Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

one month.
All of the usual factors governing the in-
stallation of smaller vending machines also
affect the ice vendor-proper "spotting" for
visibility, illumination, attractive and clean
appearance. Inserti on of a nickel and dime
or three nickels in the chute automatically
starts the delivery mechanism and a pack-
aged block of ice appears. The coin chutes,
by the way, are stand'lrd A. B. T. mechan-
isms as used on marbl e games, etc., and are
supplied by Paul A. Laymon, Los Ange les
coin machine jobber. Failure of the ma-
chine to deliver a bl o(k of i:e causes the
coins to be returned. Mechanism inside the
vendor includes six ro ll er spirals on which
packaged ice is placed ready for gravity de-
livery. The interior temperature of each
vending cabinet is automatically maintained
at approximately 20 degrees Fahrenheit by
a methyl chloride refrigeration unit, with
the result that the package of ice is deliv-
ered cold and dry with perhaps a layer of
" frost " on the outside. The cabinet is con-
structed with an outside layer of water-
proofed 5-ply veneer over which is placed
galv-annealed steel. ~nter i or is lined and
has a 6·inch layer of insulation on each side
and the bottom and 8-inch insulation on the
top.
Cost of each vendins unit is about $3000
and th e capacit7 of the standard cabinet is
198 packages of ice weighing 25 pou nds
apiece. Retail va lue of this much is $27.90.
Now let's go behind the scenes in this
business of operatinl.; ice vending machines.
A visit to one of Central's two ice plants in
Los Angeles brings us into contact w ith
E. N, Ratley, engineer and owner of an
interest in several ice fi rms-a man with 12
years of experience in the ice business .
Slugs? To be sure, the ice vendors col-
lect their share of them. Max Zeigler has
in his garage a barrel full of nickel and
dime slugs, with a half a sack left over for
good measure. These represent the total
number of spurious coins taken by 38 vend-
ing machines in five years-yet the tota l
loss from "slugging" during the entire pe-
riod has been less than one-third of one per
cent of gross receipts. Negligible, you
might say.
The original cost of one of these $3000
vending machines is written off over a pe-
riod of 15 years. Some of the operating costs
include roughly $10 a month for electric
power serving each refrigerated vender,
about $3 a month for illuminating each ma-
chine with lights operated by a time clock,
and the expense of maintaining a fleet of 11
refrigerated delivery trucks necessary to
service 38 vending machines. Salaries are
another item, but all are included in the
li Gures given above.
Service Calls and Slugs. Too!
Actual daily operation of ice vending
machines is fascinating to the operator of
other types of vending machines, who natu·
rally wonders about service calls, etc. Yes ,
the ice machine operator does have service
calls-there were exactly 72 calls in a re-
cent 15-day period-but they do not in-
crease in direct proportion to increased sales.
The calls may inform the service depart-
ment that a machine is empty after a busy
day, that a coin chute is jammed with a
candy wafer ur home-made slug, or various
minor difficulties. These calls are invited
by the co mpany, which so advises its cus-
tnmers by means of a meta l plate on the
front of each vendor.
The biggest sing le day's volume handled
Increa ses Market 65 Per Cent
by Central Ice & Cold Storage Co.'s ma-
chines was recorded August 17, 1935. On
First, we want to kn'J w from Mr. Ratl ey
that day the 38 units ~old 215 .4 tons of ice
what has been the effect of automatic mer-
and took in $2584.80, which is a pretty fair
chandising on the selling of ice. " For one
turnover in any business.
thing," he says, "we have increased our
How about these refrigerated trucks )
market 65 per cent since introducing auto-
Transportation of this type, of course, is
matic selling. Furthermore, our sales are
used in various other businesses. The re-
less seasonable through the machines-our
friger ation equipment adds about $750 to
product is m:Jre accessibl e to the consumer . the cost of a regular delivery truck. It
public, with the result that heavy sales start
consists of coi ls of pipe which maintain
earlier in th e spring and last later in the
each of the eight ice compartments at a tem-
fall."
perature between 2 and 4 degrees F. below
H e was asked whether th e use of vend -
zero by means of calcium brine. This ex-
ing machines enabled the firm to sell ice at
treme temperature is necessary to provide
a lower price. "That brin l.;s up an impor-
extra energy over a period of 6 or 8 hours,
tant point," Rapl ey responded . "We do not
assuring transfer of ice from the plant to
cut the price but we improve the merchan-
the vendinG machine without depreciation
dise by packaging. Our machines, selling
or gaining too much temperature in the nec-
ice at 12 a ton and located in some in-
essary exposure during remova l . fro'm the
stances but 200 or 300 feet from established
door of the truck compartment to the door
cash and carry stations w here ice ' is sold at
of the vending cabinet. All the time they
$8 a ton, not onl y overcome the price han-
are in the plant, the trucks are hooked up
dicap, but actually se ll as much as three
to the brine line by means of hoses.
times the amou nt bei ng sold from cash and
Packing Process Interesting
carry stations."
