Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

Kansas City
BOOM REACHES PEAK . . . HOELZEL
HEADS NEW OPERATORS' ASSOCIA-
TION . . . VALUE OF COOPERATION
EVIDENCED
- - - -By B. K. ANDERSON'- -
46
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
--
KANSAS CITY, MO. (RC) - The Mid-
west coin machine boom has reached its
peak. It is no longer a matter of faith or
optimism-it is fact. Locations are actually
begging for machines. Operators are work-
ing days that end lon g after th e sun has
set. Most local distributors are keeping
their storerooms
and s to ckrooms
open much later
than has been the
case in recent yea rs.
Without exception
all branches of the
industry are busier
now than th ey have
been at any time in
the last decade.
As was predicted
in this co lumn ear-
lier in the year cer-
tain new tendencies
B. K. And erson
and developments
in both methods
and desire to stabilize the industry locally
began developments which have resulted in
this the brightest picture which Heart of
America coin machine men have been able
to witness in recent years.
The most important of these happen-
ings has been the recent formation of the
Coin Machine Operators' Association of
Kansas City, and the establishment of per-
manent offices and functions for this unit.
Too much credit cannot be given to Carl
Hoelzel, the Association's new president
for the tireless effort, expense, and personal
sacrifice he has made in helping bring this
unit into being.
However, all of Carl's work would have
gone for naught had not other local oper-
ators realized that for operators to work
separately they must first be in harmony
with each other. This new harmony within
the ranks can best be explained by th e
statement recently made by a Kan sas City,
Kansas, operator, who said:
"Now, for the first time since I have been
in th e business, I have a . pretty good idea
on how much commission I am going to
have to pay the loca tion on any and all of
my machines. I ca n buy new machines
and know that they
will pay for them-
selves in a short
enough time that I
will not only be
able to make a pro-
fit, but when the
time comes will
have money enough
to replace them. I
can buy better
·equipment now, be-
cause I feel certain
Carl Hoelzel
that nothing is go-
ing to prevent me from making a fair
profit on the deal. I feel so confident now
that I am planning my business several
years in advance, which is som·ething I've
wanted to be able to do ever since I came
into the business."
And this confidence isn't all talk accord-
ing to W. A. Bye, Wurlitzer district man-
ager for this area, who backs up his asser-
tion with cold facts. Two hundred new
Wurlitzers, according to Bye, were ordered
shipped into Kansas City for delivery to
operator L. L. Hines late in June. The
sale was made through Mason and Crum-
mitt's Central Distributing Company.
As further evidence that complete oper-
ator confidence in the future of their indus-
try locally is now fact, Bye points out that
scores of new operators have in recent
months been converted to remote control
automatic music operation. He estimates
that this type of location, according to
present indications, will more than double
in the next twelve months. In his opinion
this development alone will guarantee sta-
bilization of the local coin machine picture.
Any industry, according to Bye, must
look to expansion of its customers to ac-
complish its natural growth. Side by side
with remote control automatic music he
places the new counter · models. "Not only
have these counter models gained operators
access to a wealth of new locations but they
have also converted many operators who
never handled music before to music opera-
tion," he believes.
And this music boom is not confined to
Kansas City, Bye says, for he came to Kan-
sas City following a trip to Little Rock, in
which town he sold 250 machines in two
days' time. These phonographs were about
equally divided between operators' replace-
ment needs and the new growing demand
in that area for new and better music.
Practically all distributors and manufac-
turers' representatives through the Mid-
west area are enthusiastic about the fact
that daily more and more operators are ad-
justing and setting up their books to take
into consideration machine depreciation.
According to Finley Mason, most oper•
ators realize that new equipment with
strong eye-appeal and good mechanical
condition makes a much higher percentage
of profit than something the operator is
just "trying to get by with". More and
more operators are learning that when a
certain percentage of the "take" each day
is set aside to keep the machines new, re-
placements will automatically take care of
themselves.
