2020 marks the 20^th year of business for CCI, Card Concepts, Inc.

“As with many things in life, time has flown by” said CCI’s President Steve Marcionetti.  “I remember our first card system install as if it were yesterday”

20 years is no small feat considering CCI is a small family run technology company that exclusively services the vended laundry industry.  The company was founded by the Marcionetti family; Dion and his two sons, Steve and Andy were inspired to develop a product after having experience with other systems that did not fully meet the needs of a progressive store owner.  The Marcionetti family was not new to the Laundromat business; prior to starting CCI, Dion Marcionetti had been deeply involved in the industry for twenty years and had started his own Laundry distribution company (Laundry Concepts).

LaundryCard, the company’s founding product was designed to eliminate the burden of coin collection from laundry operators. It was the first product of its kind to introduce a color touch screen interface with impressive redundancy capabilities for the time.  “It took us about a year to develop Laundry Card, and once we installed it into a few locations in Chicago, we reached out to a few ‘Distributor Friends in the Business’ to see if they would be interested” says Steve Marcionetti.  “It did not take long to realize that the same issues we had with the available products at the time, were also issues for others and LaundryCard seemed to fit the need, quickly growing in popularity”.  Since 2000, LaundryCard has been installed in over 1,200 Laundromats across the US and is still one of the companies most popular products.

In 2012, the company launched its second product called FasCard, which was designed to help bring credit and debit card acceptance to existing coin machines.  “Credit and debit card acceptance was becoming more mainstream in all kinds of small businesses; it was a good time to introduce an offering specifically designed for Laundromat owners who wanted to add credit cards, without eliminating coin acceptance.”  FasCard evolved quickly and is already on its second iteration. The F2 card reader is the first of its kind, color touch screen enabled payment device for Laundry Equipment.  Since its inception, FasCard has been installed in over 1,500 locations nationwide.

Innovation has not stopped at CCI, just last year they introduced their latest offering, the FLEX system, which provides a coinless operation to store owners using wireless card readers and cloud-based technology.  As the name implies, the FLEX system is flexible, providing a cost-effective solution based on the desired functionality.  Loyalty Cards, Credit/Debit, Mobile App, or NFC payments are all possible with FLEX; operators choose what’s best for their business and only pay for the capability that suits them.

Although the company prides itself on quality and innovation, CCI’s reputation comes from its dedication to customer support.  “When we started CCI, we knew we had to be available when store owners needed us, so we have always provided twenty-four hour a day technical support, 365 days a year,” says Steve Marcionetti.  “Laundromats are weekend and evening businesses; it only makes sense that you would have support available during these times.”.  “Everyone at CCI has the same customer focus that I had when we first started the company, and it’s our commitment to patience, availability, and reliability that has helped us form such a loyal distribution and customer base”.

“I’m proud of the past 20 years, but even more excited about the future,” Says Marcionetti.  “Even with all the new options that are now available for payment, very few vendors can show 20 years of commitment to this industry.  We are in it for the long haul and will be there as the business evolves, always committed to our customer.”

To learn more about what CCI products can do for your store, contact us today!

Are you thinking about adding a payment system to your laundromat? You may worry that this will be an investment without a return, or wonder how your customers will respond to the change. It’s important to be able to make an educated decision that is best for your business. Let’s take a look at the top three reasons to add a laundry card system to your store.

A Payment System can Increase the Revenue of your Laundromat

1.Build Float

When a customer loads money onto a loyalty account, it encourages them to return to your store. Float is the amount of money added to accounts, but not yet spent. As customers add more value to their cards, the ‘float’ of your business increases and contributes to a rise in your overall revenue.

2.Ability to Sell Upgrades

By offering your customers the ability to upgrade their cycles, you can offset expenses, by charging more for things like hot water and extra rinses. Upgrades like these can result in an overall increase in revenue.

3.Time of Day Pricing

With a payment system, you can charge different prices at different times of the day, or different days of the week. This allows you to offer specials during slow times to attract business and raise prices during busy periods to maximize profits.

4.Marketing Tools

With marketing programs available through a card system, you can entice new business and reach new sales goals. Loyalty Points, Bonus Packages, Free Dry Programs and Group Discounts are all loyalty programs that can be used to attract new customers, as well as incentivize existing customers to return to your store.

 A Payment System Makes Managing your Laundromat Easier

1.Simplify Employee Management

Having a payment system gives you the opportunity to remotely manage your employees. You can edit and monitor one-time and ongoing employee work schedules for multiple locations and allow employees to clock in and out for their shifts using the system.

2.Remote Monitoring of Your Laundromat

When you can’t physically be at your store, you can always access your laundromat from any remote location. You can configure vend prices and specials, run reports, configure alerts, and monitor the status of the system and equipment from your laptop or smartphone.

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 A Payment System Will Save You Time and Money

1.Make the Most of Your Time

Collecting coins from each machine in your facility is a time-consuming business and your time as an owner is valuable. As vend prices rise and stores get bigger, the physical task and limitations of accepting coins become greater, making eliminating the need for coins with a payment system a popular choice.

2.Take Control of Your Revenue

If you are paying another company to collect coins for you, that’s money out of your pocket, combined with the uncertainty of how much is actually being collected. With a card system, you can see real-time profits and sales information for each machine, allowing you to take control of your revenue.

3.Decrease Security Risks

Collecting coins and carrying around bags of money can compromise the safety of you and your employees. Your machines are more open to vandalism and theft, that can leave you with costly damage plus the loss of revenue until those machines are repaired. With a card system, you can minimize or eliminate these risks.

If you’re ready to increase your revenue, simplify store management and save time and money, the next step is finding out what payment system is right for your store.

Contact us today and let our experts help you find the best system solution that fits both the needs of you and your customer!

