Just Curious...

[bigleo48]

I use secure tokens, Van Brook CTX. I have never gotten a "rogue" token.

Exactly! You could have mentioned that.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Exactly! You could have mentioned that.

Good grief, anyone that's been on this forum over a month knows that you can't just use a stock generic token. I never dreamed it needed mentioning.

 

[bigleo48]

Good grief, anyone that's been on this forum over a month knows that you can't just use a stock generic token. I never dreamed it needed mentioning.

I.B, I've been on the forum as long as you have. I completely understand the subject of tokens, how to select them, including secure tokens. I never mentioned using stock generic tokens either and the side comment wasn't even directed at you, but at Randy.

Without really even checking, I would suspect most car wash owners that use tokens, use the non-secure type in oddball sizes, unless they have little competition or other token issuers in the area. And that works fine, as long (as mentioned), they have no cash redemption value.

There are three metropolitan cites near here that I visit on a semi regular basis. I know most of the washes...none that I know of use secure tokens. Even the casinos have dropped them a few years back. Most do not even use tokens as they have moved on to gift/fleet cards. So no its no obvious to me that you use secure tokens that have cash redemption.

Big

 

[mjwalsh]

Why would you not? Seems kinda silly. I wouldn't dispense them if everything at the wash didn't accept them.

For the record, I do dispense them and everything I have accepts them, including my soft drink machines furnished by Pepsi. I wouldn't let them install it until they made it compatible.

My Friend Mr I.B.,

I couldn't agree more in terms of universal acceptance for whatever payment method. We have a more diversified operation than many here even though we focused more on our 6 self service car wash bays rather than putting in an IBA. For example, washers, dryers, extractors, dog wash, countertop amusement device, pay telephone, large screen internet kiosk, 48+ item vendor, & 2 other car wash specific vendors & vacuums.

The more universal acceptance for all 11 of these categories is the proper adjustment for inflation of our coin & currency which will be coming up before Congress. Why some of you are trying to throw similar operations such as ours "under the bus" is clearly wrong.

A few years ago, when I had an experienced C++ programming engineer available because his temporary unemployment (economy where he lived) ... the door was slammed shut on us unless we were totally dependent on their specific chosen processor etc. That was enough of a red flag for us on the credit card route.

mike walsh king koin bismarck, nd USA continued on next post

 

[mjwalsh]

continued from last post

The vulnerability argument is not acknowledging that there are issues with cashless that may never be resolved. As far as the original poster with the in the wall flush & non flush of Earl's bill acceptor there is also an evolving non cyberspace law enforcement & prevention techniques.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/opi...cle_b9f0c9ba-e238-11e1-9b92-001a4bcf887a.html BTW ... RK did our entire car wash electrical redo including the changeover to 3 phase back in 1987. Ron Koch & his wife & his more key employees were & continue to be dear mutual friends of mine.

Credit card acceptance (albeit not quite as convenient) has been addressed & welcomed by most of our customers with our $5 dispensing ATM.

It could be in the ATM industries' interest & operations similar to ours ... to allow ... instead of the another denomination bill cannister ... in its place could be an attached dollar coin dispensing hopper. Time will tell on that one.

mike walsh king koin of bismarck, nd USA

 

[Twodose]

Look, here is a picture with one of my cameras back in 09', the locals knew the guy and where he used to work but could not locate him. I think it's a good picture and if I saw this guy I would recognize him, the guy actually had a key to all of my abus locks (for the vendors), plus the locks for the coin drawers, in the video you can see as he was emptying all the coin drawers he was walking to the back of the wash and throwing them out by the railroad tracks, the cops didn't discover this, I did, they came and collected them all but found no fingerprints since it was raining. Cameras are not a 100% security, but give you a piece of mind in knowing what happened so you can prepare for future problems you may have, if you didn't have it on camera you would just be guessing. The video you saw was only 9 of 15 cameras, if they would have stepped in the right position on one of the other cameras there is a possibility to capture a good photo.

