Are you thinking about purchasing a card system for your laundromat? Do you have worries about it being an investment without a return? Here are three reasons why investing in laundry card technology has a high ROI and benefits laundromat owners and investors.

1. A Laundry Card System Increases Revenue

Build Float By having customers pay first and use a card system, it establishes customers with a sense of loyalty and encourages them to return. Float is the amount of money added to cards but has not been spent yet. As customers add more value to their cards, the ‘float’ of your business increases.

Ability to Sell Upgrades increase profits with a card system by offering your customers the ability to upgrade their cycles. Offset utility expenses by charging more for hot water.

Time of Day Pricing With a card 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.

Marketing Tools Entice new business and reach new sales goals with marketing programs available through a card system like Loyalty Points, Bonus Packages, Free Dry and Group Discounts.

2. A Laundry Card System Makes Managing a Laundromat Easier

Simplify Employee Management Remote management of employees is possible with a card system. Create, edit and monitor one-time and ongoing employee work schedules for multiple locations. Allow employees to clock in and out for their shifts using the system for hands-off time management.

Remote Monitoring of Your Laundromat When you can’t physically be at your store, it is comforting to know that you can always access your laundromat from any remote location. Configure vend prices, specials, run reports, configure alerts, and monitor the status of the system and equipment in real-time from your laptop or smartphone.

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3. A Laundry Card System Will Save You Time and Money

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 becomes greater, making eliminating the need for coins with a card system a popular choice.

Take Control of Your Revenue If you are paying another company to collect coins for you, that is 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 data for each machine without having to collect coins.

Decrease Security Risks Having to collect coins and carry around bags of money can compromise the safety of you and your employees. Your machines are susceptible 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 issues.

All of the features above can be found in CCI’s payment systems. Whether you’re just starting out in the laundry business or a long-time owner of multiple stores, CCI has a laundry card system to fit your needs. Our FasCard system is a hybrid solution that allows you to accept both coins and cards. The FasCard system works with existing coin laundry machines and doesn’t have a minimum card reader purchase, allowing you to start small with card readers and add more over time. If you are looking for a ‘card only’ solution for your Laundromat, our LaundryCard system is perfect for new and existing stores with 40 or more machines. LaundryCard is completely coinless, totally automated and rich in features.

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!

CCI’s products are not just card systems that allow you to accept alternative payments. Our products are advanced automation systems that provide you a holistic solution to running your laundry business. We are continually making improvements to our products to take your laundromat to the next level, and we are excited to announce our latest system update for FasCard, Release 14. At CCI, we design all of our products with both the operator and end user in mind and Release 14 for FasCard is no exception. The latest upgrade for FasCard has innovative features that benefit users, employees, managers and owners.

Here are the new additions included in the latest system release for FasCard:

1) Modern and Personalized Customer Benefits

• In-App Apple Pay Your customers can now use Apple Pay on their iPhones to add value to their loyalty account! Smartphone users have the choice to purchase a flat amount or preconfigured value packages (i.e. Buy $10, Get $11). Having the ability to make in-app purchases with a credit card or Apple Pay is a modern convenience for your customers and takes your laundry facility to the next level.   
• Spanish Language FasCard now has added Spanish language support for customer card reader functions to help you meet the needs of Spanish speaking laundry customers. Your users can choose between Spanish and English instructions and the FasCard system will remember your customer’s language preference and continue to display appropriately.

2) Automated and Remote Employee Management

• Scheduled Tasks With the new FasCard release, you can schedule repeating tasks for your attendants and have them view and update their progress through the FasCard smartphone app. You are also able to run reports to view which attendants completed tasks and if they were completed on time, giving you a whole new level of remote store management.
• Employee Work Schedule Through the FasCard admin portal, you can create, edit and monitor one-time and ongoing employee work schedules. Using the FasCard smartphone app, your employees can view their upcoming work schedules. Employees can now clock in and out from any FasCard reader in the store. Operators may verify the hours for completed shifts using the Employee Hours Report.   

3) Added Features to Credit Card Processing

• Maximum Daily Credit Card Limit You can configure a maximum daily purchase amount from any single credit card so that users cannot charge over a certain amount per credit card, per day. Setting a daily credit card limit helps you reduce fraud potential and limits your liability.
• Offline Credit Card Mode Even if your internet goes offline, credit cards can still be used by your customers and transactions are processed when internet connectivity is restored.  
  

4) New Internet Services Available

• Cellular Backup Cellular Backup is a low cost, peace of mind option for FasCard locations looking for maximum ‘uptime’. The system automatically goes over to cellular connection when primary internet fails and falls back to primary service once internet is restored.
• CCI Internet Service CCI has a new option for FasCard locations looking for low cost internet options. Reliable LTE 4G wireless service is easy to configure and manage and plans start as low as $20 a month (*taxes and fees not included).

Release 14 is available August 2017 and is provided at no additional cost to all FasCard customers. If you’re interested in learning more about FasCard or implementing CCI’s solutions in your laundromat, contact us today!

