We operate self serve washes in Hungary. Yeah lot of stuff is different but one can take inspiration and learn from experience.
MartinWash & CarWash_Netherlands,
I had a grandfather & grandmother who immigrated from Czech Republic on my mother's side who both died before I was born or was barely born but I did get to know a great uncle after he retired who was successful for over 50 years here in the USA in a bakery business. Since there were so many cousins & aunts & uncles ... I remember my mother & her uncle keeping in touch with as many as possible over in Europe for as many years as possible before he died in his eighties. We got into the laundromat business in 1960 & the self service car wash business which I physically (mortar mud man) help build with my dad's partner (foreman of the project) who was born & educated as a journeyman bricklayer in Germany.
Could one or both of you elaborate a bit on the differences ??? you refer to running self service car washes in Europe vs us sometimes not always perfect USA operators. For example we used to have a very prolific poster (now retired or sold out) from Toronto, Canada who mentioned he was glad he had one dollar & two dollar
coins publicly circulating to work with. That way he was not compelled to put in bill acceptors like most of us self service operators including myself did in the USA. He was definitely happier with the less maintenance required on
coin acceptors & the advantages of the water proof attribute of
coins etc. On the laundromat side because of the physical spatial fitting size problem for bill acceptors ... & less maintenance ....
coin acceptors are still by far the most dominant. In fact Munzprufer & Hanke it seems are the major European suppliers for the majority of USA laundromat & apartment laundry drop
coin mechs. Since over one hundred cashless devices would be required for most medium & larger laundromats I am not convinced with the ongoing merchant fees & ongoing security updates both paid for by the owner is the best fit.
I read that the people of Germany is one of the countries in Europe ... possibly because of past horrors of too much power in the hands of too few ... who are finding & voicing their opinion that 100% cashless is not the best choice for the future for its fellow citizens.
Coins for example have proven to be the best fit & have a needed niche for the USA laundromat industry. At one time the self service car industry in its early days was under the wing of the most mainstream laundromat trade association ... the automatic car washes had their own association at that time where us self service operators were not part of. Payment methods is not something IMHO that should be trifled with .... considering the almost 40,000 laundromat owners in the USA as reported by the
Coin Laundry Association. Having had a reliable
coin sorter counter for over 15 years now that interfaces with my computer for tracking the
coin income I really do not see the "all blue sky" that others see in turning over all income tracking to the electronic gateway keepers.
I stood up not too long ago at a Chamber of Commerce "lunch with senator hoeven" when I said that my family would have gone into an entirely different livelihood back in the early 1960s had there not been any adjustment for inflation for
coins. I had the sense that most of the attendees in the crowded hotel dining room were very supportive of me. I was sitting at a table with some of the highest level University people both private & public within North Dakota & they were all very supportive & even calling me by my first name ... mostly as leaving the luncheon table. All but one ... who was & still is an extremely financially rich well heeled bank president.
