Had it with trash dumpers. Getting rid of trash cans.

[sparkey]

So I have had enough with dealing with trash dumpers who are not customers and minivans clear full of trash who fill the entire can and buy an air freshener and leave. I am tired of chasing cars down who dump trash and drive off and they tell me they will never wash here again, or I am a customer I just didn't buy anything this time. I figure I may even save a few customers because I won't have to confront them anymore. They also won't be blocking my bays so paying customers can't get in.

I spoke with a guy in my area who already removed his trash cans a few months ago. He said his vacuum income is down a little but he can't determine if its weather related on trash can removal related. He said surprisingly people are not dumping trash in his lot because he doesn't have a trash can.

I own the only two washes in town so I don't have to worry about people going to my competition because I don't have trash cans. I figure I will try it at my slow wash first and see how it works then implement it at my other wash.

Anyone else tried this? What were your results?

 

[Fatboy769]

Please keep us updated how this works out. I feel your pain, just haven't pulled the trigger on it yet.

 

[Carwash_Netherlands]

Openend 8 years ago and never installed trash cans.

Maybe once a month someone dumps some trash but thats it. I do have some cans (1-2 a day) that I simply pick up and throw away.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Trash problems have increased in the last few years, so last summer I put some thought into it.
I figured that from a business perspective the trash cans are part of the "vacuum profit center" - if I didnt have vacs I shouldnt have nearly as much trash. So last spring I made signs to put on the cans basically saying it is illegal and you are being watched/videoed, and I doubled my vac price. Trash immediately reduced by more than half. Vac revenue increased and has stayed up, and I cannot detect a change in wash activity that I can attribute to the vac/trash change.

Next step was that since my vac revenue is dramatically higher in spring and very low during winter, I decided to test things by closing the trash cans for the winter - thanksgiving until the first day of "vac season." I painted up bright red covers for the trash cans and designed signs to put on the can covers... But life got busy and since the trash was down I delayed, thinking that maybe I had solved the problem.
Silly boy. Around February the trash increased again. Not as bad as it was, but still too much. Since it is spring cleaning season I'm not going to be hasty and close them now, but I will absolutely be closing them thanksgiving. I cant wait, I'm actually looking forward to it, and its possible I will close them when the busy spring cleaning season ends.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

This is such a timely thread seeing all the people who have thrown their fast food garbage into the back of their minivan all winter are now flowing in to 'unload' out of both sliding doors and then maybe vacuuming. PLJ, I would love if you could post a picture of your vacuum island, the signs and covers you made. Do you think its the actual lack of a can that stops people from 'dumping' or the signage? People don't read the signs we have and when the cans are full, they just stack stuff on top of the island or next to it. Customers are so lazy that the trash can at the 'car trunk' end of the island will be stacked two feet above the can with trash while the can at the other end of the island will be completely empty...apparently its too far away. The real dumpers, however, just pull in a bay and unload it there.

 

[soapy]

I doubt it would help but what about putting a sign up that something like " Only 1 gallon litter bag per car" It would at least let them you have a limit and give you a basis to confront them with.

 

[washnvac]

Interesting thread--- of course I just ordered $1950 worth of trash cans to replace some dilapidated ones. It certainly is food for thought whether to remove or not.

Unfortunately, we are teaching our society that any business is held hostage by the customer, and the business owner should be kissing the customer's a$$. No one takes responsibility for their actions, so the customer should be able to dump as much trash as they want, whether in the trash can or on the lot, and without regard to spending any money on the site. It speaks to the sad state of affairs across our whole society.

 

[Roz]

I removed the 6 yard dumpster and had the trash hauling company install 5x 125 gal bins that the truck lifts into the trash truck via an arm. Cost was less than the dumpster and I no longer need someone to empty the trash cans twice a week into a dumpster. I do get people each week who dump their kitchen bags into the bins even with large bold signs on the bins - they even do so in front of me knowing that I own/run the place and then they spend nothing at the place! They seem to think it is their right to dump. Others are too f**kin* lazy to reach a bin and just empty their car contents in a bay for me to clean up. Fortunately these folks are a very small minority and most customers appreciate the ability to clean their cars of the small stuff that accumulates under their seats.

For now I think the bins are worth the small cost and I look the other way when people bring non-car trash to the bin as it seems to build goodwill within my community. The other car wash in my area has a bad reputation from what I have been told with customers and his workers to the point where his workers clean their cars at my place - I want to continue to build the goodwill with services.

