Type of CC acceptance? ---- should I cover my head for putting out this birds eye vie

[mjwalsh]

I know lots of you are in pretty deep in & on any & all Credit Card Acceptance & for a significant amount of time also--- so what am going to propose may be repulsive to you!

It seems like an ATM for CC acceptance is the most practical as much as possible. It seems like an ATM giving out five dollar bills route should at least be considered for a location with a really effective alarm system. I suppose some operators have both & have settled in with the loyalty card aspect of the CC though. It seems there are other approaches such as bonus time & both paper & coin tokens that won't behave like the count up CC but what is wrong with being unique & have the ability to charge a bit less in the first place & consistently thereafter & still have more money left over to invest back into the business in other ways. That 10 plus % that many are paying overall for both the more upfront cost & the ongoing cost should be seriously considered. Dollar coins & higher valued tokens is normal nowadays coin & bill acceptance wise. That means less than one fourth of the money needs to be processed than when we had all quarters without accounting for inflation though. Of course if business is down because of the weather & the less volume for car washes in general it might still be less coin & bill processing than we used to so money handling could be a non issue.

Operators in states that have a hefty gross receipts tax or sales or whatever you want to call it seem like they would have a double whammy of hands all over in their pockets before the bottom line shows if they also got carried away with CC acceptance structured in a different way than ATM.

MJ

 

[soapy]

I opened a location in 2003 and went with a credit card to token machine thinking that people could use the tokens for all the wash bays as well as vacs and vending. At other locations I went with the in bay CC readers and had considerably more CC sales. I finally broke down a couple of years ago and added CC readers in each SS bay and kept my CC to token teller operating. CC sales were 7 times as much with the readers in each bay. The token teller machine sales fell off to only 50 to 100 dollars per month. Some months the token machine did not even cover its bank fees. The token teller machine has been shut down for 2 months and I have not got one complaint. In the bay readers are the way to go, take my word on it.

 

[MEP001]

I agree 100% with soapy.

The thought of an ATM over in-bay credit card acceptance is in my opinion very outdated and myopic. Also, the last time I used an ATM to get cash it cost me $8.50 in fees. I won't use one again unless I absolutely have to.

 

[mjwalsh]

I agree 100% with soapy.

The thought of an ATM over in-bay credit card acceptance is in my opinion very outdated and myopic. Also, the last time I used an ATM to get cash it cost me $8.50 in fees. I won't use one again unless I absolutely have to.

Soapy,

ATM is definitely significantly different than a CC to token machine. If I had tokens I would require cash & possibly give out bonus tokens for cash at my now repaired glass front Mega Vendor (once again attractive & pretty).

Mep,

Wow, I would be scarred too if that $8.50 happened to me. Those kind of extra charges to dishearten the customer --- I believe are not the norm. It depends on the area to some extent. In our area there is more than one credit union & at least one bank that covers ALL costs when they use an ATM --- non issue for those people. We will have the ATM with lower than the going local rate for our surcharge to do our part --- especially for our present & potential customers. We will avoid needing a bill breaker machine by giving out all fives. We moved all of our vending inside to a dryer area because of our harsh winters etc so we still want our car n dog wash customers to come into our not as damp laundromat area anyway. They will have to pass by the ATM on their way to the rest room by our free drinking fountain --- they will NOT be able to avoiding noticing the ATM. It happens way too often when I am in line at a store when the cashier is futzing with their swipes ---- even at Walmart. When a gas station attendant told me real cynically ---- the pump swipes are nice when they are working ---- it kind of tipped the scale for me even more. Since we have the laundromat we would need over 50 CC swipes to really be thorough & consistent. The odds are it will be easier to keep one CC swipe working perfectly than a bunch of CC swipes in the bay area where fine sand can spray into card openings etc. --- I would think.

So you see, for some of us it seems like a well maintained ATM is a better fit! Especially if we offer other amenities to offset the gains from the wonderful experience of going through the always perfect CC quick swipe in bay --- notice count up ---- find receipt --- away we go happily down the road on our way ---with minimum time spent other than washing vehicle! Not to mention the cash rewards we eventually get for using our CC card.

Should I continue covering my head?

MJ

 

[I.B. Washincars]

IMO most people use CC for the convenience. Once you make them go to an ATM you have made using their card inconvenient. The next roadblock is giving them all fives, which will cause many to go to the changer to break one of them. While the customer is jumping through these hoops his car is sitting in the bay without the meter running. I thought the CC to token machine was a great idea and was instrumental in getting one of the first ones manufactured. Long story short...it wasn't that great. I think an ATM will be worse because of the extra step for many and the fees, real or perceived. I have since put CC readers in the bays at one of my washes and plan to do more. This is what the customers like. I think anything less is a bust...just my $.02

 

[boywonder]

Soapy's right.

Credit card is the way to go. I don't have a debit card. Have never used an ATM. So why limit your customers to spend only what they carry in cash. I for one carry very little cash. Less than $20. I put everything on my credit card. So I probably wouldn't go to and use a wash that doesn't have credit card acceptance. You either pay for it now or pay for it later, but it'll be cheaper to do it now. Plus you don't have the security needs of cash on site and you limit your exposure. Cause no matter how secure something is, theres always a way to get past it.

 

[soapy]

I tried giving bonus tokens through the CC to token vendor. It made no difference. WHy not try just 2 bays at first setup for credit cards. Identify them as such and see what happens. Doing all the bays at once would be best but if you are concerned about money you could scale back at first.

 

[MEP001]

It happens way too often when I am in line at a store when the cashier is futzing with their swipes ---- even at Walmart. When a gas station attendant told me real cynically ---- the pump swipes are nice when they are working ---- it kind of tipped the scale for me even more. Since we have the laundromat we would need over 50 CC swipes to really be thorough & consistent. The odds are it will be easier to keep one CC swipe working perfectly than a bunch of CC swipes in the bay area where fine sand can spray into card openings etc. --- I would think.

I find this information strange to hear. I always buy fuel at the pump with a credit card, and for years I drove so much I had to fill up almost every day. I can't remember a time when the swipe didn't work. The grocery stores here lets you swipe your card while the cashier is still scanning your items. No futzing, and when they scan the last item they hand you your receipt faster than you can sign a check.

There are systems used in arcades that use a prepaid card - the hardware is very basic and nothing more than a reader attaches to each machine. I would assume there's something similar made for laundromats that would be much more cost-effective than a car wash credit card system that usually costs over $1,000 per bay to do.

 

[MEP001]

WHy not try just 2 bays at first setup for credit cards. Identify them as such and see what happens. Doing all the bays at once would be best but if you are concerned about money you could scale back at first.

That's what I did - I added credit card acceptance to the two busiest bays, and saw very quickly that it would pay off.

 

[kentadel]

I added credit card acceptance to my wash in Feb. I can tell you that CC is18% percent of revenue in the self service bays and 39% in the automatic bay, which has been open for less than a month. I can only think this is a trend that will grow. Customers want the convenience of using credit cards and many do not carry cash anymore. I would not make them go to an atm.