One of the main goals for any business owner is to expand their business and grow into a more profitable, more effective enterprise. A laundromat owner is no exception. While owning a single laundromat can be a successful endeavor, there is no doubt that growing your laundromat business and expanding to multiple locations can be even more lucrative.

At some point, as a laundromat owner yourself, you may feel ready to take on the challenge of opening another location. Laundromats represent convenience, and what’s more convenient to the customer than multiple locations? But the promise of a greater bottom line does not come without its own unique tests and complications.

 

Challenges to Opening Another Laundry Location

Assuming that you are financially capable of opening a new store, the first (and biggest) challenge you’ll encounter is managing it. How will you manage more than one location? How will you split your time between more than one store? How will you handle training your new employees? How will you oversee them when you are not there?

The next challenge is equipping your new location. Will you use the same equipment you are using at your current store? Are you equipping the store entirely from scratch or are you taking over an existing laundromat? If you are taking over a store, will you need to upgrade the equipment?

The final obstacle is time. Managing more than one location will add a lot of time to your already busy day. Will you have the tools to help you manage that time effectively and efficiently? Without them, you could easily become overwhelmed and not have the time to give either location the attention it deserves.

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Expanding Your Laundry Business

How can you be sure to expand your business in the best way possible? A key to owning multiple laundromat stores is having well-trained employees, high quality equipment and tools that make running several stores easier. Each makes your job as the owner of multiple laundry facilities easier and allows you to be more efficient.

One way to do this is with a holistic laundromat management solution like LaundryCard. LaundryCard gives store owners all the tools they need to effectively manage multiple locations in one integrated system. It replaces all of the traditional coin mechanisms with networked card readers in a store, allowing for several features that make managing multiple laundromat stores easier and less time consuming.

Remote Management

LaundryCard is designed to work with any device that has an internet browser. You can remotely control, view, and configure the system from a smartphone, tablet or PC. Run sales reports, configure specials, change vend prices all from the comfort of your home or office. You are no longer limited by distance when opening new stores because complete remote management is now possible.

Employee Management

Every employee has a dedicated card in the system that highlights their responsibilities. When you hire a new attendant, they are issued an Attendant Card, which enables them to clock in and out of work, view work schedules, see scheduled duties, and check off when they have completed tasks. These features will help your employees perform their job effectively, even when you aren’t physically able to be in each store overseeing staff.

Multi-Store Networking

Multi-Store Networking allows you to distribute loyalty cards anywhere and lets your customers use them in any of your locations. For example, customers can purchase a card in Store A and use the card in Store B or Store C as well.

 

What’s the best solution?

Opening another laundry location can be a worthwhile endeavor, but not without tools that can help you manage multiple businesses. LaundryCard is totally automated, completely coin-less, and helps you run your business and increase profits. Learn more about the laundromat business by downloading our owner’s guide to running a profitable laundromat, or contact us today to get started with our holistic laundry management system in your next location!

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.

LaundryCard is a holistic laundromat management system that gives owners of multiple stores all the tools they need to succeed. LaundryCard replaces all of the traditional coin mechanisms with networked card readers in a store. Customers get a loyalty card from a kiosk by inserting cash or a credit card and the value added to the loyalty card can then be used to start the customers desired machine. A LaundryCard system is a great choice for owners of more than one location because it has several features that make managing multiple laundromat stores easier and less time consuming.

  No More Coins

With coin based laundromats, you spend a lot of time collecting and processing quarters. Since there are no coins used to start the machines in a LaundryCard store, there is nothing to collect except the cash receipts located in the X-Changer kiosks. LaundryCard saves busy multiple store owners time because they don’t have to empty coin boxes frequently or make several trips to the bank each week. A store that would normally take 2 hours to collect with coins, can now take 5 minutes, giving you time to manage your stores rather than work them.

Multi-Store Networking

Multi-Store Networking allows you to distribute your cards anywhere and lets your customers use them in any of your locations. For example if a store owner operates three locations in the same town, customers can purchase a card in Store A and use the card in Store B or Store C as well. The totals report will have an added field to show store owners the dollar amount of card balances that have been transferred in or out.

One Touch Collection

One of the major benefits of having a card system is its ability to reduce the exposure to cash and coins to the public. When collecting from a Laundry Card System, all that is needed is a collectors card. The collector is issued a Collectors card and this card enables the system to track the date, time, and amount of each collection. This allows multiple store owners to spend less time collecting at each location and even allow trusted employees to collect. In a LaundryCard system, every employee has a dedicated card that highlights their responsibilities. You can have a dedicated collector that retrieves the collections from each store.

Employee Management

In a LaundryCard system every employee has a dedicated card that highlights their responsibilities. When a store owner hires a new attendant they are issued an Attendant Card and this card enables them to clock in and out of work, view work schedules, see scheduled duties, and check off when they have completed tasks. These features will help your employees perform their job effectively and manage your stores because when you run multiple stores, you aren’t able to physically be in each one overseeing staff.

Remote Management

LaundryCard has been designed to work with any device that has an Internet browser. You can remotely control, view, and configure the system from a smartphone, tablet or PC. Run sales reports, configure specials, change vend prices all from the comfort of your home or office. You are no longer limited by distance when opening new stores because complete remote management is now possible.

With coin operated laundromats, the number of stores you are able to run depends on how much you can physically handle and there are only so many hours in a day. A LaundryCard system helps you automate and grow your business so you aren’t limited to how many stores you can manage and operate. Contact us today to learn more about LaundryCard and how its tools can help your laundromat business!

Bill Norteman has been in the self-service laundry business since the early 2000s. He owns several laundromats in the Chicago area and has implemented CCI’s LaundryCard system in his stores.

What attracted you to the self-service laundromat business?

I began looking closely at the self-service laundry business shortly after September 11th, 2001.  A friend of mine and I were in a precarious position. We’d spent all of our adult lives preparing for a career in the airline industry which began to collapse in the early 2000s. We both loved and wanted to continue in our jobs as long as possible and decided the laundry business would be a good hedge against what, at the time appeared to be the inevitable loss of our jobs and along with it any prospect of re-employment in the same industry. We were fortunate our fears did not come to pass. While many did lose their jobs, we were able to remain employed throughout. These dark days of layoffs and bankruptcies in the airline industry gave us something positive to focus on – growing and expanding our Laundry business.

What is your favorite part of this business?

I really enjoy being in control of my financial destiny. The business will do well if I make good decisions and put the time into it. Of course the opposite is true as well.

What is your least favorite part of this business?

It’s really a double edged sword. I really like the variety of people I meet and work with. This is true of both employees as well as customers. I have a tendency to assume everyone is a good honest person. Sometimes this turns out not to be the case, and because I’m a fairly trusting individual I end up being disappointed on occasion. To be honest, we all run into this in our daily lives, but when I fail to accurately judge someone’s character, it stings a little more when it affects your bottom line.

In your opinion, what is the biggest issue laundromat owners are facing today?

The challenges facing laundromat owners are in some respects similar to those faced by most American small business owners.  

1. The ever rising cost of goods sold. The price of water has doubled in less than 3 years in our area, and while during that time gas and electricity has remained fairly constant, those commodities have fluctuated as well.
2. Employees. As minimum wages continue to go up, the problem we have is balancing the need to pay a competitive wage while offering a competitively priced product.
3. Technology. As with most businesses, technology is constantly changing. Investing in laundry equipment and payment platforms that can keep up with the changes is key.  This is where CCI’s LaundryCard has been a big help. They are always innovating their product and are able to stay on top of security concerns and advances in technology.

What trends are you noticing in the self-service laundry industry, especially in the Chicago area?

I’ve noticed a trend away from small neighborhood laundries. While small stores will always be with us, due to the high cost of building a new laundry, most newer stores are 3,000 sf or larger. The larger stores can offer more products and services to offset these higher upfront costs.

How do you market/advertise your business?

