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Configuring Settings of the Value Add Center (VAC) Kiosk

Description on how to use the Laundro Portal to configure various VAC configuration settings

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Written by Kurt Bernhard

There are a number of settings that can be configured on your Value Add Center Kiosk to control things such as credit card purchases limits, bonuses/promotions, the cost of a newly dispensed Laundry Cards and more.
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To access these settings, log into your LaundroPortal and click on the Wrench icon for the VAC kiosk you want to adjust settings on:

usually any changes you make to 1 VAC, you will also want to make the same changes to all other VACs in your location so that they all operate in the same manner.

Note: if you can't find your VACs on the LaundroPortal page, you may not be on the Main LaundroPortal page.​
Click on Locations in the black bar section on the left hand side of the LaundroPortal, then click on your location address to be brought to the Main LaundroPortal page for the location.

Once in the VAC Configuration settings menu, click the Edit VAC Settings button to bring up the Edit VAC Settings pop-up window:

Below is an overview of the VAC settings, in the order they'll appear in the VAC Configuration settings page.


Peripheral Settings

This section is generally for configuring the hardware installed on a VAC kiosk.

For the most part, these settings should NOT be adjusted unless you are adding/removing hardware capabilities from the VAC kiosk.

Bill Acceptor

  • When Enabled, the VAC attempts to communicate with an attached bill acceptor.

Usually only disabled if there is no bill acceptor attached, or you do not want customers to be able to use the attached bill acceptor.

Credit/Debit

  • Set to "None" if no credit/debit card PINpad terminal is attached.

  • When set to "PIN Pad" the VAC will attempt to communicate with an attached PIN Pad terminal.

  • The "Mag Stripe" setting is a legacy setting which is no longer supported

Wireless Network

  • when set to "No Wireless Network" the VAC does not attempt to communicate with any card readers.

  • the default setting for all current VACs is "Gen 2 Wireless Network", and this setting is dictated by the WNC version installed in the VAC.

  • "Gen 1 Wireless Network" is only used with older WNCs that are communicating with Gen 1 Card Readers.

Card Dispenser

  • set to "Disabled" if no Card Dispenser is equipped, or if you do not want customers to be able to use the installed Card Dispenser

  • set to "SyncoTek (serial)" when a Syncotek Card Dispenser is installed

  • set to "Asahi-Seiko" when an Asahi-Seiko Card Dispenser is installed

Printer Receipt

  • set to "Disabled" if not receipt printer is installed, or if you want to disable the attached receipt printer.

  • set to "USB Printer" if the receipt printer is communicating with the VAC kiosk via a USB port

  • set to "Serial Printer" if the receipt printer is communicating with the VAC kiosk via a RS232 (AUX3) port

Reader 1

  • set to "Not Attached" if the VAC does not have an NFC Card Reader 1 board installed - these VACs cannot interact with Laundry Cards

  • set to "Attached" which is the default setting used by VACs with an NFC Card Reader1 board installed (the VAC card holder NFC reader board)

  • "Sometimes attached (NCC Mode)" is a specialized setting that's used in rare configurations

  • "Attached - slot/insert type" is a legacy setting which is no longer used


Miscellaneous Settings

This section generally controls settings that affect how your customers interact with the kiosk, including Laundry Card prices and Credit/Debit card minimum payments.

Card Limit

This is NOT a setting you can change; but it is listed in order to display what the store's current Maximum Laundry Card Load Limit is set to.

By default, the maximum card limit is set to $200, so customers will not be able to load value onto Laundry Cards above this limit.

If you'd like to either increase or decrease this max card limit, reach out to the Laundroworks Support Team as this limit will need to be adjusted from our end.

Dispensed Card Price (up to $30)

This is the price that customers will be charged when purchasing a new Laundry Card.

The VAC will subtract this value from the payment and write the resulting value as the initial card balance as the card is being dispensed.
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For example, if this value is set to $1 (which is the default price), and if a customer uses a $20 bill to purchase a new card, then the new card will be dispensed with $19 loaded onto it ($20 purchase - $1 new card price).
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Many system operators set this value to $0 when first opening up, to encourage new customers.

Note: If dispensed card price is set to $0, customers will still need to make a payment in order to receive a card.

Card Replacement Fee (touch screen VACs only)

This is the price that customers will be charged when using the Replace Card feature on VACs equipped with a touch screen:

Customers are only able to use the Replace Card feature, if their lost card has enough balance remaining on it to cover the replacement card fee.

For customers that have a balance lower than the replacement fee, you will have to manually replace their card for them

Note: It is strongly recommended that you charge some nominal fee for replacement cards.

