Self Serve Credit Card Acceptors

[cdreed06]

We are thinking of putting credit card acceptors in our self serve bays. I know there has been lots of discussions on here about them but new things come out every day. Has anybody used the Fragramatics unit? I understand it kinda works on the cell phone network. Any opinions would be great. We do currently accept cc in our automatic. Thanks

 

[cellardale@aol.com]

I installed them only a month ago. Acceptance has been very slow. I have tokens as a supplement for cc users and token usage has not fallen off at all.

 

[cdreed06]

Thanks for your reply. How is the performance of the unit in general? How does it work? Thanks in advance.

 

[cellardale@aol.com]

Easy to install and use. When customer swipes, the timers start counting up. System can be set to round off at 5 cents, 25 cents, etc. When customer is finished, customer pushes very visible stop button and the charge ends. customer can swipe multiple times and locations at your carwash and the merchant is only charged for a single use. So far the system was down for an incorrect date error, and this was only one time. I did not know as the lights on the swipers were still running correctly, customer had to tell me system would not work. The techs at cryptopay called it a minor bug and promised a fix would be available shortly. Short term fix was to shut off bay and turn back on. The major drawback at this point is their signage. I have had to discard their signs and add more detailed signage to get the use up.

 

[robert roman]

The pro/con “plastic” payment debate is over. Do the math. There are 80 million Gen-Y, 49 million Gen-X and 76 million Boomers. These three cohorts account for 67 percent of U.S. population. Gen-Y is predominately cashless payment, Gen-X is mostly cashless and more than 1/2 of Boomers are cashless.

Low usage of plastic payment can be attributed to counterproductive things like continuing to offer tokens; not having a card swipe system (consolidation) or loyalty program; or not spending enough time “on site” to educate customers and promote plastic payment.

We find it takes at least three months to adequately educate customers about a new wash and about two months for new products/services. A couple of signs aren’t going to cut it.

 

[mjwalsh]

Cdreed, Robert, & others,

The below link is a far cry from a high percentage of people demanding to be 100% cashless.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FinancialSecurity/story?id=89817&page=1

For some of us ... the publics urge to use plastic ... can be satisfied by having a strategically located ATM for the smaller transaction self service bays.

We did the math & continue to do the math here at our location for the self service bays. We do not have an automatic but have 6 self serve bays, 4 vacs & 2 dog wash rooms plus our 50+ machine laundromat. Our 5 ATM signs are being read & there seems to be no learning curve or additional need for valuable personnel to show plastic usage ... for the normal newly getting acquainted customer turnover. Since the ATMs give out $5 bills we notice a definite increase in $5s within our in bay bill acceptors with no complaints.

Especially on weekends when the weather is nice we have a healthy steady flow of customers. I shudder & squirm thinking about what would have happened if we would have followed the proponents of not just allowing but actually encouraging either the government &/or the banks to get at the high numbers that occur by taking significant percentages of the gross income before expenses rather than the net after expenses.

This is not based on speculation ... it is based on almost 1.5 years of solid, trouble free ... more than paid for itself ... ATM use at our location.

What is also relevant within this discussion ... is making $1 & $2 coins dominant rather than $1 bills. $2 bills could be substituted for the $2 coin though like some propose.

From an owners perspective, there is value for some high security areas to not have any cash whatsoever ... but those areas would still tend to be prone to senseless mindless vandalism anyway. The extra money spent on the significant credit card percentages etc could be routed into improving our defenses along that line.

mike

 

[robert roman]

There are always exceptions to rule. However, mainstream continues to trend towards plastic, less cash. I asked my 22-year old daughter what she and her peers would think of having to carry and use dollar coins. She laughed at me. So lies the future of dollar coins.

 

[Earl Weiss]

There are always exceptions to rule. However, mainstream continues to trend towards plastic, less cash. I asked my 22-year old daughter what she and her peers would think of having to carry and use dollar coins. She laughed at me. So lies the future of dollar coins.

Ask her how often she writes a check. Another eye opener.

 

[Earl Weiss]

We find it takes at least three months to adequately educate customers about a new wash and about two months for new products/services. A couple of signs aren’t going to cut it.

If I wanted a hands on labor intensive business I would be a lawyer instead of in the SS business

I know that it seemed like a short time of Bill acceptor use that my quarter usage dropped by 50%. (No signs except for what is on the seperate box but there are flashing lights as well.) Might have dropped more if the Vacs all had Bill acceptors.

Time will tell what happens with CC usage over the next few months with a couple of signs, but the cryptopay "Waterfall" changing lights is an attention grabber as well.

 

[cdreed06]

I am looking into the Cryptopay system as well. Right now we are looking at installing the cc on the existing 8 selection meter box with the intention of being able to upgrade our meter boxes and carry the cc system over to the new boxes. But the new boxes are down the road, don't think we can justify the cost of them right now. I personally use my debit card for probably 98% of my transactions anywhere.

 

[Earl Weiss]

with the intention of being able to upgrade our meter boxes and carry the cc system over to the new boxes. But the new boxes are down the road, don't think we can justify the cost of them right now. I personally use my debit card for probably 98% of my transactions anywhere.

Curious. What will new meter boxes give you that you do not have now. In otehr words what will justify the cost?

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I am looking into the Cryptopay system as well. Right now we are looking at installing the cc on the existing 8 selection meter box with the intention of being able to upgrade our meter boxes and carry the cc system over to the new boxes. But the new boxes are down the road, don't think we can justify the cost of them right now. I personally use my debit card for probably 98% of my transactions anywhere.

