Coinco Vantage Bill Acceptors & Their Paper-Coupons?

[mjwalsh]

Based on some previous ... albeit ... a few years back threads & posts I know that some of my fellow forum members opted for Coinco Vantage Bill Acceptors & their accompanying paper coupons. Earl Weiss is one operator who comes to mind who went the Vantage- Paper Coupon route.

Just wondering if there have been any impediments for re-ordering the paper coupons. Such as "no availability - no stock" or a minimum order for the coupons &/or a significant increase per coupon etc cost? Maybe the cost of the special high security specialized ink became too high is another possibility???

Some of us still live in areas where bill acceptors are not as vulnerable to vandalism & areas who not hell-bent (IMO) on 100% cashless ... so hopefully you can share your specific experiences with Coinco Vantage - Paper Coupon Option.

 

[Greg Pack]

I had coinco magpro coupons printed by a local commercial print shop. They figured out that some parts of the coupon were printed in magnetic ink, the other parts were non-magnetic. They had to print in two passes but were able to make me a customized coupon for a fraction of what unitec charged for their standard coupon. Perhaps the vantage is similar.

 

[mjwalsh]

Quote by Greg Pack: " I had coinco magpro coupons printed by a local commercial print shop. They figured out that some parts of the coupon were printed in magnetic ink, the other parts were non-magnetic. They had to print in two passes but were able to make me a customized coupon for a fraction of what unitec charged for their standard coupon. Perhaps the vantage is similar. "

Greg ... Thanks for shedding some light based on your first hand "somewhat in depth" experience.

I totally get the need to prevent counterfeits such as what IDX did & possibly still do with their "high security" metal tokens but what I don't get is when "evidence shows" that a paper coupon issuer could unjustifiably prevent future orders of coupons betraying the original trust from the car wash owner placed in the coupon issuer ... without any repercussions???

So the print shop found a way (trial & error????) to bypass the safeguard that the bill acceptor had as their "somewhat justified proprietary secret ink formula" that allowed the custom coupon to be successfully printed? It appears then as long as a specific printer had integrity ... there would not be a problem other than a possible need for quality law enforcement possibly doing some healthy detective work tracing it back to a potentially unscrupulous printer &/or supplier-vendor.

Maybe I have been watching too many re-runs of DRAGNET ... & am a bit naive about the current situation of laws potentially no longer protecting "we the people"?!

 

[Earl Weiss]

The coinco coupon seemed to have an area like a QR code on it. Don't know it that design was "Learned" by the acceptor or if it was a magnetic ink think. I chose not to re order coupons after the initial supply ran out. The program was not as successful as I had hoped.

 

[Greg Pack]

IIRC the original coupons did have a UPC code on them. The acceptor (magpro series anyway) is apparently looking for a magnetic signature on one part of the bill and the absence of magnetic signature on another part of the bill. So they had to run the coupons twice through the printers with different ink on each pass. This was in the early 2000's, so the tech may have changed. I was able to print essentially whatever I wanted on the bill, I think had a logo, and upgrade instructions on the back. I made two coupons, one white one for the top wash and one yellow one for the basic wash that I sold to the local oil change. I'll see if I still have some lying around. I still used them up until few years ago in small quantities.

Sure, I guess the print shop could have printed some for themselves, but I dealt directly with the owners of a very small (two or three) old school commercial shop that did super large quantities of printing, and they were a thirty minute drive away. I never got that feeling, but I assume you could have them individually numbered for an additional fee.