Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

Regionlll Business Reports
' - - - - - - - - - - By REVIEW ~EPORTERS----------~
Se cond Qua rte r Outlook
The fin:t three months of 1949 passed by and a ll
sorts of reports were piling up during Apri l as evi.
dence of wh a t to expect this year. In genera l , oper-
ators of coin machin es h ave report e d th a t busi n ess for
most machines was off during the fir st quarter-o r
d id not come up t o ex p ectat ions. R eports in s uffi cie nt
number and also enough sec tion s of the countr y were
ava il a bl e to support last month' s s um mary that the
"spring pickup thi s year was slowe r than u su a l and
a l so in l ess d egre e."
Probably manuf,c turcrs of coin machin es are s ho w-
ing mor e optimism a t the present time than other
d ivi sio n s of the trad e . but manufacturers of vendi ng
machine s have lost their h igh pla ce of l eadershi p in
the po s twar op timi sm.
Th e outlook for the second qua r t e r is buoyed by
the ge nera l expecta tion that the best th ree month s o f
th e year come a t thi s tim e in normal periods. There
a re muny who believe that operation o f co in m ac hin es
is rea l ly ge tting back to norm a l. But the entire
indu s tr y now recognizes that gen e ra l co n d ition s rea ll y
d e cide wh at happens 10 the co in machin e busin ess as
8 whol e .
And , as to the gene ral business outlook fo r th e
second quarter, the ex pert s were sa ying th a t April o r
May wou ld be th e cr iti cal mOJ:lth s in which it would
be decided how much recession , and es pec ia ll y un·
e mployment , there WOli ld be during th e yea r. Oper-
ators now genera lly hold the view that a recession h as
b een under way for som e months and their chief
hope is that everyt hin g will l evel otT as soo n as
possible.
But in April even the exp erts could not b e su re
tha t t h e l eveling off process h ad fu ll y t a ken p l ace.
Man y held that the decline would cont inu e int o 1950
but that it would be gradua l , and wit hout a ny general
upsets to business. So, the coin machine trade e n-
tered i t s best period with this gene ra l view o f co n d i-
tions h anging over it.
S h u ffl eboard co ntinues to be a bright spot in t h e
am usement indu s try , with exce ll ent promotions of
!ournam ent s and public inter es t being sc h edu l ed.
Thi s is progress of the right kind and sh ou ld l ead
make rs and owners of o th er types of machin es to
search th e field fo r some such id eas to boo s t th eir
own types of ma chin es.
P e rhaps th e biggest qu estion mark hin ges abou t
general sales of candy and ciga re tt es at th e PQ~ sen t
tim e. Although tota l cigarett e sa l es made a good
s tart for the year, there are more questions now abo ut
the rest of the year. Tot al cand y sales and a l so th at
of candy bars dro pp ed for th e fir st t wo months of th e
year, according to officia l re ports, but so m e r epor t s
also show that candy operato rs can have sa les i n -
c reases when general sales a re declining.
A lat e East er ha d i t s effec t s on ret a il trad e and
also on various types of coin machin es. Earl y reports
in April, however, were encouragin g because the
sp ring pickup was st ill go ing right ah ead , alt h oug h
d e l ayed in th e beginn ing .
R egiona l reports by R EV I EW correspo nd ents follow:
BUSINESS BAROMETER
APRIL
)949
Chicago .............. B
Cincinnati... ....... N
Columbus .......... N
Los Ange les ...... B
St. Louis ..............
Spokane ............. A
Twin Cities ........ B
Was h .• D. C .... __ .. B
N
B
N
B
N
B
N
B
BAN B N N
BAN N N N
B A A NAB
N N N N B B
NAN N N
BAN A B
B A B B B B
NAB N N
B
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
B N
N N
N-NORMAL
A-ABOVE NORM AL
B-BELOW NORMAL
Chieago
Some trade leaders here summarize th e
"state of the Industry" by saying that in
wis area quiet prevails in all circles and
there is also a general feeling that things
have pretty well leveled off to somethin g
like normal.
The trade associations, CMI and NAMA,
were still occupied with legislative reports
and problems in April. Leaders in both
organizations say legislation has been much
less serious than might have heen expected.
But there is also anticipation that city tax
problems will flare up considerably during
the second half of the year.
.
As to general busin ess in the area, new s·
papers report "Chicago steel plants laying
off workers in seasonal slump" and oth er
similar evidence. There is also a trend to
cut to shorter weeks, as in all industrial
centers. The trend is not considered serio
ous, but a rather normal leveling off. Farm
activity has increased seaS Midwest and is a big factor in general
business.
. Music here is helped some by reports
from other sections. The view prevails that
gains may be expected in the music busi·
liess during the next few months. Some
trade leaders say this is based partly on
the fact that phonograph play has been
pretty stable in many centers for months,
and then a normal seasonal gain is under
way now.
Games demand in the area is said to be
normal but manufacturers of games say
the national picture has shown a slackened
demand for six months or so, and that
legislation has been a delaying factor since
Jan. l.
Shuffleboard is still making big headway
in manufacturing circles and also in place·
ments. The business is highlighted by the
coming . championship tournament called
the "Four·State Standard Shuffleboard
Championship Tournament," scheduled for
the Coliseum, Chicago, June 16·19. Obvi·
ously the biggest public shuffleboard even t
ever planned, it will be an event in th e
shuffleboard expansion move.
Soft drink vending seems to be normal
for the season, aided by strong promotional
effort s by makers of drinks and vendors.
Leaders in the candy industry have been
quoted n.ationally in current reports that
total candy sales are off considerably, in·
cluding bars. Some vending operators,
however, say machine sales are holding up
w.ell. Factory employment conditions, defi.
mtely spotty, affect all types of vendors in
the industrial sections in a big way.
Cigarette vending, legally confined to in.
dustrial filld other plants, is thus affected
by the spotty changes taking place among
fa ctories. Pop corn sales are being aided
FOR THE SUMM ER POPCORN SEASON
YOU CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO
OPERATE /{uhkeIJ!
HICH
In
Quality
$119 50
F. O. B.
LOS ANGELES
FOR EITHER 5c OR 10c MODELS
Low
In
PRICE
During the past 12 years Kunk el eng in eers have consistently added new improvements to th e Model K-one mMe reason
why this dependable vendor has proved its superiority on all typ es of locations • • . Manufactured by a firm -with 30
yea rs ex pe ri ence in coin-operated ma chines, th e Model K 's outstanding fea tures have made it tops among l ead ing operators.
Write for Full Information 'T oday!
COLDEN STATE VENDORS
Approved by
Underwriters' Lab.
MAY, 1949
3016 Asbury Street
Los Angeles 31 . Calif.
39