Cash acceptance in bays?

[slash007]

In one of my washes the coin boxes currently only accept quarters. I was thinking about changing them so that all bays would be able to accept dollars as well. On busy days I can barely keep my two changers filled and I figured that it would be more convenient for customers if they could use bills. Any thoughts on the value of having bill acceptance in the bays? It wouldn't be cheap, so I'm wondering if it would be worth it. If I did decide on it, what is the best place to buy new coin boxes? I saw that Kleen Rite has some but I want something a little different than what they offer. Only an 8 position switch and was hoping to be able to buy my own bill acceptors instead of the new ones that come with their coin box packages.

Thanks.

 

[soapy]

I would add credit card acceptance before billa acceptors. Better return on your money and probably cheaper depending on which system you go with.

 

[waterway]

I personally like Etowah valley. I just replaced my coin boxes on one of my 4 bay self serves. They are are easy to install and easy to use.

 

[slash007]

I personally like Etowah valley. I just replaced my coin boxes on one of my 4 bay self serves. They are are easy to install and easy to use.

Etowah Valley for coin boxes or credit cards? Not familiar with them...

I thought about putting in credit cards first, but I don't think that I have room for them in my current small coin boxes. Plus I'm not really sold on adding cc acceptance just yet.

 

[Kevin Reilly]

My son bought 3 of my locations a few years back and. 2 were short tunnel exteriors with additional coin bays! He installed credit cards and bill acceptors and he tells me that the credit cards run about 14% of total in the bays but the bill acceptors are big time.

His locations and mine also use multiple acceptors (Slugbuster III's) and accept quarters, dollars and tokens. However since he has done this it has been the bill acceptors in the bays (Mars $1. $5. acceptance in the validators). It would seem to me that it's important to know your market before this decision is made. We both have big Hispanic and also lower income at these locations. I would like to go the currency acceptance in our bays and (my opinion) would be Etowah Valley sales as he builds a VERY sturdy coin box!

So it's extremely important to know your market before you pull the trgger!

 

[mjc3333]

With most CC systems you do not need to install the reader on the door of the coin / bill acceptor / timer / etc. You could make a small plate and install directly to the wall right next to the coin box itself. It will save you from having to tear out the old boxes just to accept CC if that is the way you go.

 

[mjwalsh]

In one of my washes the coin boxes currently only accept quarters. I was thinking about changing them so that all bays would be able to accept dollars as well. On busy days I can barely keep my two changers filled and I figured that it would be more convenient for customers if they could use bills. Any thoughts on the value of having bill acceptance in the bays? It wouldn't be cheap, so I'm wondering if it would be worth it. If I did decide on it, what is the best place to buy new coin boxes? I saw that Kleen Rite has some but I want something a little different than what they offer. Only an 8 position switch and was hoping to be able to buy my own bill acceptors instead of the new ones that come with their coin box packages.

Thanks.

Slash007,

Within the last few years we went with an add on bill acceptor box from Jim at Etowah with Coinco Vantage & $3 & $7 paper tokens along with 1,2,5,10, & 20 capable acceptors. Even with the proposed overdue elimination of the one dollar bill it still made sense for us because of dramatically increased usage of $5 bills. Dollar & hopefully 2 dollar COINS ... are better overall ... when they become dominate ... those specific coins make more sense than the $1 soft paper money anyway. Direct factory support from Coinco was extremely good.

I am with you on the CC discernment, & like Kevin said it depends heavily on your market. Our market here is so dependent on the weather the business comes much more in extremely busy bursts than some other areas. Other times very cold below zero temps or super dry driveway washing conditions makes for spooky quiet slow times that the "need to charge more" credit card scenario is not the best fit. Yes, my competitor with CC acceptance is also "spooky slow" during those times.

Mike Walsh King Koin See me on YouTube

 

[waterway]

I personally like Etowah valley. I just replaced my coin boxes on one of my 4 bay self serves. They are are easy to install and easy to use.

I added coin boxes with a bill acceptor. But I am going to add cc to the bays as well. The Etowah valley coin boxes come with dixmor timers which are the best timers for the crypto pay cc system.

 

[slash007]

One of my car washes is in a mostly hispanic/low income area and it has both bill acceptors and credit card acceptance. Bill usage is probably about 35% while credit cards are barely used in the self serve and vacuums. It has an old swipenclean system which is hard to use, so that probably plays a large part as well.

The wash that I want to upgrade is in a middle class area and I'm sure that credit cards would be used, but not sure how much. I thought about using crypto pay and just adding it to a couple bays. I would love to have bill acceptance in the bays as it would definitely make things move quicker during the busy times as most people park in the bay then have to walk to the changer. It would also make keeping up with the changers less stressful as I have to fill them daily during the summer and sometimes twice on real busy days.

 

[2Biz]

It is stressful having to fill your changers daily or twice daily on busy days? Wished I had that problem! That is some stress I believe I could deal with!

 

[MEP001]

We've had bill acceptors in the bays from the day we opened. The cash income is about 20% bills, 80% quarters.

I added CC acceptance to the bays about five years ago. It has taken about a quarter of the load off the changer, and CC is about 30% of bay income. Cash income dropped off only a small amount and has come back up to where it was before the CC install.

If you have room for a bill acceptor, you have room for a CC acceptor.

