Smart card operated laundry - are these prices reasonable?

[Neil1]

Hi Everyone,

My friend received a quote from a company installing smart card washers and driers.

He is considering installing their system in a building with 20 apartments.

The company mentioned 2 washers and 2 driers are needed.

The prices are $30/month per appliance so $120/month for all 4, Plus 10% of the revenue

(well the revenue minus their monthly fee of 120).

Is this reasonable?

Thanks,

Neil

 

[Thomas Beyer]

Common is 50-70% to the landlord and 30-50% to the machine owner. The two biggest firms are Phelps and Coinamatic. The term you show may make sense too.

 

[Neil1]

Isnt such a system (smart cards) not a good idea for a 20-plex? Is it not too small?


The reason is revenue sharing plus fee would drop revenue from about $300 (coins) to $100 (cards)/month.


Even Phelp was honest and told my friend not to do it. only from 40 units it starts to make sense.


I understand you like letting your super/s collect the coins. Is this still the case, do you recommend trying that in a 20-plex? The super is really nice. However, he already pays 3/4 the market rent (but that's just because he moved in 10 yrs ago). He is actually not the super yet. He was kind of the super before my friend bought the building - he was responsible for cleaning. Now that there is a new great PM, would you recommend my friend to re-hire the nice super although he is working with a PM there? Would you recommend having both a PM and a super for a 20-plex? Or in the case of working with PM, the PM typically takes care of that (cleaning etc.) using her/his own people?


Thanks,


Neil