New Self Service Credit Card Acceptors

[thoffmanjr]

You’ve heard of the guys in the southeast that have turned their locations into an unlimited location for a $5 or so fee? They’re claiming increased sales and profits, which I believe are true. Our sites are not configured to allow this to work easily.

What if: You could have regular cash pricing that works normally as it does now and you add a credit card system that does count up with a STOP button and display that would charge the customer up to $8 and continues running. In other words charge like $1 / minute and when they hit $8 the price freezes and the time keeps running. Along with that you could invite them to vacuum on the lot for free if they swipe with the same credit card. The vacuum credit card reader could pulse 4 minutes to the vacuum timer. The vacuum credit card reader could also be used to sell vacuum time for pay if the customer didn’t wash.

Earlier this spring we did a direct mail piece that was heavy stock plastic that had a break out gift card preloaded with $10 on it. You could promote it easily with something like that. We sent out 50,000 and got back around 7,500.

You could put an ultrasonic sensor in the bay to detect vehicle to enable the system to shut down after the vehicle exits so people couldn’t share the wash as easily if at all. You could also enable a 30-45 minute maximum.

What do you think? Good idea?

Micrologic will have wireless credit card readers available soon and they could make this happen if there is enough interest. Clear credit cards with any clearing house so you could shop for the best rates. No PC required on site.

 

[bigleo48]

An interesting idea...but a little too complicated IMHO. I would also worry about other types of abuse...like if a guy left the machine running with an expensive option (like rainX) while he toweled off his car. Also, we wouldn't be able to move any customers on those spring days we get where we're lined up down the street. Those weeks account for a lot of our bottom line.

The idea I like better is the subscription one...implemented for the SS bays. So you designate a certain amount of bays with RFID tag recognition and allow say $8/day washing for like $30/month. I was also trying to implement this using fleet cards. My Unitec washpay system allows a card to have a maximum set dollar amount per day and one use per day limit. Unfortunately with their design, it only stops the card from being used when it reaches the set amount...so you could swipe it everywhere during that 10mins and turn the machines on. I've had some talks with them on fixing that in their new gen server...not sure whey they are with it.

 

[mjc3333]

I am split on a gated wash in the northeast region of the country.

Our busy season, the winter/spring, would not be able to handle the through put needed on very busy days. All of our business in the winter comes in just a few days each month. How can we tell our "paying" customers to "hurry up" for the next customers waiting in line? We actually need extra bays "just" for those very busy days to compensate the rush.

I think in warmer climates such as the southeast, the washes are more even keeled when it comes to a flow of wash traffic, where as a "mad" rush, say after a 1 inch snowfall followed by 40 to 45 temps in the northeast would overwhelm a gated system.

With that said, the Northeast is practically dead in the fall season. The gated system would then give us a boost.

This is why I am split on a gated system.

I like both Tom's idea and Bigleo's if that makes any sense.

There is definitely a market for some kind of pay one price for all regions of the country. I just don't think gated would work efficiently for some.

 

[robert roman]

What you propose Tom is a variation of pay-one-price (POP), with a time limit.

POP is pay say $5.00, wash all you want now, unlimited time, today only.

Unlimited washing is pay say $20.00 for the month and wash as many days as you want, once per day.

Subscription-only washing is pay say $60 for the year and wash as many days as you want, once per day.

With POP, the hope is customers will spend a reasonable amount of time.

With unlimited and subscription, the hope is customers will behave normally, washing two or three times a month.

Unlimited washing is a proven strategy in the conveyor segment. Subscription is untested.

POP is proven with old, out-dated, low volume facilities.

So, is the increase in sales because of POP (equipment and splash) or the “new-car” look and feel (how the customer is treated)?

I’d bet on the 80 percent.