3 Ways to Reduce the Need for Coins in Your FEC

Rather than putting up purchase barriers by forcing guests to pay a certain way, here are a few modifications that you can make to your operation to lessen your facility’s need for coins.

With the US facing a coin shortage, we’re seeing signs posted in local businesses refusing cash, asking for exact change, or reminding us that they’re in need of change. Family entertainment businesses are faced with this issue, too. But before you join them in forcing guests into controversial payment processes, consider this: if a guest tries to give you money, you probably should take it.

This goes back to the philosophy that we should always be making it easier for guests to do business with us, and putting up purchase barriers does the opposite. Of course, there are many advantages for guests and businesses alike to offer cashless payment options, but forcing them to do so can cause unnecessary friction.

However, with coinage being harder to come by these days, here are a few ways that you can minimize the need for coins in your business without creating a point of friction.

No. 1: Include taxes in your offering prices.

One easy way to avoid coinage is to simply include any required taxes in your offering price and adjust your pricing to be in round numbers. Your facility management software should make it easy for you to configure your items and allocate revenue and related taxes for your attractions,  items, and packages while taking different tax rates into account. In reporting, you’re able to see how much revenue goes to your current categories and subcategories, with the taxes deducted and displayed appropriately in your sales tax reports.

Once you determine any necessary pricing adjustments to account for taxes being included, consider communicating the change to your guests. Highlight how your business is making it easier for guests to pay in the manner they choose in light of a national coin shortage, that you’re minimizing handling of coins due to COVID-19, or any other positive message that shows guests you’re committed to giving them a great experience.

No. 2: Leverage discounts differently.

Consider how you currently offer coupons and other discounts. Instead of offering percentage discounts, it might make sense to offer a discount in fixed amounts. This serves the dual purposes of making sure you don’t need to give odd change, and at the same time make the value of your discounting more transparent for your guests. It is still possible to use percentage discounts, you will just need to work out the math to make sure you minimize change.

No 3: Offer donation rounding options.

Another great way to minimize the amount of change your facility gives back to guests is to offer a donation program for a local nonprofit.  At the point of sale, your team member asks if the guest would like to round up their spending to the next dollar (or even .50) and donate their change to a designated charity. Asking guests if they want to donate their change to help a local food bank or frontline workers, for example, gives generous guests a “feel good” boost. They feel good about helping someone, and the emotional boost they get can help start their experience with you positively.  The added benefit is that your efforts help a local organization while building stronger ties with your community.

This can be made seamless at the point of sale with a simple prompt at the end of each transaction, and all monies collected are automatically allocated to a given charity (kept separate from your sales numbers) on the back-end so you can easily pull reports to make your donation monthly or quarterly, as necessary.

If you need help configuring your CenterEdge software to reflect any of these changes, visit the CenterEdge Help Center or contact training@centeredgesoftware.com.