Automatic Age

T
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A
u t o m a t ic
A Penny a Day Your
Coin Machine Quota
Chicago.— A penny a day| comes
from the pocket o f the average
American to buy peanuts, gum, or
some similar confections from a
vending machine.
Somewhere near a million dollars
a day, mostly in pennies, is pushed
through narrow slots into vending
devices. The machine which vends
its wares fo r one cent almost in­
variably takes in larger receipts than
a machine operated by a nickel, a
dime or some larger coin.
There is a machine to every 10 per­
sons in the United States and the
ratio may be even smaller according
to manufacturers. More than a doz­
en operating companies count re­
ceipts o f upwards o f half a milllion
dollars a year.
A
ge
15
Why Is This?
“ The stamp vending machines are
used chiefly during the week-ends,”
said a stamp seller at the post office
recently. “ On other days, our cus­
tomers buying stamps prefer to come
to the window fo r them rather than
to drop the money into one o f the
handy machines, turn the crank and
get the stamps much easier. Some
people will stand in line fo r several
minutes to buy stamps even when
they have the correct change and
need only one or two stamps that
they could readily get from the ma­
chine.” — Detroit News.
Ask Police Not To
Steal From Machines
O f a hundred or more vending de­
vices, the newest is a radio whose
dials are released on insertion o f a
nickel, permitting the listerner to
tune in fo r several minutes on any
station he wishes to hear.
Los Angeles.— Policemen who raid
gambling halls in the future will not
be allowed to steal cigarets from the
vending machines. Apparently they
had to be told not to steal things in
raided buildings, because the official
police bulletin was on file recently
containing the follow ing order:
“ The Rowe Vending Machine Co.
requests that when officers find their
cigaret-vending machines in places
when they are raiding the officers
notify them and they will remove
these machines if necessary.
“ In the past it has been the cus­
tom fo r officers to break these ma­
chines and take the cigartes and as
these machines are not operating in
violation o f the law they should not
be confiscated or damaged.”
The end o f the lunch basket is
foreseen by manufacturers in the per­
fection o f new types of vending ma­
chines. They predict sandwich, pie
and coffee vending devices will be in
every office and factory presently, so
that workers may get a hottei', fresh­
er lunch than he can bring from
home.— The Associated Press.
Mr. C. H. Robinson o f Des Moines,
who was elected first vice president
o f the Nationa Coin Machine Oper­
ators’ Association, announces that he
cannot accept this office. His suc­
cessor will be announced in a fo l­
lowing issue.
The largest single operator is be­
lieved to be William W rigley, who
recently purchased the machines in
the New York subways, where ap­
proximately 10,000 are maintained.
The Pulver Gum C o , the Chicago
Rapid Transit Co., James Atkinson,
o f Chicago, and the D. M. C. Co. o f
Los Angeles, are the large operators.
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