Spring2021_SSCWN_web

TRICKS OF THE
are a couple of fleet trucks that destroy my bays on
Sundays when I’m not there but have them on cameras
leaving a mess of mud. Also, I’m getting ready to
go to the cops too to get them banned so if they do
come on the property I can have them arrested for
trespassing. - COOLL903
My wash had a sign on the changer that said it dispenses
a mix of tokens and quarters. It worked for a
few years, then the owner at the time said he was
buying $500 to $1000 quarters a week to keep up.
At that point we changed the acceptors to take
.984 tokens and he would mix about 10% in with
the quarters which finally stopped the abuse.
Fast forward 15+ years and now it’s my wash. I’m
still throwing maybe 100 tokens into the changer
once a month and I can go a couple months before
I start losing a few quarters and have to add another
100 tokens. COVID comes along and suddenly
I’m losing 5000 quarters a week, so I order 10,000
tokens and had to run 80/20 quarters to tokens just
to keep up. I don’t take $1 coins, so I just dump the
tokens/quarters right back into the changer.
Bill acceptors in the bays or vacs is not an option.
They would be broken into.
Dollar coins would not be a better option than
just buying quarters. I would have to order dollar
coins from the bank, wait a week, and pay $550
for a box of 500, which would still disappear, confuse
my customers, and cause much more work for
myself. Not to mention spending some $5,000 in
coin acceptors, vacuum upgrades, and new vending
machines (mine are mechanical and the .984
token works fine in them with a coin mech insert
that accepts them).
A bill breaker might slow them down, but some of
them will get change, throw the tokens in the trash
and leave. I believe the quarter thieves would be unfazed.
I get a LOT of $10 and $20 bills and I would
lose a lot of business if I turned off acceptance.
The worst abusers would walk around and sell
the tokens to my customers, but usually don’t
come back. The ones I caught doing this I told
them it’s theft of service, same arrestable offense
as shoplifting. - MEP001
What I did was I had a sign made saying “Change
for Carwash Use Only.” Then I made a sticker saying
this changer dispenses a mixture of coins and tokens
that can only be used at this wash. I also turned off
$20 acceptance. I do have bill validators in bays and
vacs but all are wirelessly armed with my security
services. I have never been to the bank to buy coins.
The ones I catch I tell them something cause they
park right in front of changers. I would never recommend
adding bill validators cause it makes them a
target. Once they go out I do not replace them and
since cryptotap has come out I install the tap unit. -
DAMONI88
It’s a great excuse to change to $1 tokens. The high
security nickel plated are around .25 each. More
profitable than a vending machine and minimal investment.
I’m still getting customers putting twenties
in to buy tokens. Greatly reduces theft attempts.
- GREG PACK
Pre-Covid we had two change machines. One quarter
changer and one dollar coin. Once Covid hit and
the bank lobbies closed we noticed that the dollar
coins were disappearing more quickly. Apparently a
lot of laundromats and vending machines take these
(as well as apartment building laundries). We got rid
of the dollar coins and made both changers dispense
only quarters. Just wanted to share our experience.
We do still have to buy about $500 in quarters every
month and a half or so but we were buying dollar
coins weekly. - BERT79
I switched to tokens because I was getting killed on
quarters. Changed all my acceptors to multi-coin
and went with a token the size of a dollar coin and
valued at $1.00. I still accept quarters because a lot
of people bring them. Nice thing is every token that
doesn’t come back I make about .70 cents on. It is a
big investment and I didn’t want to do it but I was
running out of quarters. It is fun to get the call that
they wanted quarters for laundry and want a refund.
I tell them to wash or vac. Dunkin’ Donuts called
and got $100.00 worth of tokens and wanted a refund
and I told them to hand out one with every cup
of coffee. Lmao.
Also, I watched someone go to the other machine
after they put a 5 in and put a 20 in the other machine.
lol. - JSSHAC
I had that problem and then just shut off taking $20s.
Now my supply just stays the same. Don’t know exactly
why. - MAC
I had the same problem early on. Put changers on
timers that turned off at 11 p.m. and on at 6 a.m.
Problem went away. - TOM THUMB
I vend 1 1/8” tokens and bays accept quarters, tokens
and cc. I bought custom tokens, which are good for
marketing purposes.
This is the best way for me; no one is cleaning out a
supply of quarters to then use off- premises, plus you
benefit from unused/lost tokens. - WAXMAN
- JACK954
Appreciate all the feedback. I think I’m going to be
switching to tokens. It seems like it would be the easiest
and best way to solve this without spending tons
of money because I am getting sick of running to the
bank every week for quarters. I hate when I see a car
pull straight up to the changer. I wish I could set up
a spike strip in front of it. LOL. - KRISPY KLEAN CAR
WASHES
Switching to tokens requires a tremendous amount
of homework. You don’t want to buy a cheap generic
token that anyone can buy. Call the token manufactures
and get samples of what you think you want
and then go to all your competition that uses tokens
and get some of their tokens. You want to use a high
security token that no one in your area is using so
you don’t get any crossover… cheap tokens are normally
an 85/15 or 80/20 alloy, Chuck E. Cheese tokens
are a 70/30 alloy. One of the problems we’ve
had is when we reorder tokens the alloy is just a little
different then the last batch that can be a huge pain
in the $&#! We value our tokens at a dollar and we
lose about 50,000 tokens a year. Our last token order
25% of the tokens we got wouldn’t work, slightly different
alloy. We used a pure copper alloy token that
is nickel plated. If you go to tokens do it right and do
your homework. - RANDY
Quarters are a necessary evil. I tried to stop taking
them and it was disastrous. Our changers only give
Gold US dollar coins. Bays accept both, but mostly
dollars used. We also use the Coinless Mobile App
to achieve CC acceptance.That has gone over really
well. - MR. CLEAN
The carwash around the corner accepts credit cards
ONLY! Hmm...he says it works for him. No banking,
no coins, no break-ins... I’m not there yet… - JUST-
CLEAN
I only have one wash with tokens but I don’t like it.
Hate sorting them back out and they seem to get
dirty quickly. I’ve been having to get quarters from
the bank but I don’t mind. It’s free to do so and 80%
of the time they are brand new and clean. Clean
quarters are easier on equipment. In a perfect world
I would be 100% cashless. - WYATT
46 • SPRING 2021