![]() ![]() With an installed card system, this task is much faster. ![]() With a coin system, you collect from every machine and there are a lot of coins. I would not recommend a card payment system for a store that will not be attended.Īs the owner, you need to dedicate your time each week to collecting money. Consider starting a customer-training program where you or your staff can work with customers one-on-one to educate them on how to use smart card. Thankfully, the percentage of these people is shrinking every year. You have to accept that you cannot please 100% of the people, 100% of the time. These customers will probably stay at a coin operated laundry - that is what they are comfortable with. Another drawback is that there are customers out there that refuse to accept and embrace new technologies. The systems are quite easy to use and some even offer video and audio to guide your customers through the process. One drawback to a card system is that your customers have to be trained how to use your system during their first visit. Our machines are designed to allow this in both coin and card vended systems. This not only conserves energy but conserves your energy expense too. Many newer stores are charging more for a hot or warm wash and less for a cold wash. The ability to set a vend price in smaller increments can give you more revenue flexibility too. Discuss this with your distributor partner. A card system may add considerable expense initially to a new laundry but it just may be an investment worth making. In an earlier chapter, we cited statistics that vend price is not one of the top 5 reasons why people surveyed said they visit a particular laundromat. Do you decrease your vend price to $1.75 US (over 10%) or keep your prices where they are or hope that not too many customers start going to his store? It is a difficult decision. Since your machines can only be priced in quarter coin increments, you have a dilemma. Now let’s assume that a nearby competitor is using a card system and to try to take away some of your customers, he prices similar capacity machines at $1.95 US. Most laundries using coins for vending in North America accept quarters as the smallest coin amount.įor example, let’s assume that your washer has a vend price of eight quarters ($2.00 US) to start the machine. This reason can be a rather significant competitive advantage. One of the most common reasons a card system is selected is because it allows the owner to price the washers and dryers in one penny increments. Smart cards and the competitive advantage A relatively easy concept, this is one laundry technology where your demographic and competitive information may play a major role in your decision. Using a card value center, your customers would add value to their cards using cash, a credit card or a debit card. It comes equipped with a magnetic strip or computer chip that activates the laundry equipment when the user inserts the card into a card reader that’s been installed on the washer or dryer. For the purposes of this guide, let’s refer to them as smart cards.Ī smart card is similar in size and look to a credit card. At the laundromat, the end customer can add value to that card and only redeem that value at the laundry. Most of these card operated laundries have a system installed that accepts a special card. After all, if your customers won’t use it, there isn’t much point in investing in it. Therefore, you really do need some research and some thinking before deciding on using a cashless system in your coin laundry. However, there has been a growing trend to use alternate payment systems. And a majority of stores still use coins today. When the vended laundry industry began, washers and dryers were equipped to accept coins for payment. There are pro’s and con’s to using either payment method. With consumers now able to pay bills online, use debit or credit card machines at the petrol station, at grocery stores, at retail stores, the question becomes, cash or card? For vended laundry owners it’s a question of what you feel is best for you and your business. The average person is using it less and less, cash that is. Chapter 10 : CASH VERSUS SMART CARDS: THE PROS AND THE CONS ![]()
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