Finding and retaining good carwash employees has never been easy -- now it's becoming more challenging than ever. According to the US Labor Department, America will experience a shortage of five million workers within the next five years as a result of our aging population and expanding economy. Surveying the current job market, Harvard economist Dale W. Jorgenson predicted, "If employers thought the '90s were the decade of the worker, the next decade will be even more that way. "

The SiteWatch® Xpress Pay Terminal® (XPT) will help your new carwash grow and prosper in this tight labor market by allowing you to operate with fewer employees.

A Labor Saving Tool

A product of DRB Systems, the SiteWatch XPT is a self-pay station that customers can use to purchase a wash on their own, without depending on an attendant. This offers the following benefits to your new carwash:

• Lower Labor Cost/ Increased Productivity -- The XPT will pay for itself quickly by eliminating positions at your tunnel entrance. This will lower your cost of doing business and generate more revenues per employee.
• Fewer Employee Management Issues -- The ruggedly engineered XPT is more reliable than a human employee. It's never sick or late, it doesn't have "off days," and it won't suddenly quit because it found another job.
• Tighter Control -- Since customers pay directly into the XPT, you don't have to worry about cash handling issues. The money that your carwash takes in goes where it's supposed to -- directly to you.
• Greater Customer Satisfaction -- The XPT gives customers the freedom to control their own transactions at your carwash without having to deal with salespeople. This appeals to customers who are accustomed to using ATMs at the bank and automatic checkouts at the supermarket.

Reducing your dependence on labor has never been more important in light of the changes that are taking place in the country's labor market. As the economy expands over the next two years, the unemployment rate is expected to drop to 5.1%, according to a report issued by the Office of Management and Budget, a sharp decline from the 6.4% rate in mid-2002.

At the same time, the first of 77 million baby boomers will begin leaving the workforce. Since the generation behind them is 16% smaller, it's easy to see why The CBS Evening News reported, "Huge worker shortages are developing now." Some industries are already experiencing an acute labor shortage. For example, approximately half the jobs in the health care field are now unfilled.

A Marketing Tool

DRB Systems can't do anything about the big trends that are reshaping the job market, but our SiteWatch XPT will help make your new carwash less dependent on labor. The XPT will accomplish this without sacrificing the marketing benefits that are typically associated with having a "greeter" sell carwash services at the tunnel entrance.

Drawing on our extensive 20-year experience developing software-based products for the carwash industry, we've added a variety of marketing features to the XPT that will help you increase dollars per vehicle at your self-pay station. Here are just five examples:

1. Instant Credit Card Clearing -- The SiteWatch XPT not only accepts credit cards, it clears them in 2-3 seconds to minimize waiting at the self-pay station. This ultra fast processing encourages credit card usages, which is good for your business since studies have shown that customers spend significantly more when they pay with credit cards instead of cash.
   
2. Prepaid Sales -- Your new carwash can be a part of the prepaid/gift card trend. The XPT will clear prepaid cards quickly and securely with no transactions fees. It will also allow you to sell paper receipts loaded with prepaid washes.
   
3. Intelligent Receipt Messaging -- In addition to being loaded with prepaid washes, your XPT receipts can have special selling messages tailored to individual customers. For example, the customer who purchases your basic wash can be given a receipt offering a discount on your deluxe wash option.
   
4. Loyalty Club Cards -- The XPT makes it easy to run traffic-building loyalty promotions by giving barcoded cards to VIP customers, so they can receive perks like discounts and free washes. You can have your XPT video screen display special prices when club cards are scanned.
   
5. Discount Coupons -- The XPT works with barcode coupon ads from newspapers and mailers, so you can not only run these discount offers, but measure their effectiveness too.

A Customer Friendly Tool

The SiteWatch XPT also helps you communicate with customers through its very friendly ATM-style user interface and excellent audio-visual capabilities. You can use audio-video messaging that comes standard with the unit, or easily customize this feature to meet the specific needs of your carwash.

Designed to meet the rugged demands of an outdoor environment, the SiteWatch XPT utilizes an ATM-style interface. This interface has been shown to be more durable and reliable than a touchscreen when used outdoors, since it is not as likely to be affected by rain, hail, direct sunlight and other climatic conditions. That's why banks and petroleum marketers have chosen this interface for use in ATM machines and self-serve gas pumps.

As part of our SiteWatch system, the XPT offers a very powerful Replication Logic feature that allows sales information to be sent to all your other locations. This will be a critically important feature when you open your second and third carwash, since it will allow data to be shared among all of your sites, so you can offer customers the convenience of chain-wide prepaid and loyalty club promotions.

Regardless of whether you plan on having one site or a large chain, you can get your new carwash off to a fast start by freeing it from high labor costs with the SiteWatch XPT. To learn more, call DRB Systems at 1.800.336.6338, or visit www.DRBSystems.com.