Tokens, quarters or $1 coins?

[wash12]

I am putting a new changer in a dual Hamilton DRS and am trying to decide if I should switch from quarters to tokens or $1 coins. Has anyone gone from quarters to tokens and if so what are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

This wash has been doing quarters for 20 years and is off a major hwy so gets tourist passing through. Currently 3.75 for 4 mins with tokens would go to 4 tokens for 4 mins. How do you deal with people putting quarters into your machine and it mixing with the tokens? I am guessing this will make a lot of regulars mad as it will raise prices and change what they are used to.

Would love to hear from anyone who has done this and pros/cons?

 

[MEP001]

As far as raising prices go, do it and don't look back. Unless you increase by something insane, most likely no one will complain, and the people who make the worst messes will be the only ones who stop coming.

I don't have any good advice on tokens as I've only used them mixed in with the quarters at the same value to counter changer abuse. I don't have time to go to the bank three times a week to spend $15 to buy a box of $500 in quarters and unwrap them. I can tell you some of the things others I know do, one doesn't dispense quarters at all, just $1 tokens. He has a bill breaker changer and bill + credit card acceptors in all bays. He's $2.50 to start, so the token users all have to overpay. He does still take quarters. A couple other guys have a dual changer, quarters on one side and tokens ($1 each, worth $1.25 in bays and vacuums) on the other. They all lose a couple hundred tokens a month, so about 75¢ gain per token lost.

 

[Keith Baker]

I am putting a new changer in a dual Hamilton DRS and am trying to decide if I should switch from quarters to tokens or $1 coins. Has anyone gone from quarters to tokens and if so what are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

This wash has been doing quarters for 20 years and is off a major hwy so gets tourist passing through. Currently 3.75 for 4 mins with tokens would go to 4 tokens for 4 mins. How do you deal with people putting quarters into your machine and it mixing with the tokens? I am guessing this will make a lot of regulars mad as it will raise prices and change what they are used to.

Would love to hear from anyone who has done this and pros/cons?

I've been dispensing quarters and our $1.00 tokens through two separate machines for about 12 years. Right now I'm doing an upgrade and raising prices from $2.50 for 4 minutes to $3.00 for 5 minutes. I'll quit dispensing quarters and start dispensing $1.00 coins. I'll still accept quarters if the customer brings them.

I think quarters are obsolete at these price points. You are asking your customers to insert 15 of them to turn on the wash. They will probably appreciate you dispensing dollars to make it easier for them.

I dispense tokens and my regular customers love them. But I wouldn't consider all tokens. A lot of people want to use cash. They also don't want leaving with extra tokens.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I started dispensing dollar coins when they came out, back in 2000. I hated hearing customers say "I didn't want all these f@#$%ing quarters, every...single...day. I started dispensing quarters out of one side and dollars out of the other...that didn't work. No one looked at the decals and just got whatever coin dispensed from the side they inserted the bill. I then went to all dollars. My price was $1.50 at the time and sometimes customers would be irritated that they had to put in $2 when the price was $1.50. I learned that it was very easy to convert my Hamilton DRS to dispense a combination, so I went that route. I would dispense 4 quarters for whatever bill was inserted, and the balance in dollars. Eventually I went to $2 and some time after that, I replaced the quarters with tokens. I now dispense 1 or 2 tokens with the dollars. Customers love the dollars. I would never go back to quarters.

 

[chaz]

Dollar coins. I also take bills and quarters. I deposit bulk quarters $2000 at a time and buy dollar coins also in bulk at $1000 at a time. I pay no up charge to my bank

 

[scrubs3]

I dispense $1 coins and $1 valued tokens at a discount. I accept quarters, dollar coins, tokens, bills and credit card. I have only dispensed dollar coins and tokens, so no experience on push back from customers. Credit card used quite a bit now.

 

[wash12]

I've been dispensing quarters and our $1.00 tokens through two separate machines for about 12 years. Right now I'm doing an upgrade and raising prices from $2.50 for 4 minutes to $3.00 for 5 minutes. I'll quit dispensing quarters and start dispensing $1.00 coins. I'll still accept quarters if the customer brings them.

I think quarters are obsolete at these price points. You are asking your customers to insert 15 of them to turn on the wash. They will probably appreciate you dispensing dollars to make it easier for them.

I dispense tokens and my regular customers love them. But I wouldn't consider all tokens. A lot of people want to use cash. They also don't want leaving with extra tokens.

How do you sort the change once you collect it being tokens and quarters are mixed together? This seems like a nightmare as my coin sorter only does $1 coins and quarters, it wouldn't probably know what to do with a token.

How do I know if my slug buster will accept 2 types of coins?

 

[wash12]

I dispense $1 coins and $1 valued tokens at a discount. I accept quarters, dollar coins, tokens, bills and credit card. I have only dispensed dollar coins and tokens, so no experience on push back from customers. Credit card used quite a bit now.

How do you sort all the change being its all dropped together?

Also what type of coin accepter/ slug buster do you have that would allow 3 different coins?

 

[Keith Baker]

How do you sort the change once you collect it being tokens and quarters are mixed together? This seems like a nightmare as my coin sorter only does $1 coins and quarters, it wouldn't probably know what to do with a token.

