, and the candy was of
the highest type. A customer placed a dime in the ma-
chine and l'eceived an attractive bar of candy. Upon
opening it and tasting the candy, he remarked, "Mighty
good candy," whereupon tbree more bysta n,ders, at once,
placed their dimes into the ma.chine. And the man was
not "shilling" for the machine either, the candy was a
real product and that machiDre is making money for its
owner . Let a customer put money into a machine and
receive a "bum" piece of candy a.nd see how he knocks
that machine. Place an amusement machine on location
that affords scant amusement and watch it fai l. You
ha.ve got to give something in return for the player's
money or the machine will be a complete flop.
A certain operator that has canrdy bar machines on
location in factories, serves a certain kind of candy one
week then changes up the offering for the next. He has
h::.:.d several special made bat s produced for his machines
and every offering is of the highest type. This operator
stands high with the lo cation owner, the customers, and
is making a su ccess of the business.
Give your customers good products. Don't shop
around for the cheapest, but look about for the best and
your machines will create customer s and will hold them.
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Listen, Operators, h ere's a secret tha.t will save me
that job of pushing that peanut. T ell every advertiser
and manufacturer that you read the WORLD, that the
WORLD is YOUR paper, (which it is ) tell 'em, and
keep telling 'em and maybe, well, we'll have a. 200-page
paper right away. Outside of the gas bill, I'll throw
every dollar right back into the paper and make it big-
ger and better. L et's go!
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