The local prostitutes were using my wash for their john’s, the cops were watching it and getting video from me of the perps and were arresting them, as the word got around it stopped the whores from using my wash to service their John’s. Even if you have cameras there is no guarantee that you will find these people, but it does give you peace of mind knowing what is going on and how to prevent it. I sent the video I posted to a local TV station, maybe they could make a story out of it and post the video on TV, if this was the case there would surely be someone who would know who it is.

Twodose,

IMHO your cameras are placed for site maintenance and not security. Even without hoodies, you be hard pressed to identify the thieves.

Picture of scumbag

 

[bigleo48]

It's not bad...but could be better. The shot is low res (320x240) and looks to be 420 lines or less. The shot looks to be from about 20 ft. You could somewhat identify the guy, buy if he shaved and cut his hair, I couldn't pick him out of a lineup. Having said that, you get lots of info from other details, clothes, height, walking gate, etc.

You may want to revisit some of you cams and placement. 600+ line cameras are less than a $100 now. I'm not saying replace them all, but some of the sensitive areas. You may want to tweak you DVR settings for higher frame rates and resolutions. An of course, pick some locations that get even better shots. Some places like at my change machine and IBA entrance system, I have as many as four cameras. You could also just add a HD/D1 PVR for a few important cams.

I have 36 cameras on my site. I have added, tweaked and positioned them many times over the years to get the best results. The best addition I made was a license plate camera. They are about $200 and if you can position it right...they'll get 100% of the plates on and off the property, day and night. I've already used it a few times to be financially compensated for damage, so it's paid for itself a few times now.

You may also want to consider adding sensors to the coin boxes and connecting them into the cam system. So you or the alarm company gets paged when someone opens a coin box after hours (or whatever). You could also have it set off a siren.

The fact that he had keys for everything is scary and an obvious clue to an inside job.

Best of luck!

Big

 

[pitzerwm]

I recommend that you have some real obvious cameras and some hidden. Like a pinhole in the door/changer/vending. These people for the most part are lazy and stupid, so it doesn't take much to get ahead of them.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

A good set of Abus keys would be very easy to buy, legally. When I saw that, I lost faith in them.

 

[mjc3333]

You may want to revisit some of you cams and placement. 600+ line cameras are less than a $100 now.

The best addition I made was a license plate camera. They are about $200 and if you can position it right...they'll get 100% of the plates on and off the property, day and night. I've already used it a few times to be financially compensated for damage, so it's paid for itself a few times now.

What brand and model number camera did you use for the $200 license plate camera?

What camera at 600 + lines do you use?

 

[bigleo48]

What brand and model number camera did you use for the $200 license plate camera?

What camera at 600 + lines do you use?

The plate cam I use is the IR660 for $179. See my past post on it for some insight on setting it up. you can find it herehttp://www.rugged-cctv.com/longrangeinfraredsecuritycamera.shtml

They have various 600 line cams for as low as $79 in different formats, so it really depends what you need and where.

I have of few of their submersible Neptune cameras in my IBA bay. Really like them in very wet environments. All plastic housing too can handle the chems.

Big

 

[Earl Weiss]

as low as $28.99 here.

Can't vouch for quality of this unit but I have bought some on line bargains and so far I'm quite happy.

When they come I look at the box to see the "Brand" and there is none! None on the instructions either.

 

[MEP001]

I've bought some cameras like that too, they claim to have a Sony 1/3" CCD but there's no brand name on anything. The price was right, the quality was excellent and the image quality surpasses what the DVR can record.

 

[Twodose]

Back in 09 I don't know if you could buy high res cameras at a reasonable price or all of mine would probably been high res. also at this location the ceilings are low, the higher up u are, probably better. All the cameras I have were purchased from rugged cctv.com.

Check this out today an older guy smashed into a car on the highway then ran into my wash.

