Card Concepts update

[Fred50]

As most of you know, I am a happy user of the CCI (Card Concepts Inc) card system.

I wanted to share some new developments from them at the Clean Show that Kitty referred to in a previous post that proves that they really listen to their users.

The main development is that they are now offering a wash club that they call "Wash & Win". This should cut down on multiple card users for those of us that don't charge a card deposit - we don't have to due to the low cost of the card. It is more flexible than a standard wash club. You can determine a % of total spending that customers will be able to use as a bonus as opposed to # of washers. In addition, you can decide what percentage of the bonus (when it reaches a predetermined WIN level) that they can spend on a single wash.

The customer is notified when they have reached the WIN level at the main screen. It also shows a progress bar each time towards the next WIN level. The best part is that this is totally automated.

CCI will be supplying all of the necessary marketing materials to support this. The stuff looks very sharp.

Other developments include:

-Refund tracking
-The ability to download any of the main data tables
-Automated archiving of month-end reports
-Automated caculation of daily machine average revenue
-Online reporting of highest average spending by user

And several others that slip my mind at the moment. I'll update this post after I get the upgrade and I have a chance to use it.

I saw other companies that have rolled out touch screen card systems and I am still very impressed by CCI.

For those of you that went to the show, please share your observations & discoveries.

[mike]

I'm still undecided what system to install in my next new mat (I won't refit yet)

While Kirby has brought me around to the benefits of cards,
I still want to have a system where the customer uses his visa or mastercard (let THEM pay for the cards !)
I believe it will come within a couple of years, I can wait.

I was quoted about $40,000. for a 20 washer 20 dryer store from one company, (CCI)
I found it too expensive as a % of total store cost, plus the ongoing cost of cards, just my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Mike, do your math carefully, if you need help I would be glad to look at your figures. I did a retrofit with the card system and I figure it paid for itself in just over two years. That is a damn good return on investment.

An example of the flexibility is that my sewer bill just went up by 8% the other day, last night I upped the washer costs by 5 to 10 cents to pay for this all from the comfort of my home. I was certain to put a sign in the laundromat explaining that they should all complain to their councilman as this was just a pass along in costs imposed on them by the town :)

[pete f]

I looked (thought I did) at all the card systems at the show, and sorry to say I missed CCI. One of the factors is it cost as much to equip a store that does 65k a year gross as it does to equip a store that does 200k a year gross. We know cash flow ratios, so you see a potential problem justifying the costs. I agree with mike, to a degree, that I want customers to be able to use thier debit.credit cards as well as cash. I saw a couple systems that offer that, and may persue some more intense thought. I have to juggle what I have that works with what I think will work better for the customer, not me. Doing a total re tool or a new store seems to make more sense, you can get credit back for not getting coin box or coin acceptors, about equal to the cost of a card acceptor.

[Anonymous]

If you want people to use credit / debit cards why not just put in an ATM, that way they can convert their credit / debit card to cash to put into your system. That way you avoid the cost and avoid the risk of getting stuck with bad cards.

[Fred50]

There are card systems out there that will allow you to accept credit & debit cards. However, I would not want the fees to cut into my margin. I have a bank next door to me and I would have installed an ATM if I didn't.

It's definitely a different analysis when you talk about retooling a store vs. building new for a number of things, including a card system. However, as Kirby mentioned, card systems can pay for themselves in a very short period of time if used properly.

[Anonymous]

Mark - be careful not to make this too complex other wise it will be a wash and loose. I have found that most customers are very stupid. Even the smart ones seem very stupid at times. Just this morning I went in to fix a machine with a comb stuck in the drain and found a man with four cards. I asked him why and he told me that three of them were just about empty. I explained that he could add money to them and he was just shocked - had no idea. This guy spoke english and seemed fairly educated. I then pointed above the card machine to the big 2' by 4' sign that is hanging by chains from the ceiling that says if you use the same card 15 times that you earn a free wash. He never noticed it there. Sometimes you just have to wonder.

[David]

Originally posted by Kirby
.... I then pointed above the card machine to the big 2' by 4' sign that is hanging by chains from the ceiling that says if you use the same card 15 times that you earn a free wash. He never noticed it there.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was good.

I was explaining to one of my long term customers about the soap dish on the Wascomat. I simply repeated some of the instructions from the label. "I never knew that.", she said.

I think people (and I'll include myself in this observation.) don't take the time to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Maybe we don't want to APPEAR stupid by reading instructions.

[ChuckB]

For what it is worth, in one of my previous lives we did educational research and found there was a direct correlation between education (degrees) and an inability to follow directions. Ph.d's were the worst!

We called it the "too smart to be told what to do" syndrome.