Increase to $3 to start

[FuturaFan]

When timer stops in my bay, I changed the dixmor where the customer can deposit a quarter within the next 20 seconds to restart the timer.

That’s cool, we have dixmor displays.

 

[TMoliver]

Matt, I agree with you. My IDX extra time has proven to me that customers will keep adding quarters to finish the wash. In most cases they add more than my stat up $2.00 4 minutes .

 

[AnalyticWash]

Our Vacs are 3$ for 3 minutes. Avg vac revenue per customer is $5.75. been that way for over 2 years.

This is impressive. Do you have free vac competition around you? I want to know more.

 

[lighthousecarwash]

I raised all my prices this year. Self serve bays are $4 to start for 5 minutes. $5 minimum for credit cards. Eliminated quarters all together. Vacs went from $1/4 minutes to $2/5 minutes. I've had a couple people question it and my response is always, "what do I need to charge to run my business"? Everything is through the roof right now and I guarantee you that the price of a cheeseburger isn't going to dramatically decrease when gas prices go down, if ever, or when interest rates go down, if ever. The current inflation is here to stay. Soap is way up over the last 2 years and so are utilities and labor. Do people ever question the price of the soda at the C-store, or the price of a gallon of gas to the clerk? The car wash industry has been so timid about price increases. I don't care what my competitors are charging, this is what it takes for me to run my business and keep the doors open longer than just this year. Just my 2 cents!

Thanks,
Lighthouse

 

[RAAOO7]

I raised all my prices this year. Self serve bays are $4 to start for 5 minutes. $5 minimum for credit cards. Eliminated quarters all together. Vacs went from $1/4 minutes to $2/5 minutes. I've had a couple people question it and my response is always, "what do I need to charge to run my business"? Everything is through the roof right now and I guarantee you that the price of a cheeseburger isn't going to dramatically decrease when gas prices go down, if ever, or when interest rates go down, if ever. The current inflation is here to stay. Soap is way up over the last 2 years and so are utilities and labor. Do people ever question the price of the soda at the C-store, or the price of a gallon of gas to the clerk? The car wash industry has been so timid about price increases. I don't care what my competitors are charging, this is what it takes for me to run my business and keep the doors open longer than just this year. Just my 2 cents!

Thanks,
Lighthouse

Did you stop accepting coins? Bills and card only? Do you have a bill breaker for customers? I'm looking to do the same

 

[lighthousecarwash]

Did you stop accepting coins? Bills and card only? Do you have a bill breaker for customers? I'm looking to do the same

NO MORE QUARTERS! I do not have a bill breaker, but it's something that I've been researching. I think it would be a good idea to have one. Obviously, it won't make you any money, but I get the convenience that it provides to customers. Meters, vacs, and vending only take cash and card via Nayax readers. I also have my SS bays, IBA's, vending, and vacs on the Beacon mobile app. My portals on the IBA's still have coin acceptors, but I did build them with bill dispensers to return change and DRB won't do an option to remove the coin acceptors although I could block it off myself. I get about $2 per week of quarters in the hopper so not a big deal. It was a foreign concept to a few people when they couldn't find a coin slot but it's not a big deal now that customers are used to it. Location 1 & 2 are now coinless and location 3 will be as soon as my Ginsan meters are built and ready to ship!

Thanks,
Lighthouse

 

[FuturaFan]

NO MORE QUARTERS! I do not have a bill breaker, but it's something that I've been researching. I think it would be a good idea to have one. Obviously, it won't make you any money, but I get the convenience that it provides to customers. Meters, vacs, and vending only take cash and card via Nayax readers. I also have my SS bays, IBA's, vending, and vacs on the Beacon mobile app. My portals on the IBA's still have coin acceptors, but I did build them with bill dispensers to return change and DRB won't do an option to remove the coin acceptors although I could block it off myself. I get about $2 per week of quarters in the hopper so not a big deal. It was a foreign concept to a few people when they couldn't find a coin slot but it's not a big deal now that customers are used to it. Location 1 & 2 are now coinless and location 3 will be as soon as my Ginsan meters are built and ready to ship!

Thanks,
Lighthouse

you are seriously going to lose loyal customers

 

[Dan kamsickas]

you are seriously going to lose loyal customers

What are you basing that on? We've done a ton of sites that have eliminated quarters and I have not heard a negative response from a single operator. Literally every single one has said they may have lost a couple of customers but their overall revenue was up.

 

[FuturaFan]

What are you basing that on? We've done a ton of sites that have eliminated quarters and I have not heard a negative response from a single operator. Literally every single one has said they may have lost a couple of customers but their overall revenue was up.

Our wash uses quarters. We have 4 bays with card only (coins not accepted because the coin acceptors broke) and 4 with quarters and card. The majority of our customers (75%) use the bays with quarters and about 60% of our customers use quarters. People like to have options. If we eliminated quarters, we would have a decent amount of customers stop using our wash and move to another one that has more payment options. We also use Touch4Wash, even less people use that, around 9%. Vacuums also use quarters, they made up about 1/3 of our profit, now it’s 1/4. Our recently installed automatic has already gained quite a bit of traction, roughly 15 cars per day and the installation was finished in June.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Our wash uses quarters. We have 4 bays with card only (coins not accepted because the coin acceptors broke) and 4 with quarters and card. The majority of our customers (75%) use the bays with quarters and about 60% of our customers use quarters. People like to have options. If we eliminated quarters, we would have a decent amount of customers stop using our wash and move to another one that has more payment options. We also use Touch4Wash, even less people use that, around 9%. Vacuums also use quarters, they made up about 1/3 of our profit, now it’s 1/4. Our recently installed automatic has already gained quite a bit of traction, roughly 15 cars per day and the installation was finished in June.

