CARD STORES

[LEEHUSTON]

I AM USING THE ESD CARD SYSTEM IN MY LAUNDRY. I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM OPERATORS WHO ARE USING THIS SYSTEM OR ANOTHER CARD SYSTEM. I WOULD LIKE TO GET SOME REACTIONS TO THE SYSTEMS SO FAR IN USE. I AM THINKING ABOUT ANOTHER LAUDNRY AND WOULD LIKE SOME FEEDBACK ON THIS AND OTHER SYSTEMS.

[Howard]

EasyCard beats it Hands Down!!!

[LEEHUSTON]

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT THE EASY CARD?

[Howard]

It gives great reports, you can monitor remotely, no more quarters, you can price in one cent increments....etc.

What do you like or dislike about ESD

[LEEHUSTON]

ESD HAS been a good system. The cards are too expensive and the servcie you get from the company is nothing to really brag on. I hope the sysetm will continue to work well. I don't think the longevity of these systems is proven yet. The software witht he system is good but limited. It is nice that the software is user freindly and uses windows.

[Gary_Crosby]

Have you all felt it was worth the extra money to install the system and how did your customers like or dislike it? I am thinking about it.

Thanks
Gary

[Marianne]

I am removing all washers from my smaller laundromat and will be installing 28 new--that's a dozen more. New machines will be larger than the old ones and use less water. My distributor is discouraging me from putting in a card system. Laundry is too small. What do you think?

[Gary_Crosby]

I only Have 14 washers, but will be expanding to 26 or 28 in the spring I question the same thing on the size issue.

Gary

[LEEHUSTON]

I would not recommend the card system for the smaller laundry unless you just want to spend the money and have a neat system. It does not seem useful to spend the extra 20 to $30,000 on the system for a place that size. I have a place with 23 washers and 25 drying pockets and my distributor has been dogging me to change to the system. I have refused because I know that the smaller store just won't genrate enough in my mind to pay for such an upgrade. He claims that I can charge just a few cents more with the system and pay for it. That sounds good on paper.

In the store that I have the system installed I have 48 washing machines and 51 dryer pockets. We opened brand new and people for the most part really like the card system. Some do not, but some people would complain if you hung them with new rope! I would not do a large store from scratch without the card. This has not always been my opinion. I was opposed to the new system at first but now I am glad I took a chance. It is more than not having to empty coin boxes, it is flexibility and being able to track information that helps. Many advantages. I can run specials during the week and my competitors can not feasibly. I know how much money my store has taken with out counting a a single bill. Believe it or not if you can get past the price, the only real disadvantage is the need to make change for a twenty. Don't let anyone tell you that people love to put extra money on the card. They want, for the most part, enough to do thier laundry and that is all. All the hype abou the "float" is BS. I am interested in hearing more about other systems, hopefully ESD is getting competetion now. Call me at 1-704-865-2819 if you want to talk more about this issue.

[Howard]

I have an EasyCard system in my Mat as I said above and I have 25 washers and 29 dryers - and would do it again in a flash. I am able to charge more because of it and the float is not BS. In my "small" store since I have had the system in (about) five months I have build a float up of about 10 days sales. I know a person that has a store about three times the size and they have about two weeks worth of float.

What you say about it being expensive for a small store is true, but I put mine in as part of an almost total retool. As I said, I would do it again.

[LEEHUSTON]

When you say that you have a week or two weeks worth of float, what are you saying? Are you saying that you have a weeks worth of revenue not claimed and floating on the card? My float has gone back and forth between maybe $600 and maybe as much as $1200. It is not a figure to do much with. It is not as great as everybody claims. I say it is not such a big deal.

[Howard]

What I'm saying is that if my store grosses $10,000 in a week I am sitting on roughly $14,000 dollars in customer money that has been deposited but not spent. That number after five months has come close to stabilizing, but it keeps going up some each week. This, is much better than the old situation where I had lots of my money sitting in the change machine in quarters.