Setting this fee to $0 could result in customers abusing the replacement card feature

Credit Card Preset Buttons (5 Values) (touch screen VACs Only)

This setting has 2 purposes on VACs equipped with a touch screen:

  • Sets the preset button values that customers will see when paying by credit/debit

  • Sets the minimum purchase amount for customers that are paying by credit/debit

The values in this setting should always be listed in ascending order.

The first value that is entered in this setting, will also dictate the minimum purchase amount for credit/debit card purchases (Cash purchases do not have a minimum purchase amount).
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The default values are shown above, but if you'd like to lower the minimum purchase amount to $5 for example, you would change the first preset value from "10" to "5":

Note: the settings Credit/Debit Purchase Increment, Credit/Debit Purchase Starting Value, and Credit/Debit Purchase Max Value have no effect on VACs with a touch screen (and generally will NOT be shown on VACs equipped with a touch screen).

Credit/Debit Purchase Increment/Starting Value/Max Value (non-touch screen VACs only)

  • Purchase Increment controls the dollar increment step whenever the Value push-button is pressed.

  • Starting Value dictates what the minimum purchase amount is for credit/debit transactions as well as what value the system defaults to during new card purchases

  • Max Value dictates the maximum purchase amount that a customer can make during credit/debit card transactions

Note: the Credit Card Preset Buttons (5 values) setting has no effect on VACs without a Touch screen (and generally will NOT be shown on VACs without a touch screen).

Language

  • The default value is "English" and this allows customers to toggle between the English and Spanish language using the language button on the VAC's home screen

  • setting this setting to "French" changes the secondary language of the VAC to be French instead of Spanish

The VAC will always use English as it's default language regardless of the language setting you're using.

Card Registration

The above settings can be used to alter what your customers see on the Card Registration screen. You can also make the registration screen be the first thing customers see when purchasing new Laundry Cards.

The registration screen can even be completely disabled if needed.

Hide "REGISTRATION" button

If this option is selected, the Registration screen will be disabled on the VAC entirely (customers will be unable to register their information to their laundry cards using this VAC kiosk).

Show "Email Promos" checkbox

If this option is selected, the Registration screen will include a separate check box for customers to be able to opt in to receiving promotion emails.

Show "SMS Promos" checkbox

If this option is selected, the Registration screen will include a separate check box for customers to be able to opt in to receiving promotion SMS text messages.

Provide single checkbox for SMS & Email Promos

If this option is selected, the Registration screen will include 1 single check box, that allows customers to opt in to receiving both promotion emails, and promotional SMS text messages.

Note: If selecting this option, you MUST also select both the "Show "Email Promos" checkbox" option AND "Show "SMS Promos" checkbox" option for this combo checkbox option to work correctly.

Prompt for Registration before New Card Dispense

If this option is selected, the Registration screen will pop up on the VAC screen, as soon as the customer selects the "Touch Here To Get New Card" button (as opposed to the screen asking customers to register after they've already received the newly purchased the Laundry Card).
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If this option is selected, but the "Registration is optional and may be skipped" option is NOT; this has the effect of making registration information mandatory for all new Laundry Card purchases.
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If registration is mandatory, new customers will be unable to purchase a new laundry card, unless their register their information, via this prompted registration screen, during the new card purchase.

Registration is optional and may be skipped

If selecting this option, you MUST also select the "Prompt for Registration before New Card Dispense" option as well.

Selecting both of these options will make card registration optional by adding a Skip button to the prompted registration screen.
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This allows new customers to be able to skip the card registration screen, and move on to the normal new card purchasing screen to complete their new Laundry Card purchase. (customers are always able to access the registration screen by placing their laundry card back into the VAC card holder - assuming you have not disabled the registration screen all together):

Bill Acceptance Policy

These settings are used to alter the type of bill denominations that a VACs bill acceptor will accept, along with changing the behavior of the VAC during new Laundry Card purchases involving Cash transactions.

Add $# to minimum Bill Denomination accepted

These 4 settings are used to increase the minimum accepted bill denomination.

By default the minimum bill denomination is $0, which effectively means the VAC will accept all bills from $1 upwards.

All of these add $# settings are disabled by default.

If you enable the $1 option only, the VAC will still accept all bill denominations; however if you enabled the $1 and $2 options together, this changes the minimum bill denomination accepted to a $3 bill, which doesn't exist, so the VAC will only accept bill denominations that are $5 and up.

If you'd like to only accept only $10 bill denominations and higher, you'd enable the $1, $2, and $4 options; since a $7 bill does not exist, the minimum bill denomination that will be accepted by the VAC is a $10 bill.

