Considering Card Only Self Serve Car Wash

[traveler17]

Travel to Europe or many parts of Asia. 90% plus is tap to pay and cashless. Even the street vendors playing music for tips, they replaced the jar or guitar case with a wireless credit card reader for tips. Many of the churches primarily accept donations via a tap of a CC, although they have a place for cash too......

Wait until the generation that is currently older than 75 to be gone and the illegal immigrant issue is resolved with some sort of guest worker program so people who are not citizens can work here legally (and pay taxes) and we will be cashless as the younger generations never have a dime in their pockets....

Illegal worker issue is going to be resolved? That makes me laugh but I love your optimism

 

[Roz]

If going cashless is dependent on illegal immigration being solve, cash is going to be around a long time. Both parties have dug their heels in, and I don't see that change happening any time soon.

Sadly I would not bet against you on this debate topic.

Only reason I included that is for the simple fact to fly under the radar you deal just with cash. I have lost track on the number of small independent companies or individuals that ask if we can pay them in cash. Cash will always be king in our country.

The nicest places I have visited that accept cash and often in larger quantities than CC all have vac it up systems on all their equipment and a major safe inside the ER.

if it was not so costly and time consuming to get all the permits I would love to build a multi IBA / SS from ground up so it was built right from the start.

 

[Greg Pack]

Did he say what percentage was cash before going cashless?

Good question. I think he has cryptopay analaytics so I'll ask.

 

[Jonathan]

I will never give up cash and coin until I'm forced to.

BUT.... our coin would always plug our banks coin counter, or fill the coin collection bags underneath it, and would require them to come over to service it, making a 10 minute trip to the bank many times over an hour. We bought a manual coin roller several years ago and now roll the coins, and the bank provides quarter rolls for us for free. No bank limits, and it only takes about 30-45 min a week to roll the coin. Our bank runs a magnet over the coin rolls to check for Canadian quarters, and then hands us our deposit slip.

My thoughts are if collecting money is too much of a P.I.A. for you, I would be more than happy to show your customers my wash.

Also if collecting and counting money is a big enough problem for you to purposefully make a change that will DEFINITELY lose you customers, then your bank account must have more zeros than mine.

Considering the challenges you mentioned about coin counters at banks and the time it takes to roll coins each week, I wonder if you might find value in exploring more efficient solutions. I'd like to suggest our money counter and coin counter machines.

These machines are designed to simplify and expedite the process of counting and sorting cash and coins.

What's more, we offer a comprehensive, hassle-free return policy and 24-hour customer service based right here in the U.S.

 

[Earl Weiss]

You’re in the business to make money. That’s it. Why would you not always offer every way possible to earn that money?

Revenue does not always equal profit. For the most part Vegas stopped taking coins in slots. They may know something about profit.

 

[2Biz]

I copied this from someone else. Very interesting and it really made me stop and think about using cash more often.

Please understand what NOT

using cash is doing.

Cash is important.

Why should we pay cash everywhere we can with banknotes instead of a credit card?

- I have a $50 banknote in my pocket.

Going to a restaurant and paying for dinner with it. The restaurant owner then uses the bill to pay for the laundry. The laundry owner then uses the bill to pay the barber. The barber will then use the bill for shopping.

After an unlimited number of payments, it will still remain a $50, which has fulfilled its purpose to everyone who used it for payment and the bank has jumped dry from every cash payment transaction made...

- But if I come to a restaurant and pay digitally - Card, and bank fees for my payment transaction charged to the seller are 3%, so around $1.50 and so will the fee $1.50 for each further payment transaction or owner re laundry or payments of the owner of the laundry shop, or payments of the barber etc.....

Therefore, after 30 transactions, the initial $50 will remain only $5 and the remaining $45 became the property of the bank thanks to all digital transactions and fees.

Small businesses need your help and this is one way to help ourselves too. Pull small draws of cash out at a time and use that instead of tap, credit, etc.

When this is put into perspective, imagine what each retailer is paying on a monthly basis in fees at 3% per transaction through their POS machine.