Curious to read how the change goes....

 

[chaz]

I removed the 6 yard dumpster and had the trash hauling company install 5x 125 gal bins that the truck lifts into the trash truck via an arm. Cost was less than the dumpster and I no longer need someone to empty the trash cans twice a week into a dumpster. I do get people each week who dump their kitchen bags into the bins even with large bold signs on the bins - they even do so in front of me knowing that I own/run the place and then they spend nothing at the place! They seem to think it is their right to dump. Others are too f**kin* lazy to reach a bin and just empty their car contents in a bay for me to clean up. Fortunately these folks are a very small minority and most customers appreciate the ability to clean their cars of the small stuff that accumulates under their seats

For now I think the bins are worth the small cost and I look the other way when people bring non-car trash to the bin as it seems to build goodwill within my community. The other car wash in my area has a bad reputation from what I have been told with customers and his workers to the point where his workers clean their cars at my place - I want to continue to build the goodwill with services.

Curious to read how the change goes....

I’ve got nine large cans on sight...and even in lousy weather I have trash in all the cans. No way I could get away with not emptying the cans into my dumpster daily.

 

[Robert2181]

We removed all of our trash cans from the bays because of this. 75% less dumping. Once in a while some trash on the floor.

(the McDonald s removed theirs from the drive thru lane because of this)

 

[soapy]

It is interesting that a Starbucks in Philly asked a couple of nonpaying customers to leave and they would not. Cops were called and had to handcuff the men to get them to leave. The only problem is that Starbucks is now being branded as Racist. I for one would call the cops if someone was using my facilities without paying no matter what color, race, or other factor they were. I have had to call the police to remove whites more often than any other group.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I for one would call the cops if someone was using my facilities without paying no matter what color, race, or other factor they were. I have had to call the police to remove whites more often than any other group.

As long as you do it for a couple of white males before you do it for anyone else, you will be OK.

 

[Greg Pack]

I have taken the opposite approach with having a large number of garbage cans. The more garbage cans I had, the more trash I got. I had one location with four 30 gallon containers and the trash was terrible. I reduced to four and covered them with tepees and the volume of garbage reduced considerably.

 

[JamboWash]

i had the same issue removed the cans from the wash bays, only have small cans on the vacuums that reduced the flow of trash , put up a sign saying no household trash to where violators will be prosecuted , this reduced the household trash, i once had a lady pull in her car starts taking out trash bags and filling by trash cans up, i approach her and asked if she needs any help and they we dont allow household trash , she says no i need to vaccum car, so after unloading her trash she looks around and jumps in her car then wants to leave, so furious me, i take the trash bags run with then and put then on her hood of the car and told her she forget her trash, she got Mad and said she was never coming back .. LOL

 

[OurTown]

so after unloading her trash she looks around and jumps in her car then wants to leave, so furious me, i take the trash bags run with then and put then on her hood of the car and told her she forget her trash, she got Mad and said she was never coming back .. LOL

That would be great to see on video.

 

[mac]

Glad to see this. I had a customer who thought he just had to put trash cans all over the freaking place. Never seen so many at a wash. And there was trash constantly all over the place, and they made the place look , well trashy. Like paullovesjamie's solution.

 

[Ptjanis95]

We have plenty of trash barrels but it feels like people hardly use them. They just dump away right on the ground or open the vending products and toss the wrapper. The general public has little to no concern. A lot of people just don't care.

But with that being said, if you're in the self serve industry, you're also in the trash business. I think its part of the game. If I took out my barrels (13-14 or so), I know there would just be more trash on the ground and make the place look like sh*t

 

[CheetahExpress]

We have a 2-yd. dumpster that was constantly being filled with household trash, furniture, rugs, you-name it. A couple of months ago, we had the trash company install a gravity bar that keeps people from opening it. It was a $50 one-time charge, but well worth it. No more problems with dumpers.

 

[CheetahExpress]

Just to clarify -- we still have the trash cart in the middle of the vacuum island as well as three 45-gal. trash cans. People can no longer dump large items in the dumpster because of the gravity bar.

 

[Kevin James]

Sparky keep us posted if you do decide to pull your garbage cans. We get a ton of garbage almost every day. If not in the can, they just dump it and leave, you name it we've gotten it.