How to control prepaid coffee cards?

[susansaddiction]

Need some help from someone in the know. I just opened my kiosk and want to try out the prepaid coffee cards - will charge $22.50 for ten 12 ouncers and $25.00 for ten 16 ouncers plus they get a free muffin when they purchase. My questions is how do I control these cards so that say someone on staff doesn't give one away or prevent someone from duplicating them on their PC? Guidance is appreciated!
Susan

 

[Polo]

I'm making the assumption that you are talking about using paper cards. If so, here's what we do: (1) We have a punch shaped like a coffee cup that we use on all cards we give out. The punch is unique and costs a lot to purchase ($40 I think). Someone would have to go to a little more trouble to duplicate that. (2) We also sign the cards which leaves an imprint from the pressure used to write our name. Only my wife and I sign. When its slow we sign and punch a few and put them away. Remember when someone signs with a ball point pen it will leave a slight indention on the card. Most of the time I can see it.
Hope this helps.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Hey SA:

Keep your prepaid cards simple. Instead of specifying what drinks they can buy, try giving your prepaid a value of $25 and sell them for $20. This way your customer gets the $5 value up front and you don't have to give them anything free after they use up the card. This will also give you the sale and getting them to purchase another when they run out. Just remind them how much credit is left when they get close to experation. Also let the customer determine what drink they would like to purchase, because they may decide to change up every once in a while, i.e., sometimes their drink may be more expensive and sometimes less. Also give them the option to purchase muffins, cookies, etc. Again it encourages them to use the card faster.

I would also suggest to put increments of .25, .50, & $1 squares to equal the $25 value on the card, so your customer knows how much they are spending. You can either keep their cards on file or they can keep it themselves. As for keeping track...Create a log for your prepaid cards and number them indivually lets say 1-25, you as owner initial each and assign them 5-10 cards at a time. Have your employee put the name of the customer, the date and initial in the log for each prepaid card they sell. This will make them responsible for each card sold. This way if something is fishy then you can question the employee. Keep in mind the customer won't mess around since they are prepaying for the card.

Just a few thoughts to add. By the way, we've taught this method to many of our customers, and we do the same at our locations as well. 8)

 

[susansaddiction]

Thanks for the info and suggestions!

Thanks so much for the ideas on the prepaid cards. I just designed them on my laptop so that I could make changes to them as needed, instead of getting 500+ printed up. I really like the idea of having the monetary increments on the card so they can use them for whatever they want.
I tell you - this is so darned much fun! I've only been open 13 days and am about 2/3 of where I want to be according to my biz plan - and I'm sitting in the parking lot of a brand new empty plaza. It is all leased, but the new tenants are stilll building out so it will be about 3 months until it's full. By then we'll be sailing! About 200 yards away is a brand new bank that opens next week - and it has 6 drive thru lanes that open at 7:30 a.m.! and they are by biz bank and will be passing out flyers for me thru the drive thru!
Thanks for letting me celebrate!
Susan

 

[janie1963]

Susan, we have "punch cards", but we keep them for the customer. We use index cards in a file box. The customers actually love that we keep the cards...they don't lose them or send them through the laundry. We do the same for gift certificates....just figure out how many drinks they can purchase for $10 or $20 and mark them off each time. However, we've got so many cards that the box is nearly full. THe only real problem we've had is one employee would start cards for customers who had been in , but not yet sstarted a card-she'd guesstimate previous purchases and mark them on the card. I had to let them know that the punches start on the day the card is started. I actually had to fire that employee today....it wasn't pretty and I did not enjoy this experience.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Punch cards are a bit different, since the customer does not have to purchase them as they do a prepaid card. Sometimes it much harder to control the punch card system. You never know if your employee is giving friends and family extra punches just so they can give them free drinks in order to get that extra tip. You see employees don't look at what the owner has to go through to make profit. Some are just there to get a pay check and don't really care about how you run the business. Sorry I have to put it in those terms, but it's true, and janie 1963 firing is never fun of course unless you enjoy doing it as I do :twisted: ...Just kidding, but I'm sure you are now beginning to see how it feels to be an owner. :wink:

 

[janie1963]

your right about the punch cards...you never know how dishonest someone can be until you're in business and until their lies start catching up with them and they can no longer keep the lies straight.

I have the employees sign a key agreement-they are issued a key to the door (for opening and closing). If they lose the key, they pay to have it replaced. If they are terminated by me, they pay to have the locks changed. I had the locks changed today ($45). Someone susggested I check into the legality of this agreement. Does anyone know anything about this situation or where I can find out about it?

Thanks.....oh, the fired employee was driving by the stand last night just after closing...acting very suspicious.

 

[espressomaniac]

Keep Records

Keep records of who has what card and you are set.

 

[Polo]

For those of you accepting punch cards, how many do you receive back on an average per month?

 

[Coffee Guy]

Hey J 1963:

I don't think it is legal for you to have an ex-employee pay to have the locks on your business changed. That is a business expense charged to your business. But if you can get them to do it more power to you. But I'd have your attorney look into it just in case. You don't want that to come back and haunt you. And Polo, that's a hard question regarding how many punch cards you get back per month. If you have a busy location I'd say you can sometimes average about 50-70 per week. Sometimes customers will save those (free drink) cards when they are low on funds. :wink: