accepting tokens only?

[mjwalsh]

Always make it easy for people to give you money.

Bill,

I agree ... the only thing I will add is the other factors such as greater danger of theft & costs both short term & long term should be weighed in.

The ATM approach & the tokens (float) have one thing in common: that is they both have a business model where the payment method itself potentially helps with the bottom line for some locations!

mike

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Wasn't there a car wash in Vegas that was built that only accepted credit cards?
Is it still around?
If so is the credit card model still working or do they accept cash now too?

 

[DbltheBbls]

The only down-side I've seen since we went to tokens are the amount of "other" tokens that the acceptor will take.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

The only down-side I've seen since we went to tokens are the amount of "other" tokens that the acceptor will take.

What token did you buy? Was it high-security or a cheaper, more generic one?

 

[mmurra]

Over time I have stopped using cash / coins in favor of credit / debit card. The future is not in pre-Roman metal units as a form of payment. Our 50 year old laundromat is now all card operated and our 25 year old 6+2 is coinless (gated pay one price). Works for us! Mark

 

[mjwalsh]

Over time I have stopped using cash / coins in favor of credit / debit card. The future is not in pre-Roman metal units as a form of payment. Our 50 year old laundromat is now all card operated and our 25 year old 6+2 is coinless (gated pay one price). Works for us! Mark

Mark,

Hopefully, it works out for you & for your specific location!

As far as the pre-Roman comment ... I have a vivid memory of a similar mindset of a gated 14 bay car wash that was put here in Bismarck back in 1982. It was not as durable as they pretended. I was the beneficiary of a phone call from an initial owner. The tone & the comments were ... that our place would not have a "prayer" because they had the fancier technology & "so called" better method.

mike

 

[blurdgman]

We use IDX specifically marked tokens and our IDX acceptors will only accept our IDX tokens. You have compromised by buying cheap tokens and acceptors.

 

[sticky]

"...You have compromised by buying cheap tokens and acceptors..."

actually, we bought these washes with old equipment and trying to make the best decisions going forward with their current limitations.

 

[Waxman]

Vend dollar tokens. accept quarters, tokens and cc.

i am working on cc acceptance and will get it soon.

not taking quarters = less $$ in your account, like whale says.

i was tokens only for first few years in business; big mistake. customer perception of a coin carwash is that quarters are accepted. period. no sense trying to change people. you want their $ so let them give it to you.

 

[mjwalsh]

Vend dollar tokens. accept quarters, tokens and cc.

i am working on cc acceptance and will get it soon.

not taking quarters = less $$ in your account, like whale says.

i was tokens only for first few years in business; big mistake. customer perception of a coin carwash is that quarters are accepted. period. no sense trying to change people. you want their $ so let them give it to you.

Waxman,

No offense ... but is there some reason in your above statement ... why you did not include dollar coins?

mike

 

[Waxman]

People seem to save dollar coins, not spend them. My bank stocks very few.

Quarters are far more popular.

 

[MEP001]

No offense ... but is there some reason in your above statement ... why you did not include dollar coins?

All of our equipment (26 coin acceptors in all) takes dollar coins and are labeled so. For roughly every 3,000 quarters we take in, we get one dollar coin. If Waxman's experience is the same, why would he think to include them?

The banks here were charging $35 for a box of 500 dollar coins; now they don't even stock them.

 

[mjwalsh]

People seem to save dollar coins, not spend them. My bank stocks very few.

Quarters are far more popular.

All of our equipment (26 coin acceptors in all) takes dollar coins and are labeled so. For roughly every 3,000 quarters we take in, we get one dollar coin. If Waxman's experience is the same, why would he think to include them?

The banks here were charging $35 for a box of 500 dollar coins; now they don't even stock them.

That is understandable. If the equivalent 4 quarters or the equivalent one dollar bills are made much more available & people are not charged extra for them ... it makes sense why the dollar coins are possibly not popular in some areas ... especially the quarter look alike Susan Bs.

