Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

NATIONAL "On-Tbe-Spot"
OPERATING REPORTS
The PULSE BEAT OF THE CO I H·MACHIHE IHD,USTRY
Columbus
Reported by W. C. Arthurs
U n e m ploymen t in Columbus declined
slightly in recent weeks, the Ohio Sta te
Employment Service re ported. F ewer per·
sons applied for un employment compensa·
tion, the number lookin g fo r work declined
and more jobs opened up in manufacturing,
constru ction and farm work.
For th e eighth consecuti ve week , un em·
ployment insuran ce claims throughout th e
state declined, with claims down a third
from th e number fil ed in the first week in
March.
The Burea u of Busin ess Research at Ohio
State University disclosed Ohio sales for
the first qua rter ran two per cent ahead of
the correspondin g period last year, with
sales relatively better as compared with
last year. Retail sales for Columbus regis·
tered a six per cent increase over 1949.
All of this optimism Qn th e part of busi·
ness experts indi cates that the Industry
should be able to expect a good year.
The giant Lustron Corp. , manufacturers
of prefabricated houses in one of Curtiss·
Wright Corp.'s fo rmer great sprawlin g war·
plants here, has been put on th e auction
block by th e Reconstruction Fin ance Corp.
A market for candy and bevera ge vendors
is thus cut, but the T ernstedt plant and
other industries now in operatiJin will do
'much to hold th e line fo r th ese merchants.
Saturday aft ernoons this fall may fin d
coin phonos and other coin-operated equip-
ment gettin g more play tha n was th e case
last fall. Followers of Big Ten football wer e
jolted with th e un expected announcement
by Western Cdnference offi cials th at they
had agreed to bar live television of all
1950 fo otball games.
Among favorite songs now bein g featured
in coin phonos are Franki e Laine's Mercury
disci ng of Swamp Girl ; Th e Old Piano
Roll Blues, in a variety of labels; Larry
Green on Vi ctor's Bewitched, a nd Phil
Ha rris 1"ith the sa me company's shellacking
of Muskrat Ramble. 1/ 1 Knew Y ou Were
Comin' I'd 0/ Baked a Cake led most
oth ers in popularitv, with its dem ise head-
ing u p fast since it ha d been overworked.
Bradford and Rom ano's Vi ctor label Put
on an Old 'Pair 0/ Shoes has been we)!
received.
Delivery costs and route servici ng CQsts
went up som ewhat when the oil companies
raised gasoline prices one-h alf cent a gallon.
Twice previously this year oil companies
had lowered their prices by on e-h alf cent
a gallon.
Arcade ope ration is about to go into its
usual seasonal clim b in the next several
weeks, with the peak of July Fourth look·
ing very favorabl e at this tim e. A record
number of vacationists is expected to crowd
the highways and byways of the Buckeye
State.
Columbus is on e of the 13 cities in the
nation in which tournam ents will be h eld
to decide state champions of Am erican
Shuffieboard League play. Team entries be-
come eligible by participating in regular
season lea gues under the auspices of ASU.
Eight six-man tea ms from Columbus are
qualified to enter th e two-day event. Colum-
bus' share of th e cash prizes in all state
playoffs-which will aggrega te $14,681 plus
JUNE, 1950
trophi es- is expected to run over $1000.
Teams seeded from the state playoffs will
be eligible for entry in the national tourna-
ment in Peoria, Ill.
Cool weath er has cut into seasonal sal es
of beverage vendors, but there have been
enough warm days to see them doing well
enou gh. Cup vendors are still holdj ng their
own, with many people still favorin g the
bottle machine.
Coffee prices have weakened som ewhat,
probably from consumer resistance. Prices
have dropped about three to fou r cents
from the recent higJ;. level.
Milk pri ces h ave remained steady, with
th is city now receiving Grade A milk fo r
the first time, althou gh th e standard has
always been very high.
Candy sales continue to stay up , prob-
a bly influenced by cool weather. Good
chocolate helps here, although th e sum-
mer candies are beginnin g to appear. More
jellies are evident on th e market.
According to William D. Bailey, super-
visor of th e excise section of the Ohio
Department of Taxation , cigarette tax
stamp sal es continue to climb. For April
of this year sa les were $1,420,642, while
for th e same month last year th ey were
$1,410,468. This was a n in crease of $10,174.
For th e four-month period last year sa les
were $5,415,760, while for th e same period
of 1950 sales reached $5,595,144. This rep-
rese nts an in crease of 3.31 per cent, Bailey
said.
A nationwide training program for to-
bacco distributors made its debut in Col-
umbus when the National Assn. of Tobacco
Distributors launched an executive manage-
ment school for wholesalers from every
section of Ohio. The two-day school was
the first of a series of similar tramlllg
sessions to be offered by the NATD to
tobacco wholesalers throu ghout th e coun·
try, according to Joseph Kolodny of New
York City, man agin g director of the group.
Popcorn sales hElve been rath er good,
especially at th eatres and th e ballpark.
Nut sales h ave been so-so, partly because
of prohibitive cost. Stamp machines found
increased sales, with people using air mail
during th e rail strike. Scales found patron -
age rising with the temperatures of S prin g.
Cincinnati
R ep orted by George Keith
Dampened somewha t by th e coldest April
in many years, th e Industry marked time
last month. However, as this was written,
the Chrysler settl ement sent hopes soaring
and coin machines responded to the stimu-
lus immediately, h elped by warmer tem-
peratures.
Music was sluggish in th e fore part of
the mon th, and receipts suffered corre-
spondingly.
.
Amusement games fared slightly better
th an music, with receipts at least on a
level with the month before, and compar-
ing favorably with those of last year.
The baseball bug bit the publi c last
month , and probably accounts for a sud -
den drop in shuffieboard playin g as com-
pared with th e same month last year.
Operators also report a decline in place-
ments of shuffie-bowling gam es here, and
a slowing down in interest, as the novelty
starts to wear off.
Soft drinks started to climb and reached
very gratifyin g proportions, as the month
closed with midsummer weather.
A strike of drivers for the bottlers dur-
ing th e month did not affect automati c
sales adversely. Rather, they may have
been stimul ated wh en folks could not get
their bottled drinks in the usual amounts.
There is no conflict between cup vendors
and bottled. Rather, there is a line of de-
marcation . Some spots, for very good rea-
sons, can only use cups, while others, for
equally good reasons need bottles, with
the cups holding th e advantage in th e
higher-yield heavy-industry location s.
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