That is your current operation. It says nothing about what would happen. You're assuming. I thought my customers were nuts when they said they were eliminating coins. I assumed they would lose a bunch of customers. The end result is their revenue is up. The time they are putting into collecting quarters is down. Less work, more revenue. That is the goal. I'm not saying it's for everyone but to automatically assume it's a bad idea as you have is wrong.

 

[FuturaFan]

That is your current operation. It says nothing about what would happen. You're assuming. I thought my customers were nuts when they said they were eliminating coins. I assumed they would lose a bunch of customers. The end result is their revenue is up. The time they are putting into collecting quarters is down. Less work, more revenue. That is the goal. I'm not saying it's for everyone but to automatically assume it's a bad idea as you have is wrong.

I’m just saying, judging by what has happened, people use the card only bays less. What would happen if we were to eliminate quarters completely? The outcome can’t be good judging by the current results

 

[Dan kamsickas]

I’m just saying, judging by what has happened, people use the card only bays less. What would happen if we were to eliminate quarters completely?

Again, this is only at your site. I have yet to have a single one of the many customers I know that have eliminated coins tell me they regret the decision.

The outcome can’t be good judging by the current results

Past performance is not indicative of future results. Reality is I'm pretty sure in 5 years the majority of profitable self serves will not be taking coins.

 

[lighthousecarwash]

My customers love my washes and they are loyal. I haven't had a single complaint. My time is very expensive! I can collect cash much, much faster than I can carry around the quarters. It's easier to take to the bank and deposit. I eliminate all the maintenance on the change machines and digging quarters out of coin acceptors. My start up price is $4. Who want to stand there and plug 16 quarters into a slot? People get out of their car, walk to the change machine, put in cash, get quarters, walk back to the bay, put in quarters. I then have to empty the vaults, carry back to the change machine and put them back into another hopper, just to do it all over again and again and again! Why not just throw that cash in the bay and save the in between? I get the "we want customers to use whatever currency they have", but I think we need to evolve as an industry. Businesses are changing how they operate and A LOT of businesses don't even accept cash anymore. I won't look back and question my decision!

Thanks,
Lighthouse

 

[Bill Capron]

I take CC’s with Cryptopay, One’s Five’s Ten’s and Twenty’s for Dollar Tokens and Quarters
I added Cryptopay about 2 years ago. My sales are currently $1 Cryptopay, $1 cash for tokens and 50 cents quarters.
It’s 23 seconds for 25 cents.
I was surprised that adding Cryptopay didn’t reduce my cash sales, it just added revenue.
I’m currently $1 start for tokens or Quarters and $3 start for CC’s.
I’m ready to do a facelift with new coin boxes (Customer Interface) and paint and Decals.
I’m planning to raise my price to $1 a minute and do count up on CC’s
Start price will remain the same.

 

[Monte]

My logic for going coinless is simply....and might apply to several of you guys out there.
When to go coinless???
When my change machine dies.......I will NOT replace it. When my coin acceptors die....I will not replace them. Simple.
We have been preparing to go coinless....
We have been slowly putting CC readers and taps ( Crypto ) on all our equipment...SS, Vending, Vacs. Upgrading paystations for IBAs with chip/contactless readers also.

Simple...We will go "coinless" when the stuff dies....NOT before.
I think the timing will be PERFECT....

 

[mjwalsh]

If the leadership & extreme corruption at the federal level is cleaned up... hopefully there will be a need to avoid 100% cashless; which could mean that the practicality & availability of higher denomination coins could make a strong comeback IMHO!

My perspective ... there is a way of not putting "all our eggs" in the cashless basket. Some of the horrific persecution to Hong Kong residents is clearly related to privacy abuses & potential (privacy & merchant fee) abuses within too much 100% cashless.

 

[CentralTex]

The beauty of the internet - this thread has taken on a life of its own. As it relates to $3 startup, I asked one of our employees to check the competition in the town we are in. The competition is as follows: $1.50 for 4 minutes, $1.75 for four minutes, and $2.00 for five minutes. We are $2 for four minutes. Seems like I am somewhat higher priced and our revenue this year is slightly flat. I'd love to move to $3 but it would make us even more expensive. There is an argument to be made that we have staff on site and we provide much better service, but I don't know if people will buy into that.

As it relates to coinless, I like learning what others are doing. At the wash bay we have cryptopay (2 years or so), bill acceptors, and coins. Credit cards account for about 27% or so of our sales at the wash bay. We sometimes ask customers why they make change instead of just using the bill acceptors at the bays. Their answers range from we didn't notice, to they want to control how much they spend. Our vacuums only accept coins so I am not sure if we could get away from coins. I'd definitely like to have less coins, but our customers seem to want to continue using. Sometimes it pays to give customers what they want. I am constantly getting irked at companies that take away my choice and charge me more.

 

[mjwalsh]

The beauty of the internet - this thread has taken on a life of its own. As it relates to $3 startup,

Exactly, based on our experience... especially on the laundromat side of our business ... 3 coins vs "forced to use" 12 coins makes a $3 startup more palatable for almost 100% of our customers.