Note: it is also possible to reprogram the bill acceptor directly so that it does not accept certain bill denominations.

These 2 methods should NEVER be used together!

If they are, the VAC will validate bill denominations incorrectly.

It is recommended to leave the VAC settings at their default values, and adjust the bill acceptor's setting to control the bill denominations it will accept. These settings should only be used in cases where the bill acceptor cannot be programmed to ignore specific bill denominations.


If you end up changing the programming on a bill acceptor attached to the VAC, you need to power cycle the VAC (unplug from power for 2 seconds, then plug the power back in), so that it can re-detect the bill acceptor, and the new settings it's using, so that the VAC continues to validate bill denominations at their correct values.

Bills must be at or above the cost for new card purchases

This setting is disabled by default.

If enabled, the VAC will only accept bill denominations, for new Laundry Card purchases specifically, that are equal to, or more than, the cost of a new Laundry Card.

So for example, if your new Laundry Cards are priced at $2; customers will not be able to use 2x $1 bills in order to purchase a new Laundry Card; they would have to use a $5 bill, or higher, to make a new card purchase.

However, if a customer already has an existing Laundry Card, they WILL be able to load money onto that card with $1 bills, while this setting is enabled.

Management Card Policy

This setting is disabled by default, and can only be enabled if you have a VAC01 in the store that is equipped with a touch screen.

If enabled, no Management Cards will work in the location unless that Management Card is clocked in using the time management option on VAC01.

In order to access the time management menu, the Management Card holder needs to use the 4-Digit PIN for that Management Card.


Bonus

All settings in the Bonus section are used to configure various Promotions you can run with the system.

For details on how these settings are used, it's best to review the stand alone article for the specific promotion these settings are used to configure.


Payment Processing

The settings in this section are related to Credit/Debit Card payments that are processed at the VAC kiosk only.

These settings are used to configure Surcharges, Receipt Header information, PINpad terminal communication.

Surcharge Configuration

This setting is set to "Disabled" by default, but can be adjusted in order to configure the VAC to automatically add a surcharge to transactions made using credit/debit cards.

For instance, if you configure a surcharge of $0.50, and the customer wants to add $20 onto the laundry card by using a credit card, the VAC would automatically charge the customer $20.50.

To set a credit/debit card surcharge, you first need to select your preferred Surcharge Configuration:

If you select a configuration that does not specify a threshold, simply enter the surcharge amount into the Credit/Debit Surcharge Percentage or Credit/Debit Surcharge Flat Amount fields.
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If you select a configuration that does specify a threshold, you will also need to set a threshold amount:

Any credit/debit card transactions, that are for a value that is below your threshold amount, will be charged your configured surcharge amount.

Warning and Disclaimer:
By default, the system will add your configured surcharge amount to any payment card used, whether it is a credit card or debit card.

There may exist local laws and regulations related to surcharging for card-present transactions.
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To ensure compliance, please refer to your local regulatory authority or financial institution for specific guidelines on implementing surcharges in your store.

Applying Surcharges to Credit Card Purchases Only (Stripe Merchant Accounts Only)

For customers who are specifically using a Stripe Merchant account, for VAC credit/debit card payment processing, you will find an additional VAC Configuration setting that can be enabled in order to enforce that surcharges are only applied to credit card purchases:

This setting will not only enforce that surcharges are only applied to credit card purchases, but it was also enforce that the surcharge amount is kept within the maximum legally allowed limit based on your specific region, and the current rates that Stripe has on file for that region.
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If you were to set your surcharge amount to an amount that's higher than the maximum allowed limit for your region, the actual surcharge amount that will be applied during a transaction will be the maximum limit that Stripe dictates, and NOT the amount you've configured in the VAC configuration settings.
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Note that this setting is only visible once a surcharge configuration has been enabled; however if you use Stripe as the payment processor, for VAC kiosk payment processing, and are not seeing the "Apply Surcharge for Credit Purchases only" setting after enabling a Surcharge Configuration; contact our Support team as your VAC software may require an update to unlock this setting.

Receipt Header

This setting dictates what information will be printed on the VAC transaction receipts, for any Credit/Debit Card purchase transactions (the VAC does NOT print receipts for Cash Purchases).

You can update this field to customize what you'd like included on all receipts that are printed by the VACs.
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As a side note, you can also view a copy of any receipt by navigating to the VAC Log report, and clicking on the blue Tran ID number, for any APPROVED credit/debit card transactions payment processing record (these will be transaction records with a blue background):

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