Technology has made just about everything in our lives more convenient and that includes the management and use of multi-unit laundry rooms. Having modern amenities in your laundry room such as online monitoring via smartphones and card payment systems will bring value to your property and set your property apart from the competition. As an owner or manager, introducing automated systems into your laundry room will save you time and money and reduce the stress of running a laundry room. In this blog post, we’ll show you how bringing technology into your multi-unit laundry room will turn it into a profitable and valued amenity of your property that is easy to manage.

Remote Management

Installing CCI’s FasCard system in your laundry room gives you the ability to manage cash and collections, provide immediate customer service, configure vend prices, implement marketing programs, run sales reports and monitor the status of equipment – all live and remotely from your smartphone or laptop! Having web-based management means accessing your FasCard system is simple and can be performed from any web browser so you can manage your laundry room at anytime from anywhere. With FasCard you can accept cash payments and resolve problems without having someone physically there. If a tenant or guest has a problem with a machine, you can simply log into their account and refund their money.

Card and Coin Auditing

Using FasCard in your laundry room allows you to audit both coin and card sales on any specific machine. This will give you the ability to not only track the success of your credit card sales but monitor the number of coins in each machine. You can configure FasCard to send you email notifications when coin boxes reach capacity so you collect only when you need to. If you are having someone else collect for you, you can receive an email notification that details the coins collected from each machine once your collector has finished. Having less cash in your machines will reduce theft and you’ll always know at any time how much money is in your laundry room. FasCard isn’t just a card payment system; it introduces a holistic solution to running your laundry room.

Flexible Payment Options

Installing FasCard in your laundry room makes the experience of doing laundry easy, quick and stress free. Whether a customer prefers using currency or credit/debit cards, FasCard provides the ultimate in convenience by accepting all types of payment. Customers can even insert some coins and swipe their card for the balance. By adding card acceptance, you are make it easier for your customers to use your laundry room, encourage more use of your machines and therefore produce more revenue for you. No longer do your residents have to obtain coins and cash or deal with the hassles of coin dispensing equipment. In addition, our F2 Card Reader makes it even easier for your customers to pay for their cycles.

Smartphone App

Residents want to complete their laundry as quickly and efficiently as possible. With FasCard, instead of your consumer having to revolve their schedule around doing laundry, the laundry card system makes it convenient for them to do their laundry and easily fits into their busy schedule. Smartphones play an integral role in our lives and FasCard includes a smartphone app for today’s latest devices. From their smartphone, your customers will be able to create an account, add value, manage loyalty cards, check machine availability, request cycle completion notifications and even start a machine! No longer do your residents have to make unnecessary trips to the laundry room to check the status of machines, sit around and wait for their cycle to complete or risk loss of clothes sitting in the machines for hours.

CCI’s systems will give you the technological tools to create a modern laundry room that is a valuable business, easy to manage, and meets the needs of residents and guests. Our FasCard system is a perfect fit for multi-housing applications such as apartment buildings, hotels, condominium buildings and residence halls. If you’re a property owner or manager looking to get more out of your facility’s laundry room, contact us today to learn more about our FasCard payment solutions and how investing in the technology can take your laundry room to the next level!

Laundry card systems do much more than simply provide an alternative payment method. Laundry cards build customer loyalty. Customers can obtain a loyalty card by inserting cash or a credit card and then use the value added to the loyalty card to start a machine. By having customers pay first and use the system, it establishes customers with a sense of loyalty and encourages customers to return. In addition to the payment cards themselves boosting loyalty, FasCard and LaundryCard have many advanced loyalty programs built into their systems for you to use.

Loyalty card programs serve as your base of operations for both customer retention and the forward-thinking marketing promotions that drive new business. Today we are going to cover a few of the loyalty programs that FasCard and LaundryCard offer.

Bonus Packages

Bonus Packages lets you give your customers bonus dollars for adding value to their loyalty card. For example, you could give your customers a $2 bonus for adding $20. Your customers will be encouraged to pay you in advance and you now have them committed for $22 in service! As your customers add more value to their cards, your business will build a ‘Float’. Float is the amount of money added to cards but has not been spent yet. By encouraging customers to add more money to their cards, you will increase customer loyalty through the float.

Free Dry

Free Dry time is enticing advertising to laundromat customers. The Free Dry program allows the system to reward customers with Free Dry time based on their wash usage. Free Dry can be scheduled for certain days of the week or you can choose to only award customers Free Dry credits on specific machines. For example, you can offer customers Free Dry only on your largest machines. You can control how much ‘free’ time your customer earns and our Free Dry program will keep track of all the details for you.

Discounts

The system enables you to configure any discount amount to any card. You can establish discounts for groups and market to specific customers. For example, you could offer 10% off for all military personnel. You can create as many groups as you wish and assign a unique discount to each group. As each group member uses the machines, not only will they receive their discount but you will get valuable sales information regarding each group. This program gives you the ability to create an endless number of marketing programs to promote your store. This helps you target your primary audience and focus on building loyalty within those markets.