We’ve tried many approaches to marketing over the years and their overall effectiveness has also changed with time. We’ve used yellow pages, newspaper inserts, direct mail, door flyers, signs in public places, ads in holiday community calendars, chamber of commerce welcome packages, radio spots, google, yelp, email campaigns to our web page, etc. The only medium we haven’t tried, that I can think of, is television. We found it to be cost prohibitive. Currently our preferred marketing strategies are email campaigns and online search engines such as Yelp and Google, which we hope take customers to our websites.

Before you had LaundryCard, what had you heard about card systems in Laundromats?

Before investing in LaundryCard, I went to the “Clean Show”, a biennial trade show featuring equipment and products from all the manufacturers and vendors of laundry and dry cleaning equipment. There I was able to see and touch all the available payment systems.

Why did you choose the LaundryCard system over other systems?

In 2005 when I first looked at and compared LaundryCard to other systems, LaundryCard was years ahead in development. It was the most feature filled platform available. While the technology has come a long way in the last 12 years, LaundryCard has only gotten better.  The number of other payment systems has grown, but none can compete with LaundryCard’s features, reports, stable operating platform, support, and cost.  

How have your customers responded to LaundryCard?

Customers really like the system. They love being able to walk into our place without carrying a pocket full of quarters. They like the flexibility of using cash or credit card. Periodically I’ll see a new customer looking a bit puzzled as they are trying to figure out the system. Before an attendant or I can greet them, there’s always an existing customer that will jump in to explain how to get a new LaundryCard. Customers get excited about the system and enjoy teaching and telling others about it.

Did you realize a return on your LaundryCard investment?

Yes. We realized a return on our investment fairly quickly with each store and continue to enjoy the benefits.

How does LaundryCard save you time?

We save time collecting. We don’t have to empty hundreds of coin boxes across our stores each week or spend time cleaning lint out of jammed coin drops.

We save time managing. We can address customer service issues by adjusting a customer’s LaundryCard balance from our computer or any mobile phone. We can evaluate the effectiveness of different promotions and pricing strategies by pulling reports summarizing sales or starts for any time period and analyze how each type / size of equipment is doing. We can remotely monitor the maintenance status of our washers and dryers, sending a technician when needed. We can pull employee hour reports simplifying payroll.

Customers save time as well. With a quick trip to the X-changer to check their balance and/or add value to their card, they can start any and all machines by simply dipping their laundry card into the reader. This is significantly faster than inserting quarters.  This becomes an even greater time savings as vend prices increase with time.

Which LaundryCard features have been most valuable to your business?

I’m a huge fan of the remote access feature. I really like checking in throughout the day to make sure the attendants have shown up on time and to see how sales are doing. As someone who has a full time job, it’s comforting knowing my investment is being taken care of and I can go about my day without worry. When / if there are issues, I can remotely login and fix most customer service problems.

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Do you use incremental vend pricing with LaundryCard? If so, how has being able to raise vend prices by a few pennies instead of a quarter had an impact on your bottom line?

Yes, we usually raise prices in nickel or dime increments. By raising prices consistently but in small increments, we get very little pushback from customers and most don’t even notice. This allows us to keep ahead of utility and other cost increases. Our competition has to raise by an entire quarter which provides us with a competitive advantage.

What advice do you have for laundromat investors thinking about adding a LaundryCard system?

I’m biased. Without LaundryCard I would not be as successful as I am, so I would say it’s a no brainer – just do it. That being said, it’s important to note that what’s right for me on my budget and in my market might not be for everyone. An existing small store with a limited budget may want to consider a FasCard System. This can be added to some but not all machines without affecting coin sales and provide some of the advantages of LaundryCard.

If you are building a new Laundromat or rehabbing an entire store in today’s market, you’d be remiss to not invest in a complete payment system. Look at all the systems out there and ask some questions. Don’t look at just the benefits to customers, just the benefits to owners, just the price tag, or just the company’s support –  look at all these and more. The choice will be clear.

Would you implement LaundryCard in your next store? Why?

Yes. Just last week I purchased a closed laundry and signed a new lease for that space and the space next door. I’m building an entire new laundry in this space, and it will be a LaundryCard store. We just placed the order last week.

