CHICAGO — Payment acceptance in the self-service laundry industry continues to evolve as store owners balance traditional coin operation with a growing mix of digital and card-based options.
Results from this quarter’s American Coin-Op Your Views survey suggest that while coins remain widely used, many laundromat operators are steadily moving toward cashless systems.
Two-thirds of survey respondents (66.7%) say their stores accept coins for self-service machines. Beyond that, operators reported a variety of other payment methods: 46.7% accept mobile or app-based payments, 40% offer store-issued cards, and 36.7% allow customers to pay with credit or debit cards. Cash bills are accepted by 30%, while just 3.3% report using tokens.
When it comes to revenue, non-coin options are playing a larger role than many might expect. Slightly more than half of respondents — 53.3% — say that at least half of their self-service machine revenue comes from payment types other than coins or cash bills.
For many operators, the shift toward cashless has accelerated in recent years. Among stores that offer digital or card-based payment, 52.3% say the share of their payment mix tied to cashless options has increased significantly over the past three years, while another 19% say it has increased somewhat. Only a small fraction report any decline, while the remaining 23.8% say the share is about the same.
Customer convenience is a leading driver behind the transition. Seven in 10 respondents cite it as a key reason for adding or considering adding cashless payment options. Other commonly cited motivations include reduced coin handling (56.7%), security concerns (36.7%), and the potential for higher machine turns or revenue (33.3%).
Despite these changes, coins still hold an important place in many stores. Roughly 37% of respondents say coins remain essential and generate the majority of their revenue, while others describe them as still important (13.3%) or moderately significant (10.0%) even as cashless options grow.
Looking ahead, many operators expect the payment landscape to continue shifting over the next three years. While 23.3% anticipate their stores will remain coin-dominant and another 23.3% foresee a balanced mix of coin and cashless options, more than half expect cashless payments to take the lead. In fact, 36.7% predict their stores will shift mostly to cashless and 16.7% believe they will become fully cashless.
American Coin-Op’s Your Views survey provides a snapshot of owner perspectives but should not be considered scientific. Subscribers to American Coin-Op email blasts are invited to participate anonymously in the industry poll.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].