How do I know if my slug buster will accept 2 types of coins?

The only slug buster that will discriminate between quarters and dollars is the Slugbuster III. They take my tokens, quarters, and dollars. The earlier Slugbuster II won't tell the difference between dollars and quarters.

Sorting is a pain. I drilled several 1" holes into the bottom of a bucket. The .955" quarters sift out of the mixed change easily, but the dollar coins are 1.043" and my tokens are 1.047". Right now, I just watch for the dollars in the tokens and manually sort them. When I start dispensing dollars, I'll have to see if there is an easier way.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Scan Coin 303 is pretty much the standard for sorters. MicroCoin QL is a pretty good choice for multi-coin acceptors.

 

[wash12]

Scan Coin 303 is pretty much the standard for sorters. MicroCoin QL is a pretty good choice for multi-coin acceptors.

Will the Scan Coin 303 sort tokens from quarters? Would you recommend Microcoin QL over a slugbuster III, also how do you know what size to order to fit your machine? I have some really old SS pay stations is there 1 or 2 sizes that fit all?

 

[wash12]

The only slug buster that will discriminate between quarters and dollars is the Slugbuster III. They take my tokens, quarters, and dollars. The earlier Slugbuster II won't tell the difference between dollars and quarters.

Sorting is a pain. I drilled several 1" holes into the bottom of a bucket. The .955" quarters sift out of the mixed change easily, but the dollar coins are 1.043" and my tokens are 1.047". Right now, I just watch for the dollars in the tokens and manually sort them. When I start dispensing dollars, I'll have to see if there is an easier way.

That sounds like more work than I am wanting, why not just take tokens only? If they put in the incorrect coin say a nickel in with it eject the coin or drop it?

 

[scrubs3]

I have a coin sorter that sorts the quarters, dollar coins and tokens. I got the machine from American Changer. The tokens are slightly bigger than the golden dollars. So the coins go thru 3 cycles of sorting. I have IDX MA-800/MA-850 coin acceptors. They can accept up to 6 coins I believe.

 

[wash12]

I have a coin sorter that sorts the quarters, dollar coins and tokens. I got the machine from American Changer. The tokens are slightly bigger than the golden dollars. So the coins go thru 3 cycles of sorting. I have IDX MA-800/MA-850 coin acceptors. They can accept up to 6 coins I believe.

Did you have to special program it to sort your tokens? Also when it sorts them does it count them? I am trying to decide if I should switch to just tokens and not accept quarters at all. I currently have slug buster II in bays so as far as I have read I can program these to accept tokens and quarters just don't want to sort coins for hours a week.

 

[scrubs3]

It counts them and sorts them based on the size of the coin. My tokens are slightly bigger than a $ coin.

 

[Keith Baker]

That sounds like more work than I am wanting, why not just take tokens only? If they put in the incorrect coin say a nickel in with it eject the coin or drop it?

A lot of people don't like tokens, they like having money in their hand. If you don't have much competition you might get away with all tokens. But at my place, I would send customers away. Sorting is just one of my chores. It probably takes 20 to 30 minutes per week to sort and count change. I weigh my change.

 

[MEP001]

Did you have to special program it to sort your tokens? Also when it sorts them does it count them? I am trying to decide if I should switch to just tokens and not accept quarters at all. I currently have slug buster II in bays so as far as I have read I can program these to accept tokens and quarters just don't want to sort coins for hours a week.

Most counter/sorter units can only off-sort coins smaller than what you're currently counting. An option that takes a lot less time is to choose a token that's smaller than a quarter if your tokens will be fewer than your quarters. That prevents you from having to run the bulk of your coins through the counter twice.

 

[stujoscarwash]

I dispense $1 coin and tokens. 1 dollar bill gets 1 token. 5 dollar bill gets 2 tokens and 3 dollar coins 10 dollar bill gets 4 tokens and 6 dollar coins 20 dollar bill gets 8 tokens and 12 dollar coins. Customers seem happy with this it helps so attendant don't have to break 10 and 20 its all done thru changer,.

 

[pgrzes]

My opinion, make it as convenient as possible. Take all types of payment!! If they have it in their pocket, dont you want to try to get it? I take quarters, $1 coins, Tokens $1, bills and Credit cards. I have 11 options in my bays. I only dispense $1 Tokens that I am making about .75 each on them when they go unsued. I still take quarters to the bank weekly even though I dont dispense them. It costs us $$$ to operate and maintain our changers, so why not dispense something that we are profiting from? Vandalism is shown to be much less when you dispense tokens. If you are not taking credit cards you are leaving a ton of $$$ on the table. Get yourself some Microcoin QL's, and you can even take dimes and nickels. At one location we just use shaker trays to sort coins, location has been using them for 35 years.

 

[Waxman]

I started out 13 years ago as 'tokens only'; I did not accept quarters....... I vended tokens for $1 each, and was $2 start.

BIG MISTAKE!!! You may vend tokens only as change but you must accept tokens, quarters and credit cards. I left alot of money on the table during my 'tokens only' years. I know I did. But I did alot of foolish things over the years and learned from my mistakes.