Spring2021_SSCWN_web

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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
INCREASE LOYALTY & REVENUE WITH SMART UNATTENDED SOLUTIONS Designed for the automatic and self-serve markets, Hamilton’s diverse range of loyalty programs, pay stations, and bay timers can help differentiate your car wash and bring a truly unique value proposition to your customers. CUSTOM MOBILE APP Styled and named after your car wash brand, users can: Join a Monthly Wash Club | Buy & Gift Washes | Claim Deals & Discounts Earn Loyalty Rewards | Pay for Self-Serve Bay Time | Receive a complimentary Birthday Wash EXPRESSPASS RFID SYSTEM Improve throughput, loyalty, and cashflow by offering a Monthly Wash Club program. Using RFID technology, a unique windshield tag on the customers vehicle is read before vending their chosen package. Our flexible system includes custom greetings, multiple pass types, and automated billing. CUSTOM ECOMMERCE WEBSITE Customized to your brand, our new Ecommerce site lets customers sign up for RFID plans, update credit card information, purchase gift cards, check gift card balances, add new balance, and buy Single Washes & Wash Bundles. HOSTED SOLUTIONS All Hamilton loyalty programs are managed through a single cloud-based system for ease of use. Hosted Solutions also provides multi-site data reporting, a site status diagnostic tool, and Single Use Codes for rapid customer service responses. www.hamiltonmfg.com | sales@hamiltonmfg.com | 888-723-4858 SPRING 2021 • 47
Page 2 and 3: 800.968.8227 WWW.IVS-VACUUM.COM HIG
Page 4 and 5: CONTENTS Around the Wash: Trademark
Page 6 and 7: Around the Wash: Trademarks The Nam
Page 8 and 9: SMALL BUSINESS NEWS YOU CAN USE GOT
Page 10 and 11: SMALL BUSINESS NEWS 10 • SPRING 2
Page 12 and 13: SMALL BUSINESS NEWS • Minority-ow
Page 14 and 15: SMALL BUSINESS NEWS of the disaster
Page 16 and 17: Carwash Boom Assembly MODEL 203 Zie
Page 18 and 19: 2021 CALENDAR OF EVENTS *All events
Page 20 and 21: INNOVATIONS INTRODUCING Vapor-tight
Page 22 and 23: SELF SERVE SNAPSHOT How many self s
Page 24 and 25: SELF SERVE SNAPSHOT business at 6 p
Page 26 and 27: TIPs MONEY TIP In God We Rust, and
Page 28 and 29: INDUSTRY DIRT HAPPENINGS IN & AROUN
Page 30 and 31: INDUSTRY DIRT ISTOBAL acquires Paci
Page 32 and 33: EXTRA! EXTRA! Presenting the news s
Page 34 and 35: EXTRA! EXTRA! Monroe Capital Suppor
Page 36 and 37: EXTRA! EXTRA! Are water restriction
Page 38 and 39: Around the Wash: How Much Do You Ch
Page 40 and 41: 888 920 2646 ETOWAH VALLEY EQUIPMEN
Page 42 and 43: TRICKS OF THE Presenting some of th
Page 44 and 45: TRICKS OF THE Fed up! Has anybody b
Page 48 and 49: WE WANT YOUR STORIES! Do you have a
Page 50 and 51: FUN& GAMES WHAT’S DIFFERENT? Thin
Page 52 and 53: The Birds and the Bugs The anatomy
Page 54 and 55: I know IT’S ONLY LED (BUT I LIKE
Page 56 and 57: SAVINGS & SAFETY What to look for
Page 58 and 59: LIGHTING COMMENTS FROM CARWASHFORUM
Page 60 and 61: LIGHTING ADVICE …from a Self Serv
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Spring2021_SSCWN_web

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