Self Serve Credit Card Acceptors

[robert roman]

“We would need an increase in revenue of at least 10% to cover the cc fees/internet access etc not considering the equipment cost.”

“Why would I install something, that if successful, will result in decreased income - with no promise of increased sales - when customer demand is absent?”

Bravo, Mr. Heartland, you asked the key question – when customer demand is absent?

In other words, if you had 1.1 times more business, then you could afford to offer plastic payment.

So, why is customer demand absent? Ergo, I can’t afford to improve my business.

To answer this question, you would need to find the root cause.

A good starting point would be to survey and analyze the customer base.

How many of your customers are between 20 and 30 years old? How many are 31 to 45 years old? How many are 46 to 65 years old? How many are 66 years and older?

For each age bracket above, how many are female and male.

For example, if the majority of your customers are male, you may not be attracting or reaching the potential market.

Likewise, if only 10 percent of your customers are between 20 and 30 years old, you may not be attracting or reaching the potential market.

Etc.

Marketing data like this for a site location is more meaningful than personal experience or anecdotal evidence that is subjective.

Paraphrase - All carwash markets are the same, their different.

 

[MEP001]

So, yes, I took a chance spnding $1750.00 to see if it pays off.

FWIW, we took a chance spending nearly $2,500/bay for two bays about five years ago and it paid off.

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW, we took a chance spending nearly $2,500/bay for two bays about five years ago and it paid off.

I guess DCalhouns questions and RR would want to know:

1. How many people asked for it?
2. Did you take a survey before doing it?
3. What was the payback period?
4. How are you able to measure an increase in revenue as opposed to people just switching from cash to CC?
5. Have you done more bays? Are you Planning to? Vacuums?

 

[MEP001]

1. How many people asked for it?

None.

2. Did you take a survey before doing it?

No.

3. What was the payback period?

I don't know; I did get lots of positive feedback, like "I only come here because you take credit cards in the bays," or "I love that I can just swipe my card and wash all I want." That type of payback is immeasurable. Actual monetary payback was probably three years, which I think would have been faster if I'd just done all the bays up front. With only two bays at first, customers would wait in line for them while other bays were empty.

4. How are you able to measure an increase in revenue as opposed to people just switching from cash to CC?

By physically counting cars washed vs. money spent per payment method and determining that customers spend about 20% more using credit/debit than with cash.

5. Have you done more bays? Are you Planning to? Vacuums?

Yes to more bays; it seemed like a no-brainer. I want to do the vacs, but I don't plan to do it through the Hamilton D.A.N. because of hardware cost. Even at $350 per vacuum and wireless ability vs. having to run a network cable, it might still be a long monetary payoff, but just like the bays it makes total sense to me.

 

[Jeff_L]

I put CC acceptance in all bays for both my washes. Payback was more than a year but less than three. Which I was extremely pleased. I'm sure someone would debate the tradeoff of CC exchange costs, former cash now credit customers, etc. However, not one person has told me they don't like the system and many say they come because it's a something I provide.

I certainly would like to add this to my vacuums, however, I just don't have a good way to get more wires through the conduit to do it. Waiting for Wash Gear to develop a wireless terminal perhaps, others have them.

 

[MEP001]

CryptoPay has a system that seems ideal for vacs - low hardware cost, no wires and low fees.

 

[CarWashProcessing]

guess 10% revenue increase sounds a bit high to cover processing fees and Internet, but every situation is different and you are the only one that knows the revenue.

The Google Wallet and NFC is on the Horizon. It will be a longer Transition period and IMO a lot of potential fraud. NFC has interceptor devices and Google wallet I don't know if I want all of my CC data on one online site.

I dont use cash. I may have literally a few dollars in my wallet. Not enough to get a vacuum at you guys wash.

Remember you cant see the Money physically emptying your pocket with a Credit Card.


Im glad a Found this forum as I truly believe this industry is underserved in the Credit Card Processing realm

-Derrick

 

[Earl Weiss]

IMO a lot of potential fraud. NFC has interceptor devices and Google wallet I don't know if I want all of my CC data on one online site.


-Derrick

While there are NFC interceptors a Google search does not reveal that anyone has beaten the encryption used in things like Google wallet ... yet.

That encryption is the heart of NFC credit transactions.

 

[CarWashProcessing]

I agree the encryption hasnt been broken yet. I am sure it is Dynamic. The Payments industry is slow to adapt. Do you Remember when "smart cards" were the next big thing?...........

Time will tell, When the Iphone has it built in I will start to take it more seriously.

-Derrick

 

[Waxman]

The logic of "no customer has asked for cc acceptance in the ss bays" is seriously flawed and backward thinking in my mind.

The good ideas we implement in our business come from us and our industry, not the customer (most of the time). That is my real-world experience. Customers often ask for outrageous thing that I could never ever make any $$ on yet they think it's the greatest idea ever. I say fine, when you build a carwash, implement your idea (not literally but in my head).

I plan to add cc to the ss bays and vacs a little at a time. As a whole, US customers are using plastic more and more. Why ignore the trend when it can be capitalized upon for $350 per bay?

You need to reverse your thinking here.

 

[Earl Weiss]

...
The good ideas we implement in our business come from us and our industry, not the customer (most of the time). That is my real-world experience.

You need to reverse your thinking here.

While I agree with the "Reverse thinking "concept. Not why should I do it but gee whizz the rest of the retail world does it and I am notb ecause????

