When Should Laundromats Do Their Collections?
If you have a coin-only or hybrid Laundromat with coins or tokens utilizing coin boxes you might wonder “what is the best time to collect the coin boxes?” Early in the morning is a good time because most of the dangerous folks are still in bed. In an urban setting, evenings are far more dangerous to carry or process money. Some find that collecting before your store is open provides a more comfortable feeling. Others collect (and process bill changer pickups) right after their store is open because they feel more comfortable to have customer witnesses providing a visual deterrence and support.
I suggest another good time is during a busy time of day. This can be a little intimidating to newbies to the business because of the fear of being robbed while handling the collections. Since we are a neighborhood-based business (excluding Pickup and Delivery) collecting when you are very busy provides a level of observational security. Lots of witnesses from the neighborhood will be available and many of the neighborhood bad guys are known to these customers.
The worst time to collect or even process money from your card system or bill changers is at night. People can see in, but it’s hard to see out. Avoid any after dark bill or coin handling in your store. Someone could be watching.
Some people ask “how often should I collect?” In prior years, when vend prices were lower, and the coin boxes could handle the coin volume, the recommended collection time was once a week. Now with bigger machines (charging more per vend with the same sized coin boxes) twice a week might be normal. Some owners, recognized the space limitations of the coin boxes, do mini-collections, in which only the bigger washers are collected, between full collections. Dryers can go ten days to two weeks without overfilling their coin boxes.
Collecting every day is not recommended because of the increased opportunities the neighborhood will notice you are involved in a vulnerable activity. With increased washer security designs, the vulnerability of coin boxes has been greatly reduced, so leaving coin in coin boxes for a few days is not a great risk as opposed to the threat of collecting every day.
Finally, your trips to the bank are up to you and can be dependent of when you do your main coin and bill collections. Many owners have a safe at home and limit visits to their banks once or twice a month. Of course, my recommendation on bank visits excludes Laundromats that have large quantities of quarters to deposit. A lot of banks are not happy to see you bring in five-hundred-dollar bags of coins. Some even restrict coin deposits of large amounts at one time. Fortunately, coins needing to be deposited has greatly declined as bill changers now process bills of ten and twenty denominations and most of the money now removed from your Laundromat will be in paper bills and not bags of quarters or dollar coins.
Safety is extremely important. You are being watched by the neighborhood and there is a potential of robbery or burglary of your store. Avoid collecting at a repetitive time of day, or day of the week. This allows your vulnerability to be easily tracked. Stop processing your collection any time you feel an observer is a potential threat; you can always come back when that customer is gone.
Be smart, be careful and be safe. Planning reduces your risk.