What do you feel are the keys to a profitable self-service laundromat business in 2016?

Much the same as any small business, the owner needs to be vigilant and able to adapt to changing market conditions. Failure to analyze trends and customer response to pricing and marketing strategies can be very costly. LaundryCard provides an owner with the tools to closely monitor these trends.

What do you wish you had known when you were first getting into the laundromat business?

The list is endless. It has been an exciting journey filled with many learning opportunities. The whole process of becoming a business owner / operator has been very satisfying for me personally.  

What are your top business goals for the rest of 2016 and into 2017?

As I begin construction on my 4th Laundromat later this month, I hope to incorporate many of the ideas and features I have learned are very popular with customers. My goal is to divide my attention between getting the new Laundry up and off to a successful start while maintaining the level of customer service we’ve attained at our existing stores. Incorporating technology such as CCI’s LaundryCard is indispensable when running multiple locations.

 

What are the main differences between a cards + coins laundry system and a complete card laundry system and how do you decide which is the right fit? There are a number of factors you want to consider when making this decision. In this blog post, we are going to address the benefits and differences between FasCard, our hybrid (cards/coins) system, and LaundryCard, our complete card system, to help you determine the best choice for your laundromat business.

Convert all machines or add card readers over time?

FasCard is a hybrid system, allowing machines to continue to accept coins but also accept credit/debit and loyalty cards. The FasCard system works with existing coin laundry machines and since there is no minimum card reader purchase, FasCard allows you to start small and grow over time. You can start with a few machines and add more over time or outfit your entire Laundromat with readers.

LaundryCard is exclusively a coin replacement system where ALL machines are converted to accept cards. LaundryCard is a complete card system, replacing all of the traditional coin mechanisms with networked card readers in a store. Customers get a loyalty card from a kiosk by inserting cash or a credit card and the value added to the loyalty card can then be used to start a machine.

Eliminate coins or take all forms of payment?

A hybrid system can be appealing to your customers because it gives them the choice to pay any way they choose. FasCard gives you the flexibility to accept any or all payment options available. Coins, credit/debit cards, or loyalty cards, accept them all or any combination of them. Customers can even insert some coins and swipe their card for the balance! Both the original FasCard reader and the F2 Card Reader accept multiple forms of payment. In addition, the FasCard App lets your customers pay digitally through an interface on their smartphone, so your customers always have a way to use your machines.

Having a complete card system allows you to take advantage of penny incremental vend pricing and gives you the ability to run several different promotions. Penny incremental pricing has a powerful effect on your bottom line. You can actually see how LaundryCard would benefit your laundromat with our online Profit Calculator. Since there are no coins, this makes for easy collecting and will save you lots of time as an owner. You will also have a great customer loyalty because customers have remaining money on their laundry cards. This unused balance on the cards is called float, and this can result in a lot of additional revenue for you.

 

How large is your laundromat?

FasCard is designed to meet the needs of laundries of all sizes. Multi-housing laundry rooms in apartment buildings, hotels, and condominium buildings will benefit from this cost-effective system designed to accept any combination of coins, credit or debit cards, and loyalty card. If your project requires less than 40 machines then from purely a financial perspective you might want to be considering FasCard as the initial investment in LaundryCard may be tough to justify.

LaundryCard is perfect for new and existing stores with 40 or more machines. If your application is larger than 40 machines then the decision should be based on whether or not you want to continue to accept coins in your store. For medium to large Laundromat projects, LaundryCard in most cases is the best option, as it provides valuable automation tools to help operate the Laundry.

What type of networking equipment do you want?

LaundryCard is what is known as an ‘On-Premise’ system, this means that when you purchase LaundryCard you are purchasing all of the servers and networking equipment needed to run the system and host all of this equipment in your store. In contrast, FasCard is what is known as a ‘Cloud Based’ system, all of the servers and networking equipment is all located in our data center and all that is required onsite is a reliable internet connection. While LaundryCard’s card readers are all hardwired to the central system, FasCard card readers are all wireless and require little to no network cabling.

