Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

was not elZed, operators claim th at pol ice
"pressured" loca tion into gettin g rid of the
ga mes. P endin g a court test now under way,
fewer than 50 of th e 500·odd ga mes which
were on loca tio n remain in play.
Pittsburgh
With record sales being reported, from
week to week, by loca l department stores
a nd other establishm ents, business condi·
tions, here, are better than ever before, in
man y lin es. Salaries and wa ges of white
collar and industrial workers are at peak
marks, and m oney seems to be more plenti·
ful than usual.
Kennywood and West View Parks, which
ca ter to school picnics, are g;oing full bl ast.
Both of th ese parks are well supplied with
vending machines of all varieties, and con·
cession a ires are reaping; considerable prof·
its, especiall y in ca ndy, gum a nd nuts.
Kennywood Park had a school pi cni c sched·
ul ed for alm o t every day in .Jun e, "ith
many hundreds of pupils, accompan icd by
their parents, participating.
Arca des are busier than ever, th ese days,
with so many hundreds of visitors co min g
to Pittsburgh for conventions of all sorts.
ot a day goe by but what you will observe
the boys with badges on, crowdin g about
amusement devices in the different down·
town arcades. E pecially are th ey interested
in pin ga mes.
Th ere are five amu sement arcades within
a few blocks of th e P ennsylvania Railroad
station and th e leadi ng hotels, and these
seem to be the mecca for vi itors who may
have a few hOUIS while waiting for trains.
As a rule, arcades h ere op en early in th e
morning, and operate full blast until long
after midnight. Jack ellis' "Funland," one
of th e leaders in its line, is a case in point,
and nickels, dimes a nd quarters roll in
throu gh a day of around 18 to 20 hours.
St. Louis
30 1(I'J. ~Xpel'ieIfCe
IN COIN· OPERATED MACHINES
BACK OF EVERY
KUNKEL
(A utomatic-Electrica lly Operated)
HOT POPCORN VENDOR
(Machine Listed Underwriters' l ab.l
Compare These Features:
•
Beautiful Baked
Enamel Finis h
•
Sturdy Steel
Cabinet
•
99 '1>% Slug·pr oof
•
Low Electric
Cons umption
•
Can Be Fille d
W ithout Operator
Calling
•
Easy to Service
and Clean
•
16"x16" Wide ,
62" High
•
61 Lbs. Approx.
Net Weight
PRACTICAL
DEPEHDABLE
Price
$189.50
F. O . B.
Los Angele s
(5c or 1 Dc Machine
same price)
Opel'lltCI'J!
VEND PEANUTS IN THE SHELL
You c an easily and qu ickly adapt you r
Kunkel Mode l K Popcorn Vendor for ve nd·
ing Hot Peanuts In the Shell with Kunkel
Conversion Parts Kit . Machine easily
c onverh ,d back to vend popcorn .
Ki t pric e: $9 .95 f . o . b . Las Angeles
Writ e for Hame of Your He a rest
Distributor
Norsoamerica. Dept. X
356 South Broadway Los Angeles, Calif.
MAdison 6-3746
Cable Add. NOSOAM
Distr ib utor fo r Hew York and
Hew England States:
RONI SALES COMPANY
( Max W eiss & Isadore Bordansky l
4315 Church Ave . , Brooklyn 3, N. Y.
It was an active season in St. Louis, as
May gave way to Jun e. Op erators were
sprucin g up old equipm ent for th e summer
season, after cussin g "springless 1948"
which jumped direct from nasty cold weath-
er into hot summ er clim es.
General reports on collections were a bit
on th e doleful si de, th e three· day Memorial
Day holiday bein g chiefly responsihle. Many
taverns and other loca tions closed for the
entire holiday, with th e result that one-
seventh of a month's collectibl e days went
down the drain for most music opera tors
and quite a few vending machine men.
Hi gh spot of May was a hi ghly contro·
versial meetin g between members of the
Missouri Amusement Machine Assn. at a
downtown hotel. Th e hot topic. of course,
remain s th e "closed comp etition" voluntary.
basis plan which has h elped to pull many
St. Louis phonograph operators out of the
red. President Lou Morris reported a full
turnout as both distributors and operators
went over th e pros and cons of clo ed com-
petition . Chief bon e of contention, it de-
veloped, was a motion proposing that the
clo ed competition plan be actually closed
against any further membership, on the
basis that any operators who feel the
strength of th e plan would have joined up
durin g th e four month s it has been in oper·
ation. Thirteen original operators who have
stu ck ti ghtl y to front-mon ey and trade com-
mission standards in securing routes and
anchoring old location s would make up the
group. However, after a thorough discus·
sion, when operators and di stributor-m em-
bers aired th eir views, it was determined to
leave the system open to welcome any new-
comer who want to join.
