Automatic Age

14
AUTOMATIC AGE
new, better, more luxurious products offer ample
selectivity. They have provided the facilities for
more hits. The responsibility and obligation to
create the music supply to meet the facilities pro­
vided by mechanical inventiveness rests squarely
on the music fraternity.
Coin operated phonographs have furnished a
national net-work of hundreds of thousands of
outlets for music hits. The need and demand for
more hits is great enough to support competitive
enterprise to create them.
* * *
G O O D O LD DAYS
Sixteen years in the coin machine industry
qualifies J. Korengold, of Kimmel & Korengold,
Chicago phono operators, as a veteran in our
youngish industry.
He knows the answers.
Equally important is that he doesn’t “ live in the
good old days.” He’s alert to the present and
present day requirements.
“ Manufacturers’ sales managers have got to
have the merchandise today,” Korengold capped
his observations about yester-year conditions
when extravagant spending was the acme of
salesmanship. That the leading manufacturers
have sales managers with ability commensurate
to the qualities of their machines was noted by
Korengold’s mention of a string of sales man­
agers’ names.
* * *
SM ALL
TO W N
R O U TES
Too many operators think that the big cities
are the only territories for locations that will earn
them a good living.
But along comes a letter from Arvin W. Kurtz,
operator in a Wisconsin city of about 5,000 in­
habitants, with even smaller cities and towns in
the surrounding territory. He informs us that he
has a route of peanut machines and is going to
increase it to about 150 machines.
“ The machines which I have, bring me about
85 cents a week, for each machine,” Kurtz states.
That’s a mighty good living.
Maybe it takes a little determination and steady
work. These small town operators have what it
takes—and should be pointed to with praise as
“ success stories” for some of the big-town oper­
ators.
* * *
A D V IC E
“ All advice is made up for average people” —
a quotation from Fred B. Barton’s book, “ How to
Sell in Chain Stores.”
That may be true, but my experience is that
advice is taken by superior people only. The
superior man is always on the alert for ideas and
advice. The ordinary man resists both.
© International Arcade Museum
A
September, 1940
T R IB U T E T O A L SEB RING —
For an open mind and for helpful service.
* * *
BEFORE Q U IT T IN G , OR P A Y IN G
U N F A IR
TAX
One of the finest accomplishments is credited
to Thomas Novelty Co., Kentucky operators. T. O.
Thomas writes A u t o m a t i c A g e the following let­
ter, which merits the study and emulation o f all
operators faced with similar situations:
“ Believe it would interest some of your readers
to know of our experience with our city in con­
nection with privilege or occupational license for
operation of legal merchandise vending machines.
“ We operate 97 coin machines of various types,
such as lc peanut, lc gum, lc amusement, 5c
candy, 5c gum, and 15 to 20c cigarette vendors.
The city council imposed an ordinance assessing
the operator of the various machines $3.00 for
the lc vendors, $5.00 for the 5c, and $15.00 for
the 15c machines. We refused to pay the license,
were arrested on five counts, asked for trial after
having our attorney prepare the case and defend­
ed ourselves on the grounds that the license was
out of proportion to the possible revenue from
the business, and was therefore confiscatory. At
trial we were sworn as usual and answered the
many questions of prosecution, then we submitted
a sworn statement in writing as to the income
from the several machines for an exact period of
half a year. The court ruled in our favor, that
the licenses were out of reason and uncollectable,
and the ordinance void by reason of being entirely
out of proportion to income for which license was
required.
“ Other operators might have the same experi­
ence with their respective cities as we have had,
and we pass this on as a suggestion that they too
question through their attorneys the legality of
any ordinance imposed by the city council, before
just quitting, or paying an exhorbitant license.
“ Best wishes for your good A u t o m a t i c A g e .”
This individual achievement shows that
Thomas is an alert operator who conducts his
operation on a high level business basis. He
demonstrated the importance of record-keeping,
which is one of the strongest arguments against
discriminatory and unfair taxation.
* * *
BUND
M A N 'S
IN D E P E N D E N C E
H.
L. Burt tells about a blind man who oper­
ates a route of 300 Automatic Games’ machines.
Simplicity and fool-proof qualities assure the
independence of this handicapped citizen.
* * *
“ D O U B L E FEA TU R E ”
Gypsy Rose Lee goes to the airport to fly to
Hollywood.
And 5,000 men go to see Gypsy take off.
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