What do you want to track and automate?

By installing a FasCard hybrid system, you can 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. FasCard will send you email notifications when coin boxes reach capacity so you can schedule your coin collections accordingly and collect only when you need to. With FasCard you can offer time of day pricing and loyalty programs to both coin and card customers.

Our complete card system, LaundryCard, focuses on automating your laundromat by eliminating coin, handling all cash collections, employee management, equipment service, store marketing and reporting, and much more, saving you lots of time. LC is a holistic laundromat solution that gives store owners all the tools they need to manage their laundromat in one integrated system and these tools can be accessed and managed remotely from anywhere Internet is available. LaundryCard’s feature rich loyalty card system is a good investment if you are a owner looking to free up time, automate your laundromat and offer lots of features to your customers.

Both cards + coins (FasCard) and complete card (LaundryCard) systems have their benefits. With over 30 years of experience in the self-service laundry industry, Card Concepts Inc. (CCI) designs all of its solutions with both the operator and end user in mind. Contact us today and let our experts help you find the best system solution that fits both the needs of you and your customer!

LaundryCard is not just a ‘Card System’ – it’s a holistic laundromat solution that gives store owners all the tools they need to succeed in one integrated system. From managing employees to marketing and loyalty programs, LaundryCard offers more features than any other product on the market. In this blog post, we are going to let you know about a few of LaundryCard’s features you many not be aware of.

Manage and Track Service Repairs

When you have machines that are in need of service, a LaundryCard system allows you to disable a machine for service, track the history of service for each machine and track time spent by technicians. LaundryCard allows you to issue Technician Cards to service technicians which gives them the ability to view the machines marked out of service and the problem inputted. Once the equipment has been serviced, the technician can mark the machine back into service and record the solution into the system. This action creates a service log for the machine which includes the time and date of failure, description of failure, attendant who recorded, service technician who repaired, amount of time a technician is working in the store and solution to failure. With LaundryCard, an owner can easily see how many machines are ‘marked’ out of service, compare time logs with service bills to validate service time and review the service history of each machine.

Remotely Access Advanced Sales Reporting

One of the major benefits of owning LaundryCard is that you have access to an in-store snapshot of your stores current sales at any time whether you are standing in front of the X-Changer or sitting at home in front of a computer. The store owner has the ability to check store totals without opening the cabinet or counting a single bill. All sales and usage information is recorded centrally and available for reporting and analysis. LaundryCard has the ability to provide detailed transactional reports for almost anything a store owner may want to know. All reports are live and require no data to be imported or downloaded. Hourly totals, Today’s totals, Week to date, Month to Date, Last Month and Year to date sales information is all available instantly and can be accessed remotely from any internet device. There is even a custom download tool to extract raw data that can be used to generate your own custom reports.

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Gather Customer Data and Market Effectively

Getting to know your customers is a valuable commodity in business. By being able to store your customers personal information, you can offer them extended services and help to build customer loyalty. LaundryCard allows you to collect a customer’s address, phone, email and birthday information when they register. There is a comments field to hold special ‘private’ notes regarding a customer. All of the collected information can be exported and used to market to your customers. You can easily create email blast marketing campaigns or traditional mailings. The LaundryCard system even has the ability for your customer to choose the language they prefer. The system will also remember a customer’s language preference and continue to display appropriately in the future. LaundryCard will help you truly get to know your customers so that you can effectively market to them and encourage customer loyalty.

Unlike other products that simply allow you to remove or supplement the quarters from a laundromat, LaundryCard helps you automate and grow your business. LaundryCard is a feature rich, management system that was built specifically for the laundry industry. Contact us today to learn more about LaundryCard and how its tools can help your laundromat business!

Art Jaeger, after a 20 year career in the music industry including tenure as an executive vice president at Capitol Records, knew he wanted to start his own company. But he also wanted an investment that was going to last.