I guarantee you that we can honestly say from actual first hand experience ... since giving the golden dollar coins out & accepting them since the year 2000 ... when the golden dollar coins are available in a straighforward way ... they are more popular than either the soggy one dollar bills &/or the more labor intensive bulkier quarters.

mike walsh king koin of bismarck

 

[blurdgman]

Customers come to wash their cars not to get rid of quarters. If your place is clean and everything working they'll come to wash their cars. We have tokens only, worth a dollar each, and credit card acceptance in the bays counting up. We get plenty of CC customers that spend between $10 and $14. Our average cc take is above $5.70. How does your SS compare? How many big spenders do you get that would walk in with 40 to 56 quarters for one sale.
What you charge with is what the customer gets accustomed to.
Why not charge dimes and nickels too? Have a ball!

 

[mjwalsh]

What you charge with is what the customer gets accustomed to.
Why not charge dimes and nickels too? Have a ball!

Nooo nooo nooo! Much too heavy to get enough of them to be able to save enough net income to be able to afford & reinvest to get a better more fail safe alarm system-camera-cell phone combination. Not to mention the worthwhile "on call" help expense! I personally think that Bill Pitzer's vibration & other sensors could play a role in preventing the advancement of the damage that Sticky was concerned about.

I wonder how much more Sticky would have to spend to set up with the IDX secure tokens since he already has the Slugbusters to work with. I have yet to get a counterfeit dollar coin or less value token or foreign coin through my Slugbusters. If Sticky's break in (theft) issue can be addressed ... dollar coins with an appropriate distinctive enough magnetic signature makes more sense in my opinion than more vulnerable tokens. For some though ... the promotion factor of the tokens & convenience of credit cards may be high priority.

Sticky has not made it clear if he has the Slugbuster 1,2 or 3. If he has the Slugbuster 1 or 3 ... programming should not be an issue as long as he is using a timer similar to a Dixmor etc. Slipping a different sample coin(s) for the magnetic signature & possibly a slight potentiometer adjustment & # of pulses adjustment should not be that difficult.

mike

 

[Waxman]

Customers come to wash their cars not to get rid of quarters. If your place is clean and everything working they'll come to wash their cars. We have tokens only, worth a dollar each, and credit card acceptance in the bays counting up. We get plenty of CC customers that spend between $10 and $14. Our average cc take is above $5.70. How does your SS compare? How many big spenders do you get that would walk in with 40 to 56 quarters for one sale.
What you charge with is what the customer gets accustomed to.
Why not charge dimes and nickels too? Have a ball!

Because customers equate SS coin-op carwash with quarter acceptance. I didn't invent the concept, someone else did decades ago.

You will lose some sales if you do not accept quarters as well as other payment. It's a fact. And I do have a ball with the quarters; I pay bills, buy used cars to re-sell for profit etc.

 

[blurdgman]

We all do what we think is best.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

We all do what we think is best.

Wouldn't it be in our best interest to all our customers to provide them an opportunity to use whatever type of payment they have or want to use to purchase our products and services?
I do not offer but do think the economics of having a changer either kick out a $1 coin or token instead of quarters seems to me it gives the operator the ability to get his customer to buy more time if he is priced in the increments of 1.25, 1.50 or 1.75 range.
If the customers do not have quarters on them and have to use the changer they would have to put $2 into the changer to receive enough money
(coin or token) to turn on the equipment thereby giving the operator an increase in revenue without actually increasing prices.

 

[MEP001]

You will lose some sales if you do not accept quarters as well as other payment. It's a fact.

You may lose out on some immediate sales with customers who aren't accustomed with a "no currency" wash, but they can be trained to use one that accepts no quarters. That's also a fact. I know several operators who went tokens only and saw more profit. That proves that the myopic view of getting every quarter you can from each customer right now is not always financially the best.

 

[Waxman]

You may lose out on some immediate sales with customers who aren't accustomed with a "no currency" wash, but they can be trained to use one that accepts no quarters. That's also a fact. I know several operators who went tokens only and saw more profit. That proves that the myopic view of getting every quarter you can from each customer right now is not always financially the best.

I'm dubious about more profit gained due to 'tokens only'.

Yes, you can train the customer, but it is still the wrong view point, to me. And I am including myself in this, because I was formerly 'tokens only'.

Being at the wash every day, I learned just how many customers came in with quarters for the SS bays; it was ALOT. Yes you can train them, but you are still neglecting the infrequent or one-time-only customers who have quarters only to spend for some reason. Some customers from out of town, for example, would not qualify for training.

Any lost sale matters to me and my little wash, so that's why tokens and quarters (and soon CC!!) works for me.

To each his own.