From information suppli ed by Mr. Rapley
Roller
conveyors bring the packaged ice
and Mr. Zeig ler, THE REVIEW was able to
to the tru cks through a small insulated
compil e some interesting data. Every reader
opening in the wall of the packing room.
wants to know the earni ng power of an ice
Behind that wall takes ' place one of the
vendor, and' here's a rough idea: Average
sales per machine per year amount to 300
tons, which at $ 12 a ton totals $3600 a
yea r gross sales for each machine.
most interesting operations connected with
the automatic vending of ice. As pointed
out previously, the packaging is of primary
importance, far more so than in home de-
livery service where the wrapping process
is unnecessary, And considering that Max
Zeigler could not buy this equipment but
had to invent it himself to make his auto-
matic vending plan successful, let's see how
the machine works.
Three hundred-pound cakes of ice, the
manufacturing process of which requires a
separate article, are delivered from the plant
to the packing room and immediately enter
the maw of a huge cutter. There the taper-
ing block is trimmed and split, with a ,cross
cut finisfJ ing. the operation to emit twelve
25-pound blocks. Each of these blocks is
automaticall y tran"sferred, ' one at a time,
into the wrapping machine. This device is
equipped with steel arms which slide each
cake over a sheet of wax paper, fit and fold
the wrapper snugly and glue it so strongly
that the flaps thus joined may be used as a
handle to carry the package.
All movements and operations of the
wrapper are hydraulically actuated from a
single point of control. One man operating
a si ngle cutting and wrapping unit can
package up to four tuns of ice per hour,
sufficient to supp ly . the maximum demand
of 10 vending machines. When additional
capacity is required, up to four wrapping
units may be connected with the cutting
machine, allowing one operator tu cut and
package up to 15 tons of ice per hour. The
cutter and three wrappers represent a cost
of approximately $15,000.
Future of Automatic Merchandising
Because of the temperature factor and the
necessity for closely corlt1ected movements
from the plant to the packing room to the
trucks to the vending machines, the opera-
tion of ice vendors is considered practical
only for a firm owning its own ice plant.
Not many operators of peanut or cigarette
vending machines are planning to buy a
route of $3000 ice vendors and purchase
their merchandise at wholesale for resale
through the machines.
But the greatest significance of the auto-
matic merchandising of ice is this: If such a
perishable and bulky product can be mar-
keted successfully and profitably by means
of a coin chute silent salesman, what untold
possibilities for vending all types of com-
modities does the coin machine industry
ho ld in store for the future ?
SELLING OUT ALL USED GAMES
Sig nal • • • • • . $3.75
Ooal or. • • • •. 4.75
:,.
1-2 -3' •• •. . . $ 10. 75
50 / 50' • . . ,
10. 75
12. 75
12.75
12.75
8.75
Sure· Shots . •
14.75
Tri-a· Lite •. , , 9.75
Bal ance • • •
14.75
Tit-for- Tats • •. 9. 75
High and Lows
16,75
Star Lit ••. • . , 9.75
L ucky St ars •
16. 75
Terms: 1/3 depqsit with order, balance C. O. D .
·Sensat ions . . •.
7.75
TwentY- Ones . •
Jun glo Hun ts . •
9. 75
Batter Ups . .
Kings • • • .
Chee r · Leaders
OHIO SPECIALTY CO.
129 W. Centra l Parkway
CINCINNA TI , O.
3UMBO JAR-O-SMILES
New Operators' D eal- (Sold O nly to Operators)
$855 Annual Profit Per Machine
0 .. t1I.e an nnl 17sis 01 a random selection
of seven vending units ove r the first / year 's
operation, with no advertising or sales' stim-
ulus. The average gross sale per cabinet
was $2709.17, which left a net profit of
$855.58 per machine after deducting the
cost of ice, all operating ex penses, taxes,
interes t and depreci ation- an average of
24.8 per cent net on' the investment.
16
•
CO I N
MACHINE
REVIEW
Every 1,000 tickets averages about $39.50 clear profit.
Can be bought by box of 1,000 tickets or complete com-
bination of 20,000 . All tickets sewed with 5-stitch thread.
Pe r Box .. ........... ,.... ...... .. ...... ..... . .. ...
.. .. $ 4.00
Jack Pot Card .... :.
.50
Complete Combination ............ .... ................ 70.00
Twe nty Jack Pot Cards .................... .... ........ 10.00
Add 10 per cent Government Tax
Jars. 25c
Jack Pot Card Holders. 40c each
r
WERTS NOVELTY CO., INC.
MUNCIE. INDIANA
JUNE .
1 936