Marketplace

MARKETPLACE
NEWSLETTER
PAGE 11, AUGUST 30, 1974
R04DMBN
Somewhere out there, in some peacef'ul, pleasant small town, perhaps in the truck stop
at the very edge of the town, or in the bowling center, 11183be even in the town's most poP-
ular eatery, drug store or tavern or, as has been the case lll8l'l;y times in many past years,
back of the operator's store where he and his mechanic repair equip't, some enterprising,
knowledgeable roadman is going to find a unit as outstanding and sensational as the "flipper"
or the "bumper" with which this operator and his mechanic have been revamping and reviving
play on old games. Maybe even a new gadget being used on old juke boxes to recapture play
action. A new twist on old venders that sells merchandise in bigger quantities faster or
allows for speedier, money-saving servicing. That's because this operator can't afford to
constantly buy equip't priced in four figures.
..
It's out there, alright. Waiting for a knowledgeable road.man to "discover" it and bring
it to light. Who knows but what it may not even be coin operated. Could be the product so
very many have searched for to replace the millions of punchboards that, for so many, many
years, appeared in every type location, high and low, everywhere in the world. It's there •
Because as prices for equip't zoomed, small operators had to make do with what they had.
And good, old American ingenuity vent to work. That unit, that product, could create the
biggest boom this industry has ever known.
Sad to report, there are no longer knowledgeable road.men traveling the hiways and biways
of the nation meeting rlth small operators in ple888nt little towns. Talking thin88 over.
Bringing news. &joying a cup or two. And, suddenly, discovering the gadget or the revamped
product to boom, boom, boom this industry to a new, higher plateau of affluence. To again
see the manuf'actories in roaring, all out, full capacity production. To watch engineers in-
geniously create a hundred variations of the same theme. Some good, some excellent, some
mediocre and soae very bad. To note executives, salesmen, distributors, hustling, smiling,
setting new records for their finns.
•
•
Back in the '30s when the now long gone Mills Novelty Coapany had a dozen top, knowledge-
able road.JI.an traveling the entire nation, we heard the late Fred Mills, president of this
"World's Largest Jllanu:faoturer of Coin Operated Machines", rlth the late Vince Shay, his sales-
aanager sitting on one side of hie desk, and the late Jaaes T. (Jim) Mangan, his aoet brill-
iant advertising, sales promotion and public relations director as well as editor of his
"Spinning Reels", sitting on the other side of his desk, tell these old ti.me road.men who had
been gathered together in his bi«, private office, "Somewhere out there is the new product
we need. Wherever you hear about soaething some operator created that's maldng money, get to
it. Look it over. Buy it if you think it's great. Ship it to our factory. That's as important
to you as your sales of machines."
The roadman did it then and can do it again!