Have you looked at Wash Gear vs. Cryptopay as far as cost and reliability?
Which ever you think is right for you maybe you should see if it is cost effective
to just add 1 or 2 bays at a time.
Spread the cost out especially with the winter coming it might be worth it.

 

[cdreed06]

Thank you JMMustang, I haven't looked into them yet but will. We are a smaller operation with just 3 self serve bays. Earl, we currently have smaller boxes with 8 selections. Eventually we would like the incorporate bill accceptors and have 10 selections with tri-foam being one. Thanks everybody for the response.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Thank you JMMustang, I haven't looked into them yet but will. We are a smaller operation with just 3 self serve bays. Earl, we currently have smaller boxes with 8 selections. Eventually we would like the incorporate bill accceptors and have 10 selections with tri-foam being one. Thanks everybody for the response.

I added a seperate Bill acceptor box so I did not need to change the box.

I am pretty sure you could simply change the rotary switch from an 8 to a 10as long as you have or can pull wire with enough conectors. . This might save a lot of work and expense.

Having the seperate Box may or may not be better for attracting use, but a least if some numb nuts attacks it they don't destroy the main box.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Check out the 4th. box down.
I'm not sure if this is what Earl has but I put 2 of these in 2 bays to see how they worked many years ago. Their great and worth buying.
I would buy these first.
The nice thing about them is if someone tries to break into the bill acceptor box you won't be shut down totally because you will still have the coin acceptor box working since they are 2 separate boxes. Most likely the SOB won't try or have time break into 2 boxes.
Fortunately I have not had anyone try to break into the bill acceptor boxes.

http://www.etowahvalleyequipment.com/bayboxes.html

 

[Earl Weiss]

Check out the 4th. box down.
I'm not sure if this is what Earl has but I put 2 of these in 2 bays to see how they worked many years ago. Their great and worth buying.
I would buy these first.
http://www.etowahvalleyequipment.com/bayboxes.html

Yep, hre's my setup.
http://youtu.be/HPBxcHLP3mg

Bought 4 boxes after an ICA show. Within a Month I bought 4 more.
Added box heaters to them.

 

[mjwalsh]

Just to give you guys a heads up. One of my friends on the Coin Laundry Assoc. BB Site explained about a somewhat new development that some of you might want to consider as part of your totally cashless (ugh) mindsets. There is no question that it would raise a "bar" even further in favor of those gross receipt taker banking interests. Based on my 1.5 year experience with a more proven strategically located ATM I personally am careful about going as hogwild as some of you. I do respect the fact that many of you have other considerations & your location happens to lend itself better to cashless. If it clearly proves to continuously more than offset the current & potential %'s & transaction fees then go for it. Hopefully, the cell phone ability will not be too costly of an upgrade.

http://www.planetlaundry.com/forum/showthread.php?p=76153#post76153

The above thread might give some of you a hint to the potential of even further raising of the "bar" on our smaller self service transactions. BTW Brian's from the Okie laundromat is by far the exception ... since that business's profit margin can be even less than our self service car washes.

I also use credit card (those perks are pretty attractive) for almost everything; but I & others do not want to weaken the cash acceptance process option as an unintended consequence. Most people do not base their smaller transaction choices on whether the competitive service accepts credit card or cell phone payment options.

It seems that the following quote from one of our founding fathers quotes apply here to some extent:

Ben Franklin (Year 1759): "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

mike

 

[Earl Weiss]

The above thread might give some of you a hint to the potential of even further raising of the "bar" on our smaller self service transactions. BTW Brian's from the Okie laundromat is by far the exception ... since that business's profit margin can be even less than our self service car washes.


mike

For Car Wash operators who think times are tough with CC charges eating into margins, talk with gasoline retailers and you'll feel like you are living high on the hog.

I think the Google wallet type concept as a replacement for plastic will be huge. The ability to load multiple cards into one phone instead of carrying them around, locking them with a PIN, using the same system for loyalty rewards will be great for the consumer and the loyaly system possibilities can be great for retailers.

I think this will be huge. Tried to figure out how to make $ by investing. First Data clears the info, they were taken private by KKR, so invested in KKR. Wanted to invested in whoever makes the NFC chips, but I think that will be a small part of any companies revenue stream.

 

[Dcalhoun]

I was just crunching numbers today concerning cc acceptance. I do not think the debate is over - at least not in the heartland. I have not had a single customer ask for cc use in our ss bays, vacs, dog wash etc. Our automatic is currently at about 50% cash, 50% cc. We would need an increase in revenue of at least 10% to cover the cc fees/internet access etc not considering the equipment cost.

Why would I install something, that if successful, will result in decreased income - with no promise of increased sales - when customer demand is absent?

 

[Earl Weiss]

I never had anyone ask either but about 75 did the first month of use.

I try lots of stuff that may or may not work out.

Lots of people carry little cash and I want to make it as easy as possible for them to use me as opposed to a competitor. We also are an independant gasoline retailor and had to dig deep about 10 years ago to install pay at the pump.

One of the ways I tried to minimize the cost was to wait until the price was down to $350.00 per bay plus $350.00 for the central unit, and then I did only half the bays. It's too early to tell if I will do the other half.

So, yes, I took a chance spnding $1750.00 to see if it pays off.

While the intenet bill is $60.00 a month or so I picked up an added benefit of faster processing for the tunnel purchases making that aspect more efficient.