Shenzhen Lean Kiosk Systems Co., Ltd. Company News

  Some issues to pay attention when giving cash changes Dispensing cash from your kiosk can be invaluable for making change for your customers like a human cashier, but also introduces several new challenges. Most people familiar with bill acceptors think of a bill recycler as simply an add-on component which dispenses cash, but this is far from the case. Dispensing bills greatly increases the complexity of the device and the logic required by your kiosk application in order to gracefully complete a cash transaction. All of these challenges can be overcome with careful planning and the reduced cashier expenses will be well worth the investment.   1. Running out of cash to dispense In order to avoid running out of cash to dispense, you will require detailed knowledge of your daily sales volume to gauge just how often you'll need to refill your bill recycler. At first, you'll want to regularly refill your bill recycler and determine the number of bills remaining of each denomination. This knowledge will be useful for determining the right bill denominations to recycle. We also recommend building a real-time notification system into your kiosk application which lets you know exactly when your bill recycler reaches critical thresholds. The MEI BNR has support for defining notification thresholds but it's up to you to roll your own notification system. With careful monitoring and regular refilling you can help ensure that your bill recycler will have the notes necessary to make change.   2. Choosing the right bill denominations to recycle A common misconception about bill recyclers is that they can dispense bills of any denomination. The reality is that just because your bill acceptor can accept a bill of a certain denomination doesn't mean it can dispense that denomination. Your bill recycler limits the number of denominations you can recycle. The MEI BNR, one of the largest bill recyclers, limits you to four denominations due to its four recyclers. Smaller recyclers like the MEI SCR limit you to two denominations of your choosing. The MEI VNR, an even smaller bill recycler designed for vending, limits you to dispensing only $1 and $5 notes. The process of choosing the right denominations to recycle varies per business. For instance, if your device has four recyclers and most of the transactions are less than $20, then it would be best to disallow accepting notes over $20 and then filling your recyclers with only $1 and $5 notes. For larger transactions, typically reaching into the hundreds of dollars, then it would be wise to have a couple recyclers with higher denomination notes.   3. Device constraints with the number of bills that can be dispensed Your bill recycler will have a limit on the number of bills it can dispense, often referred to as a "note count limit." Let's take a look at how the note count limit affects giving change. For example, if the transaction total is $125 and your customer inserts $200, this means that $75 is due. If you’re only dispensing $1 and $5 notes then the bill stack may reach the note limit of a recycler. In this case, your kiosk application will have to be smart enough to handle dispensing change from multiple transactions. When the note limit is overrun, then multiple dispense transactions will be necessary to give change to your customers. Additional logic will have to be implemented to ensure that all transactions can successfully dispense change or else we’re stuck with partial change. As you can see there's a lot more to dispensing change then just sending a message to your bill recycler instructing it to dispense a given dollar amount.   4. What if the customer doesn't have enough cash to complete the transaction? When I talk about "rolling back a transaction," I'm referring to the scenario where the customer doesn't have enough cash to complete the transaction, They should get their money back right? Yes, but there may be a problem with that. Let me explain why rolling back a transaction might not always work. Let’s say your bill recycler is configured to dispense $1, $5, $10 and $20 notes. Now let’s say the customer need to insert $910 to complete their transaction. She inserts four $100 notes and 25 $20 notes for a total of $900. At this point she is $10 short and doesn't have the cash on hand to complete the transaction, Since you have a bill recycler capable of dispensing cash you want to refund her money right? This brings up an issue. The four $100 notes she inserted are now in the cashbox and cannot be dispensed. Remember, your device is configured to recycle only smaller bills, not $100 notes. This means that your bill recycler has to find the extra $400 to make up for those notes in the recyclers. What happens if there isn’t another $400 in the recyclers to give? Even if there is the available cash to dispense, SHOULD you dispense the available $400 and massively deplete your smaller bills? Doing so could cause you to run out of cash to dispense for future transactions much sooner than anticipated. This is also why the real-time notification system is a good idea, so you can detect critical thresholds and react accordingly. This also brings me back to my point on the importance of choosing the right denominations to recycle. If you fail to do so you may not be able to return the customer's money in a case where they can't complete the transaction.   5. Not having exact change What should you do in the case when your bill recycler doesn’t have the exact change available to dispense? Let’s say you owe the customer $50 change and your bill recycler only has $45. Should you dispense partial change to the customer and direct the customer to get their remaining $5 from a cashier? Or maybe don’t dispense change at all and direct the customer to a cashier in order to receive the full amount. This is a difficult question that you'll have to answer based on what makes the most sense for your business. The morale of the story, is make sure don't run out of change by refilling your bill recycler frequently and ideally using a notification system.  

