Bill Acceptors in your self service bays?

[AZDOUG]

Hello everyone,

I am struggling on a retool of an 8 bay self service setup. The place has been shutdown for 4 years so no existing customers to retrain. The old stuff in place used tokens and I am bouncing back and forth between ditching tokens and coins and just putting bill acceptors and card readers in each bay. I recently visited 4 other washes and they were all using quarters and card with no one accepting bills. While everyone has various reasons for or against tokens or quarters, has anyone ditched coins/tokens and accepted just bills and card? Seems like all new equipment from KR and others seem to be including bill acceptors in their standard advertised coin box configuration. I do understand that all my pricing would be in dollar increments. My biggest mental struggle is inviting more opportunities for vandalism and break-ins since the potential score is greater than coins/tokens. I am a Laundromat owner and moving in the direction of coinless not cashless in my stores with a card based system. This car wash is making me second guess everything when it comes to payment options to offer in the bays.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[traveler17]

Tokens to me is owner preference. Some swear by no cash or tokens , just all credit which I love the idea of. This is really dependent on demographics imo but both of my washes have cash and credit. Offering all options has worked for me. Now if vandalism , theft etc .. becomes to overwhelming that’s when I’d look at credit or tokens only.

 

[edredtop]

Agree with Traveler, it's all about personal preference which is absolutely guided by demographics. I'm not for or against a particular set up but because of the unique position you're in with a retrofit, these are a few things I'd consider:

*by not accepting tokens & quarters you eliminate the number 1 failure point for a customer. Jams.
* Increasing bill acceptance to each bay does increase vandalism and theft exposure but never fail to consider the risk to personal safety.
YOU or someone you care about will have to service those regularly. Demographics indeed.
*Kleen-Rite seems to only offer coin boxes with bill acceptance but there are other vendors like GinSan
*Quarter exceptance. With the rate of inflation we've been experiencing, is the value there now or will the value be there in the near future to take them? With start up prices at $5 (20 quarters) now and rising, when is it ridiculous to accept them?
(When start up prices were at $2 was anybody taking 20 dimes?)
*For prices that fall between a dollar, we have successfully doubled product on the shelf to reach the desired price point. For example, Little Trees were no longer profitable for us at $1. Since we use a $1 token at our locations, we now put two air fresheners per shelf and charge $3. Our sales are up 30% on the air fresheners.
We also double Armor All pouches on the shelf and towels.

Congratulations on your new venture..

 

[Earl Weiss]

I tried a separate box so if it was attacked main box would still work. Did half the bays as an experiment and within a few months decided to do the rest .Later used it for Cryptopay swipers. This Video was to show swiper install but you get the idea.

 

[Car Washer]

I tried a separate box so if it was attacked main box would still work. Did half the bays as an experiment and within a few months decided to do the rest .Later used it for Cryptopay swipers. This Video was to show swiper install but you get the idea.

Earl, Where can I find the Blue Bill acceptor $1 $5 $10 stickers?

 

[Axxlrod]

Depends greatly on the demographics of your trade area.

I do not accept quarters at my washes. Never have.

My meter boxes accept bills, tokens and card. I have two changers that dispense tokens that are valued at $1.

Not accepting quarters forces your customers to think in dollar increments and not quarter increments about your facility. This isn't 1987 anymore.

In 20 years of having bill acceptors in the bays, I think they've been attacked twice. Make sure to get the bill acceptor bezels that are metal; not plastic.

The next step is to stop accepting cash and go card only (cashless). This works fine in medium to higher income areas. If your neighboring businesses accept EBT cards, then go cashless probably isn't a good idea.

I'd look beyond Kleenrite at bay boxes. Look at Ginsan, D&D, Etowah Valley.

Absolutely add card acceptance, and absolutely "count up".

 

[Earl Weiss]

Earl, Where can I find the Blue Bill acceptor $1 $5 $10 stickers?

Those came that way from Etowah Valley

 

[Randy]

What brand/model bill validators are you looking at installing?