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Courtesy Towel Station & other free offer ideas

Touchless

Touchless

Member
Hi, we currently offer a courtesy towel drying area with a leaf blower available for customers to dry their cars/motorcycles.
I'm interested in how others have their courtesy stations set up. We currently use a flip top storage container for the clean towels and a barrel for used. Looking for some ideas for a better display area.
Also what other free extras do others offer?
 
i offer a free towel dry station. It's nothing fancy but we keep it stocked 7 days/ week. We buy bulk towels from ERC Wiping. They get stolen alot. We go through a bulk box every 3 months or so. The customers use it constantly and I'm certain it creates loyalty.
 
I've offered some freebies at my main wash. I quit doing the towels when covid started but may start back soon. I have a JKO rug beater that is free for customers. It is a big investment up front but customers love it and it requires minimal upkeep. It is thirteen years old and I've had to buy a new timer,new decals, and a set of rollers in that time- (maybe $600 worth of stuff?) At one time I was leaving out spray glass cleaner. Meguiars makes a glass cleaner concentrate that is cheap enough at 10:1 dilution. Theft of product happened occasionally but wasn't enough to discourage me from offering the service My lot is small and frankly don't want to customers to hand around longer than necessary as it gets quite crowded on busy days.
 
I have been doing the free towels for 27 years with good luck. I use stainless steel bins I had custom made for the dry and wet towel collection. Big investment up front but always looks new. I started with Sams club towels and now switched over to the cheap .31 cent microfiber towels from Kleenrite. I also offer free prescrub buckets for the automatics. Every automatic wash gets a free token good for a free vacuum or $1 off the next automatic wash. I would say 75% of the tokens are redeemed for the $1 off the next wash and 25% for the free vac. I only give .25 cent value for the tokens in the SS bays because too many people were cruising around my my washes just to pick up tokens people forgot in the token vendor. Since I made them worth only ,25 in the SS bays I do not get the deadbeats.
 
On a side note. We buy our white Terry towels at Costco, $17.99 for a bundle of 52. They are a much better towel than any towels that we’ve gotten from the car wash supply house. We vend them for a $1 and we go through a lot of them.
 
soapy said:
I have been doing the free towels for 27 years with good luck. I use stainless steel bins I had custom made for the dry and wet towel collection. Big investment up front but always looks new. I started with Sams club towels and now switched over to the cheap .31 cent microfiber towels from Kleenrite. I also offer free prescrub buckets for the automatics. Every automatic wash gets a free token good for a free vacuum or $1 off the next automatic wash. I would say 75% of the tokens are redeemed for the $1 off the next wash and 25% for the free vac. I only give .25 cent value for the tokens in the SS bays because too many people were cruising around my my washes just to pick up tokens people forgot in the token vendor. Since I made them worth only ,25 in the SS bays I do not get the deadbeats.
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Prescrub buckets for the automatic, what does this involve and how often do you change whatever is in the bucket?
 
Greg Pack said:
I've offered some freebies at my main wash. I quit doing the towels when covid started but may start back soon. I have a JKO rug beater that is free for customers. It is a big investment up front but customers love it and it requires minimal upkeep. It is thirteen years old and I've had to buy a new timer,new decals, and a set of rollers in that time- (maybe $600 worth of stuff?) At one time I was leaving out spray glass cleaner. Meguiars makes a glass cleaner concentrate that is cheap enough at 10:1 dilution. Theft of product happened occasionally but wasn't enough to discourage me from offering the service My lot is small and frankly don't want to customers to hand around longer than necessary as it gets quite crowded on busy days.
Click to expand...
We used to leave out Windex and that was taken a few times. Then we left out Sam’s Club glass cleaner, it was used often but only had one stolen.
 
Touchless said:
Prescrub buckets for the automatic, what does this involve and how often do you change whatever is in the bucket?
Click to expand...
I do this at three locations and we change the bug prep three to four times a day. It's all according to how busy we are. I have some people that will use it on their running boards or really muddy trucks/cars and then the whole bucket of bug prep is dirty and you need to change it ASAP. Most of my customers use it and really like it. Plus it helps the touch-free do a better job.
 
APW said:
I do this at three locations and we change the bug prep three to four times a day. It's all according to how busy we are. I have some people that will use it on their running boards or really muddy trucks/cars and then the whole bucket of bug prep is dirty and you need to change it ASAP. Most of my customers use it and really like it. Plus it helps the touch-free do a better job.
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I think it’s a great idea although we are a self serve and don’t have any employees so that is our downfall. Its something to think about, maybe we could offer it while we are onsite in the mornings. Thanks!
 
Touchless. I'm also unattended for the most part ( I'm there every morning and my brother stops by 1-2 times a day) , but I do have an emissions guy that rents one bay Mon-Sat. So someone is on site but they aren't watching the bays all the time. We have the prep bucket at the kiosk for the auto wash and we change or fill it daily. It gets used a pretty good bit, only had a few brushes vanish... The towels with glass cleaner on the exit of my bays at the vacs wouldn't be a bad idea? I have the means to wash and dry them daily ( I own a cleaners in the same parking lot). My customers are pretty good for the most part, I guess I could setup a clean towel and dirty towel bin maybe in the middle of the vacs, add some glass cleaner, etc.. And see how it works out. Seems like a cheap addition for the wash?
 