So Art devised a checklist to grade multiple business investments by with very strict criteria, including, an investment that only needed a small number of employees, the capability to be self-financed, the ability to be an absentee owner or spend less time in store if he wanted, and an investment that retains its value, so he could sell quick near original buying price if necessary. After attending a laundromat industry trade show, Art decided on investing in a laundromat and procuring the newest in laundry technology.

He was immediately interested in the digital laundry tech that he previewed at the laundry trade show. Art saw innovation in key features and benefits like laundromat automation, remote online store management, digital credit/debit card payment, and loyalty marketing programs when he received a demo for a digital card-only LaundryCard reader from Card Concepts Inc (CCI).

He used the LaundryCard digital laundry payment system to transform his vision of a fully-automated, all digital coin-less laundromat into a highly profitable reality. A laundromat equipped with digital card readers turned out to meet all of his criteria for a wise investment.

Cyndia Zwahlen and Shan Li, in an article for the LA Times, noted his business acumen and plan for a future-proof laundromat, saying,

In Sherman Oaks, the Oaks Express Laundry Center opened last fall with banks of high-capacity, front-load washers, a full- time attendant and a card payment system that enables the owner to add bonus dollars to customers’ cards, tweak individual machine prices electronically and track machine use via remote computer.

The write-up continues, with the LA Times putting the spotlight on Art’s laundromats and the Card Concepts Inc. (CCI) equipment he chose to outfit and automate his storefronts with:

It’s a formula owner Art Jaeger came up with after building four other laundries.

“I build laundromats that are intended to attract people that ordinarily might not go into a laundromat,” said Jaeger, a former record company executive. He said his per-store revenue is in the top 10% for the industry. Jaeger got into the business after attending an industry trade show.

From his two decades of experience being a senior executive in the music industry, Art was experienced in networking and keeping to the ear ground for the latest developments and technology for whatever he was passionate about. So of course, Art was one of the first to know first-hand about anything cutting-edge in the laundry industry:

Like many other recent new investors in the old industry, he was impressed with the possibilities offered by the new card systems, the potential of larger-scale stores and the efficiencies of the latest machines.

“I realized,” Jaeger said, “that the business was on the cusp of changing.”

Not only was Art featured in the LA Times, but Card Concepts Inc. (CCI), the manufacturer of LaundryCard, also caught up with him in one of his California stores. He spoke about his experiences of automating his laundromats with digital coinless card readers.

Art learned that with LaundryCard naturally came “float”, or the amount of unused funds left on a self-service laundry loyalty card. These amounts over time can add up to large sums of money each month, in some cases, float can pay for the implementation and cost of the digital card systems and loyalty kiosks that accrue it, or equal the average rent on a laundromat facility.

In a short video created by CCI on his success with LaundryCard in his laundromats, Art said,

“By definition, you’re always going to have ‘float’ in this business. And that is the difference between the customers who place money on their card and how much they use on their LaundryCard to actually start washers and dryers… I would have to say that in my Santa Clarita store, the float alone has paid for the entire LaundryCard system.”

“In the years that I’ve been using LaundryCard in all of my stores, I have found the customer experience to be an extremely positive one. There’s not a week that goes by when I don’t have customers coming to thank me that they no longer have to tote around tons of quarters, especially when you have machines that could require as many as 70 quarters.”

Art continues to be a multi-store owner of a cluster of profitable stores in the Los Angeles-area. We at CCI are very happy to see Art receive the recognition he deserves for his hard work, business savvy, and insight!

What is “float” and why does it matter?

The unused value or funds left on a self-service laundry “loyalty card” is what those in the laundry industry refer to as “float.” Float is a widespread topic in the laundry industry, which comprises laundromat owners, absentee proprietors, and multi-housing managers.

It is a prevalent topic in laundromats and multi-housing facilities across the country—and on many popular online forums such as PlanetLaundry and CoinWash—because it is one of the chief monetary draws of utilizing a digital card payment system over traditional coin-slot machines.

Can any digital laundry card system accrue float?

Although float is a widely discussed topic among laundromat owners and industry insiders, owners are not always able to reap the benefits of float. With some digital laundry payment systems, there is no ability to add value onto an additional proprietary card that is only usable at their locations. In fact, most laundry payment systems only allow a customer to simply pay for vends using a credit or debit card.