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Loyalty Points

The loyalty points program is a great way to reward your most loyal customers. This program allows customers to earn Wash Points when they use laundry equipment and the system will automatically reward these customers when they reach a certain point goal. The program allows you to set how many points customers earn for every dollar spent and how many points they need to earn to be awarded the bonus. Not only is a points program a great way to promote loyalty but it’s also a great way to encourage card retention.

Coupons

The coupon program lets you create custom coupon codes that can be distributed to prospective and existing customers. You can configure a coupon code and distribute via direct mail, coupon circulars, email and even social media. With LaundryCard your customer simply enters the coupon code on the X-Changer Kiosk and with FasCard your customer can redeem it through the FasCard mobile app. The systems will redeem the reward automatically. Coupons can be configured to provide a temporary discount which expires on a specific date or designed to issue a bonus to a customer’s loyalty card.

Birthday Bonus

With the LaundryCard system, the birthday bonus allows you to give a gift to your customers on or near their birthday. You can set up a birthday bonus that will automatically be applied to their card with a set number of days before or after their birthday. When customers visit the store on or near their birthday, they will be greeted with a special birthday message and a bonus at the X-Changer kiosk. The birthday bonus program is a personalized way to reward customers and creates a memorable customer experience that will influence loyalty.

Registration Bonus

The LaundryCard system has a registration bonus program that will reward users bonus money for registering their contact information at the X-Changer kiosk. For example, if a customer enters their registration information, the system will apply a $2.00 bonus to their card. The program and bonus amount are configurable by the operator.

By implementing LaundryCard and FasCard’s advanced marketing and loyalty programs, you can take your laundromat business to the next level. Competition is everywhere and giving your customers reasons to do business with you versus your competition begins by encouraging loyalty. 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 technology can give you more ways to increase your laundromat business!

Karl Hinrichs has been in the commercial laundry business since 1980 and is the president of HK Laundry Equipment, Inc. Since 1967, HK Laundry Equipment, Inc. has been serving New York and Connecticut with laundry equipment, service and repair and training and support. HK Laundry Equipment, Inc. is a distributor of CCI’s FasCard and LaundryCard systems.

How did you get involved in the commercial laundry industry?

In 1967, my father and neighbor formed a partnership equipping stores with washers. When I was 13 years old, I would bring my toolbox up there, and by the time I was 16 years old, I was out fixing the machines. In 1980, I was working as a chemist and my father made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I went to work with him and I have not looked back. I’ve now been in the business for 36 years.

What are the challenges that laundromats are facing today?

The biggest challenge is maintaining profitability with the increase in water and sewer rates. Water and sewer costs have become a very expensive utility expense for laundromats. Many water supply and sewer improvements have caused huge capital costs that local towns and counties have passed along to water consumers. Laundromats are one of the biggest consumers of water and are at the mercy of local water municipalities and their water rates. To maintain profitability, laundromats need to keep an extra eye on their expenses and increase vend prices accordingly. 

What major trends are you noticing in the laundromat industry today?

More and more people are going to a cashless society. This month I saw a study come out that said over 50% of transactions are now electronic. The time spent in coin laundromats emptying quarters out of the machines, counting them, and filling bill changers two to three times per week is very non-productive. Until you go to an alternative payment system, you are going to max out at 12-16 stores, because after that you are running around processing quarters all day long. 

What trends do you see for the future?

Laundry card systems are the way of the future. The biggest evolutionary jump is eliminating the quarter. There is a high initial entry price, however, laundromats save money and time in the long run and the operator doesn’t need to physically run the store. With card operated laundromats, there is no limit to the number of laundromats you can operate and you can spend your time focusing on managing your business rather than processing quarters.

What are your thoughts about laundromats using incremental vend pricing with card systems in order to be able to raise a vend price by a few pennies instead of a quarter? 

I like it. I’ve done it with pennies but I actually prefer nickel incremental pricing. Incremental vend pricing is a huge advantage of implementing LaundryCard over FasCard, because you are able to increase your pricing by an amount less than a quarter. When your water rates go up, you can take advantage of incremental vend pricing by increasing the cost of your washers to help you absorb the increase in utility expenses. 

What’s the best way today for a laundromat to increase the value of their laundromat business?

Investing in a card laundromat system. You know exactly up front what the revenue is for the store and operating that card store is much easier. With coin operated stores, you have to be there at least 2-3x per week. With a card store, all you need is a trusted individual to collect the paper receipts because you know your true business numbers and exactly how much is in there. When you’re buying a business, it’s based on profitability. You can increase the value of a laundromat by increasing the multiple at which the store is valued. If your store has laundry equipment with a card system, then you are increasing the multiple because the store is worth more. The more automated and hands free you can make your laundromat, the higher the multiplier of the profit and the higher the value of the store. A card laundromat is an investor rich system whereas a coin laundromat is an owner operated system. 

What advice would you give a new store owner just getting into the laundry business?

I would suggest doing as much research as possible. A laundromat business is capital intensive and you really want to make sure you have the best distributor, equipment and location. You want to partner with a distributor who has been around at least 10-15 years, knows the area, and knows about running a laundromat.