MY prescrub buckets are 15 gallon chemical barrels that I cut the top off. If you use a grit guard in the bottom of the buckets that will keep accumulated grit off the brush between bucket fills. I use wheel wizard brushes and I brand the handle and brush with my wash name so I loose very few of them.
 
fastlx said:
Touchless. I'm also unattended for the most part ( I'm there every morning and my brother stops by 1-2 times a day) , but I do have an emissions guy that rents one bay Mon-Sat. So someone is on site but they aren't watching the bays all the time. We have the prep bucket at the kiosk for the auto wash and we change or fill it daily. It gets used a pretty good bit, only had a few brushes vanish... The towels with glass cleaner on the exit of my bays at the vacs wouldn't be a bad idea? I have the means to wash and dry them daily ( I own a cleaners in the same parking lot). My customers are pretty good for the most part, I guess I could setup a clean towel and dirty towel bin maybe in the middle of the vacs, add some glass cleaner, etc.. And see how it works out. Seems like a cheap addition for the wash?
Click to expand...
That’s good info on the wash prep bucket for an unattended wash, thanks.
A courtesy towel station is a good cheap addition. We have had many comments from customers how much they like it. We do lose a few towels but mostly people are respectful and return them. We also leave a cheap leaf blower out and the motorcycles always use it. Sounds like your in a good position to offer it. It’s cheap enough to start it and you can always take it away if you change your mind.
My setup is very simple at our vending/change machine. Flip top container to hold the clean towels and a barrel for the used towels. Would like a better setup but this works good for now.
It’s in an area where there is space for customers to hang outside to finish their vehicles and not be in the way of others.
 

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For our automatic we have prep buckets - we use our high pH in 32 gal Brute garbage cans on dollies. We buy Unger Hydropower Bi-Level Soft Wash Brush (10") from Home Depot or Amazon. Our distributor thought it was kinda crazy. But we hear about it from customers if we don't do it.

The downsides:
Sometimes customers take too long to basically wash their whole car.
Deadbeats just wash their car with the prep brushes and drive off.

Upside: happy repeat / loayal customers

We also offer free towel dry on the exit side (using Brute garbage cans - one clean / one wet or dirty). We buy Kirkland Signature yellow microfiber towels from Costco. We've also bought them from Amazon Basics but they're smaller.

Downside is towels walk away. But we public shame the egregious offenders we notice on the cameras by posting pics and/or video to our Facebook page. Someone usually reposts it to the local crime FB page so we get a little free advertising/publicity out of it anyway.

Customers love both the prep buckets and towels. If we don't have prep buckets out some customers pass by or call (in winter we don't have out as often especially when very cold - builds up too much ice). So weather dependent.

Rubbermaid Commercial Products BRUTE Heavy-Duty Trash/Garbage Can, 32 Gallon, Gray: Garbage Can: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Rubbermaid Commercial Products BRUTE Heavy-Duty Trash/Garbage Can, 32 Gallon, Gray: Garbage Can: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
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Amazon.com: Unger Hydropower Bi-Level Soft Wash Brush, 10": Home & Kitchen

Buy Unger Hydropower Bi-Level Soft Wash Brush, 10": Squeegees - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
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Tiger Chef Commercial 5 Caster Trash Can Dollies, 18-inch by 6-inch, Black Plastic Dolly with Casters, Perfect Fit for Round Trash Cans, Waste Container Dollies Trash Dolly (2 Pack): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Tiger Chef Commercial 5 Caster Trash Can Dollies, 18-inch by 6-inch, Black Plastic Dolly with Casters, Perfect Fit for Round Trash Cans, Waste Container Dollies Trash Dolly (2 Pack): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
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Amazon.com: Kirkland Signature Ultra High Pile Premium Microfiber Towels, 36 Count (Pack of 1), Yellow - 713160: Automotive

Amazon.com: Kirkland Signature Ultra High Pile Premium Microfiber Towels, 36 Count (Pack of 1), Yellow - 713160: Automotive
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Just curious / for those of you who have prop buckets and are in regions that freeze in the winter, do you still put out the prep buckets? Add antifreeze soap?
 
We've found that the Kirkland Terry towels are better for drying , more absorbent than the Kirkland microfiber towels. We vend them for a Dollar. They are $17.99 for bundle at Costco here.
52 Pack Green Lifestyle 14 X 17 100% Cotton Heavy Weight Wring Spun Soft Terry Loop Shop Towels
 
This is a really good thread. I think someone had said they have a 5 gal bucket w/ water, & a scrub squeegee in it ($3.50 @ KR). Works great, rarely gets stolen& majority of customers use it on glass only (so takes less than 2 minutes--- so they don't hold up the line or get a feeebie waah).
 
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