Around here I know of 1 club that uses the Briley token system and they claim that unpaid targets are down to about 4 % . Other clubs use scan cards ( like debbit cards ) and it works great . For the token system you need a lot of them ,because shooters might buy 10 at a time and not use the all for a while

 

Went through this process this past year, some people will complain and say it is not necessary. Since the club has purchased a Briley token system in my opinion it is foolish not to install it. During installation there was a lot of discussion about needing it, my comment always was it makes no difference to me if I buy tokens or put my money in the cash drawer. After a short time people will adapt and accept the change. Good records of income and targets thrown before and after installation will help to quiet dissenters.

 

pray your field isnt far from the clubhouse so when the machine tosses broken birds, you dont have to walk to the club and reset the totals for the field.
or the new classic excuse worldwide....'the computer is down.' lol.

 

i once had a mech tell me that the car industry has perfected the internal combustion engine to a point where it is operating these days at max efficiency.
the issue now is....electronics.
engine runs fine...computers in cars crash. no computer? no car.
a skeet machine has been perfected over the decades.
its the electronics that fails now.
no electronics? no skeet/trap.
follow me?
and add insult to injury....only a CERTIFIED TECH can work on it all.
was a day when all skeet/trap shooters knew how to tweak a western trap on site.
good luck with that today.
this new generation is obsessed with making simple things complicated. odd thing to watch happen around me.

 

The club I just moved from in Colorado installed the token system after many, many years without it. It's been for the most part flawless, shooters buy punch cards and exchange punches or cash for tokens, I rarely end up with more than a couple unused tokens, typically none. Before voice releases, it was easy to keep track of who shot what and settle up at the end but not so easy now that no one punches a button. Extra targets is another issue, guys would stand and shoot "a few" after a round and never report that.

As for electronics breaking, it hasn't been a problem. The mics have been the biggest issue but strain relieving the cords and a couple extra mics killed that. I've even shot a couple skeet fields with a wireless voice release and pre-pay.

I'm all for it.

-Scot

 

We use tokens

 

We use pay as you go tokens for our game shoots and have changed all practice traps to card lock system.
Put money on your card and swipe at the edge of the trap field when ready to shoot.
There was a lot of dis-agreement when it was initially installed a year ago.
Now it runs really smooth with no complaints, and nobody can run off/forget paying for targets anymore.

 

Some of your shooters will get offended by the coin box but they will get over it. The coin box works well and you can set it to give an extra bird or two per coin for breakage, just make sure your machines work well or it could turn into a train wreck. You will most likely have to redo your trip wires for the traps since they wont be where you mount the box. I would also put in a bypass outlet in case the box quits working.

 

We have one. 2 trap and 2 skeet. Works great. Amazing on how fast it eliminated those who were cheating the system.

 

I would think, the first step it to figure out if and how much targets the club is losing by non payment. Then make a rational decision.

How are you paying for the non payers' targets?

 

We are a club of about 2000 members. Trap,skeet and 5 stand. We use a token system. You sign-in when you get there before you shoot. Sign out after you shoot and note the number of rounds shot. Put your tokens in a envelope marked with the number of rounds shot. Get caught shooting and not being signed in and you WILL be spoken to. We charge $2.50 per round and to maintain that price requires everyone to pay for their targets. This system works for us with no complaints.

 

We have a hybrid model and is a prototype. We have had it now for 4 years and works flawless and still lets shooters be on an honor system BUT with checks and balances.

One of the members on trapshooters works for a company that does access controls. He has installed a secure access box that uses a key fob to open. This has keys to trap and skeet as well as the log sheet. We can see who shot what day and the counter reading. If someone cheats it the next person to sign in will see it. And we can see who was in it last.

 

Our club has two traps; we use tickets, the ones you buy in a roll. You come in, sign up to shoot on the Trap you want, usually a whole squad/team will sign up on the same squad, but it's not necessary. You buy tickets, or there is a punch card ; tickets are $4 each, a punch card is $40 has 11 punches. (Buy 10, get one free!) If you have a punch card, get a punch at the counter in the clubhouse, you get a ticket. Present ticket to scorer (we take turns, some volunteer more than others), runs pretty smooth, but as I said, we are a small club,about 150 league members. Non-league members are invitied to bring their own machine and birds anytime but during leagues and shoot on Trap #2 only.

