PAYKEY(R) : : : Case Studies, Faurecia, Atlas Food Systems& Services, Inc., Western Vendors

Case Studies

Faurecia - How to convert a traditional vending account to cashless vendor aggresively pursuing cashless

Atlas Food Systems & Services, Inc., Offering Customers a Refreshing New Approach

Western Vendors Praise the PAYKEY® System

Faurecia - How to Convert a Traditional Vending Account to Cashless

In early 2002, Atlas Food Systems and Services, Inc., a regional vending company in Greenville, SC. installed PAYKEY® as a cashless payment option at one of their customer locations, Faurecia, an automotive products manufacturer in Fountain Inn, SC.
Faurecia's 300 employees have been able to purchase with the traditional method of cash and coins along with PAYKEY® since then. Immediately, the employees began to enjoy using their Paykey more than cash and coins to make purchases. Employees realized how easy and convenient their Paykey was to use!

Neile Bramlett, Human Resources Director for Faurecia welcomed the convenience the PAYKEY® granted his employees and stated," I am confident that my employees will eventually welcome a completely cashless environment."

ust over a year later, on March 1, 2004, Faurecia and Atlas successfully transitioned Faurecia to completely cashless to the delight of the employees and management. Atlas offered a final sign-up period to give away Paykeys before selling Paykeys in the snack machines for $3. The response has been positive. They are accustomed to using Paykey as their only means of purchasing.

The associates recharge their Paykey at the RCS 100 Recharge Station with either cash or credit/debit cards. Atlas has even been able to remove the coin mechanism and bill validator from all of the machines except for the snack machine, which is used as a PAYKEY purchase station.

Mrs. Donna Gettys, the District Manager for Atlas Food Systems has commented that "PAYKEY® is an easy system for me to implement with my vending attendants. We have certainly saved money by using PAYKEY® . We are obviously handling less money and are having fewer service calls and/or money acceptance problems."

Atlas has also leamed that, given time, employees will accept and even welcome a completely cashless environment! Ranson Anderson, an employee of Faurecia stated, "It seems like I'm spending more money, and that's what everyone else says, because it's more convenient. Plus, I don't have to worry about dropping my quarters under the machine!"

Valerie Byrd said that she usually puts $5 on her Paykey every Monday morning and uses it all week. She, too, enjoys its convenience and reliability.

Overall, the response to PAYKEY® at Faurecia has been overwhelmingly positive, and Atlas expects a general sales increase of around 5%, not including the "float", or the benefit of collecting future sales before they purchase.

Atlas' equipment cost conversion to all cashless can be calculated as follows:

Recharge Station	$ 2,600.00
PKl Readers (5)	$ 1,500.00
Paykeys (300)	$ 1,800.00
Starter Kit (software, etc.)	$ 500.00
Total	$ 6,400.90
Removal of 5 coin mechs and 4 bill validators	- $ 2,700.00
Net Cost	$ 3,700.00

Thus, at the net cost of only $3,700.00, Atlas Food Systems and Faurecia are benefiting from a unique, new payment system allowing the vendor to electronically control his money and his customers to have added convenience and reliability.

Atlas Food Systems & Services, Inc., offering Customers a Refreshing New Approach

This year has been a turning point for vendors gaining the knowledge and confidence to sell new accounts with a cashless payment system. A list of vendors, large and small, are reporting success stories in gaining new accounts when presenting PAYKEY® as an additional payment option to new and existing customers.

Dan Holt of Lincoln County Vending in Fayetteville, TN has sold two accounts with PAYKEY as part of his sales presentation since his introduction to PAYKEY at the ACE show in April. “PAYKEY is an amazing tool. It gets me in front of decision makers quickly. People find it so much easier and reliable than cash and coins.”

John Battaglia of J&J Vending in Rochester, NY uses PAYKEY to gain a solid hold on his existing accounts. “Customer loyalty has become my #1 benefit.” Gilbert Godbee, Director of Sales for Atlas Food Systems and Services, Inc. in Greenville, SC, agrees that PAYKEY gives him a sales tool like no other. “I see PAYKEY as a unique opportunity to create a deeper level of customer loyalty toward our company that is impossible to gain with cash and coins only. For larger facilities, we put the company’s logo on the Paykey. People proudly carry it with their car keys and use it all the time. Our customers are finding their own creative ways to use Paykey’s for in-plant promotions and benefits.”

Wayne Eddy, Purchasing – Senior Buyer of Honeywell in Greer, SC, states, “Our two plants made the decision to eliminate the subsidizing of our cafeteria services and searched for a vendor who would provide us the best solution to take our employees from a cafeteria services environment to an all vending service.”

"During the selection process, Atlas Food Systems and Services presented us with the PAYKEY cashless system option for our employees, and I saw this as a great new technology that would improve their satisfaction level while using the vending machines and would also allow me to give each of our 800 associates a $20 pre-credit on their Paykey as an incentive to begin using the vending exclusively. Atlas simply preset each Paykey with $20 and sent us an invoice." Atlas Food Systems now uses the PK 300 in their food service cafeterias. The PK 300 is a POS Paykey reader located at the cash register to accept Paykey as payment. This machine eliminates waiting in line for customers to find money and wait for change. Cashiers and customers alike appreciate the convenience of cashless spending at the cash register.

PAYKEY’S Recharge Station adds even more convenience by allowing customers the option to recharge their Paykey’s with their credit/debit cards, as well as cash. PAYKEY also has the unique ability to give customers the opportunity to recharge their Paykey directly on certain manufacturer’s vending machines!

Western Vendors Praise the PAYKEY® System

Kevin Grundy, co-owner of Tri-Star Vending Corp. in Las Vegas, NV, said the employer can revalue the employee's "Paykey" as he wants, including providing bonuses. It also speeds up the transactions. "There is much less of a bottleneck in the lunch room," Grundy said. He said the system lifted sales by 15 to 20 percent. Cashless lowers price resistance. "There's less resistance to price increases as well," Grundy further pointed out. Young's Distributing in Twin Falls, ID was able to convince a customer to use Paykeys instead of a bill validator, which would have cost more, noted Kenney Young, co-owner. He sells the Paykeys in the machines for $6. In one 250-person account, 65 employees bought Paykeys. Part of the attraction is the fact that it's an infrared device; customers simply enjoy the novelty of using the infrared key. "They have all felt this was a better option than a change machine," Young observed.