Athan Rebelos (photo, person) and Hansu Kim (photo, hands) were kind enough to show me the VeriFone PIMs at Desoto Cab Thursday.
I now understand that I made some mistakes in my previous post on the subject. For one thing, the terminals will broadcast ABC news feeds so, indeed, they can be described as TVs. (I'll mention another misconception later in the post.)
I came as a skeptic. I wasn't convinced that customers would tip more and I was very concerned about drivers not being able to control the sound.
In fact, I felt that, if I couldn't turn off the sound, I didn't want the damn thing in my cab.
The truth, as it turns out, isn't quite so simple.
- There are sound control arrows on the front seat terminal that Athan is pointing at in the picture and the driver can turn the sound all the way off.
- The ads and the public service announcements will NOT have sound.
- However - the caveat - the customer can turn on the sound for the news if he or she wants to and it overrides the driver's control.
But, the speakers are on the back of the suicide seat so they point away from the driver, meaning that the sound is fairly low when it is on. Furthermore:
- The system resets with each new fare so the sound should not remain on after a customer leaves.
- From talking to customers who have used the terminals in NYC, the first thing most of them do is turn off the sound if it is on anyway.
- So very few customers are likely to turn the sound on at all.
Conclusion: the sound at worst should be a minor annoyance.
What about the 5%? Will the tipping prompts really give the drivers more money?
The terminals have prompts that encourage the customers to tip well. If the fare is low (under $10?), they are prompted to tip $2, $3 or Other (photo).
On longer rides, the customers are prompted to hit 20% or Other. In addition, the 20% is calculated to include any extras such as airport or bridge tolls.
Hansu Kim says that studies have shown that customers tip up to 30% higher than they would without the prompts.
I don't know if I quite buy this. After all they are studying a novelty. Once the newness wears off, the tipping will probably level off as well.
On the other hand, the natural thing to do with these screens is to hit the $2 or the 20% buttons.
There is also the fact that (at VeriFone anyway) the customers do not have to sign the receipt for under $25. In fact, according to Mr. Kim the minimum for a signature is now going up to $50. This makes taking a credit card almost as fast as cash. The customers like this and, if the customers are happy, they tend to tip more.
In short, tt's hard for me to see how the tipping on these terminal would not more than the cover 5% drivers are to be charged for cashing the receipts - even in a worst case scenario.
For drivers at Town Taxi and Checker, even covering the 5% would be a huge improvement by itself. And, who knows? The drivers (other than Green's) at Citywide Dispatch might even start accepting credit card calls.
Why should the drivers be charged at all?
There have been some complaints from drivers about these accounts - mostly due to the delay in being able to use the funds.
The normal hold on the money is 24 hours to 48 hours. On three day weekends, this can mean up to 4 days without the drivers being able to touch their money.
However, Hansu Kim says, that with a month or two, VeriFone will start "instantaneously crediting the driver's accounts," meaning that there will no longer be any hold on the funds..
It should also be kept in mind that these accounts have been set up so that the taxi companies can't touch the money and thus the unscrupulous companies amongst them will be unable to misappropriate the funds.
Advertising Revenue
As previously reported, 90% of the revenue will go the vendors and 10% will go to the drivers. The companies will NOT get a share.
On top of this, it will probably take three years before anybody makes a profit off the revenue. VeriFone estimates that it will take that long for the advertising money to cover the installation costs.
One More Thing
Contrary to rumor (spread partially by me) Hansu Kim says that he does not own shares in VeriFone. He says he is a paid consultant for the company and will neither receive a commission nor in any way make a personal profit from the sale of the units.
Kim also says that VeriFone will not hold a monopoly on the systems. CMT (being used by Luxor) and Wireless Edge will also be involved.
What about the 5%? Will the tipping prompts really give the drivers more money?
The terminals have prompts that encourage the customers to tip well. If the fare is low (under $10?), they are prompted to tip $2, $3 or Other (photo).
On longer rides, the customers are prompted to hit 20% or Other. In addition, the 20% is calculated to include any extras such as airport or bridge tolls.
Hansu Kim says that studies have shown that customers tip up to 30% higher than they would without the prompts.
I don't know if I quite buy this. After all they are studying a novelty. Once the newness wears off, the tipping will probably level off as well.
On the other hand, the natural thing to do with these screens is to hit the $2 or the 20% buttons.
There is also the fact that (at VeriFone anyway) the customers do not have to sign the receipt for under $25. In fact, according to Mr. Kim the minimum for a signature is now going up to $50. This makes taking a credit card almost as fast as cash. The customers like this and, if the customers are happy, they tend to tip more.
In short, tt's hard for me to see how the tipping on these terminal would not more than the cover 5% drivers are to be charged for cashing the receipts - even in a worst case scenario.
For drivers at Town Taxi and Checker, even covering the 5% would be a huge improvement by itself. And, who knows? The drivers (other than Green's) at Citywide Dispatch might even start accepting credit card calls.
Why should the drivers be charged at all?
- As I've mentioned, many of them are already being overcharged now.
- The use of credit cards is expanding rapidly with huge costs to the companies. These PIMS will allow them to recover their costs.
- The drivers should make more money.
- The public should be better served.
There have been some complaints from drivers about these accounts - mostly due to the delay in being able to use the funds.
The normal hold on the money is 24 hours to 48 hours. On three day weekends, this can mean up to 4 days without the drivers being able to touch their money.
However, Hansu Kim says, that with a month or two, VeriFone will start "instantaneously crediting the driver's accounts," meaning that there will no longer be any hold on the funds..
It should also be kept in mind that these accounts have been set up so that the taxi companies can't touch the money and thus the unscrupulous companies amongst them will be unable to misappropriate the funds.
Advertising Revenue
As previously reported, 90% of the revenue will go the vendors and 10% will go to the drivers. The companies will NOT get a share.
On top of this, it will probably take three years before anybody makes a profit off the revenue. VeriFone estimates that it will take that long for the advertising money to cover the installation costs.
One More Thing
Contrary to rumor (spread partially by me) Hansu Kim says that he does not own shares in VeriFone. He says he is a paid consultant for the company and will neither receive a commission nor in any way make a personal profit from the sale of the units.
Kim also says that VeriFone will not hold a monopoly on the systems. CMT (being used by Luxor) and Wireless Edge will also be involved.