So enthusiastic are the members of the
n~w Kansas City Operators' Association
that each Wednesday evening finds several
score of them at their regular weekly meet-
ing at 219 Hotel President. The "Wel-
co me" sign to all local operators is still on
the door and the Association announces
that it will not close its membership book
for so me tim e to come.
•
Officers of the Association newly electe_p
are: Board of Directors - Carl Ho"elzel,
A. E. Sandhaus, Dan Ellis, Tim Crummitt,
Dave Cooper, and Eddie Nettles. Carl
Hoelzel is President. On salary are Earl
Witschner of the Friedman Sales Com-
pany, and Harry Schwimmer, attorney.
Witschner is secretary of the Association
and Schwimmer is business manager.
According to President Hoelzel the
Association has accomplished a unity with-
in the ranks of coin machine operation in
this locality that was heretofore thought
impossible. It has not only reached agree-
ments with authorities in both Kansas
Cities and surrounding territories which
allows for the operation of free play tables
but has established set commissions to
locations which, of course, is the gr~test
stabilizing force that could have been
obtained.
Bud Lieberman, district manager, Rock-
Ola, commenting on the same business pic-
ture, said, "I have never seen anything like
it. Business around Kansas City has been
getting better all year. It's a real boom!
Certainly, due credit must be given the
manufacturers for adding both eye and ear
appeal to the automatic music machines.
But, no matter how good these machines
are the most important part of their suc-
cess is up to the operator, and the major
portion of the credit for the boom locally
must necessarily go to these operators."
With business booming operators are giv-
ing little thought to vacations. E. F. Dar-
kow, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, operator, again
chose Kansas City as a major stop on his
summer tour. While in town he visited
Brother "Dutch" Darkow, formerly an oper-
ator for the United Amusement Company
and now operating out of the Central Dis-
tributing Company.
Dutch specializes on marble tables and
reports that most operators of this type of
equipment claim profits in excess of what
they made several years on "pay-outs".
Operators from all over the country
will be happy to hear that "Doc" Hamilton,
formerly head of Hamilton Enterprises,
has recovered his health sufficiently to ac-
cept a campaign-managership for a Mis-
souri senatorial aspirant.
It is encouraging to note that operators
now are closely co-operating with each
other and the location within their districts.
The worth of this attitude was amply
demonstrated recently by a report that was
made unbeknownst to operators by author-
ities in a certain Kansas district. It seems
that the operation of certain types of
marble tables was allowed as a test in a
district that was formerly closed to them.
The report as published stated that in not
one place did the co unty's investigators
find operators taking advantage of the new
privileges granted. It goes without saying
that these operators will be paid many
times over for exercising restraint in this
♦
instance.
• •
"Well, I have something put away for a
rainy day."
"Ha, ha, an umbrella?"
"No, your rubber check."
♦
• •
Alice: "My engagement was broken up
by one little glass."
Mabel: "How awful! Was it Scotch or
rye?"
Alice: "Neither; it was a phoney dia-
♦
mond."
SI. Louis
WALL BOXES GAIN IN POPULARITY .
OIL BOOM BOOSTS BUSINESS . . .
STEFFENS VISITS OPS . . . PINBALL
OPS PLAN BIG PICNIC .. . WURLITZER
SOFTBALLERS IN FIRST PLACE
- - - - B y ROBERT LATIMER:----
ST. LOUIS-Business in every branch of
the coin machine industry is showing de-
cided improvement over 1939, according to
reports circulated at the end of June, mid-
summer officially for most operators in the
St. Louis trade. A cooler summer, plus an
unusually heavy amount of tourist traffic,
has been responsible.
One of the leading points of interest in
the music field so far this summer is the
success both operators and dealers have
been enjoying with wallboxes, so many of
the latter sold that it is difficult to get de-
livery in many instances. One of the leading
permanent wallbox installations at present
is in the famous Wiley Post Restaurant at
I:ambert Field afrport, which has been re-
designed· to permit installation of boxes per-
manently in recessed niches at every booth.
Parkmoor restaurants, four drive-in ar-
rangements in each section of the city,
have saved valuable space as well as step-
ping up sales of music by substituting wall-
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