I disagree with where good ideas for our industry come from. I do not think they come from us or our customer. To the contrary I think they come from us copying other industries. We are probably some of the last to fully incorporate credit cards. Part of the reason has been cost. I never understood why it was so expensive to do in a Bay if a Taxi could do it for $500.00 including a reciept printer, all with wireless communication. Of course the average ticket was much higher.

Some things were just silly. Met a SS guy at a show a few years ago somewhat boasting about having 6 phone lines to clear the CC. I told him I didn't understand why he needed that since my gas station with 8 readers in the pumps and one in the store all used the same line and there were no issues. He just walked away like I was from another planet.

 

[CarWashProcessing]

It Only Takes 8 Seconds to Auth a CC so in the absolute unlikely event every one of your pumps plus the reader inside are trying to dial the last person would have to wait just over one minute.

A lot of airports now mandate Taxi Drivers to accept credit cards.... So if they want business from Airports traffic they need it. That is the major factor to Taxis CC acceptance.
We have Fleets of Taxis with All-in-one Wireless terminals due to the Mandate.

 

[MEP001]

I never understood why it was so expensive to do in a Bay if a Taxi could do it for $500.00 including a reciept printer, all with wireless communication. Of course the average ticket was much higher.

Maybe someone in the car was industry needs to get hold of a cab CC unit and adapt it for a self-serve car wash; after all it's basically a minimum start-up and count-up timer.

I'm certain the reason the hardware is cheap compared to most self-serve hardware is the mass-production of the cab units.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I'm certain the reason the hardware is cheap compared to most self-serve hardware is the mass-production of the cab units.

Possibly, but it's not like anything the car wash industry does is unique to this industry. More than likely everything is adapted from other industries.

 

[Waxman]

Well even if it was our industry copying another industry the ideas still by and large do not come from the customers. My customers often put forth the most absurd, impractical ideas I've ever heard. I smile, thank them for the idea, say how good it is, and go on about my business, implementing the ideas that are practical for the business as a whole and not catered to one customer fanciful whim of an idea for me to make more money.

 

[bigleo48]

I agree with Waxman. In the telecom industry I worked in for 27 years, the only 'New' stuff I would see was a repackaging of various technologies to produce a new offering.

The 6 phoneline gas bar guy was kinda ridiculous. CC clearing is a short burst of data...most of the time is used to dial in, handshake the modems and hang up. If he was that busy, he required a dedicated x25 or frame relay circuit. Would have been cheaper and faster and more reliable.

All in all, I find the car wash industry low tech. There is a certain amount of 'keeping it simple' that I like, but other aspects are either not well developed or lack inter-operability.

 

[MEP001]

Possibly, but it's not like anything the car wash industry does is unique to this industry.

Credit card hardware for self-serve bays is, except for the latest ePort entry into the industry. There are over 13,000 cabs with wireless credit card acceptance in New York City alone. I'll bet there are currently fewer self-serve car wash bays that accept credit cards in the entire U.S.

 

[Dcalhoun]

I am enoying the discussion here on this topic again. Thanks to everyone! A few observations from my pespective.
1) My calculations for stating I needed an additional 10% revenue to cover the costs are based on my total cc processing charges as they are currently. This includes all the fees and internet access costs. If the cc useage is 30% then I can cover the costs with just 5% increased revenue. But that (30%) is unrealistically low. At 50% cc, useage, and higher, I need the 10% increase. Some costs are fixed, others variable.
2) I see the acceptance of cc's a bit differently than, say, adding foam brushes or spot free rinse. There is much discussion about increasing per ticket sales by upselling and offering additional optional services. But I loose when an existing customer switches from cash to credit.
3) The cc question is simply predicated on the percieved notion that customers will spend more. Intuitively this seems reasonable to me but I can't get actual emperical data to support the hunch.
4) As long as no washes in a given market offer credit cards then we are even. However, when one enters into the fray the others will have to follow suit thus decreasing the overall revenue for the entire market. The "push/pull" issue pertains here as well as to what drives us to change. Does customer demand pull us into cc acceptance or do we push our customers to use their cc and potentially spend more?
5) We are experiencing growth in all revenue streams without cc now.

 

[robert roman]

I believe some of you guys are missing points.

People who use credit cards “tend” to buy more, more frequently but not necessarily so.

I tend to spend more with my credit card but tend to spend less with my debit card.

Plastic payment is inversely related to age – younger people use plastic more often than older people.

People between 20 and 45 years old should represent 40 to 50 percent of the self-service customer base.

For example, if only 10 percent of customers are 20 to 45 years old, you may be losing out on as much as $50,000 to $75,000 in gross sales.

How do you reach 20 to 45 year olds that pay mostly with plastic, search and shop online, use texting and e-mail, spend time on Facebook and other social sites?

It doesn’t happen by simply installing credit card acceptors.

To capture this crowd, you need a professional website – links your block and mortar store with the virtual world so you can sell stuff online, accept plastic payment online, have social media links, offer coupons, etc., etc.

Only two out of ten self-service washes has a website.

 

[bighead]

I added CC to my busiest bay, and it was used enough that I added it to my other bay as well as adding it to a new rehab we did last year.

I do the count up method, and while I would say less than 20% of people use them, they account for over 30% of my SS revenue.

Young people use them, busy people use them, businesses use them so they can track spending. I don't get coin or bill jams from CC acceptance and I don't have to empty the hoppers that often.

I didn't want to give people reason NOT to use me over anyone else.

My time is worth more than 4% transaction fee, that and the increase per use means that it was found money that I am spending anyway