Open for Business

[carwashfng]

I finally opened the doors this past Saturday. The 4 bay self wash has been going gang busters. The cars just keep coming. For those who don't remember from my original post. This is a quarters only operation. Change machine up front and feed quarters at the meter box. A good problem that I am having is full meter boxes with quarters every day. I can monitor via live feed cameras. I will see cars pull up and quickly reposition to a different bay. I know there is a problem when that happens.
I have found 3 meter boxes full at a time with jammed feeders.
A few questions.
Has anyone ever enlarged a coin box? Maybe some sort of custom design? Cut into the CMU block wall and somehow create more space? I am a two hour drive from the wash. I had to jam up there to empty boxes yesterday after emptying the boxes not 24 hours prior. My plan was to empty every 3-4 days. Not every other day.
Would swapping to tokens be a good idea? I can save coin box space with a $1 token taking the place of 4 quarters. The meters are set at $4/4min. Most customers are depositing 32-48 quarters per wash which takes up quite a bit of real estate in the coin box.
I briefly asked about tokens previously. I believe my change machine and meter boxes can do tokens based off a few comments earlier. I don't know how to do the swap, but if it can be done I can figure it out.
Short of somehow enlarging the coin box and changing to tokens I don't have any other ideas. I don't trust hiring someone for emptying boxes. I am going to be doing lots of driving if I can't get a solution going. Thanks!

 

[OurTown]

Great problem to have! Yes, $1 tokens would help but credit card readers may help even more. Although it might be a big project you could put these in down below the bay boxes. They are made to be embedded in the brick. You would have a chute made from pipe or conduit going from under the coin box to the top of them. They are much more secure than most of the built in bay box coin boxes. They are put in horizontally not vertically like the photo shows.

https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-2372-saf10-000000-round-stainless-steel-safe-10-inch.aspx

 

[carwashfng]

Thanks OurTown. Yes, I should have mentioned CC readers would help. I plan on doing CC, but not in the immediate future. I will check out the vault option!

 

[OurTown]

I just thought of something. Do you have built out brick bunkers with the bay boxes flush in them or are the boxes surface mounted to the walls?

 

[carwashfng]

Box is recessed into the cinder block. Picture attached.

 

[David Rolf]

I had this same issue when I refurbished my wash in 2018. I am also two hours away from my wash and was heading over every 3 days. Not good. Credit cards took the pressure off the vaults and increased my revenue very nicely. Now I only go over once a week. Nice problem to have I must say.

 

[OurTown]

Box is recessed into the cinder block. Picture attached.

In that case, I doubt you have the depth for a drop safe.

 

[Keno]

Accepting Credit cards are the single biggest revenue increase you can do on a SS wash.

Start dispensing $1 coins and accepting quarters and $1 coins, will quickly alleviate your coin box space issue. Customers are more willing to get $1 coins that can be spent anywhere over $1 tokens. We've tried tokens at 2 locations with less than stellar results - and I understand why, I personally don't want tokens from a business i visit either.

 

[edredtop]

Since you already have the internet at your location, you could pick your busiest bay and try credit card acceptance for about $900 or less. (ask Roz if he still has some used ones for sale..)
Totally agree that it's a good decision to get away from dispensing quarters if you can.
Tokens are a great solution for the exact reasons you gave and the walkaway value.
Keno makes a good point, but I would consider the following in your decision-making process as well:
Consider the potential for and the cost of damage to your business when thieves go after those shiny gold dollars.
*I have a library of pix documenting the lengths that thieves will go through to get some "free" scratch. They've never been successful, but they've cost me plenty.
*If you put $5K in dollar coins in your bill changer, there will always be $5K in your bill changer because it's a one for one exchange. That's a juicy target and if the thieves are successful, that's another $5K in coins AND the cost of repairs to get back in business. It's better to have that dough somewhere safe and let the tokens do some of the security work. The walkaway token profit isn't bad either, I buy 10 thousand $1 tokens every 18 months.
*By reducing the volume of coins going through your coin acceptors, you reduce your chances of a jam in one of the bays (whether it's a dollar or a token.)

 

[Earl Weiss]

I added a side Box for Paper Bill acceptance and later used that to mount the Credit card Swipers . This cut back on Quarter usage.

 

[Keno]

Walkaway token profit sounds good in theory, but if you factor in loss of business due to token dispensing only, I would guess most are losing more business than the walkaway profit. This has been our experience, given our sample size is very low, only 2 locations we have tried tokens. I would not have a token only dispenser, they only way I would put tokens at a site going forward is if I can dispense $1 coins and tokens. Which is what we have done at our locations with tokens.

 

[carwashfng]

Thanks for all of the insight. I see the pro's and con's of all the suggestions. I like the idea of $1 coins. Thievery will almost without a doubt increase with the dollar coins. Tokens seem like a viable option, all things considered. CC machines will be installed sometime in the future, which will alleviate some of the coin box space issue. How easy or difficult is it to move to a token? How does the changer swap from quarter to token? How does the meter box start accepting tokens? I can do it if it can be done, I just don't know how to do it.

