In reading the industry publications it seems like everyone in the coinop business is about ready to abandon ship. Doom and gloom is all you hear about. Well, I guess that if you were content in listening to all that B.S. instead of doing anything about it, you should jump ship. There is an old saying that I feel holds true for most cases, especially this one: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." What's the problem anyway? I feel the ones who are crying the most are the ones who have done the most to get themselves into this situation to begin with. Sure, there are not as many locations as before, changing the drinking age to 21 killed the bar locations, and Drinking and Driving laws have people scared to go to bars. Not to mention the high price of games these days, taxes, new zoning restrictions, city imposed curfews on minors, democrats in the white house, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! ! ! ! ! ! !
You bunch of candyrumped, panty waste whiners wake up and smell the coffee!! I have talked to a lot of distributors, and you know what? The ones that don't wait for the phone to ring to take an order, the ones who actually make sales calls, the ones with service departments that actually stock replacement parts, the full line distributors of amusement, music and vending are doing all right. So what about the operators? Well, some of them are doing fine as well. The big operators with large nonservice oriented routes are the ones that are suffering; you know the type. It's the manufacturer's and distributor's fault the industry has gone down the tubes. The ones that have forgotten about the real backbone of this industry, SERVICE, are still under the opinion if they have the latest games, that is all that counts. Even worse are the ones who haven't rotated a game, made a service call, or God forbid held a tournament or become involved in the many league programs. The operators who are doing better than ever are the ones who haven't forgotten that this is still a job, and work is required. You don't need two different employees to collect, and service your locations. That's right! While he's there, he will repair the game that only had $.75 in it, do a little preventive maintenance on the rest of the equipment, make sure the jukebox has the right kind of music, the cigarette machine is full, all the pool and foosball tables' lights work and the games are in good working order, count the money, take time to say a few words to the owner, ask about any problems or concerns, collect last weeks league reports and be on his way to the next location.
You can bet that this operator will have some money left over at the end of the month; who knows, he might go by his local distributor and pay cash for a new machine.
WELL ENOUGH DOOM AND GLOOM, AT TORNADO "WE'RE SSSMOKIN"!!
That's right! With 1994's record breaking year behind us, it looks like things have been turned up a notch in 1995. With the European market going wide open, and domestic sales up over 185% above last year's January and February totals, we're having a really hard time keeping up! ! What a problem to have! Please keep this in mind when ordering equipment. In years past, if you called in an order before 11:00 a.m., we could usually get your order out that day; not so now. Presently, there is at least a TWO week backlog on shipping tables, but we're working longer hours and on Saturdays to keep up as well as we are. I am surely glad we're starting on our new production facility, we need it.
Why is it that Tornado is doing so well when the rest of the industry is singing the blues? Did you read the intro to this letter? Many of the reasons are there. We have picked the best distributors to represent our product. They are the ones with salesmen instead of order takers, the ones with great service and parts managers, and the ones who ask a fair price for our product. Well, I don't want to go as far as saying that every distributor that carries our line fits into the above statement, we still have a few scammers, and promise makers, but they are decreasing. You see, we are not looking for more distributors, we are looking for better ones. And just like distributors, there are operators out there who I hope never buy a Tornado Table. You know the type; the ones who will buy a Tornado because their location demanded one, so they will put it in a terrible spot with no light and never even oil the rods, and six months later say, "See, I told you that dadgum foosball table wouldn't make any money." Now a good distributor knows who these operators are. Please do us both a favor, send them a WICO catalog and let them buy that $595 coinop on the back cover. These folks are so stupid, they probably think you're doing them a favor by letting them buy "FACTORY DIRECT."
Now don't think it's distribution alone that's creating these record breaking numbers. Don't forget about what a tremendous value our foosball tables are. At just $1295 plus tax and shipping, they have just made the best choice in the industry for return on their investment. Add that to our national tournaments, and league programs. Here's a fact you should use the next time one of your customers is trying to buy a cheaper brand X table instead of a Tornado: Since 1991, table sales at Tornado have gone up over 127%, while our replacement part sales over that same period have dropped 32%. We're doing something right. Tell folks about it, you might make a sale.