        One of the top 500 companies alibaba 's leader visited our company and have a long meeting with us to discuss the business this afternoon ( Oct.15, 2014). 

Mintel has released an analysis of 2015 consumer trends.   The trends are likely to be the "most impactful for 2015," the company said. Among those are increasing demands for retail convenience and customization, "blurring the lines between digital and brick-and-mortar." The Internet transformed shopping to a need for convenience and immediacy that consumers now expect, Mintel reported. For example, the data found that 32 percent of facial skincare users are open to purchasing products on the go, such as those in vending machines and kiosks. Increasingly, shoppers are interested in new formats for obtaining products.   "At the heart of this trend is that our on-demand, instant gratification culture is spreading," said Mintel trends analyst Stacy Glasgow. "These conveniences also are not only for city-dwellers as more business models, including in-store pick-up or subscription services, bring the benefits of modern life to suburban and rural residents. This 'at-your-convenience' expectation is likely to influence other customer service-based industries, and we predict that consumers will want to see more customized, on-demand access to financial services, healthcare and more."   Topics: Retail Payment Kiosks , Trends / Statistics , Vending Bill Acceptor Kiosks

KioskMarketplace recently highlighted several self-service healthcare trends in a comprehensive feature about the industry. However, with some of this technology, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. For example, patient check-in kiosks can do a lot more than register patients when they arrive at their healthcare provider's office. They can also maintain an entire file of the patient's information in one cloud-based location.  Kiosks can distinguish between patients of the same name, prompt the patient to enter information not on file, direct patients where to go when they don't have an appointment, and in some cases, validate insurance benefits and prompt patients to pay outstanding balances, all in real time. KioskMarketplace spoke with Eric Anderson, COO of Clearwave, about his company's Clearwave Kiosk designed for the healthcare industry, to find out more about its technology for patient self-service. KioskMarketplace: Tell us about the Clearwave patient check-in kiosk – why did your company feel there was a need for this technology in healthcare? Eric Anderson: At Clearwave, we saw a gap in the healthcare market. It's about the only place where you never interact with any technology, and it’s inefficient. For example, if you walk into a doctor's office, you could be late for your appointment if people are in line in front of you. And people at the front desk don't know what they have on file when a patient arrives, so they always ask the same questions. Our healthcare kiosk customizes patient registration to why a patient is there that day. It covers the basic facts – demographics for government use, payments due and insurance – and offers a registration time of two to three minutes, about the same time it takes to withdraw money from an ATM. The kiosks aren't asking questions out of ignorance; everything a patient sees on the screen is what they need to see. And because so many people use smartphones and tablets, the check-in process is understandable and comfortable. KioskMarketplace: Can you explain how the check-in process works? What are the steps a patient goes through using the kiosk? Eric Anderson: The first thing the kiosk does is to identify who the patient is. A patient can do this by scanning a healthcare card or I.D. or touching the screen. In our software development kit, we have templates for IDs that have to be updated. If there are two patients with the same name, it looks at the address using an algorithm. If the machine doesn't know who you are, you will have to enter your first and last name, and if there's no match, it asks for the address. If the kiosk doesn't have a cell phone number, it specifically asks. This information will cross-reference benefits providers and any outstanding balance, and patients get access to the information on file. We've found that when patients see their information electronically, they take a lot more ownership for it because it's accessible and right in front of them when they check-in. Secondly, the kiosk will ask if the patient has an appointment. Then he can check-in through the practice management system, book future appointments, input insurance and pay a bill. The kiosks are connected to that in real-time. But the software is where the magic happens. With an appointment, a patient goes along a very specific path. If he doesn't have an appointment, he will go to the kiosk, and it will send him to the front desk. In the case of urgent care centers, it will register the patient, ask why he is there, send him down the registration path and tell him where to go. And when an appointment is made, Clearwave knows about it. KioskMarketplace: As you know, privacy is a critical issue these days. How can patients and staff be assured the kiosks are protecting patient privacy? Eric Anderson: Every kiosk has embedded privacy filters [somewhat similar to] venetian blinds. If you stand a little bit to left or right, you can’t see anything. Somebody could take a picture of the screen, but they could also take a picture of a clipboard in your lap. We have an obligation to protect patient privacy, but we can’t stop people from stealing. We do comply with all government regulations for privacy and have the highest level of security. Patients and customers sometimes ask for privacy wings. Privacy wings are perceived as security, but those can be worthless because someone can still see your information. The perception of privacy is there, but it isn't the best way to protect customers. We'll put the privacy wings on if they want, but sometimes it just takes training of staff to help patients understand the privacy the kiosks offer. The kiosks also have a scanner, the same kind of technology used for passports. They use optical character recognition to read info off the driver's license, which allows us to know where the data is. KioskMarketplace: Are there particular demographic groups of patients that are likely to use a kiosk?   