Service, Supplies and
Careless Operators
By K. H.
W
Lansing
HAT CAN the jobber of
automatic coin machines
do, if anything, toward
inducing his operator customers to
get the best use out of their pur-
chased, or leased devices, so that a
reasonable profit may ensue?
Of course, the jobber wi!] supply
mechanical service, but this is an
age of service in which the middle-
man, jobber, or wholesaler-call him
what you will-is being looked to
increasingly by his customers for a
type of service which means' more
than the merely mechanical. Some
claim that this is more or less of
an unreasonable attitude; that it
has led to the abuse of "service,"
both in letter and - in spirit and, in
short, has caused the term to become
virtually a misnomer, "service" and
the word itself having been worked
to a fare-you-well, especialIy by
those who hope to get a great deal
for next to nothing.
But, on closer consideration, there
is another angle of approach, an-
other view of the subject. Take, ex-
ample, the multifold form of service,
much of it absolutely free, that is
furnished by the jobbers of outo-
mobile supplies to their direct cus-
tomers. True, while the latter are
usually either dealers at retail, gar-
age operators having a shop; small
independ·e nt service station or me-
chanical repair shopmen, the prin-
ciple is just the same as though they
were alI "ultimate consumers," such
as the automatic coin machine job-
ber's op·e rator clientele, when it
comes to service. The automobile
jobber fairly loads the customer
with advice on how to get the best
out of his
purchMes and make
money, how to _ display them, use
them in his work and all the rest of
it. They are his customers-they
buy from him. They want-and us-
ually badly need-expect service in-
cluding counsel and advice, a cer-
tain amount of voluntary guidance
in just what to do and how to do
it after they have made their pur-
»
»
Re asonable Attention Goes Without Saying, but
J o bbers Cannot Play Wet- Nurse to Neglectful
Owners of Mach ines Who Let Their Supplies
Run Out and Loaf on the Job .
chases. And undoubtedly some of
them expect to get it as a matter of
course. This applied to the coin ma-
chine field, would mean more or less
actual personal contact between
buyer and seller an d not merely
having the latter send out a man
with a screwdriver and a pocketful
of replacement parts when, for any
reason, the device fails to work.
It could hardly be called "servic.e"
in the modern sense as gen erally ac-
cepted in other lines ·o f industry, for
the seller to adopt an attitude, ver-
bal, or mental, of: Here's your ma-
chine. You bought it. We installed
it on the spot you selected. If it
gets out of whack, let us know as
quickly as possible and we'll fix it
for you on the same basis. When you
need more supplies, buy'em from us.
And now getthehell out and leave
us alone."
The jobber has' his troubles, too,
on the other hand. He cannot be ex-
pected to play wet-nurse all the time
to a lot of operators who have been
car·e less enough to let perfectly
good machines get ·out of kilter from
not watching them closely enough.
If he were to spend most of his time
on these chaps instead of taking the
time to get new business, he would
become prematurely gray, bald,
toothless and a fit candidate for t h e
booby-hatch, or a wooden kimono.
Perhaps a real service to the op-
erators would be for the jobbers to
telI him, not just casually, but in a
way he would be likely to keep in
memory, that operating a route of
coin, machi n·e s is real work, worth a
full d a ,y 's pay, and that while, if
properly looked after, they should
prove remunerative, the person who
has them in charge cannot succeed
by loafing, even on this kind of a
job. The best r.e sults cannot follow
from neglect in keeping the machines
supplied-that is dead certain, and
the jobber, in making the sale will
not j·e opardize his chances of clos-
ing the deal in coming out and say-
ing so, emphatically.
Probably some jobbers telI their
operators all this and a great deal
more that is n ot always observed in
the long r u n by the new owners of
the machines. Undoubtedly many
j obbers do give real service in every
sense of the word, including valu-
able suggestions with regard to lo-
cations; but then, again, some do
n ot and think that after the sale
mechanical s'e rvice is alI there is
to t he proposition and that it is the
operator's oWn funeral and not theirs
if he falls down on the job. The
jobber, however, should remember
in this connection that a satisfied op-
erator i s not onl~ worth keeping in
hope of ,h is replacement ord'e rs, but
that he may very likely be the sourCe
of numerous new sale$ through h is
recommen'd ati on s to f riends and] a c-
quaintances .
Under ordinary circumstances not
much can be done to induce a care-
less operator to keep his vending
machines suppli.ed at all times with
merchandise, so that the customer
is never disappointed.
Such an operator may be advised,
but he cannot always be influenced
to act for his own best interests. The
operator whose vending machines
are frequently empty and thus are
apt to create a certain amount of
bad feeling on the part of the con-
sumer, who may waste his pennies
and, perhaps, get the erronous idea
t hat the machine is no good or pur-
posely "fixed" not to deliver the
packaged merchandise, it was said,
is usually of the type who gives up
easily and who has about decided to
aban don his route. When one or two
machines of a single operator are
found at virtually the same time, it
( Continued on P age 26)