[DOUGLAS]

LEE, ARE YOU REFUNDING THE MONEY WHEN THE CUSTOMERS LEAVE THE STORE? OTHER CARD OWNERS I'VE SPOKEN WITH USE A REFUND FORM THAT THE CUSTOMER HAS TO FILL OUT BEFORE THEY CAN GET THEIR REFUND. THEY GIVE THE CUSTOMER THE OPTION OF COMING BACK THE NEXT DAY TO GET THE REFUND OR TO HAVE IT MAILED TO THEM. MOST OF THE CUSTOMERS WILL TAKE THE CARD HOME RATHER THAN FILL OUT THE FORM. THIS HELPS TO BUILD THE FLOAT BALANCE OF YOUR STORE. ALSO CHARGING OFF QUARTER INCREMENTS ($1.49 EX.) WILL RESULT IN MORE MONEY BEING LEFT ON THE CUSTOMER CARDS.THEY CAN'T SPEND THE CARD DOWN TO A ZERO BALANCE SO THERE IS ALWAYS MONEY LEFT OVER.

[Marianne]

Here's another plus for card stores. My bank just informed me that they would soon be charging 10% for counting coin. Just another reason to stop using coins.

[Howard]

Sounds like its time to find a new bank. If you shop around you can find smaller banks that don't do that. I'm kind of curious why you need them to count coins. Before I put the card system in my store was more or less quarter nuetral. What I mean is that some people brought their own quarters to use while others took change out of the store, the net result was I neither accumulated or lost quarters. So I had the pain in the ass of collecting quarters out of the washers and dryers and refilling the changer with them. But, all I took out of the store was bills anyway. Maybe I was luck?

I'm sure you can find a bank that will work with you. Good luck.

[Marianne]

Thanks. My bank is very small. I have scouted out a few larger banks and they don't gouge so deep, so I will move to one of them. My current bank is in the same strip mall as the laundromat so deposits were really easy.
This laundromat needs to shed quarters about once a week in the winter and more often in the summer. We count before taking them to the bank so we know how often the bank's counter is wrong.

[LEEHUSTON]

I give money back to people as soon as they want it when they present me with a valid card. I refuse to play games with refunding cards. If they want to turn it in then I can use it with somebody that wants to keep it. Trying to trick people into keeping this card is a gimmick. I do not want a gimmick business. If it were me and I wanted my money back I would not appreciate some geek telling me I had to fill out a form and wait. I would tell the attendant to stick that card where the sun don't shine and hit the road. There is an old saying, treat people like you would like to be treated. I refuse to put a float concern ahead of good old customer service, something desparately needed in this business and most other businesses in this country.

[Larry]

What is considered a small store in regard to going to a card system? And what is the price per machine? I have 23 washers and 21 dryers so it probably isn't worth it to me in this store. But!!! a new shopping center is opening @ a mile away from my store which offers an incredible opportunity for a new mega-store. That location is central and the other 7 stores within a 3 mile radius are dumps and dying because of the energy crisis. I'm seriously considering the big jump and a card system has to be the way to go.

[BKROSS]

We'll be opening our new laundromat in Los Angeles next month. We have 106 machines and the Easy Card System is costing us $42,00
(about $400/per machine). 'Can't imagine spending big bucks on a new facility and not
being computerized! My location is similar to
your proposed site---all the surrounding stores are rated from "fair" to "awful" so we
plan to upset the applecart. Among the numerous "better than the others" features
we have, the Easy Card is one of the best things. Good luck and go for it!

[Howard]

Be careful when discussing the price of an Easycard (or other) card system. You cannot simply take the total price and divide by the number of machines and then expect that price to hold for another store. There is a fixed price portion and a variable price portion. First there is the cost for the base system which includes the computer(S), cabinet, bill accepters, etc.... Then there is the price for the readers for each machine and cabling. The cost for a 50 machine store will be more than 1/2 the cost for a 100 machine store. The cost for a 200 machine store will not be anywhere near double the cost for a 100 machine store, etc...

[Marianne]

And I hope the cost of a store a year from now will be much lower than it is now!

[LEEHUSTON]

Amen Sister!

[LEEHUSTON]

Larry, Howard illustrates that there are fixed costs with the system that you have to pay if you have 2 machines or 200 machines. The cost per machine is much higher for smaller laundries as opposed to larger stores. So in my mind it is harder to justify the system, especially an upgrade situation. Also keep in mind that collecting coins in a smaller store is not as hard as a big store either. I would say that you have to look at the total projected revenue of the store and make a decsion based on the projected revenue. Unless, as I said before, you have the cabbage, and just want a really cool system that can save you some work and provide some useful information, if you are willing to collect the data and look at it.