Eric Anderson: We discovered that 55 percent of people who use the kiosks are on Medicare. Most healthcare consumers are older people, not younger. The average patient using our kiosks in many places is 65 to 68. Our Thomas Eye Group customer has patients with an average age of 46 using the kiosks, and Baptist Health an average age of 47. However, this average fluctuates according to the type of facility. For example, the Baptist Health Cancer Center has an average patient age of 62. KioskMarketplace: Perhaps this is a good time to discuss some of your company's facility customers. You just mentioned Thomas Eye Group, for instance? Eric Anderson: The total number of kiosks deployed throughout Thomas Eye Group’s eight clinic locations is 23. The average percent of patients using the kiosks to check-in is 91 percent. Every month, over 12,500 patients check in at Thomas Eye Group Kiosks. They have 144,000 patients checking in at the kiosk every calendar year. The average patient check-in time at the kiosk is two minutes and 10 seconds. Staff doesn't have to enter anything and that saves time. Kiosk Marketplace: And Baptist Health? Eric Anderson:  Baptist Health has 54 kiosks deployed through the Baptist Health Hospital System. Patients check in at the kiosks at a rate of 95 percent. Our average across all customers is 85 percent, which makes Baptist Health one of our best practice locations. Every month, over 38,000 patients check in at Baptist Health kiosks. They have 460,000 patients checking in at the kiosk every calendar year. KioskMarketplace: How do the venues themselves benefit from installing and utilizing a kiosk? Eric Anderson: Most patients, in fact 80 percent, think it's easier to check-in on their own. The font size is much larger for those who need it. It's easier for those with arthritis too, because it can be painful to use a pen. The buttons are bigger and easier to read. The kiosk also helps the front desk know when a patient arrives. Before implementing the kiosk, charts would be ready for nurses on average 10 minutes after the patient arrived for some of our customers. Now, it's about nine minutes before they get there. The inefficiency is gone. And because it validates insurance benefits, collects copayments and outstanding balances, providers reap financial benefits too. KioskMarketplace: How do you see kiosks fitting into the future of healthcare? And how do tablets enter into the equation – or do they? Eric Anderson: Imagine a world where a patient walks up to a kiosk, enters his name, posts a payment, insurance information is collected, and he is checked in and no staff has lifted a finger. Tablets aren't going to be as successful with this process as kiosks because you have to wait in line for the tablet, then hand the tablet back so you wait in line twice. Kiosks are so prevalent and working so well because you don’t have to wait and you can do it on your own. View from the Healthcare Floor As indicated in the main text, Atlanta-based eyecare provider Thomas Eye Group has now installed 23 Clearwave patient check-in kiosks in its eight clinic locations, and more than 90 percent of patients are now using the kiosks at check in. CEO Rodney W. Roeser had these comments on how his facility has successfully integrated the kiosk technology: On reaction from the staff toward the kiosks and how it's changed workflow: "Like any other type of change, there's an adjustment period for the staff. Within a few months, though, the staff readily saw the benefit of the check-in kiosks." On patients' reaction to the kiosks: "Just like the staff, there was some resistance in the beginning -- but now that the patients see the benefits from an efficiency standpoint, the comments we receive are overwhelmingly positive. The integration with our practice management system and paperless check-in makes a big difference in the patient’s initial view of our organization. We do have patients who experience frustration with the kiosk from time to time.  This is for a variety of reasons.  When this occurs we just check the patient in manually. On privacy issues: "We’ve not really had any privacy concerns mainly because the kiosks have a special screen that only allows viewing if you are directly in front of the unit."  On the benefits to Thomas Eye Group from a business standpoint: "The benefits are both operational and financial. Our check-in process is very smooth, high tech, and paper free. The ROI comes from a decrease in paper and filing, eligibility savings, cash collections at time of service (deductible, co-insurance, etc.), which decreases bad debt, and a reduction in claim denials, which cost about $20 each to process."     Topics: Check-in/Check-out kiosks , Health Care , Healthcare / Hospitals , Patient Self-Service