"If we had a closed com petitioI' llTO'on .
which no new operator could enter, it would
divide St. Louis into two coin machine
ca mps," a veteran operator indi cated.
" Which, of course, is not the type of situ-
ation which is desirabl e under today' con-
ditions." It was pointed out at the meeting
that almost every operator who p:ave th e
plan a try is showin g a better profit at all
typ es of locations, and " jumpin g" has al-
most disapp eared from the picture.
A new board of directors has been nam ed
for th e group, each to be announced later.
It was also agreed to dispense with summ er
meetings, wh en St. Louis' notoriou s 100-
degree evening temperatures make a con-
clave a definite chore.
Seattle
Re percussions of th e Columbia River
rampa ge have hit th e Industry in this area,
alon g with other bu inesses, farms and
families. Flood damage in 11 Washington
co unties up to June 10th was estimated to
be approximately $39,000,000, and at least
one more high crest on the Columbia was
expected.
Only a few reports of specifi c losses have
so far reached Coin Machine Row, but ma-
chin es lost or damaged will run to a high
figure, it is believed. The warehouse of
Clark Distributin g Co. in Portland was in
three or four feet of water, but machines
were all stored hi gh enou gh to escape dam-
age. Several operators in such h ard-hit
towns as Wenatchee, Ellen burg and Pasco,
Wash., lost th eir machines or had them
damaged beyond repair by flood waters.
Max Munchine, local operator who has
amusement games in Ke lso, suffer ed heavy
10 ses, and other operators in th e Woodland
area were unable to save their eq uipmen t.
Th e Boe in g strike continu es, alth ough th e
plant ha s re um ed operations with a rela-
tively small number of employees. Oper-
a tors, especiall y those in tb e South End,
where the majority of th e airplane makers
live, are feelin g th e pinch.
As to coin machine business in general,
th e verdicts of distributors and operators
vary from "very good" to "very bad", with
all shades of opinion in between.
Amu ement ga mes appear to be goin g
well, with play on th e up-swin g.
Cigarette vending machin es are gettin g
normal patronage, with business a shade be-
low par in th e Boeing worker area.
Candy and gum business is brisk, accord-
ing to th e largest local operator, Canteen
Co. of Washin gton, with a stea dy rise in
installations of machines. Increase in ca ndy
prices, however, has cut profits down to a
very low fi gure.
Nut ve ndin g machines are doin g well,
with enou gh pennies and nickels being ex-
pended to buy a ton of nuts a week from
one operator.
The annual exod us of fisherm en from
Ballard to the hi gh seas for th e halibut
seaso n, which lasts until September or
October, has cut into patronage of games
and phonograph in that part of town , one
operator reports. Wh en they're in town,
th e fishermen go in heavily for ga mes and
phono .
Early Jun e brought an unusual hea t wave
to Seattle, and tavern s have been emptier
than u ual, with everyo ne getting out to
the woods or th e beach to enjoy the sum-
mer weather.
Spokane
The Spokane territory, otherwise known
as the Inland Empire, has been hard hit
by Aoods this year. Whil e th e city it elf has
been spared, surrounding towns have liter-
ally been drowned and the business losses
are terrific, to ay nothing of the future
crop 10 ses which will not he noticed so
mu ch now as when harvest season comes
around.
Operators, however, are optimistic in all
phases of the coin machine bu iness and
Every boy a nd gi rl is a born
" Bargain Hunter." That's why
they go f or the Vend ing Ma -
....-:;_----chine tha t gives them tw ice a s
much gum for their money.
Tha t mac hine is the new " 2 fo r
1" lc SILVE R-KIN G . Even a sma ll rou te
kee p s the cas h ro lling in . A nd anyo ne can
operate o ne of t hese pro fitabl e Rou tes-
either fu ll time o r spa re ti me . The best
w ay to g et sta rte d is t o find o ut now
a bou t the Vend ing Ma chine tha t gives ki d s
two gum balls for 1 c.
FRE El If you w an t a profitable, co nstantly
gro wing Cash Business of yo u r o w n, write
qu ick for fu ll info rm a ti on on SILVER-KING
ve ndors . Don 't d e lay. Drop a penny Post
Ca rd in the mail today to SILVER-KING,
622 Diverse y Parkway, De pt. MR.l , Chi·
cago 14, III.
COIN MACHINE REVIEW
38
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