How much extra would you pay to have your water pumped?

Inwall,no disrespect as i trust and respect the great advise that you give,but i have to agree with peddy and the things mentioned earlier,raising prices for the given reason could drive budget minded customers to go elsewhere,and putting a sign up saying"self service"could cost you more as it would be on a trustworthy basis like mention and unfortunalty this is not a very trustworthy world.

25 years ago,i worked at a full service gas station,i had a great friend that worked right across the street at a self service station,we often took smoke breaks on the curb together when we were "dead" for a minute,we allways price matched for competative reasons,but yet we did twice the amount of business so our customers didn't have to get out in the cold,heat,rain,etc,plus get there oil and tires checked and windshield cleaned.I didn't work there a whole long time it was a high school job,but a couple years down the road the self service station folded,an even though times have changed and it is no longer a full service station,but more of a convienence store,and it's under a different corp. name,but the same family still owns the business to this day.

 

At my LFS, the valves are out front, near the registor, but I don't know if they "allow" customers to fill their own bottles or not... in this instance, a sign would be helpful.

They were charging a $1/g for salt water when I quit buying from them... the cost in gasoline & convenience to keep a 100 g system running sent me over the edge and I now have my own 5 stage RO/DI system... that was back when I started with a 75 g DT.... Now with the 120 g DT and 85 g sump system... there is no going back to buying water...

 

All of you are making great points and I appreciate that.

I like to do things the right way and sometimes that's more expensive. I don't want to lower quality so we need to use this as a loss-leader or raise our prices only slightly. Our saltwater is going to be free of Nitrates, Phosphates, and will have enough Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium to go right into a reef tank. In your mind, you most likely think that's a given. However, at a store I used to work at (after I left there) they didn't change the carbon pre-filter so the Chloramines ruined the RO membrane. In affect, their customers were not only getting Nitrates and Phosphates, they were also getting trace amounts of Ammonia. That store also tried to fill up Schackmel's tank with water at a SG of 1.050. If she hadn't double-checked with her brand new refractometer, her whole tank of newly purchased live rock would have been a tank of dead rock. I got stung by another close fish store (during a time when I wasn't working at a fish store). We filled up 60 gallons of water. The water going into the tank had higher nitrates than the water I was draining out. (I'm pretty embarassed that I didn't double-check their water BEFORE doing the water change). At least at my store, I always know our water is good. (Chad's ONLY job is water quality. He doesn't help customers. He doesn't unpack shipments. He does water for our customers and does the water for our store and that's it).

I had thought about putting up a sign requesting that credit cards are only used for purchases of $15 or higher. Then I did some research and found out those signs are actually illegal and are in violation with the credit card contracts. Most water purchases are under $10 so I thought that would solve that problem.

I like the gas station idea. I could make a sign that says
RO/DI Water
Self-Serve 49 cents/gallon
Full-Service 59 cents/gallon
Pre-Mixed Saltwater
Self-Serve $1.09/gallon
Full-Service $1.19/gallon
Then if I have to pump it, at least I'm making more money.

 

Hrm, there's quite a few businesses around here that have been doing this for a very long time, like 10+ years.

You could also try a note saying "You can charge any amount on your credit card, but please be aware the on water purchases, we lose money if you do so. The transaction fee for your purchase is greater than our profit margin." I don't think they prohibit using guilt in the credit card agreements, do they? lol

 

I don't have much more to add but I'm curious as to how much of a mess some customers would make if/when pumping their own water and how much could potentially be wasted by people who are either clumsy or clueless?

 

No disrespect assumed. I had questions about people would react and that's why I chose to ask. Luckily most of my customers are honest. Do we experience some theft....yes. But it's not bad thankfully. (The fact that we have 6 cameras that record on a DVR helps I'm sure). In our situation, the competition isn't really all that close. I still want to stay in line with their prices. We sell 1000 times more saltwater at this store than we did at the previous store I worked at. If I raise the price 10 cents, the price of gas alone should keep the customers there. However, I don't want them to be grumbling about prices either. It's going to be all in how I explain the cost increase (if I even do it).

For a while we had an issue. A brand spanking new store opened up and their prices were ridiculous. Obviously, they couldn't stay at those prices permanently and I no longer have to deal with price-competition from them. I have changed a LOT of prices in the store. I used to make the owner very nervous when I did this but now his attitude is "the price is whatever Curt says the price is". (Some of the dry goods were WAY too expensive. My attitude is, if it can grow dust, then it's priced too high. Move it in and move it right back out).

 

Now that's darn funny

Heck, a week of customers can't make as much of a mess as one of my maintenence employees. I ought to fire him (for this and about 100 other reasons. He's kind of a "project" though and he's getting better in so many areas little by little). He makes a huge flood at least once a week. I truly don't know how he manages to do this time and again.

 

I personally hated pumping my own water when i went into the stores! HOWEVER, I never expected an employee to help me with it, especially if they were busy. Now with the experience of working in the store, I hate it EVEN more! It is an easy thing to do, but it is time consuming, especially when you have a person with 30g of water.

A point curt made though, is dont expect your stores water to be accurate! Always test it. I know this store changes their filters, membranes, resins etc, as i have seen it. However i also know that the other store i used to work at, the water was the equivalant of tap water, if not worse! Plus the salinity was off a lot! So I always tested my own!

There is a sign up and it is clearly marked that customers are able to serve themself, however there is the attitude that "I am paying for the water and I am going to get full service"

Buying water at the store is a convenience, period! The customer is saving on ro/di unit and the water. The stores make ZERO on water and do in fact loose money!

Where I do think the store needs to start charging for is the testing of water! That is definately an area where you are loosing money. The same people are always there getting their water tested over and over again. I am not sure what a fair price would be to test it, but I think it would make the customer a little more responsible and purchase the equipment that is necessary for the maintance of the tank.

I compare this sort of stuff like going to the grocery store...... there are stores here where you bag your own groceries, the overall prices are cheaper, but you ring/bag your own stuff. I am willing to pay a dime more on an item to have someone ring me out and bag my own groceries most of the time....On the same hand, if i am at the store that rings/bags for you for more money, I WILL NOT BAG my own groceries then, even if they are busy! So it is a double edge sword!

I did not realize you could not set a limit on the minimum placed on a credit card. Many places i have seen have signs up, no amount under 5 accepted

 

at my lfs, they have the valves in the open and every now and then i visit and the floor was flooded from customers either leaving the valve open due to inattention or the valve breaking.

 

I have seen similar signs at convenience stores, but they state only for DEBIT purchases, total must be over $5. Credit charges and Debit charges differ (or at least they did 6 years ago when I owned a store)...and I'm not sure about the legality of the Debit signs.

To answer the question, I would be fine with 10 cents over what it is now to cover your costs...however, I have also owned a business and know that little things add up quickly.