AUTOMATIC
July, 1932
WORLD
Missouri Farmer Makes Good as Coin
Machine Operator
By J. EDW. TUFFT
J. H . L., for more than half a life-
time a Missouri farmer, by applying
the same hard commonsense to his
present business that he applied to
raising corn and hogs at Duncans
Crossroads, during the past year, in
spite of quiet business conditions, has
made good as an operator of coin
machines in the metropolis of Los
Angeles.
"There is no difference," says Mr.
L., "in the two jobs fundamentally.
The first thing is to study the con-
ditions under which you are 'conduct-
ing business and eliminate the 'bugs.'
On the farm we did not look for big
wealth in a short span of time, but
clung to the lines that in the work-
ing of the law of averages paid out
over a reasonably long period of
time. That is the way I conduct my
coin machine business."
Mr. L. had forty-one amusement
machines located on June 15 and ev-
ery one was paying fair dividends.
"In drug stores I soon saw that the
machines should not be too close to
the front," says this operator, "for
in suburban areas the drug store is
a loafing place and a group of friends
is much more apt to gather around
a machine for a little fun if it is not
too close to the entrance where they
will feel they are in the way. On
the other hand if it is too far back
it gets out of the way of traffic and
fails in its purpose. Groups of two,
three and four make up the bulk of
my patronage and conditions for the
gathering of such groups are essen-
tial to money making.
"In a cafe I place the machine as
near the door as possible for groups
gathering in the average cafe feel
in the way. The machine in a cafe
is played by the visitor as he comes
in or as he goes out. Also, there is
the fellow waiting for a place, to eat.
He is apt to be close to the front of
the cafe.
The machine must be
placed where he can amuse himself
while waiting. Half of the nickels
come from those who are waiting to
eat and the other half comes from
those who play the machine inciden-
tally as they are coming in or going
out. I simply hung around various
cafes of the smaller type and learned
this fact. The law of averages is
involved and I do not buck the law
of averages.
"The rule for sweet shops is much
the same as the rule for cafes. In
fact most of these have a refresh-
ment counter and while there usually
are very few waiting to be served
yet the machine must be near the
door to catch the people when they
come in and when they go out.
Groups of friends do not gather in
the average sweet shop.
Kee p Down I n ve stment
"Too few operators realize the ne-
cessity of keeping down the amount
of original investment. Control of
this factor is as important as it is in
any well organized business. I do
not let salesmen talk me into placing
too great a variety of machines. I
think five different types cover my
needs very nicely. This number al-
lows me a chance to shift them
around at regular intervales and ev-
ery shift means a revival of business.
When the 'peak' is passed I shift
them around.
W e ek I s B asis
"The week is the basis of my com-
putations. I operate like a laundry
does in that respect.
A machine
costing fifty dollars must yield me
five dollars a week net. If it does
not it is badly located. I can well
imagine that thinking in terms of
days would be at times discouraging,
just as the farmer who thinks in
terms of one-year cycles instead of
in terms of ten-year cycles is sure
to meet with bad mental discourage-
ments.
Se'l ect in g a nd H a ndling Location
O WIDer s
"I have sized up the location indi-
vidually before placing a machine.
The location is not everything, the
owner of the location is something.
When I used to lease land from other
land owners the quality of the soil
and location of the land was not ev-
erything; I chose landowners with
whom I could have pleasant business
relations as well as good crops. I
knew of one man with good land in
Twenty-Three
good locations, but it was impossible
for the person leasing the land to get
by for long without costly litigation
that killed the profits, and also there
was always that lack of co-operation
that also killed profits. Every ma-
chine that I have placed is placed in
a business house where the proprie-
tor and myself can work nicely to-
gether.
A v oid Being Small
"One thing that I am particular
about is avoiding all signs of being
small. In dividing the money I make
sure from the first that the proprie-
tor gets the odd cents, and I always
take time for a chat and a bit of re-
freshments. I have one or two where
it is better policy to be more 'offi-
cial,' but the mill-run of the boys like
the friendly human, non-rush atti-
tude. I do not want any proprietor
to think that I have merely come to
collect and not to pass the time of
day. My long years of chummy as-
sociations with my farmer neighbors
gave me a friendly attitude of mind
and I could not be 'official' if I
wanted to. This is primarily an asset.
No Delega t ed Auth orit y
"I make all my calls myself, and
delegate authority to no one. This
is the type of busin,e ss where a hired
person would be tempted to loaf too
much, I think, and I have made it a
personal business from one end to
the other. On the Missouri farm I
had no foreman '01' boss employed
but kept up always my personal
contacts with my men. I noticed
that things always went along bet-
ter when I was on the job myself.
Here I feel the same way.
No Get R ich Q uick Plan
"I have no get-rich-quick plans
as too many operators have. There
is no more reason for expecting sud-
den wealth in this game than there
is for expecting it in raising Duroc-
Jersey hogs. It is a matter of slow
development, careful superVISIon,
conservative investment, friendly re-
lationships with business associates,
attention to details, and hard work.
It is just like successful farmi ng."
•
"Dad, what is influ ence?"
"Influence, my son, is a thing you
think you have until you try to use
it."