MALVERN, Pa. — USA Technologies (USAT), a provider of wireless, cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions, and Setomatic Systems, a designer and manufacturer of cashless payment hardware and data services primarily for the vended laundry industry, have entered into a new, mutually exclusive agreement that targets the move toward cashless payment adoption in the self-service laundry market.
The agreement joins Setomatic’s SpyderWash® technology and USAT’s comprehensive ePort Connect® service platform to bring cashless payment value to laundry owners and operators as consumers increasingly use their credit/debit card or mobile phone to pay for laundry services.
Under terms of the three-year pact, USAT will act as exclusive service provider for all credit/debit card processing for Setomatic’s system. Conversely, USAT will market its ePort Connect service in the U.S. laundry market exclusively through Setomatic.
Over the next few weeks, the two companies will begin transitioning several thousand of Setomatic’s existing cashless connections to USAT.
Beyond the initial transition, the two companies will work together to increase cashless payment adoption in the largely untapped coin-operated, commercial and multi-housing laundry markets.
The Coin Laundry Association (CLA) estimates there are 30,000 to 35,000 Laundromats in the United States, which Setomatic translates to roughly 2.5 million commercial washers and dryers. There are approximately 3.4 million laundry machines in use in the multi-housing market, according to industry estimates. There are no revenue figures available for the multi-housing market, but the CLA estimates gross revenue in the vended laundry market at nearly $5 billion annually.
“We believe the laundry market is still at the early stages of credit/debit card adoption, so this is a great time to join forces with USAT in order to bring SpyderWash customers the most value as they transition their machines to cashless payment,” says Michael Schantz, president of Setomatic Systems. “Our historical information already shows us that cashless helps build incremental revenue for laundry operators. By aligning with USAT, we are taking this even further.”
“We are looking forward to welcoming Setomatic’s existing cashless customers and working with Setomatic to target substantially more cashless connections over the three-year agreement period,” says USAT CEO Stephen P. Herbert. “This new relationship is one example of the work we have had under way to leverage our leadership in vending to expand and diversify our ePort Connect service base. The SpyderWash platform aligns extremely well with our service, and by joining forces, we believe we can increase cashless payment adoption in the laundry market with greater speed and efficiency.”
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