 

[MEP001]

Other times very cold below zero temps or super dry driveway washing conditions makes for spooky quiet slow times that the "need to charge more" credit card scenario is not the best fit.

I can't help but notice that you work in comments like this as if it's factual information and not just your opinion. I didn't set the prices higher for CC usage, and feel no need to.

 

[mjwalsh]

It is stressful having to fill your changers daily or twice daily on busy days? Wished I had that problem! That is some stress I believe I could deal with!

slash007 & 2biz,

If the changers only gave out dollar coins instead of just quarters ... the operator would only have to fill them about one-fourth as often & bill acceptance & an ATM would make that even less often.

We also notice with the in bay bill acceptance & dollar coins it cuts down on the wear & tear Changemaker Machine wise. Our card accepting ATM also helps that volume when the customer directly uses the $5 bills ... in the car and dog wash which they most certainly often do.

Since we give out $5 bills on our ATM as the customers also see their account balance ... it might help explain why we have been getting dramatically more $5s in our bill acceptors for 22 months now.

We see very few customers stressing out at our ATM &/or using $5s at our in bay bill acceptors & we walk by them all the time. Like with credit card swipes in the bays ... their body language is telling us they do not like to be interupted too often like what all too often happens with a "quarters only" operation.

We notice that it is much less stressful for us to see significant above face value credits going directly into our bank account than seeing significant below face value debits going directly into our bank account ... with our proven successful top notch reliable ATM quick card to cash approach.

mike walsh king koin with the honest deficit reduction video on youtube

 

[Randy]

The bill acceptors in the bays are slowly being phased out here as they are destroyed or damaged. Too much of a target for vandalism, thieves etc. I watched a surveillance video of 2 guys popping open a high end coin box with a bill accepter in it, I couldn’t believe how easy it was. The best thing to do is to add credit card acceptance in the bays. I don’t know of to many people who don’t have debit card or a credit card. I was reading in one of the coin laundry magazines that the average 25 year old only carries around $2.25 in his pocket, but carries both debit and credit card.

 

[mjwalsh]

The bill acceptors in the bays are slowly being phased out here as they are destroyed or damaged. Too much of a target for vandalism, thieves etc. I watched a surveillance video of 2 guys popping open a high end coin box with a bill accepter in it, I couldn’t believe how easy it was. The best thing to do is to add credit card acceptance in the bays. I don’t know of to many people who don’t have debit card or a credit card. I was reading in one of the coin laundry magazines that the average 25 year old only carries around $2.25 in his pocket, but carries both debit and credit card.

Randy,

I would say before I would go to 100% electronic payment I would focus in 1. Making the coin box more time consuming to break into. 2. Make the on call or attendant person able to respond quicker with improved electronic triggers to cell communication integrated within the coin box. 3. Consider possibly locking up completely during the most vulnerable nightime hours.

I had a nice visit with a local 911 dispatcher who was using the laundromat while I was finishing up the cleaning a recent evening & he told me about some alarm companies ... have a 5 minute delay before 911 is even called ... & that makes the deterrent much less effective.

The above described closeby alarm responder should be armed to be able to defend themselves & their property & among other options shoot out the thieves' tires until law enforcement comes. Like I said before ... I tend to be more concerned about white collar crime than the blue collar variety.

mike

 

[slash007]

I don't currently have room for bill acceptors, I would have to change the coin box in order to add them. Is a certain timer required in order to be able to accept bills? If I could re-use most of what I have, it would make it cheaper. I didn't factor in the security aspect, bill acceptors are a much bigger target.

At my wash that has them, someone tried to break in one of the coin boxes using a crow bar and sledge hammer. He never got in, but he did considerable damage to the door. I had to watch the tape several times as I couldn't believe that he was actually using a sledgehammer. Unfortunately he was not parked on site and was wearing a hoodie so I wasn't able to do anything about it.

 

[MEP001]

Is a certain timer required in order to be able to accept bills? If I could re-use most of what I have, it would make it cheaper. I didn't factor in the security aspect, bill acceptors are a much bigger target.

The bill acceptors, with the correct harness, will give out either one or four pulses per dollar credit. Since it's the same voltage and signal as a coin acceptor, it can be wired into a bay timer right along with the coin acceptor.

 

[Earl Weiss]

The bill acceptors in the bays are slowly being phased out here as they are destroyed or damaged. Too much of a target for vandalism, thieves etc. I watched a surveillance video of 2 guys popping open a high end coin box with a bill accepter in it,.

That was one of the reasons I went with a seperate Bill acceptor box. Figured that if it was attacked the regular boz would still be operable. Also, it would be a seperate item I could secure. So far no issues with the Etowah box.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I don't currently have room for bill acceptors, I would have to change the coin box in order to add them. .

Pretty much had the same issue and didn't think the D&S box was secure enough to ad the acceptor, so I went with a seperate Etowah Box and acceptor and later added the CC acceptor to that box.

 

[slash007]

Pretty much had the same issue and didn't think the D&S box was secure enough to ad the acceptor, so I went with a seperate Etowah Box and acceptor and later added the CC acceptor to that box.

So far that sounds like my best bet. I will look into adding a separate box which would also give me the space to add cc later if I chose to. Which box did you guys go with? What was the cost?