 

[bigleo48]

With all the old drivers on the road now it's a scary! I known my father in law still drives at 76, he has so many ailments it would take too long to list, his heart is working at 30%, is legally blind in one eye and very poor vision out the other, Can't walk for more than 20 feet without resting...yet he drives, like all his buddies.

My mother at 86 still drives. A few years ago she drove down a set of stairs next to a parking lot (she thought it was the ramp) and then tried to drive out!!!

 

[mjwalsh]

Check this out today an older guy smashed into a car on the highway then ran into my wash.

Twodose, Randy & others,

I think we all have had the destruction of our property for whatever reason ... carelessness or whatever. We keep several of every size of Alaskan Polycarbonate door panels & rails on hand because of that issue that milder climate areas do not have. Some years that has been our biggest problem & most often hit & run. The door issue has not happened for several years though ... knock on wood. From my humble perspective, here are what has worked & could work.

1. As I pleaded before several state legislative sessions both in writing & verbally, that raising our rates higher to cover taxes would have an unintended consequence of making for less continuous traffic which makes for a strong deterrent during our open hours against vandalism & theft. A natural check & balances ... strangers to each other watching over ... if you will.

2. I realize that Bismarck, ND is not a Ghetto area but we & our insurance company have had bursts of ugly destructive behavior over the years ... since 1968 in the car wash portion of our business... 1959 laundromat portion. In more horrific Ghetto areas ... it seems some of us may have to resort to a gated area with someone on premises during open hours at all times listening & ready to respond within seconds to suspicious noises &/or to an alarm sensor. The gated area would have to locked up at night. A trained K9 dog (albeit expensive) would be nice to sniff any scum varmints out before closing up at night.

continued with 3 & 4.

mike walsh king koin USA

 

[mjwalsh]

3. Going 100% cashless could help some both for inside & outside job thefts but it will do nothing for mindless vandalism. No need to repeat that some CC can increase volume because ... if totally cashless ... the traffic could go the other way since there will always be a percentage of customers who will prefer cash.

4. One of the strong points that our Founding Fathers in our USA Constitution was & is the rule of law needed. When our country decided to branch out into unnecessary extra self serving government or quasi government enhancements at the expense to a vast number of us & using the excuse of fictitious improved law enforcement & education ... we wind up much worse off including our customers. By worse off ... the most basic gets neglected & the more frivolous is emphasized.

mike walsh king koin USA

 

[bigleo48]

1. As I pleaded before several state legislative sessions both in writing & verbally, that raising our rates higher to cover taxes would have an unintended consequence of making for less continuous traffic which makes for a strong deterrent during our open hours against vandalism & theft. A natural check & balances ... strangers to each other watching over ... if you will.

Don't agree. There are many places in the world with much higher taxes and don't have this problem.
[/QUOTE]

 

[bigleo48]

3. Going 100% cashless could help some both for inside & outside job thefts but it will do nothing for mindless vandalism. No need to repeat that some CC can increase volume because ... if totally cashless ... the traffic could go the other way since there will always be a percentage of customers who will prefer cash.

4. One of the strong points that our Founding Fathers in our USA Constitution was & is the rule of law needed. When our country decided to branch out into unnecessary extra self serving government or quasi government enhancements at the expense to a vast number of us & using the excuse of fictitious improved law enforcement & education ... we wind up much worse off including our customers. By worse off ... the most basic gets neglected & the more frivolous is emphasized.

mike walsh king koin USA

Can't do much about the mindless, but it is symptomatic of society when it becomes a larger problem.

Point 4...I'm not even sure what your saying...but I do get that you do have a big beef against your government.

 

[mjwalsh]

Don't agree. There are many places in the world with much higher taxes and don't have this problem.

[/QUOTE]

Big Leo,

My employees, my customers, & myself are very thankful & appreciative that the majority of the state legislators did not agree with you!!!

mike walsh king koin of USA