Page 316 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

“

H

OW much do you weigh?” When that question was asked Harry Larson in a
drug store, back in 1933, he looked around for a scale. He dropped a penny in
the slot of the coin-operated machine. A moment later he stepped off and
sauntered over to the counter to buy a package of cigarettes. As he stood at
the cigar counter seven others stepped up and weighed themselves. Curious,
Harry asked the druggist how much money the scale made each month.

“He told me that it averaged about $20 a month, but that he didn’t own the
machine. An operator had placed it there and his ‘cut’ was 25 per cent of the
amount taken from the machine each month. The scale itself was a beauty. I
could see that people were attracted to it because of its appearance, and that
they wondered what it cost. I noted the name of the manufacturer and wrote
for full details about becoming an operator. That was how I got started in the
scale business.

“I bought 70 machines altogether. The first three I paid for out of my savings.
The other 67 were paid out of the pennies taken from the first three. These
first three machines cost me $175 and paid me a profit every month of $98.
That was a pretty good return on the investment. I found that there is no
servicing needed for these machines and nothing to adjust. You just pick a
good location, set them up, and there they are all ready to lure pennies from
the curious. It’s a clean, simple proposition, and you can’t hit upon a surer or
better way of making money easily. After buying the first three scales, I
established a line of credit with the manufacturer, and got five more on the
time-payment plan. The machines vary a little in their monthly earnings. The
first three locations average $33 each, the next three run $19.85 each, and
there are two that pay under $17 monthly. My monthly income for the 70
machines amounts to $768, a little better than $10 each. In nine months, I’ve
earned enough to pay for the scales, and made a good living besides.

“The stores where my machines are placed, are usually drug, candy, and