Aug. 20, 2014   Telemedicine provider HealthSpot is out to improve health care access in Ohio, the company announced in a release.   HealthSpot intends to connect medical providers and patients in Ohio's health systems by rolling out 100 telemedicine stations in the state. The pharmacy-based health kiosks are designed to provide easy-access care, especially for patients who travel long distances to urgent care facilities and hospitals.   HealthSpot plans to target areas with frequent emergency room visits and longer patient wait times, the company said.

Outdoor kiosks are typically two, sometimes three times the cost of indoor kiosks. The reasons are varied but can best be summarized as follows:     Kiosk Design: An outdoor kiosk needs to be designed from the ground up as a watertight enclosure. It is generally not cost-effective to try to modify an indoor kiosk model to be outdoors compliant. The primary reason for this is that the kiosk needs to have all seams watertight and must be insulated on the inner walls to protect from heat and cold. Outdoor kiosks also need to be much more durable in construction as they will more often than not, be in unsupervised environments. After all is said and done, the outdoor enclosure (the cabinet only) is twice the cost of a comparable indoor unit.     Kiosk Display: The monitor must not be susceptible to .sunlight washout.. The effect is most commonly seen on ATM machines in the sunlight: you cannot read what.s on the screen due to direct or indirect sunlight. The solution is high backlighting and this can only be done on LCD monitors. LCD monitors in themselves are a bit more expensive than CRT monitors, although the cost differences are narrowing. High backlighting more than triples the cost of a LCD. For example, a 15. LCD with touch screen and with high backlighting and will cost about $2,000. The decision to use high backlighting is up to the customer but if they decline, we will want that in writing. Before you ask, we will not deliver outdoor kiosks without the LCD solution. We will never provide a CRT solution. The CRT approach has proven to yield unsatisfactory results and we want no part of that since an unsatisfactory monitor solution is virtually assured.     HVAC: The kiosk may well require a heater/air conditioner installed to maintain an acceptable temperature and humidity inside the kiosk. Depending on the environment, we may have to use various degrees of air treatment methods, which may add up to $3,200 to the cost of the kiosk. There are some areas in the country that may allow outdoor solutions without HVAC or your outdoor installation may be in-wall where you can take advantage of air conditioning in the building for your kiosk. The issue, however, is not only heat but also humidity. Protecting the electronics inside the kiosk is expensive.       PC Hardware:  Because of heat generated by the components inside the kiosk (mostly by the LCD and the PC), we recommend the use of a very small form factor, low heat generating PC. This adds to the PC cost a bit but lowers the amount of heat that must be removed by the air treatment/conditioner system. Bigger PCs generate more heat and more heat means more expensive and capable air treatment/conditioning which costs more, etc., etc.     Kiosk installation:  This is an extra and un-calculated cost of outdoor kiosks. Typically, outdoor kiosks need to be bolted to the ground, which implies that they have a level cement slab on which to be mounted. There must be power and whatever other connectivity you will need, delivered to the kiosk (frequently underground and through the cement slab). The power cables and connections must also be watertight and in agreement with local electrical standards which vary from state to state. The site preparation for this could be costly and time-consuming, as you will have building permits, specific guidance from the state or local government, specific subcontractors that must be used and related costs and delays to complete this.

Aug. 21, 2014   One of the primary characteristics of the streets of Moscow has been its vendors, according toRussiaBeyondTheHeadlines.com    But city authorities saw the stalls, tents and booths as clutter to the area, and all vendors were shut down in 2010. The idea was to replace them with a modern, unified scheme, so the Moscow Committee for Architecture and City Planning looked into automated retail kiosks. The first kiosk was installed in the famous Pushkin Square, and the project resulted in cutting vendors by half — from 22,000 to 10,000 with the new stations.   Now Moscow's automated vending kiosks feature a screen with "robot eyes" and digital signage that says "Vsyo Sam," meaning "All By Myself," the name of the first company so far to take on the pilot project. The city spent 3.5 million rubles ($98 million) on the project, which has resulted in stations that sell items such as chocolate, headphones, shoe brushes and more, according to the article.   "The task is to verify whether people will be afraid of our kiosk or if they will react appropriately to it," said Alexander Zolotarev, the head of the group of companies who started the project. "Two to three hundred purchases a day will testify that people definitely do not fear it."   Market officials estimate each kiosks to cost around $40,000. Their projected payoff is about a year and half. The machines are expected to last 15 years.   Topics: Digital Signage , Payment Kiosk , Retail Kiosks , Tickets Vending Kiosks  