Today’s laundromat customers prefer to use their smartphone for purchases and have come to expect to be able to pay for goods and services via mobile device. Mobile-pay is a great option for laundry purchases because it is fast, secure, easy and convenient. However, if you’re using a mobile-pay only system, you could be missing out on the benefits of a complete card payment system. CCI’s complete card systems allow you to accept mobile payments, credit/debit payments and can even work with existing coin laundry machines. In addition to accepting payments, CCI FasCard and LaundryCard systems offer benefits that will take your laundry business to the next level. Here are five reasons to consider investing in a complete card system over a mobile-pay only system.

1) Increase in ‘Float’ and Loyalty

With a CCI system, customers can add value to a loyalty account and have the choice to purchase a flat amount or preconfigured value packages (i.e. Buy $10, Get $11). With loyalty accounts, not only will customers be encouraged to pay you in advance, you now have them obligated for that amount of money in service! The more they add, the more loyal they will be to your business.

2) Loyalty to Your Laundromat, not a Payment Company

CCI’s FasCard system has an app that acts as a loyalty card. Customers who use the app will no longer need to own a physical card but can instead use the app in the same way. They can take advantage of any of the loyalty programs you offer, and the app will keep track of it all. If they forget their loyalty card one day, they can use the app, because the functionality between the app and physical cards is interchangeable. For some mobile-pay only systems, if customers add money to their account, they may be able to use that at several different laundromats, therefore their loyalty is to the mobile-pay company and not your specific laundromat. With CCI’s system app, the customer’s float is your money and can only be used at your business, so their loyalty stays with your laundromats.

3) Marketing Tools for the Laundry Industry

CCI FasCard and LaundryCard systems offer advanced marketing and loyalty programs. Loyalty programs include Loyalty Points, Bonus Packages, Free Dry, Group Discounts and more. Utilizing the integrated marketing programs will help you attract new business and encourage loyalty with your current customer base. Mobile-pay only companies make a one size fits all product that doesn’t take into consideration the marketing and management that goes into a laundromat business. CCI was born from over 40 years of experience in the vended laundry industry and designs all products with both the operator and end user in mind.

4) Remotely Running Your Laundromat

Managing your laundromat with a CCI system is simple and can be performed from any web browser at any time. You can remotely control, view and configure your laundromat in real-time. Run profit reports, see usage statistics and sales data for each machine and change vend prices all from your smartphone, tablet or computer!

5) Hands Off Employee Management

Managers can create, edit and monitor one-time and ongoing employee work schedules in a FasCard or LaundryCard system. Your employees can use the system to view upcoming work schedules as well as clock in and out for shifts. Our task scheduler ensures employees are reminded of what they are supposed to do and lets you run reports on what tasks are not getting done.

CCI’s solutions give store owners additional tools to increase success in one integrated system. If you’re a laundromat owner or investor looking to set your business apart from the competition, contact us today to learn more about our payment solutions and how investing in the right technology can benefit your laundromat business!

Today’s laundry equipment is more advanced than ever. One of the most popular features of modern laundry equipment is multi-vending or cycle based pricing which gives you the ability to charge different vend amounts depending on the cycle selection of the user. This allows store owners to increase profits simply by offering their customers the ability to upgrade their cycles (extra rinse/wash), as well as charge more for hot water or less for cold. Selling these upgrades to your customers is a powerful way to increase sales and maximize your profits.

Cycle upgrades (extra rinse/wash) and variable priced cycle options (more for hot, less for cold) are unique capabilities that make a positive impact on a store’s bottom line, but only if the payment system supports them properly. FasCard and LaundryCard are fully compatible with these features because of their ‘multi-vend’ interface. ‘Multi-Vend’ refers to a type of card reader to machine interface that allows the card reader and the machine to communicate back and forth and allow these features. See our compatibility guide to learn more about how we integrate with today’s latest brands. CCI’s laundry payment systems are compatible with nearly every make and model of commercial laundry equipment.

CCI’s multi-vend interface is seamless in that it allows the machine to ‘sell’ these upgrades without the user having to touch the card reader. Others may claim to ‘work’ with these latest controls, but require the user to press buttons on their card reader to match the price on the machine. CCI rises above the competitive products and integrates deeply with the machine’s control ensuring a more natural user experience. Installing a CCI payment system on a multi-vend compatible machine means there are no unnecessary steps for your customers to use these features which makes it easier for your customers to purchase upgrades and ultimately means your customers will buy more often and your profits will grow.

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Investing in a CCI payment system pays for itself in many ways and being able to sell upgrades is one way to do that. Customers that pay using a credit card are less resistant to cycle based upgrades, allowing better profits from your machines. They no longer have to insert more quarters to buy another wash cycle. The impact of raising the price for hot water or an upcharge for an extra rinse/wash is very minimal to your customer but could have a tremendous positive impact on your bottom line. You are also meeting the needs of customers by offering these features, setting your laundromat business apart from the others. With CCI’s payment systems, you can run a detailed multi-vend analysis report and see the usage percentage for different temperatures and extra washes/rinses. One store owner saw that his customers selected extra rinses more frequently in his 80 lb washers vs. his 30 lb washers. He determined this was probably due to the larger machines being used more for bedding because the extra rinse feature is needed to remove soap from thicker items like pillows and comforters.

When you are able to offer cycle upgrade options, you are giving your customers the ability to customize their laundry which separates you from competitors and keeps your customers coming back to your laundromat.  When customers take advantage of these features, it adds to your ROI and improves your profitability. FasCard and LaundryCard from CCI offer the industry’s most advanced card payment systems designed with both the operator and end user in mind. Contact us today to learn more about our payment solutions and how investing in the technology can give you more ways to increase the profits of your laundromat business!