It is only with more sophisticated digital laundry payment systems that float is even a possibility. With these advanced systems, laundromat owners are able to issue what are called “loyalty cards,” which entitle their customers to incentive programs such as big bill bonuses (prepay $20, receive $22 in vend credit; prepay $100, receive $110 in credit), points, and group discounts, with more options and customizations depending on whether the owner chooses to permit clients the option to accept cash and card or credit/debit cards alone. Laundromat owners can even issue “digital” loyalty cards with the help of tools like the FasCard app, which expands the loyalty card’s ability to increase float.

Digital laundry payment system providers also offer premier options for customers with secure touchscreen automated payment kiosks, which dispense loyalty cards, redeem discounts and earned point rewards, and add value to cards—all without an in-store attendant necessary. Plus, owners gain features like live bill count and email notifications.

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Loyalty cards and reloadable gift cards

The process of how float accrues with digital laundry payment cards is comparable that of reloadable gift cards. For instance, in both cases, an amount is prepaid and that amount must be spent using that particular card at locations provided in the terms of its use.

Many major banks and credit card companies, such as VISA, American Express, and MasterCard, and retailers like Amazon, Target, Apple, and Best Buy have incubated this proprietary pre-pay concept, encouraged its rise, and slowly solidified the popularity surrounding personal rechargeable gift cards, in no small part due to the unclaimed money left on these cards.

According to a 2011 report by Brian Riley, analyst for the financial consulting firm, TowerGroup estimated that a reeling $41 billion of gift card funds have gone unredeemed from 2005 to 2011. This figure was so astonishing, The Wall Street Journal picked it as its “Number of the Week” for the end of 2011.

How does float work and can it pay off the investment price of a digital card payment system?

Let’s say a laundromat has a group of customers that each buy a single loyalty card and pre-pay for the laundromat’s services with a large bill. In this scenario—after six months or so—most of those customers eventually leave various amounts of value—for some it’s .75¢ and others it’s $1.50—on each card.

If they never use the remainder of the value on their cards, this means quite a bit of “extra” on-going profit for the laundromat. Even if the float on a single card is equal to a nickel or a dime, every cent is rolled up into a continuous whole. In fact, many digital card laundromat owners report accruing upwards of $1,500 in float each month.

This is especially the case when vend prices are increased incrementally in amounts lower than 25¢. As with many other contentious issues, however, float brings with it differing opinions and on its value, use, and its capacity to be transferred from one store owner to another.

Why is float left on laundry loyalty cards?

There are plenty of reasons for customers not redeeming the value present on their cards, either through card loss, misuse, or by neglecting to bring their old card in with them when they come in to add value to it—and the actual rate of this happening is high.

Benefits of float:

• Research has shown that people spend more money when using a debit or credit card, allowing for a higher overall profit margin.
• Loyalty cards are prepaid and customers are encouraged by bonus programs that are set up to incentivize adding value onto the card in larger dollar amounts, and if that cardholder chooses to patronize a different store, the information gained by a loyalty card allows you to continue to market special offers, deals, and promotions to that loyalty card holder.
• Float can be used if a laundromat owner decides to sell their store, allowing for a more attractive selling point via a higher number of customers—or the float could even be factored into the store’s equity as a bonus.

“‘Float’ alone over time has paid for the entire CCI system.”

If you would like to learn more about Card Concepts Inc.’s (CCI’s) premier digital card payment system, LaundryCard, and how easily the investment costs can be recouped by the float accrued by the system, download our free case study, Bowen Laundromats. In this case study, Bill Bowen explains what it’s like to have a LaundryCard system after utilizing another card system and the major differences between the two.

Card Concepts Inc. is the leading provider of digital laundry payment systems, with completely cashless, card-only systems, including LaundryCard, and the card-and-cash hybrid laundry payment system, FasCard. To learn more about both systems, contact CCI at +1(866) 860-1660.

Coin-op laundry machines: the bane of property managers?

