Free air and Free wiper fluid !! and we did away with tokens

[docopp]

I put in free air a year ago with a sign on the street "free air".
We have maybe 10-25 people a day come in to get the free air, I know some stay and use our self serve bays and I know some make an appointment and have their cars detailed here.
I added free wiper fluid (a 15 gallon tote, an automatic bilge pump and a float switch to kill the pump if the tote is empty)
easy formula to make fluid, cost about 5 or 6 dollars per 15 gallons !!!!

Business owners will spent tons of money on external marketing, but to attract potential customers to your business for a few minutes (looking around) as they receive a free service, (or pennies for fluid)….they may want to return the favor
a no brainer.

I also eliminated tokens when I bought the car wash, again if someone comes to our car wash for a few minutes (looking around) to trade a dollar for 4 quarters..... great marketing and it cost me nothing
and the customer isn't looking for you to trade unused tokens back to real money.

 

[Waxman]

I put in free air a year ago with a sign on the street "free air".
We have maybe 10-25 people a day come in to get the free air, I know some stay and use our self serve bays and I know some make an appointment and have their cars detailed here.
I added free wiper fluid (a 15 gallon tote, an automatic bilge pump and a float switch to kill the pump if the tote is empty)
easy formula to make fluid, cost about 5 or 6 dollars per 15 gallons !!!!

Business owners will spent tons of money on external marketing, but to attract potential customers to your business for a few minutes (looking around) as they receive a free service, (or pennies for fluid)….they may want to return the favor
a no brainer.

I also eliminated tokens when I bought the car wash, again if someone comes to our car wash for a few minutes (looking around) to trade a dollar for 4 quarters..... great marketing and it cost me nothing
and the customer isn't looking for you to trade unused tokens back to real money.

I disagree. I vend only tokens and love it. I accept quarters and credit cards as well.

I sell air for $1. Love that, too, esp. in winter!

I have towels that customers use and return. That's what I use for loyalty/ rewards.

 

[docopp]

We also have towels for customers to use and return...a great service
I forgot to say, I added credit card readers on each vacuum and each wash bay
People use them a lot
We are adding Blasto-dry to each self serve bay this month, I think it will be a good investment

 

[Mr. Clean]

docopp,

We have been providing free air for 20 yrs and as you stated the traffic can be overwhelming at the hose. People love it and I love providing it, but I will chirp at some of the regulars about enabling procrastination.

It's really cheap advertising and invaluable good will. Most of the expensive, vended air in the area goes out of service when temps drop.
The biggest challenge for us has been finding durable valves and chucks.

I was just thinking about a pay bulk WWAF dispensing system, similar to a gas pump (smaller scale). So tired of removing bulky, empty plastic jugs from the garbage pails! Is anyone doing that or know of a system that could be certified and used?

Thanks.
MC