Is bonus time incompatible with in-bay CC acceptance?

[Sequoia]

I've traditionally offered bonus time if you add $xx amount of money.

As I consider adding in-bay CC acceptors, I was wondering if they require a "linear" pricing of .xx cents per minute, or if my current arrangement with offering bonus time could be maintained.

If anyone offering bonus time if money is inserted, but also taking CC's in the bay? If so, how does the pricing work on the CC side?

 

[car washing systems inc]

I have 1 customer that is giving bonus time when 5.00 has been reached, his credit cards give 5.00 on the first swipe so he set so he gives the bonus time on that too he has told me he has seen an increase in 5.00 bills.

 

[MEP001]

The most desirable method of SS credit card acceptance is count-up. That pretty much eliminates bonus time as an option. You might have to use an "add-on" system that pulses credits to your existing timer for each swipe, but in my opinion you'd be missing out on the biggest benefit and convenience to your customers of taking cards in the bays.

 

[Sequoia]

Pricing

I've been $2/4 mins with a bonus of $4/10 mins.

I was just going to pull the trigger to go to $3/4 mins, and $5/10 mins. But, if that is not compatible with "count up" then I don't think I should do it.

Since gas prices are again affecting disposable wash income I think I need to re-look at maybe doing CC acceptance. That seems to preclude bonus time.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I only offer bonus time for cash customers. I have offered bonus time since 2001. $1.00-2 minutes / $5-14 minutes (4 free minutes).
If a customer ask about it I tell them that I cannot offer the bonus time because of the cost of processing the credit cards. The customers have always understood that.

 

[Sequoia]

Bonus time

A few years ago, my company developed technology that used credit cards for payment. We were under strict constraints that we must offer the same pricing whether the form of payment is cash or credit card. Has this since changed, or are operators charging different fees just staying under the radar?

 

[rph9168]

I believe in most states it is illegal to offer discounts for cash but I have seen it in some places.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I've seen gas stations offer a cash price and a credit card price.
Sams and Costco offers their customers discounts if they use their credit card. Why is that not illegal?
Why can they offer their customers a discount if they only use their company cards?

 

[pitzerwm]

You can offer discounts for cash, you just can't charge extra for CC. I'm in AU and its not the same law here so small restaurants charge extra $1.50 for using your card.

 

[thoffmanjr]

We have had the ability to offer up to six different pricing levels (or bonus time) since installing the Dixmor LED Multi-Function timers. The latest pricing levels offered for cash or credit card are $1-$2= $1/Min, $3=4 min or $0.75/min, $5=8 min or $0.63/min, $10=22 min or $0.45/min. The Micrologic self service credit card clearing system is a count up system and offers the same pricing as our tiered cash pricing. The longer you wash with a credit card the deeper the discount too. The pricing charges more for “short washers” and offers deeper discounts for customers that spend more time washing. We have bill accepters and we wanted to give our customers a reason to put in the big bills. We use a small PLC to count the coin pulses from the acceptor and the PLC’s outputs to activate the Dixmor’s six different price points. We’ve been doing this in about 81 bays for several years now.