If they have, for example, $50,000 in sales & 90% are by Card, they are paying $1500 in fees in ONE Month. $18,000 in a year! That comes out of their income every month.

That would go a long way to helping that small business provide for its family!

 

[2Biz]

I'm not giving in....I pay with cash whenever possible! Rolling quarters is a minor inconvenience to not have the gov't control my every move....I just moved to a credit union that has automatic coin cointing machines in the lobby that will put the total in your bank account...Its good to see some banks are moving in this direction.

 

[washnshine]

Revenue does not always equal profit. For the most part Vega stopped taking coins in slots. They may know something about profit.

Agree, but there is a segment of my self serve customers who will never see Vegas.

I'm not giving in....I pay with cash whenever possible! Rolling quarters is a minor inconvenience to not have the gov't control my every move....I just moved to a credit union that has automatic coin cointing machines in the lobby that will put the total in your bank account...Its good to see some banks are moving in this direction.

I like using cash - especially at restaurants. I never liked paying $40 for a meal, having that put on my card and then signing a piece of paper allowing them to charge my card another $10 for the tip when the card is no longer even in their possession. I think it’s nice for the server to put down a $40 check, have the customer put down a $50 and say - “we’re good - thank you.” I think it’s more personal. I know - it’s all the same at the end of the night for the server, but it’s just my preference.

 

[goodingcarwash]

Running a cash business is nice, but I have to admit I'm part of the problem. When we first considered buying the self serve we drove down to check it out and couldn't use it as neither my wife or I had cash. Then my wife stopped again after raiding my sock drawer and still didn't have enough. I can't help but remember being on the consumer end. My builder dispises change, he stopped to use it and only used the vac because of lack of cc. Its funny nobody has an issue with change for the vaccumes. I'm definitely excited to get cards installed, and right now we are trying to squeeze every dollar we can. But I'm interested in the idea of catering to higher end consumers.

For example we just went through a week long cold spell, there was a total of 5$ in the changer, and of that 2 to 3 washes i had two wheel barrels of mud frozen to the floor and had to wait for premium wash weather to scoop up. Not complaining but I do see people drive in and back out when the bay is full of soupy mud. Then return when I finish cleaning.
I'm getting all the features I possibly can added, keeping a clean well maintained ship. Daily checks, and maintenance routine. Numbers blasted everywhere and rush right down there to take care of any inconveniences. Even i see 3$ is cheap but 12 quarters very annoying, only to seem to run out very quickly, creating an illusion of an expensive wash experience. I see some stop to add time and burn 5 seconds to add a quarter.
I'll digress but the customers that use the wash to clean there car and perfer the ss because it they can drive off with every nook and cranny spotless, spend more with less headache, than the spend the minimum blast as much mud off as time allows then leave dropping mud clumps off across my lot and out into the road for others to track everywhere. I'm debating if credit cards, combined with higher startup cost and more options might shift my customer base. But then again with tunnels popping up everywhere im thinking alot of the average customer is abandoning the ss.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I copied this from someone else. Very interesting and it really made me stop and think about using cash more often.

Please understand what NOT

using cash is doing.

Cash is important.



Small businesses need your help and this is one way to help ourselves too. Pull small draws of cash out at a time and use that instead of tap, credit, etc.
.

Except for this last sentence the rest is hogwash. Make no mistake - Not a huge fan of a lot of the CC acceptance companies BS. The CC Fees don't evaporate - they go back into the economy - just in different ways

 

[2Biz]

Make no mistake - Not a huge fan of a lot of the CC acceptance companies BS. The CC Fees don't evaporate - they go back into the economy - just in different ways

And you think CC fee's will go down once they get their way with a cashless society? Think again...Also, I'd rather my $$$ go back into the economy from the normal mom and pop shops and people struggling to make a living...JMO

 

[washnshine]

And you think CC fee's will go down once they get their way with a cashless society? Think again...Also, I'd rather my $$$ go back into the economy from the normal mom and pop shops and people struggling to make a living...JMO

Right. All money finds its way back into the economy somehow, it’s a matter of who you want to give it to. I see a lot of washes around me that are not national express exteriors with signs that say “keep the business local and use our wash” or something to that effect.

