Coin mechanism vs push button: why coin-operated systems have had their day

The history of the coin mechanism in churches

For decades, the coin mechanism was the obvious solution for church candle holders: the worshipper inserts a coin, takes a candle, lights it. Simple, autonomous, and generating revenue for the parish. LumignonLED itself manufactured coin-operated models for years.

So why have we stopped producing coin-operated systems to focus exclusively on push buttons? This is not a marketing decision — it is the result of years of field experience and feedback from parishes facing recurring problems.

The three flaws of the coin mechanism

1. Vandalism: the scourge of collection boxes and coin mechanisms

This is the most serious and costly problem. Coin mechanism housings containing cash are prime targets for vandalism and theft:

• Regular break-ins — coin boxes are forced open, sometimes with tools, damaging the device and surrounding furniture.
• Collateral damage — to access the coins, vandals do not hesitate to damage the candle holder itself, requiring costly repairs.
• Feeling of insecurity — discovering a forced coin mechanism creates unease among worshippers and parish staff.
• Disproportionate cost — the stolen amount (often a few dozen francs in small coins) is paltry compared to the cost of repair and the trauma to the community.

Our customers have reported cases where the coin mechanism was broken into several times a year, turning a pastoral tool into a source of permanent stress. One parish even told us they had given up restocking the mechanism after three break-ins in six months.

2. The cashless society: an irreversible reality

The second reason is structural and irreversible: fewer and fewer people carry coins.

In Switzerland, cash use is in freefall:

• Contactless payment (card, phone, watch) has become the dominant payment method for small amounts.
• Younger generations — tomorrow's worshippers — often have no coins at all in their pockets.
• Foreign tourists, numerous in Swiss churches, do not necessarily have Swiss franc coins.

The result is mathematical: the number of people able to use a coin mechanism decreases every year. A system that excludes a growing share of visitors is a system on borrowed time. How many prayers have gone unsaid simply because the worshipper did not have a 1 or 2-franc coin?

3. Mechanical failures: the silent enemy

A coin mechanism is a complex mechanism with moving parts: springs, slides, coin detectors, anti-fraud systems. Each component is a potential failure point:

• Jamming by foreign coins — wrong-diameter coins or metal washers regularly seize up the mechanism.
• Mechanical wear — springs fatigue, slides clog, contacts oxidise.
• Sensitivity to humidity — churches are cool, damp environments, unfavourable to precision mechanisms.
• Specialised maintenance — repairing a coin mechanism often requires a technician, with associated delays and costs.

A broken coin mechanism means an unusable candle holder. And in a church without permanent staff, the fault can go unnoticed for days, depriving worshippers of the candle gesture.

The push button: simplicity in service of the mission

A radical principle: zero barriers

The LumignonLED push-button system rests on a principle opposite to the coin mechanism: no barrier between the worshipper and the light. No coin to find, no mechanism to understand, no instructions needed. Press, the LED flame lights up for 5 hours.

This choice is not merely technical — it is pastoral. The implicit message is powerful: this light is for everyone, unconditionally. Prayer has no admission charge.

Technical reliability

A push button has incomparable mechanical simplicity:

• No complex moving parts — an electrical contact, that is all.
• Considerable lifespan — industrial push buttons are designed for hundreds of thousands of actuations.
• Unaffected by ambient conditions — humidity, cold, heat: the button works.
• Zero maintenance — nothing to adjust, nothing to empty, nothing to unjam.

Combined with the 50,000-hour LED lifespan, the push-button system offers a reliability that the coin mechanism simply cannot match.

What about revenue?

This is every parish treasurer's legitimate question: "If it is free, how do we fund the candle holder?"

The answer lies in one word: trust. A voluntary donation box is placed near the candle holder. And field feedback is eloquent:

• Voluntary donations are generally equivalent to or higher than old coin mechanism revenues.
• Some worshippers give more generously when the gesture is free — a 5 or 10 CHF note rather than a 1 CHF coin.
• The absence of a coin mechanism eliminates maintenance costs and vandalism risk, improving the net result.
• A donation box is less attractive to vandals than a coin mechanism — it potentially contains less, and it is harder to know if it is worth breaking into.

Comparison table

To summarise the fundamental differences:

• Accessibility — Coin mechanism: limited (requires coins) / Push button: universal
• Vandalism risk — Coin mechanism: high (target for theft) / Push button: virtually nil
• Reliability — Coin mechanism: average (frequent mechanical failures) / Push button: excellent
• Maintenance — Coin mechanism: regular and costly / Push button: none
• Pastoral message — Coin mechanism: the light has a price / Push button: the light is for everyone
• Future-proof — Coin mechanism: no (cash decline) / Push button: yes

A choice for the future

LumignonLED made the deliberate choice to abandon the coin mechanism. This is not an admission of technical failure — it is the recognition of a societal evolution. The world changes, habits change, and the tools of faith must adapt without losing their meaning.

The push button is not a budget solution. It is a solution that is more reliable, more inclusive and better aligned with a parish's mission than a coin mechanism. Parishes that have made the transition — like Grolley — would not go back for anything.

Does your parish still use a coin-operated system? It may be time to consider the transition. The 2-year warranty on our push-button candle holders lets you take the step with complete peace of mind.