It's now or never ....

[Sequoia]

If any of you SS operators have considered pulling out your dumpsters, I'd suggest it's an excellent time now to do so. What better reason do you have than keeping foreign objects (potentially with the virus) from being brought onto the property?

I removed mine last October and I will never put one back in. But I realize all car washes are different. So you must decide.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I agree.

 

[DiamondWash]

Ohh cmon now, just throw in some more I see some room in there LOL.

 

[MEP001]

Yeah, just climb in and jump on it.

 

[Mchas]

I tried this experiment, but people just threw the trash on the ground instead

 

[water guy]

Best Thing I Ever Done !!

 

[soapy]

Our city requires each business to have a dumpster. You decide how many times per week you have it dumped. By taking out your dumpster aren't you doing the same thing that made you mad at the dumpers? Every business generates some trash.

 

[Sequoia]

It's a personal choice. Removing my dumpster has been a very good decision for my wash.

I get almost zero trash now, and save $3,000 per year in trash collection fees. And the two legged coyotes who used to visit every night and prowl the dumpster and vacuums never come in. My wash is clean, phew!

 

[soonermajic]

I tried this experiment, but people just threw the trash on the ground instead

That is EXACTLY what i believe will happen @ our wash!

 

[srr5008]

If we didn't have trash cans, they would just stack their trash on the vacuum islands... more than they already do now.

We lock our dumpster, and are fortunate in the regard that no one seems to mess with it. Occasionally we'll get some bags of house trash stacked next to the dumpster, but that is rare. I think our habit of going through dropped of bags to look for mailing addresses and then returning it to their front lawn/porch, got the word around that we won't tolerate dumping.

 

[AnalyticWash]

The cost of providing trash service is much less than the revenue I would lose when my customers find another wash to visit that has trash service...

 

[Sequoia]

The cost of providing trash service is much less than the revenue I would lose when my customers find another wash to visit that has trash service...

You make a good point of how all car washes are different. My nearest competition is 12 miles away. So I probably don't share the same concern as you.

Regarding: "they just dumped trash even after we pulled out the dumpster." I had anticipated this as a possible problem. I believe it is easy for someone to "add" to a pile of trash. But not as easy to be at a clean, trash free facility and throw their trash on the ground.

A few bags of trash did show up right after we pulled out the dumpster. Always near where the dumpster used to be. We were very diligent to get those removed ASAP. So the local clientele always saw a clean, trash-free environment. In my small town, this worked very well. In the first 3 months after removing the dumpster, I probably got 8-10 bags of trash total. In the most recent 3 months, I have gotten none.

I considered a small trash can at the vac area for lint and small debris from vehicles. But after some discussion, we believed it would be a magnet for bags of trash. So we are staying entirely trash-free.

 

[Sequoia]

By taking out your dumpster aren't you doing the same thing that made you mad at the dumpers? Every business generates some trash.

We have a County waste transfer site 3 miles from my wash. So any trash my business generates goes there.

And this was an added frustration to the huge trash problem I used to have. The County facility offers free, unlimited waste disposal for County residents. But the people dropping 6, 8, 10 bags of trash at my facility didn't want to drive the extra 3 miles. Taking that trash load is not my responsibility.

 

[soapy]

We have a transfer station also that is free but I would waste a lot of diriving to it each day.

 

[Rfreeman]

Ohh cmon now, just throw in some more I see some room in there LOL.


View attachment 1391

Diamond is this your dumpster at your wash? Either way my goodness people just dont give a sh%#t wow.

 

[Sequoia]

Diamond is this your dumpster at your wash? Either way my goodness people just dont give a sh%#t wow.

I have seen the same thing many times. And if I didn't haul it to the dump before closing time, by the next morning the animals had scattered it all over the wash.

 

[Randy]

I would love to get rid of my dumpster. Only problem is if I got rid of my dumpster I wouldn't have a place for my pit mud when I shovel out my bays. I have to shovel out my pits every 7 days.

 

[Sequoia]

I would love to get rid of my dumpster. Only problem is if I got rid of my dumpster I wouldn't have a place for my pit mud when I shovel out my bays. I have to shovel out my pits every 7 days.

That was our biggest unsolved problem. So we put the mud in 5 gal buckets, poke holes in the bottom, and let it dry. Then we get rid of it after it has dried.

 

[OurTown]

About six weeks ago we closed our vacs and trash cans. In this experiment we found that every day there is trash in the bays, on the lot and on the vac islands. We had this issue before but no where near as bad especially considering our vacs are closed and business is down. We can only imagine how bad it would be if our vacs were online and business was normal. As it has been said many times before all washes are different but for us (and based on today's info) we will not remove our cans or dumpster. Based on our Governor's recent plan for business re-openings we will open vacs and cans mid May.

 

[soapy]

My son pointed out to me that we are getting a big increase in Trash and almost all of it is from take out foods. People usually come in once they get 10+ meal bags and can no longer get any more in their cars. I talked to a local gas station and they are having to dump their trash cans 3 times a day due to all the food bags they get. It is all due to take out only food so I am hoping it will drop off a little when sit down restaurants reopen.