Considering free towel dry after IBA??

[ScottV]

I'm in a very competitive environment with one of my wash sites and was considering adding an optional free (tips only) towell dry station at the exit end of my 2 IBA's. I would buy the cart and towells and have my two nephews stand there on Saturday's offering the free service to my customers after they pull out of the bay.

I'm trying to think of all the pro's and con's to doing something like this and figured that many of you folks have probably already been there and done that. Any advice or inputs you could offer would be appreciated.

Things I've thought of are:
Pro's - removes majority of water spots left over after the dryers, offers a free service no other washes in the area have, .....
Con's - Touch free means no towells, might scratch vehicle if wash didnt clean all the dirt, liability issues, stacking / throughput issues, .....

 

[Washmee]

Once you start, you can never go back. Do you really want to commit to the expense of employees? Will it increase your volume enough to justify the expense?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Let us know if the nephews show up for over 2 saturdays!

 

[ScottV]

My thought was that they would work for tips, so there would be no employee expense on my part. Also, they are there every weekend anyways because I pay them to clean up the bays, pick up garbage and tend to the site on Sat & Sun's.

 

[Waxman]

I would make it complimentary and self-serve. MANY of my customers use this and yes it gives a competitive edge. You also don't have worries about employees doing any damage or customers feeling 'pressured' to get dried for more $$.

Trust me here; I had an attendant who insisted on towel drying and I got more complaints and many folks just want to wash and go with no interaction or hassles.

You will get towels stolen; plan on it. You will have more laundry expense.

I would say get an attendant and leave the towel dry self-serve.

Plus, you can't, IMO, offer something on certain days and take it away other days. That will pi$$ off customers who will expect it always once you start.

 

[robert roman]

Since most in-bays have limited throughput capacity, I’m not sure what you hope to accomplish by giving service away for free, one day of the week.

Typically, the path to higher profits for in-bay owners is trip generation and average ticket which means selling more.

Some ways to sell more is to tweak the unit so it does the best possible job of cleaning and drying, automatically, without any manual labor; sell extra services “on-line” like wheel cleaning, Rain-X, tire shine; provide a vacuum token with the purchase of an in-bay wash, no labor expense involved; and then spend the money to market these facts.

 

[soapy]

I have offered free drying towels for my IBA since I started in the business 18 years ago. It has worked very well for me. I put the towels out and let the people dry their own cars if they choose. It depends on the area you are in how many towels you will get stolen. I loose about $100 worth per month when doing about 3000 cars per month. I just consider it advertising and it builds a loyal following. I would not hire anyone to dry the car but just offer it as a value added service.

 

[SHINEY2]

I have offered free drying towels for my IBA since I started in the business 18 years ago. It has worked very well for me. I put the towels out and let the people dry their own cars if they choose. It depends on the area you are in how many towels you will get stolen. I loose about $100 worth per month when doing about 3000 cars per month. I just consider it advertising and it builds a loyal following. I would not hire anyone to dry the car but just offer it as a value added service.

Would you send me a picture of how you set up the free towel area? Turbospa@hotmail.com

Thanks!!!

 

[ScottV]

Thanks guys! Once again you have given me some great advice to help in making this decision. I think I'll shelve this idea for a while....

 

[Waxman]

I advise not to shelve the whole idea but rather do what Soapy and I do. He taught me thru the ACF, I adopted his methods as my own. I have had success with it.

Do what you wish, but you asked and we said modify the idea not shelve it.

 

[soapy]

I know that Bill posted a picture of my towel station in a earlier posting about this subject. He may have put it in my picture section also locatedon this forum.

 

[dogwasher]

I like this Free towel idea. Can you guys tell me more about the towels..is one or two towels only good to dry one car? I was thinking of many large bath towels hanging from a 10 to 20ft long horizontal pole, the customer would use it and hang it back up until it needed to be put in the can. Maybe section them off to seperate the dirty towels from the cleaner towels?

 

[soapy]

If you usethe search feature of forum under drying towels you will several discussions on this topic. I recommend not going with too good of towel as they will be stolen at a faster rate. Sams club towels that around .35 cents each seem to be about right.

 

[dogwasher]

How do you advertize "Free Towels" without the customer taking them?
If I was to offer this service I would like to use these exact words on my letter board.

 

[MEP001]

Right below are several "Similar Threads" links that cover your questions.

 

[Randy]

I think if I was going to put out towels for the public to use I’d dye them a god awful color so they would less inclined to take them. Like day glo Yellow or Orange

 

[dogwasher]

I think if I was going to put out towels for the public to use I’d dye them a god awful color so they would less inclined to take them. Like day glo Yellow or Orange

Another great idea..where do you buy the dye? and how do you use it?

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

Sams has some pretty ugly ones, orange and green.

 

[soapy]

I get the white cotton towels from Sams and dye them pink. They are about 12 inches square and come in packs of 60.

 

[Greg Pack]

I too got the towel cart idea from Soapy and others and it has worked well. I'm in a good neighborhood. It is rarely abused and I have many people that come for that freebie. I buy my towels at Costco which seem to be a slightly better quality than Sams towels. I throw a pack of them in the washer with a single bottle of Rit Black Dye and they come out a dark blue. I do have a sign requesting customers use only two, which is usually adequate for them. I would say that 30% of my customers (depending on the weather) utilize this service and have had quite a few compliments. It is very rarely abused, but like I said, I'm in a good neighborhood- I can put out a box of complimentary mints on the towel cart and it takes two weeks for the customers to go through them.

I did try offering free spray glass cleaner with the towel service but they did disappear too much. I think people forgot and left them in their car too often. I would go by and find one missing, quite often it would show back up a few days later.