Customer Card Balance - a surprise

[Anonymous]

Customers constantly amaze me. Most customers keep a low balance on their cards from week to week. Some even bitch that they have to have a balance. Then there are others that keep maybe a $10 - $20 balance on the card.

Well last night I was dumping the log file for the day and saw a card with a balance of over $80 on it. At first I started to worry what was going on. This morning I did some scrutiny on the account.

The person came in with a balance of $90.75 on the card, used a bunch of 35# and 18# machines and then dried everything. They added $22 to the card all in singles while in the store, and when they left they had a balance of $89.85 on the card. I guess this particular customer likes to keep about $90 on the card - maybe it prevents them from spending the money on other vices.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's a little bit of a savings account.....they like to charge up the card while they have the cash. That way, when they're a little short, at least they have "money in the bank" and can wash their clothes. You might have to register with the state and start paying interest on these deposits!

[Mungo Spike]

Wow ... I programmed a $40 limit on the cards in my store, so I don't see big balances like you described.

Your story made me revisit the question of why I chose a $40 limit when I started out. I think I was concerned about people losing cards or cards being stolen with big balances on them - which would probably create a negative feeling toward using my laundromat.

In reality, the only positive effect of the $40 limit that I can actually see has been to squash customers who try to say, "I put 50 bucks on this card when I came in, started only one machine, and now it has only 15 bucks on it."

Mungo