The laundry room is possibly the most essential amenity for residents who live in multi-unit apartment complexes. This is especially so if a property is not equipped with in-unit connections for renters to hook up their own washer and dryers.

Digital card-op laundry and multi-housing facilities 

For most multi-housing unit managers, it’s become a tacit habit to look the other way when passing by the laundry room—as it’s often a sigh-inducing sight.

Although laundry rooms are sometimes located in inconvenient places like basements, up several flights of stairs, or nearly off the premises, property managers simply cannot avoid dealing with them. And if your property spans several buildings, you may have many laundry rooms with numerous laundry machines to manage.

Why are laundry facilities such a source of irritation to property managers? To put it briefly, coin-operated laundry machines are a lot of work. They are difficult to deal with, something little always seems to be breaking, they can get clogged up. Maybe the coin-mechanism is jammed, but even when it is working—there’s still collections and maintenance to deal with.

You could certainly take care of this by yourself. Or it could mean delegating those tasks to your super. Or you may have a laundry route operator to take care of your facilities. But that’s another issue: laundry route operators.

Premium Offer: Want to learn more about managing your multi-housing laundry room? Download our free premium whitepaper, Must Know Tips on Managing a Multi-Unit Laundry Room and learn all the tips.

 

Laundry route services

Landry route operators can be confusing, costly, and troublesome. Let’s break it down: you pay a laundry route service for an operator to come by and maintain your laundry machines and collect the quarters. They service many different apartment complexes and are scheduled to make rounds at set times each week or month. But laundry routes someones don’t run as smoothly as initially promised, especially if you’re dealing with dishonest laundry route operators, and then you’re left holding the bag.  

And what if some of your machines require service or collection before the next appointment? You have to wait (and lose out on missed vends) while those machines are down, or you can try to hunt down the laundry route operator yourself, which also means lost time. Coins and physical routes—though they do certainly warrant some merit and convenience for certain tenants—to many property owners, are a vestigial leftover from an older multi-housing economy that did not have to reckon with the digital world.

Leaving the coin-op laundry system behind

Today, many property managers have switched to a better way of managing their laundry machines: digital card-operated laundry payment systems. Since the late 1990s, the popularity of card-op laundry payment facilities has been growing at a substantial rate.

This is no certainly no surprise to multi-housing managers, as it’s a simple process to upgrade or retrofit existing laundry machines to be able to accept debit and credit cards. With card-op or hybrid coin-and-card-op machines, you won’t have to remove physical coinage from each machine one-by-one—transactions are deposited instantaneously into your bank account.

Not only is a card-operated laundry payment system much easier to manage physically, it is also more cost-effective in the absence of a laundry route.

Generating profit substantially by increasing prices incrementally

Card-operated payment systems allow you to increase the prices for laundry services incrementally—at as little as one cent step-ups. These smaller increments, implemented over a longer course, make it easier for residents to budget for than the sudden, dramatic 25 cent increase of traditional coin-op machines.

Residents are also more willing to accept smaller increments—more would pay $1.58 cents to run a load of laundry while many of those same residents would balk a $1.75 cent vending price.

In an article by Multi-Housing News Online, an industry expert acknowledged that,

“Most savvy property managers can make more money from a card system, any large regional property, managed by a knowledgeable business person, will prefer the card.”

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The future, today

Most card-op laundry payment platforms operate online, enabling property owners and mangers to view balances and credits, regulate pricing, and even turn on and turn off laundry machines remotely. Hybrid coin-and-card-op laundry payment systems benefit all types of residents; those who are used to the traditional coin-op payment method and those who would rather just swipe a card.

Whether you are happy with your coin-operated laundry machines, or you want to make the transition to card-operated laundry payment systems, the future of multi-housing laundry units is here, and it cannot be ignored.

Card Concepts Inc. (CCI) is national manufacturer of digital laundry payment products, including FasCard, a hybrid coin-and-card payment system, and Laundry Card, a digital card-operated system. If you would like to learn more about card or coin-and-card-operated payment systems for your laundry facilities, give us a call today at 1 (866) 860-1660.