Of soda machines and simpler times
Sometimes a soda machine is just a soda machine.
Well, heck, let’s rewind that sentence. All the time a soda machine is just a soda machine. I mean, what else can it be? It’s just a soda machine. Put in a pocketful of change, press a button, presto, Coke.
Not much to it. Well ... “That soda machine is part of the building,” said Dorothy Bish. “We put it there when we moved into this building in 1975, and it hasn’t moved since. That’s where we put it and that’s where it’s staying.”
I’m standing inside Bish Sales and Services on Rt. 31 in Pennington. My weed trimmer was busted up. Couldn’t get the weed trimming line out on one side, couldn’t get it in on the other. I called Bish, see what they could do. Guy on the phone - who I later found out was second-generation owner, Don Bish - told me he could fix it, but it would be a lot less expensive to have him just put a new head on it. I told him I’d be right in. (Of course, it would’ve been even less expensive to put a new head on it myself, but come on, we all know that wasn’t going to happen.)
So I walk in with my weed wacker and I’m immediately gobsmacked by the soda machine. It is a classic. Labeled “The Vendo Company - Kansas City” it’s red and white and wood-paneled and the size of R2-D2 and features an ad for the new “Stay-On tab! Easier to handle!” Also, the sodas are 50 cents. Sometimes a soda machine is just a soda machine. Other times, it’s a link back to a simpler past.
“Things have certainly changed around here,” said Don Bish, who’s dad, Donald started the business — tree trimming and lawn supplies, mostly — in 1970. “It’s changed from more farms to more housing developments and smaller properties. And a lot more people. Route 31 used to be a ghost town and now it’s New York City at rush hour. A lot more people.”
Which means a lot more schmucks like me who need help with their light lawn equipment. Which is good for business. A few extra schmucks help to keep the lights on between the tree guys and the municipal workers and the lawn maintenance pros.
I asked how business has held up over the years in the face of Hope Depot and Lowes, and Don was matter-of-fact about it.
“Once you buy equipment there you walk out the door they don’t want anything to do with you,” he said. “With power equipment there’s always going to be maintenance, and more and more people are figuring out Home Depot not the place to buy it. They’re charging more and handing you a box, whereas everything here is serviced up and ready to go.”
You also can’t get 50-cent Dr. Pepper’s there.
“We do sell a lot of soda in the summer,” said Dorothy, who’s been “womaning” the front of the store since Day 1.
She’s also had to shoo away some would-be soda machine collectors who have an eye for the decades-old machine.
“It’s not for sale,” Dorothy said flatly. “Many people have offered.”
As to why it’s still 50 cents? “Well, the way the machine is set up, we can’t really change the price,” Dorothy said.
It’s for the best. I’ve reached an age in my life where seeing throwbacks sitting comfortably in modern America does more than soothe me. It actually physically (well, meta-physically) brings me back to a simpler time.
Sometimes a soda machine is just a soda machine. Sometimes it’s a little something more.
Jeff Edelstein is a columnist for The Trentonian. He can be reached at jedelstein@ trentonian.com, facebook. com/jeffreyedelstein and @ jeffedelstein on Twitter.