June was a busy month for a number of our state operator associations whose annual summer get-togethers give its members and their families a chance to socialize and kick back after a year that brought the usual pile-up of problems out on the route. What problems? Let’s just quote one tradester who once said: “Every machine at every location is a problem waiting to happen.”
Trade people from Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota and elsewhere typically gather at resort-style locations around this time of year to talk some business, but also to get in some golf, boating and some other activities that have absolutely nothing to do with jukeboxes, ATMs and the other tools of the trade. A break from the grind is not only welcome, it’s necessary.
From a per-capita standpoint, the nation’s route operators make up the largest portion of the amusement machine industry’s population. While the game room operator, in or out of an FEC, spends his typical workday in one spot, the route people look at their businesses on a map pinned to the wall with a territory that can easily measure 50 miles or more in diameter as their places of business.
The larger the route, the more machines placed and plugged in, the bigger the headaches and the tougher the hide has to be to deal with it all. Knowing how to fix machines, do the books, source parts and deal with distributors and customer service reps at the factories are only some of the skills successful operators need to master. Dealing with people, like those bar owners who are their own best customers, is a needed skill right there on top.
Years back, there was an operator/distributor in upstate New York named Johnny Bilotta (pictured). He was a force to be reckoned with, as some old timers may recall. He was also my close friend. I once asked him how he dealt with the many problems that must have come his way every day. “Edward, when it’s something I don’t want to deal with, I put it off till tomorrow. If it’s still there the day after that, I say I’ll do it tomorrow. If I do that long enough, sometimes it goes away all by itself.” Just saying.