Kimball, Nebraska has installed the states "first and only interactive travel kiosk."    The kiosk, which is housed at High Point Welcome Center in Kimball, was donated to the facility by the town's Kimball Partners. Users can access wayfinding information about the state and interactive maps with area attractions, lodging and shopping, the article said. It also gets the word out about local businesses with advertisements starting at $10 a month: "This works for you seven days a week. Pictures sell, and those of us who do marketing for the community know that pictures sell. Now you have a chance to show what you've got, out a video on it of what you've got," said Director of Kimball/Banner County Tourism Jo Caskey in the article.     Topics: Interactive / Touchscreen Kiosk , Tourism & Travel Kiosk , Transportation / Travel kiosk

Standard kiosk enclosures The standard kiosk enclosure is the least expensive and most flexible model that kiosk manufacturers will offer.  These units will have gone through multiple certification cycles and have been modified for any and all possible devices.   A common recommendation for a multi-phase project where it is important that proof of concepts be deployed quickly will almost always be done with a standard kiosk model.   Standard kiosk models are typically the slim standup with a receipt printer, and then a larger unit that might accomodate a laser printer for example.     LKS has been developing and deploying custom designed and semi-custom kiosks for years. Our kiosks are engineered to be rugged and appropriate for the environment in which they are used.  We set user expectations of the transaction experience and deliver our client’s branded message with integrity.  We design and deploy for the needs our client, because in reality "one size fits all" rarely fits anyone well.

Time:2014-8-26  Hits: 17  Origin: kioskmarketplace   Aug. 15, 2014   The town of Palm Beach City, Fla., is planning to replace older parking kiosks with smarter ones,according to the Palm Beach Daily News.   The 37 kiosks installed in 2008 had a 10-year life expectancy and cost the town approximately $312,000. The staff parking committee is looking to purchase replacements with up-to-date technology that are user- and smartphone-friendly for checking parking status via real-time mobile apps. Solar power and faster wireless connections are also on the committee's wish list.   Deputy town manager and parking committee chairman Tom Bradford said a better kiosk can range in individual cost from $10,000 to $15,000 or more.   "A kiosk is basically a modern outdoor vending machine that is attached to a cellphone and a personal computer inside a steel container in a hot, humid, saltwater environment," Bradford said in the article. "That being the case, I think it is unrealistic to think they are going to last for 10 years at a maximum level of performance."   Committee staff is collecting bids for proposals and installation is expected to take place in summer 2015. 〖 Print 〗 〖 Back 〗

Swapbox, a San Francisco startup, could solve age-old time constraints for post offices in the Bay Area, according to pfsk.com.   New automated postal kiosks allow customers to send and receive packages outside normal business hours. Customers can drop off packages inside Swapbox, enter a delivery address and select a shipping speed via an interactive touchscreen.   The tracking system notifies customers where a package has been shipped and when a package has arrived. Users have 24 hours to pick up delivered items or choose from other options offered in the system. Customers can pay per package delivery fees or monthly fees for unlimited service, the article said.

Dear All,    Thank you for your attention and support! For celebrating China National Day holiday, We LKS payment kiosk manufacturer, will have a seven-day holiday from 1st to 7th of October, 2014.    For any urgent information, please kindly contact us      Mr. Frank Wei   Mobile Phone：+ 86 -186 6457 6557 ( 24-hour on duty) E-mail: frankwei@lkskiosk.com Skype: lkssales1   Ms. Fenny Wong   Mobile Phone：+ 86-15915460796 ( 24-hour on duty) E-mail: sales5@lkskiosk.com；1955604681@qq.com Skype: liensale3      Any inconvenience, please understand, thank you in advance.    Best wishes! LKS 30th Sep. 2013     The National Day of our country is celebrated every year on October 1. It is a public holiday in the People's Republic of China to celebrate their national day.     Tag:  Cash payment kiosk; Kiosk Manufacturer