Play Meter

l Ill Ill lllll Ill lllll lllJllUllllll Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill llllll II II llllllll II Ill I llllll Ill Ill Ill Ill I llllll I Ill Ill Ill II Ill Ill II Ill Ill Ill Ill Ill II Ill Ill lllll II Ill Ill Ill II Ill I Ill Ill I Ill I Ill II Ill Ill II Ill I Ill II Ill Ill Ill I Ill Ill Ill I Ill I llll Ill I Ill II Ill Ill Ill II
After the Federal Communications Commission
decision to allow priuate pay phones, Dick George of
Roy George Music and seueral other Ohio operators
saw a natural opportunity to expand their businesses,
but they were put off by the substantial inuestment of
time and money required to enter the pay-phone busi-
ness.
They solued the problem by forming Phonetel
Systems, a company through which they could share
costs and pool resources .
George and the other operators participating in the
company- Daue George of Bell Music, Bill and Tom
Elum of Elum Music, Jerry Burger of B&B Leasing, and
Ed Leuine of Atlas Management-- represent companies
that collectiuely haue more than 200 years of experience
in the coin-machine business.
Norm Bork an, the company's chief executiue and a
30-year ueteran of the uending industry, joins G eorge for
part of this interuiew.
..
Dick George
by Valerie Cognevich
W hat were t he adv antages of joining together
instead of going into t his business individually ?
George : "We could minimize our start -up
expenses and get the best service , which we may have
not been able to do alone . When hiring professional
services such as an accounting firm , we retained P rice
Waterhouse , which I doubt if any of the companies indi-
vidually could have afforded to do. We hired one law
firm. We pooled our resources and were able to minimize
start-up costs.
"Another advantage was that by form ing this net-
work of companies we are able to provide service for an
18-county area in Ohio. It would have been difficult for
one company to have service people in all those areas."
So eac h of t he c ompanies is using its own service
and collection people for the phone c ompany?
George: "First, each of the companies can use its
in-house service and collection people. Phonetel didn't
have to go out and hire new service technicians or collec-
tors. And since the companies are in different areas , it
greatly reduces the response time for an out-of-order
call.
"However, though service and collecting is done by
each of our companies' personnel, Phonetel has hired
independent contractors for the customer contact, and
we hired independent installers to place the phones."
Ha ve y ou placed the phon es in loc at ions where
y ou had mac hines, o r are t hey in new loc at ion s?
George: "Some are in our own locations, and
Ill 11111111111111111111111111111111 Ill Ill Ill I Ill II Ill Ill IU 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
14
PLAY METER. Jonuo ry 15. 1986