[LM24] Changes at Le Mans

[Samoan Attorney]

This was posted on another forum - if it is the case then there are going to be a lot of unhappy campers

Have just got back from WSR in Le mans and have to report the circuit has gone "cashless" a la Nurburgring. Have to pay for (1 euro) and charge up a card from various cash cabins set up around the place and then use that to buy all your drinks and food etc. Plan is that at the end of the day you line up and get refunded anything not used over 1 euro but you can imagine the queues at the end of the day so most don't bother.
No displays on the tills either so difficult to know how much balance you have left. This was a much smaller event that the 24 hours and cannot imagine it working too well once 1/4 million people are using it.
It all looks permanent as well so guessing it will be in place for the 24h in 2016.

[Simmi]

It's been mentioned in one of the generic Le Mans threads, but like you everyone seems to be in agreement it has bad idea written all over it.

This will either backfire as people get annoyed and buy less, or net them thousands in unclaimed Euros. I highly doubt you'll still have balance on your card when you rock up 12 months later.

Have to admit I couldn't tell you what I spend at the track each year. Just that it's mostly beer and merguez! I guess they have to pay for those new garages somehow.

[bella]

it is indeed the case, and it was SO annoying. even if you just want to buy a can of drink or whatever, you have to faff about with the cards. they lost about 15€ of business from me on crepes and drinks purely because i couldn't be arsed with that.

but in the circuits defence i didn't see any of the long queues suggested for refunds at the end of the day, but there were queues at lunch for cards and top-ups. but it WAS a smaller event and thus there were fewer booths for payments and obvious times of the day/weekend when people wanted to get the cards and top up/withdraw. it's much the same in austria at the red bull ring where you pay for what you want at a cash desk, then take the receipt to the food/drink stands and get your winnings there. and it makes sense to centralise the cash in one way or another because on a big weekend that's a heck of a lot of floats/more change needed situations.

fwiw the nurburgring isn't so anal about their cashless system any more (if it's still in use for food and drink sales) - i bought drinks at the wsr event there from the paddock food stand with proper money.

[Akrapovic]

Cool. This means I'll spend LESS money at the circuit and more outside.

[isynge]

Fair enough, cash can be a pain for a plethora of small kiosks / retailers for all the reasons Bella mentioned - but in this day and age you'd have thought an approach of propagating contactless card facilities / ApplePay (or similar) around the site would be a much more forward thinking way of doing things.

I'll confess to not being a massive spender on food / drink around the track (benefit of barbecue at Tertre Rouge) but I suspect this will cut the occasional discretionary / impulse spend (bottle of water, cold pint, merguez etc) down to zero.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by Simmi

...or net them thousands in unclaimed Euros....

This is the key point. I read the other week about a 3-day music festival in the USA that made over $250,000 from unclaimed balances from their cashless payment system.

I'm sure the success of charging €1 for a plastic beer glass has embolden the powers that be.

[GT6]

Unlike at the smaller events using the bugatti circuit the two main events next year using the full circuit will require a huge number of machines to handle the transactions and also places to charge up the cards, will the ridiculous system still be used in the other area's at mulsanne and arnarge?. i think that it may come in for the smaller events but the massive expense needed to cateer for the 1/4 of a million people turning up will may this very risky as if it does not work then all the vendors will sue the ACO and i can't see the ACO taking that risk, contactless cards on the other hand are a much better bet for 2016 as many vendors already have the tech and almost everyone has cards that can be used already

[bella]

Originally Posted by isynge

Fair enough, cash can be a pain for a plethora of small kiosks / retailers for all the reasons Bella mentioned - but in this day and age you'd have thought an approach of propagating contactless card facilities / ApplePay (or similar) around the site would be a much more forward thinking way of doing things.

i suppose an arguement against that would be that each transaction incurs a fee, and that takes money out of the aco's pockets. this way there's one fee, and only one transaction for the customer requiring them to part with money. the non-aco vendors will presumably pay rent on the card readers, but if they're clever they'll have pitched it lower than the transaction cost from a credit/debit card terminal.

pretty sure that this will be there to stay, and the aco will have paid a flat rate to contract it out to someone else. someone's done a very good sell to them given it doesn't really work at the nurburgring past it probably making the nordschleife tourist laps a bit more fun and leaving you with a proper souvenir of your visit.

[batmobile]

Originally Posted by batmobile

I don't know if it is the good thread but next year some changes to come about buying food on the circuit. During the World series week end you have to take a special card you have to credit and then you buy the food with it no change needed. They will use this means of payment for the trucks 24 h and it could be definitively adopted.

[QUOTE=batmobile;3577182]

Originally Posted by batmobile

Correction. After some explanations they had some problems with the till receipt printers. They would have to get them for the next time. Other amazing thing. . All the prices are something like 9,59 € but when you want to get your cash back they have no cents coins.............

The cashless bank :https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...22742228712026

My posts on the who's going thread.

[Mike E]

Just about the only thing I buy in the circuit is one beer so I can get my souvenir plastic cup. Seems like a bit of a kerfuffle having to get a card, charge it up and then have to reclaim any balance at the end. Might have to steal a cup instead.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by batmobile

The cashless bank :https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...22742228712026

Yep that looks pretty permanent.

Will have to do a bit of mathematics prior to the race and work out what I consume. It's not that much of a big deal I guess - just finding another excuse for people to queue up.

Don't really know how the beer cup system will work now because the whole point was that you could return those and get your money back - not that I ever did. Unless the vendor can add money back onto your card?

[Samoan Attorney]

I read on Facebook - Le Mans Legends has closed

http://www.lemainelibre.fr/actualite...10-2015-144859

[Coach Ep]

[GT6]

Eric has already posted details of this on the whose going in 2016 thread

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by batmobile

The cashless bank :https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...22742228712026

My posts on the who's going thread.

I'm looking forward to going to the points of caterings.

Gid moaning, I have bad nose.