 

The club where I shoot has the token system. The only issue has been some unscrupulous people have taken washers and tokens from kids entertainment venue (i.e. Chuckie Cheese) and used them in the token box. I believe the owners caught on to who it was and the issue has been taken care of as far as I am aware. Other than that, I like the token system bc I can buy a bunch at once and on days I am in a hurry I can just show up and get to shooting right away.

 

install it shooters will get used to it . we installed low range system at our club it is working ok and shooters are ok with it. it is like a credit card and you put as much money as you like on it. this system subtracts money because our sportingclays charges a little more. one catandard works for trap skeet 5 stand and sporting thnks howard

 

Counter systems (card and token) took a local club from near bankruptcy to the most successful they've ever been. They figured out they were getting paid for less than half the targets thrown, with a majority being on the sporting clays field that is not visible from the club house.

You'll find out real quick who your big time scammers were, as soon as you install the counters they'll stop showing up and move on to an easier target they can keep ripping off from.

Installing counters is a NO BRAINER, they are GUARANTEED to eventually pay for themselves. They stop the half dozen "let me shoot that again"s per round, they stop talking over voice mics which launch countless targets, they stop forgetfulness, and they stop outright theft. They also prevent people from hitting the button a dozen times trying to fix a machine that is throwing broken targets, they either stop and fix it themselves or ask someone else to.

Start counting targets thrown, either by the case or using the machine if it has a non-resettable counter, and compare that to the rounds being paid. I guarantee it will be eye opening.

In the mean time, keep a CLOSE eye on the guys who are railing the loudest against installing a counter system, they are most likely the ones already ripping you off and don't want the gravy train to stop.

 

I was shooting at a nearby club that uses the token system. I was on station 7 and called but no bird. Called again ...no bird. Come to find out the guy who runs the club forgot to put his token in. As you might expect we all had a good laugh.
At my home club we routinely have people not pay for birds. Its becoming more of a problem.

 

guaranteed doesnt help you 5 fields down on your last shot before going 100 straight and it poops on you.

 

something i learned about women.
they can care less about how a washer dryer works. all they want is it to clean and dry.
when it doesnt, they call the husband.
they got it right.
i can care less how a high tech token/card system works and how wonderful its warranty is. all i want it to do is work when i call pull.
when it doesnt, i call the geeks.

the world has too many choices today. one guy whispers and his vox release works, but the guy next to him must yell 3 times.

where are all the humans going?

my cord is going on 8 years old. no issues.

 

Our club put in a Briley box with token and cards . I feel it paid for itself .

 

Thanks to all who replied , I know there is a problem and I need to figure just how big the problem is . A good part of the issue is our board members are mostly older members who hate change , the treasurer has kept poor records the last few years due to some heath issues,and one of the people who run the trap and skeet fields just turned 92 and he is not going to change . I am starting to run the fields more and more and I need to rein things in a bit . Im going to put counters on the skeet machines. already have on the trap. and Ill look into installing the briley system we have. thanks Matt

 

We put in the Briley token system. We went from 30% loss to 3% loss. Yeah, some people stopped coming. I say good riddance! We want shooters that pay, not freeloaders. The box eats a token sometimes. No big deal. We take their word for it and give them another one. It wouldn’t take long for us to notice that “Joe Cheapskate” is always needing an extra token. We have the system set for 27 targets per person. We zero the machine out at the end of the day. We’re the cheapest place around for targets at $4.25 for the members and $3.75 for the volunteer range officers. Other places are $5.00-$6.00.

 

Had a friend who owned a very large Sporting Clay range. Ran it one the honor system for two years. Lost money both years. In fact the busier he was, the more he lost. Finally he put in a card system on one course and his losses went down for a period then returned. It took him half a bottle of Bourbon to figure out why. The course with the card system had dropped of to almost nothing in use. So he went deeper in debt and put a card system on all three of his courses. His shooting did drop off but his bottom line improved. In fact he was making a very decent profit. He knew his regular shooter were taking a few extra targets, they felt entitled. But what he did not know was how many they were taking. His target use went down 18%. Now understand a Sporting Clay course is away for the club house and shooter who took extra birds knew they would never get caught. 75% of the shooters were honest but 20% would take the odd extra bird. The last 5% would need five boxes to shoot a hundred birds. Funny thing is that most of them stopped coming after the "honor system" was replaced by a card system. Honest men don't cheat and should not be upset by a card system.

 

Honor system at my place, from what I can tell there are not many issues.

 

Our club switched to tokens 5 years ago. Realized 30% increase in revenue.