There are three reasons why owners of launderettes/laundromats choose cashless operation instead of coin. But they all add up to one main reason....
Owning a launderette is an incredibly easy way to make additional income when you get the fundamentals right. By adding cashless payment, you get a truly passive income. Here's why.
At first, launderette owners are delighted by the sheer volume of coins or tokens they empty from their coin trays each week. For busy sites, clearing the coin trays is several times a week! All those coins add up to significant income (keep an eye out for our upcoming article where we open the curtain and show you EXACTLY how much a launderette earns).
But the joy of all those coins fades fast. The hassle of clearing them out of the trays, sorting into bags and carrying to the bank takes time, strong arms and a good chiropractor. (Bags can easily weigh 20kg each!). Even tokens need clearing from trays and returning to the token machine each week.
You could always pay someone to do it, of course. But trusting someone to clear thousands of dollars in coins (or tokens) each week is not as easy as you might think.
With cashless, all that goes away. No more banking. No more clearing trays, no more waiting in lines to bank, no more chiropractor.
Although not common, when theft happens it's very annoying. Speed Queen vend machines are designed to be almost impossible to break into. But someone with the right tools and no care for camera's will be able to get into a coin box eventually. They will do significant damage while they do it. We have also heard of some cases where the nasty criminals have pulled entire change machines out of walls (spending time to cut through reinforcing to remove them!). So aside from the loss of the cash itself, you have disruption to your launderette.
Not with cashless. There is nothing to steal. When cashless terminals were first deployed into self-service 24/7 launderettes everyone wondered if people would steal the terminals. Although they are secured, if someone wanted to, they could. But nobody does. They are effectively worthless.
So no more theft with cashless.
As clever and robust as our coin mechanisms are, every now and then someone puts something silly into them. It might be a mangled coin. It might be something else (hoping to fool it... which they can't). Tokens have the same problem. When a coin jams, you have 2 problems. 1) The customer calls you and says they've paid, but haven't received a wash/dry. If you aren't able to get there fast, you need to refund them, remotely start the machine, or argue with them. 2) you now have a machine that is out of order. On a busy site, that costs you money. People might jump in the car and go somewhere else. Nobody is happy.
Not so with cashless. They literally can't jam.
Cashless launderettes are more successful than coin ones for a few reasons. They can easily open for longer hours (even 24/7) without any risk of theft. They can offer prices that work best, not limited to multiples of $1 or $2 coins. Finally, and most importantly, consumers prefer cashless payment. Think about which you would prefer... standing in a queue for a change machine, or paying immediately for the service you want?
If you want to know more about cashless launderettes or laundromats, get in touch with the experts!