 

[karen batten]

Managing a card-only self-serve car wash, without cash or quarters, streamlines operations and reduces the risk of theft. It enhances efficiency, as customers can easily pay with cards, eliminating the need for on-site cash handling or change machines. This modern approach also aligns with the increasing trend toward cashless transactions. However, it's crucial to communicate this clearly to customers through signage and online platforms to manage expectations. Overall, transitioning to a card-only system in a self-serve car wash can enhance security, reduce operational complexity, and cater to the evolving preferences of a digital-centric consumer base.

 

[Earl Weiss]

And you think CC fee's will go down once they get their way with a cashless society? Think again...Also, I'd rather my $$$ go back into the economy from the normal mom and pop shops and people struggling to make a living...JMO

Made no comment about fees. Just Baloney of the item circulating with social media. As far as going back into the economy - funds need to come from somewhere for financial institutions to provide all sorts of financing. As far as who I want to give it to? I prefer not to have some of the revenue blead off local merchants and go to financial institutions and that small prt of the post made sense.
..

 

[edredtop]

Managing a card-only self-serve car wash, without cash or quarters, streamlines operations and reduces the risk of theft. It enhances efficiency, as customers can easily pay with cards, eliminating the need for on-site cash handling or change machines. This modern approach also aligns with the increasing trend toward cashless transactions. However, it's crucial to communicate this clearly to customers through signage and online platforms to manage expectations. Overall, transitioning to a card-only system in a self-serve car wash can enhance security, reduce operational complexity, and cater to the evolving preferences of a digital-centric consumer base.

What needs to be understood is that what was once an anonymous transaction between two people, the car wash owner and the customer, changes dramatically when cash is replaced with credit cards. Both parties are now involving a credit card service (CryptoPay), a payment processor (Worldpay), your bank, their bank, and any government agency that has regulatory authority including the IRS.
There is certainly a case to be made for and against the use of credit cards, my ultimate preference would be a true "crypto" exchange that returns the anonymity of a private transaction between two parties.

 

[2Biz]

Even i see 3$ is cheap but 12 quarters very annoying, only to seem to run out very quickly, creating an illusion of an expensive wash experience. I see some stop to add time and burn 5 seconds to add a quarter.

You have other options...You could switch to Dollar coins or tokens...

 

[Earl Weiss]

What needs to be understood is that what was once an anonymous transaction between two people, the car wash owner and the customer, changes dramatically when cash is replaced with credit cards.

Customers who wish to remain anonymous could purchase prepaid cards with cash.

 

[Waxman]

Customers who wish to remain anonymous could purchase prepaid cards with cash.

That is asking the customer to do too much work to use your business. When I was 'tokens only', I suppose customers could have run to the bank, converted their quarters they brought into dollars, driven back to my wash, fed the bills into my token machine and then washed the car. But DID they? No. they said: "This place sucks. F this!" and they left.

Restricting ways to pay may seem like a way to save time and increase security, but to me it's a mistake.

 

[washnshine]

That is asking the customer to do too much work to use your business. When I was 'tokens only', I suppose customers could have run to the bank, converted their quarters they brought into dollars, driven back to my wash, fed the bills into my token machine and then washed the car. But DID they? No. they said: "This place sucks. F this!" and they left.

Restricting ways to pay may seem like a way to save time and increase security, but to me it's a mistake.

And you are across the street from a bank, aren’t you?!?!

 

[edredtop]

That is asking the customer to do too much work to use your business. When I was 'tokens only', I suppose customers could have run to the bank, converted their quarters they brought into dollars, driven back to my wash, fed the bills into my token machine and then washed the car. But DID they? No. they said: "This place sucks. F this!" and they left.

Restricting ways to pay may seem like a way to save time and increase security, but to me it's a mistake.

Do you still take dimes, nickels, and pennies?
Serious question.
If not, why not?