 

[chaz]

We are at our wash at least twice a day. I can only imagine what it would look like if we went just every three days

 

[edredtop]

Thanks for all of the insight. I see the pro's and con's of all the suggestions. I like the idea of $1 coins. Thievery will almost without a doubt increase with the dollar coins. Tokens seem like a viable option, all things considered. CC machines will be installed sometime in the future, which will alleviate some of the coin box space issue. How easy or difficult is it to move to a token? How does the changer swap from quarter to token? How does the meter box start accepting tokens? I can do it if it can be done, I just don't know how to do it.

I'm sure others can add to this, but here's what I've learned..
*Start with the token.
Contact a company like Van Brook Tokens that will send you a sample kit so you can decide on what fits your requirements/preferences. Keep in mind, brass tokens tend to lose their new appearance and will require maintenance to keep clean where nickle plated will retain their shiny appearance.
*I would strongly recommend a security token to avoid crossover tokens from any competitors or pizza joints.
*You can choose reeded or unreeded edges on the tokens.
This was very helpful when we purched a carwash that was using a standard issue 50 cent token. The 50 centers were smooth edged and our new $1 token choice was reeded. Each time we collected, we would hold them in a way that we could pick the old tokens out and get them out of circulation. After about a year when they stopped coming in, we just closed the channel on the coin acceptors.
*When you pick your token, contact the hopper manufacturer for the right dispenser wheel. (Diameter/thickness)
*Check your coin acceptors for multichannel capability (the ability to take a quarter, AND a token or more.)The more channels, the more options.
Example: IDX MA850
*Get a coin sorter to separate the coins from the tokens.
Example: Scan Coin 303
*Having a multichannel acceptor combined with a security token will give you options in the future such as adding a $5 token or switching out a token as someone on this site mentioned earlier this year due to a metal shortage.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Better idea is figure out how much it's going to cost to convert to tokens. Take that amount and you will be able to add credit card to at least one bay if not more. You're going to increase your revenue far more with credit card than with tokens and it's not even close.

 

[edredtop]

Better idea is figure out how much it's going to cost to convert to tokens. Take that amount and you will be able to add credit card to at least one bay if not more. You're going to increase your revenue far more with credit card than with tokens and it's not even close.

(Didn't I say this already?)

He's looking for immediate relief to reduce the frequency of a 2 hour drive. Gas consumes revenue.

 

[Randy]

Being 2 hours away is a huge problem, one that I wouldn’t do. It’s bad enough being 40 minutes away from my wash. We go there 3 times a week and that’s bad enough but then there’s the call out for this or that problem. You need to find a person who can do your clean up and can trust to do light repairs, my clean up guy goes to the wash 4 days a week for about an hour. I would not go to Dollar coins, you’re opening yourself up to vandalism. Not knowing what you have inside your coin boxes it’s pretty hard to tell you what you’ll need to do to start using tokens or credit cards. What kind of timers and coin acceptors do you have? Pictures of the insides of your coin boxes are always a big help. Your bill changer is easy to change over the tokens, I’ve changed over a lot of them. I would start thinking about going to credit cards. We just pulled out our card swipers and installed the Cryptopay Tap n pay plus system at 2 of ours washes, so far they have been working great. As with any business that is new or has reopened after being closed the public will flock to it like gangbusters and after a couple of months business will begin to flatten out and be at that level, give or take. Right now it’s a knee jerk reaction as to what to do with the immediate problem you have at hand. Wait until the fall and winter rains come to the coast mountain range of northern California business will drop off.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

(Didn't I say this already?)

He's looking for immediate relief to reduce the frequency of a 2 hour drive. Gas consumes revenue.

Yup, and I still believe adding cc is going to be more of a relief than adding tokens. CC acceptors don't need a functioning change machine, tokens do and we all know that changers tend to go down more often on a busy, sunny Saturday.

 

[Randy]

With a population of only 1800, once the newest wears off it go back down to a more manageable level of business. I don't any need to panic and spend a lot money all at once.

 

[ShinePro]

Being 2 hours away is a huge problem, one that I wouldn’t do. It’s bad enough being 40 minutes away from my wash. We go there 3 times a week and that’s bad enough but then there’s the call out for this or that problem. You need to find a person who can do your clean up and can trust to do light repairs, my clean up guy goes to the wash 4 days a week for about an hour. I would not go to Dollar coins, you’re opening yourself up to vandalism. Not knowing what you have inside your coin boxes it’s pretty hard to tell you what you’ll need to do to start using tokens or credit cards. What kind of timers and coin acceptors do you have? Pictures of the insides of your coin boxes are always a big help. Your bill changer is easy to change over the tokens, I’ve changed over a lot of them. I would start thinking about going to credit cards. We just pulled out our card swipers and installed the Cryptopay Tap n pay plus system at 2 of ours washes, so far they have been working great. As with any business that is new or has reopened after being closed the public will flock to it like gangbusters and after a couple of months business will begin to flatten out and be at that level, give or take. Right now it’s a knee jerk reaction as to what to do with the immediate problem you have at hand. Wait until the fall and winter rains come to the coast mountain range of northern California business will drop off.

I agree with everything here.
But- I love dollar coins and so do my Customers !!!!!!!!
Although I m 5 minutes from either wash, I have had no vandalism, and my bank is very helpful to accommodate my needs.