Collecting market rents can sometimes be a thankless task due to security issues, writing out receipts and general accounting problems. Birmingham City Council markets department, who have been using the KPR Midlink MACCS system since Friday 5th December 2014 to tighten up audit procedures, has decided to amalgamate trader’s rents across the daily toll markets, with traders balances shown as a single figure for the day including arrears.
Traders will be asked to make a payment every day they trade, but this may not be the day’s toll. Historically market rents have been made up of many different charges and rules which could complicate rent calculations and collections. As a result traders could determine what they would pay for when rents were collected. In line with this new approach to rent collection, traders working on Birmingham’s St. Martins Rag and Open Markets will be able to make payments to a KPR Kompact Kiosk. While the kiosks at St. Martins Rag Market have been set up for cash payments only, KPR Kompact Kiosks can also accept credit and debit cards.
In Birmingham traders’ arrears will be paid off first, not the day’s outstanding rent and this will be reflected in their account balance. It is also possible to set a limit on trader’s arrears, to ensure these do not become unmanageable. To pay or check their balance traders can insert their plastic trader card into the kiosk and then they can decide how much they wish to pay.
The KPR Kompact Kiosk can be accessed during trading hours, rather than the standard two hour window when rent is usually collected from market stalls. As well as giving traders more flexibility on how much they pay, the kiosk provides better security and makes collectors less vulnerable to would-be thieves. Kiosks are linked to the MACCS 2 database, which shows payments in real time, which collectors can access via a Windows 8 tablet so they can see who has paid, enabling them to remind traders who have not paid that a payment is due.
The money is counted as it goes in and also validated to avoid taking any fake notes or coins. When the kiosk is full the securely locked note and coin boxes can be replaced with empty units. Individual payment records are logged against each trader and on the MACCS 2 system, enabling collectors to see the charges and payments against each trader and each market they work on. KPR has been supplying markets management software since 1998 and have a wealth of knowledge and options available to suit all market and town centre management scenarios.
If you would like to resolve your arrears, collection and even cashless markets issues, contact KPR Midlink on 01902 710054