Old timer but new here.

[Phish]

Can some one explain to me How come the Cards cost so much and the difference between the two.
I need a stright answer not a sales pitch PLEASE.

Thank you

[freebird]

I'm new and thinking about going the card way?
But why do the card cost so much I was in New York city where the subways use magnetic cards.

It works for them why not have the same cards system

[anonymous]

They use very flimsy cards that are less durable and cost less, but the major issue probably has to do with the fact that they buy millions of cards at a time and we buy a couple of thousand at a time.

You don't have to buy most magnetic cards from your system supplier. Their are vendors around on the Internet where you can get nice custom printed cards for 20-25 cents per card.

[Walter]

Smart Cards, the more expensive kind, have a micro chip embedded in the card that contains all relevant customer information.

Magnetic cards contain only a magnetic stripe with limited information that is used to access the detailed information on the laundromat's database.

The magnetic cards are much, much less expensive to purchase. IMO, (and I know others will disagree), magnetic cards are the only way to go.

Walter

[freebird]

This site is GREAT!

So you're telling me the magnetic are 20 or so cents apiece?
That means they are made for pennies.

I like the idea I could have my dryers run not only at 25 cents.

So you like the magnetic better than the chip?

[DaveLevenson]

There are advantages and disadvantages of both systems. A few that come to mind:

Mag stripe cards cost less, and contain only a card number. The data indicating the cash balance on the card is contained in a central computer in your store. Every machine in the store that is equipped with a card-reader must be wired to the central computer. When the card-reader in a laundry machine reads a customer's card, it communicates with the computer to check the account balance, start running, and adjust the balance. If the central computer is down, no machine can start. The central computer knows the current balance on every card, and can produce productivity and revenue reports by customer, by machine, by date and time, etc.

Chip cards cost more, and contain the current account balance on the chip. Every machine in the store that is equipped with a chip card reader can read the balance from a customer's card, debit the balance, and start running. No central computer is needed, and if you have one, machines can still start when it is down. Without the central computer and the wired connection to every laundry machine, you don't get the reports described above. Instead, you carry a special-purpose chip card and insert it in each machine, collecting data from each. You then put that card into your computer and it can produce the reports.

Both systems free the owner from handling coin, and allow penny-increment pricing. Both systems require a substantial investment in card-readers, card vending and value-transfer machines. Both are more useful if the laundry machines are networked to the central computer, but for chip-cards, this is optional.

There is another system offering some of the advantages of both but less expensive up front: it is a system that uses the customer's existing MasterCard or Visa credit/debit card. You don't have to supply cards or the value-transfer machine. But you have to have a credit card merchant account, and you have to pay transaction fees and a small percentage of every sale.

[Follow]

would you post a link for credit card/debit sytem..thanks

[DaveLevenson]

The vendor is Set-O-Matic.

http://setomatic.com

Tell them you saw their link on Coinwash.com

[Monarch]

These things are killing US!! And for that reason, you know I have no axe to grind. Were I to go out an invest several hundred thousands of dollars in a new laundry you can bet your backside I would be going to card. The pricing flexiblity, and the security issues are convincing enough. Now, the last time I checked it is not economical to do only a very small laundry yet, but that will change as time goes by and card systems get better and less expensive.

The info given above is correct. Mag cards are less expensive then embedded chip cards. But the chip cards will give you more data, IF that is what you need. Sometimes more data is just so much swamp gas that can get you bogged down in details to the point you miss the bigger operational picture.

Good luck with it.!

Norman

[Amex]

Monarch,
When are you going to offer a card system?

[Fred50]

The info given above is correct. Mag cards are less expensive then embedded chip cards. But the chip cards will give you more data, IF that is what you need. Sometimes more data is just so much swamp gas that can get you bogged down in details to the point you miss the bigger operational picture.

Good luck with it.!

Norman

I am an extremely happy user of a CCI Mag Card System and I agree with most of Monarch's comments. However, the point about chip systems having more available is not true. If a chip or mag system are networked, then the same or similar data are easily available from both.

Data overload is certainly possible, but you can make great use of the available data to make wise business decisions and to out market your competition.

[fishmanz]

I have to agree with Fred here Monarch. You don't get to collect any more info with a smart card versus a mag.
The biggest downfall with chip is that if the customer looses his card, thats it the info is gone,card balance and all.

If one of my mag customers loose his card, I pull up his account and transfer the info to another card and shut the lost one off. No fuss, no muss!

$4. vs. .90 is a big incentive too because I don't have to charge for my cards. I give them away. The big guy up the street,(Laundromats), has to charge $3 for his chippers. Jim

[Amex]

I wonder how much Kinkos/fedex is loosing with their chip cards. I get a new card for free every time I go there and make a $1 in copies. I wonder what they pay for their smart cards?

[fishmanz]

All that and the original poster, Phish never came back to read it. I liked his screen name too, lol Jim

[Monarch]

I stand corrected. What I know about cards is from watching threads on various sites, the trade mags, visiting the booths at such things as the CLEAN shows, and actually talking with people who use them.

And this is why Monarch will not get into the card systems. We do not have the technical base to support the system. And SUPPORT is the name of the game on these. We would have to rely on systems that we would buy, and then resell. The better systems are already available to all of you anyway, so it would be foolish for us to add another layer to the distributions system. It would be even more difficult (and VERY expensive) to try to introduce a whole new system to the laundry industry. I know Harvey Gitland at ESD has spent more to get his systems marketable then Monarch earns in two years. And most of the expense was in developing a support system for the product.

We are, and always have been essentially a bunch of Blacksmiths. We do mechanisms from die casting, stampings, metal fabricating, machining, and assembly, which is very little different from anything that could have been done any time in the last 50 years. We do very little in the electronics end, as that is not where our experience lies. It's a matter of stick with whatcha know.

A story to illustrate that point occured several years back. A company that we had worked with since 1946 was making money hand over fist in the games industry. In 1994, they had money to invest, so where better to put their money to use then to buy - - - - an airline? Within four years their company was broke and they were auctioned off. Fifty years of building a company down the tubes because they wandered away from their knowledge base.

At least ESD is doing something that parallels their other product lines and are still in the same industry that they have dealt with all along. Harvey may be a competitor of ours, but he has always had my respect.

And now you know.

Norman Martin

[pete f]

I have to agree with Fred here Monarch. You don't get to collect any more info with a smart card versus a mag.
The biggest downfall with chip is that if the customer looses his card, thats it the info is gone,card balance and all.

If one of my mag customers loose his card, I pull up his account and transfer the info to another card and shut the lost one off. No fuss, no muss!

$4. vs. .90 is a big incentive too because I don't have to charge for my cards. I give them away. The big guy up the street,(Laundromats), has to charge $3 for his chippers. Jim

Not quite. I have a chip card system,. my cards cost me $1.60, I charge $1 for them so I make more on my chip system then you make on your mag system and it cost me about 1/2 to install. yes I had quotes for both. There are many systems becuase there are many situations, one will not cover all. You are correct about the lost card, but isn't that part of the float sales pitch?

Standard bailed on Debitek system last year, maybe Monarch should look into that, as Debitek is more collage oriented, and more focused on vending and other places, like prisons. Hartland recenlty bought them

http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/file.aspx?IID=4094417&FID=2105473

Tell them you saw their link on Coinwash.com