Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

VENDING
Seedman Tells Salesmen
About Vending Progress .
NEW YORK- George M. eedm a n, Th e
Rowe Corp., ch ampioned the cause of au to-
matic merchandisin g a nd also boosted th e
next annual convention of NAMA at a
luncheon of the Sales Exec utive Club h ere
recently.
As convention chairman for the next
NAMA convention, chedu led for Atlanti c
City, Nov. 27-30, Seedm an is ued a hear ty
invitation to th e re presentatives of business
firms to attend . H e said they wo uld cer-
tainly gain ideas on how to sell more of
their firm's produ cts and migh t even see a
machine that is alrea dy selling som e of
them.
The convention outlook is very encourag-
ing, Seedman said. H e a id at lea t 145 of
the total of 270 a vail abl e booth had been
sold before April 1, and th a t this meant
sale of more than half the exhibit space
more than seven month s ah ead of th e show.
Seedman also told th e ales men som e of
th e basic prin ciples of autom a ti c merchan-
dising, that such a method does not com·
pete with over-the-counter sales but in
r eality carries on in a fi eld whi ch retail
stores cannot cover. H e call ed autom ati c
merch andising a new and fa st-growing in -
du stry and said it had contributed mu ch i n
creatin g jobs also ma intainin g th e flow of
many articles of merchandise. H e said the
fi eld will exp and faste r than ever in the
n ext five years.
The luncheon was a real co nference on
a utomati c vendin g, with a number of ma-
chines on display a t th e hotel, and al so
other speakers on th e subj ect of vending.
Louis E. Leverone, of Automati c Canteen
Co.; Harry W. Al exander, of Chalex Corp.,
and an authority on di stribution ; and Rob-
ert S. Curtiss, department of concessions,
Port of New York Authority, al so s poke on
phases and ideas in vendin g.
Most Cigarette Men Report
Tourist Biz Boosts Vendors
by Walter Hurd
EW YORK - Th e ciga rette industry
h ail ed th e offi cial gove rnm en t report on
the May total output of cigarettes, showin g
a gain of nearly 9 pe r cent a bove th e out-
put for the sa me month last yea r. S pec ial
attention was give n to the month's re port
heca use som e co nce rn had been sbown
a bout the Apri l reco rd which registered a
decline in ciga rette revenu e sta mp sales.
Th e best reason yet advanced f or th e de-
clin e in April is th at wh olesalers and re-
ta ile rs had been redu cin g in ve ntorie in
keepin g with th e 1949 outlook. Some sta tes
have been repo rtin g small er cil(arette sales,
but th e ge neral outl oo k for national sales
is a steady in crease th a t will keep th e
current yea r we ll above last year. Hence,
th e yea r wi ll add another to th e lon g record
of annu al in crease in cigarette consump -
tion.
Th e maker of Ca mels was the first firm
to report on its reco rd for th e first six
month s of the yea r, a nd he nce shed som e
li ght on how bra nds a re fa rinl(-from the
manufa c tur e r's vi e wpoint. Sto c khold e rs
we re told that sales of Camels are holdin g
above th e sa me peri od last yea r.
Wh en th e governm ent reported on Ma y
revenue from ciga rette, th at completed 11
mon ths of th e past fi scal tax year ; ciga-
rettes ha d shown a gain of nearly 2 per
cent over th e 11 month s of th e previou s
fi soal year. This confi rms reports previously
published he re-that cigarette consumption
is still c limbing but th e percentage of gain
is being redu ced.
Th e governm ent also issues special re-
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42
po rt on the tobacco wholesa le tra de, a nd
th e most rece nt I'epo rt ava il abl e confirms
th e view tha t whol esa lers have been redu c-
ing th eir ciga rette inventories; however,
whol esalers in th e North Centra l a nd So uth
Atl anti c di stri cts had in creased in ventori es
a nd sales li ghtly. Th e ofli cial repo rt sai d
"extremely spotty conditions in tobacco
wholesalers' sa les were showin g up in th e
geogra phical sub-divi sions: '
It is th ese sha rp ups and downs in ciga-
rette a les in different states th at is puzzlin g
th e industry, and a factor on which THE
R EVI EW has undertaken to check at inter-
vals with cigarette vendor ope rators. Ciga-
re tte consumption is presum ed to remai n
fa irly stea dy, a nd ye t spo tty ro nditi ons
show up in different sect ions for reasons
yet un ex pl ained .
When the government re port on ciga rette
decline in April ap pea red, T ilE R EVIEW
checked with cigarette ope rators to learn
wheth er they had noti ced any cha nges in
ciga rette sal e. About 60 per cent of the
operators reporting sa id th eir a les had de-
clin ed thus far in 1949. Whil e a majority
reported smaller sa les, th ere we re no indi-
ca tions of an y marked dec lin es. Tho e who
suggested a percentage put it at 5 to 8 per
cent. Most opera tors expressed th e declin e
with th e modest word , "Some:'
We asked if there had b en any very
rece nt chan ges in ciga rette sa les. Operators
that reported smaller sales were about
equ a ll y divided in sayin g that th e ciga rette
decline had been gradual , or th at th ere
had been som e very recent drops. Op erators
who reported higher sales also were about
equally di vid ed in sayinl( th e r~ had been
some very recent changes, or th a t cha nges
had been gradual. Operators who assigned
a reason for rece nt increases call ed it
seasonal.
Operators re portin l( small er . ales usuall y
a cribed the reason to '·U nemployment."
A ew England operator re ported som e
facts and figures on his sa les and said the
decline had been gradual. This gradual
decline may corres pond with th e general
industri al decline in th e Ne w En gland
states which ha s ~ ee n repo rted under way
for nea rly two years.
But wh ile th e New England ope rator h ad
small er sales this year, he had an optimisti c
slant on it :
" Whil e th e decrease in number of ciga-
rettes sold in May this year is somewhat
less than a yeal' ago, my profit is now 30
cents per carton against 10 Yz cent la t
May. Du e to pri ce in crease in August 1948,
at whi ch time the ma chine pri ce was raised
COIN MACHINE REVIEW