Me vs. The Customer

[Bubbles Galore]

I don't normally give people a hard time. If they see me on site, they usually clean up after themselves. I have had a few repeat offendors that I have asked to patronize the other local self serves. At this point, I won't turn most people away, but there is a line.

 

[BayWatch]

I cant tend to my wash on an hourly basis and end up with messes from time to time also. We get paint and drywall, deer corn and mud. If I could I would police my wash closer to Red or Mepp. I dont think some of you understand the mud situation as well as we do. After a rain, I will ask my cleanup guy to hang around longer during the day to traffic this mess. My wash is next to a large university and the kids here have Off Road clubs. They have figured out they can come to the wash at 1 AM and clean their rigs off. I really hate Sunday mornings after a good rain! I will see try to remember to take a picture next time when all 6 bays are 3" deep of mud and post it so all can see. Dirt is great, mud sucks.

 

[Red Baron]

Ive been known to flip a U when I see a 4x4 on a trailer heading home from the mud bogs they hold in the summertime near Hale Center, to make sure he isn't heading to my wash. lol

As goofy as this sounds, I've been closing my wash during extended rains and for the 1/2 day that follows while the roads are still wet. I've learned that the only people who wash when the roads are still wet, are the guys there to make a big mess. That extra 1/2 day seems to make a big difference as it allows some of the big clumps of mud on their running boards and fender wells to bounce off elsewhere. I put cones out and just tell anyone that comes that we use the rainy periods as a time to close and do maintenance...which is partly the case.

 

[pitzerwm]

The bottom line is that 1-2% of your customers are a problem and run off other good customers. Weeding them out is a smart move. I recommend that you figure out what an average customer is worth to you, at least then when you kick one out you will realize how much money you are sending down the road.

 

[Red Baron]

The bottom line is that 1-2% of your customers are a problem and run off other good customers. Weeding them out is a smart move. I recommend that you figure out what an average customer is worth to you, at least then when you kick one out you will realize how much money you are sending down the road.

I agree, and part of that equasion is figuring out how many customers I can afford to run off in exchange for reducing the chances that I'll have a stroke over them or hit one of them over the head with a scoop shovel. Life is just too short to deal with people who have no consideration for my property or for the next customer who uses the bay.

I don't mean to step on toes with this, but I noticed this common thread several years ago and I have validated in literally hundreds of times since then - it is amazing how predictable this is. I'd guess that easily 8 times out of 10 when I find a customer has done those things that annoy, i.e., wash out nails, bark and trash from his/her pickup bed, tossed ketchup packets and napkins onto the bay floor, I will also find a cigarette butt or 2. Generally my customers are very considerate and tidy, so when I see these things in the bay I can usually verify on the cameras that it was one customer who did it all, and along with his trash I'll find his cigarette butts.

 

[Faceonglass]

Pesonally I do not mind mud, but I live real close to my wash and check it after hours and first thing in the morning.

Now I say I do not mind mud, but the very rare person that wants to take a truck covered in mud through the automatic ****es me off and I will tell them to take it to the self serve first or take off.

 

[jloebker]

The bottom line is that 1-2% of your customers are a problem and run off other good customers. Weeding them out is a smart move. I recommend that you figure out what an average customer is worth to you, at least then when you kick one out you will realize how much money you are sending down the road.

I cannot for the life of me find any hard facts that 1-2% of problem customers run off anyone. I believe this is just a theroy thats been tossed around the industry. I see customers pick another bay if 1 or 2 are dirty. I have found if I put out a good product customers will overlook a few messy bays.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I cannot for the life of me find any hard facts that 1-2% of problem customers run off anyone.

I've seen lines behind the clean bays, while bays with 2" of mud are empty. Too many times.
If you haven't seen it, then you dont have mudders & you're very fortunate.

 

[stevie g]

It's funny...we have two locations and the one that I primarily tend to doesn't have self-serve bays, just an exterior express tunnel, and I turn away guys that have excessive mud...and tell them they need to go down the street to my competition's self serve wash to get some of that mud off before he's allowed in my tunnel!

 

[MEP001]

I cannot for the life of me find any hard facts that 1-2% of problem customers run off anyone. I believe this is just a theroy thats been tossed around the industry. I see customers pick another bay if 1 or 2 are dirty. I have found if I put out a good product customers will overlook a few messy bays.

Judging by the comments I get from customers, I am certain that it's more than a theory. I've had a lot more people tell me that they "come here because it's always clean" more than tell me that I put out a good product (And I do, far better than anyone else in at least a 5-mile radius). Also, on any given nice weekday it's not unusual for all the bays to be busy at some point of the day, and people don't want to wait for a bay. They may use a muddy one and be dissatisfied, or they may just go elsewhere, and I'd rather not have either situation happen because some jerk spent $2 just to knock off some mud.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[bigleo48]

I agree with Mepp. Cleanliness and safety are real important to customers, especially women. I also agree with Bill that it is a small minority that cause the problems and the sooner you run them off the better. Over the years I have done exactly that and have found the incidents drop dramatically at my wash.

I also don't believe that calculating the costs of running off these people is worth doing. These people only cost you money. You can calculate that in many ways including labor, pit pumping, loss of use for those bays, etc. I have gone so far to explain to these people that dropping a 1/4 yard of dirt in my bay costs me 20 times more than they drop in the coin box and that I would pay to have them was that mud off at my competitors. They usually get the point and I have followed a few to my competitors to see what would happen. My drives back were very happy ones.

BigLeo

 

[pitzerwm]

I might concede that the 1-2% is not accurate, but I had laundromats and there were a few customers that allowed their children run amuck and when I told them to leave other customers would come over and thank me. I think common sense tells you that if a customer is causing a problem around the wash/laundry it will offend other customers and they will go somewhere else next time if they can. Look at your own attitude about what you will put up with in a business that you go to. i.e. if you let gang bangers hang around with loud music, your older customers are not going to feel comfortable and will/might go down the street. Bottom line is that you always try to elliminate any negative impressions that a customer might have about your business.

 

[Greg Pack]

"Clean up after yourself" or "most anything goes"? I have seen both models work. For me it's a personal decision. The people that have nicer, newer carwashes and more invested seem to be the one less tolerant of the the mess makers. Also it seems most operators that do their own cleanup are less tolerant.

As all costs rise, especially labor, muddy/messy business doesn't pencil out as well. My net (ex labor) on a self serve customer is about .39/minute, and that is higher than most. Labor costs for me are about .20/minute. Someone could easily get into my pocket by making a mess.

Most businesses charge a client based on the amount of involvement and their projected profitability. We don't have that luxury, so we either decide to put up with it, or run them off.

 

[jloebker]

Judging by the comments I get from customers, I am certain that it's more than a theory. I've had a lot more people tell me that they "come here because it's always clean" more than tell me that I put out a good product (And I do, far better than anyone else in at least a 5-mile radius). Also, on any given nice weekday it's not unusual for all the bays to be busy at some point of the day, and people don't want to wait for a bay. They may use a muddy one and be dissatisfied, or they may just go elsewhere, and I'd rather not have either situation happen because some jerk spent $2 just to knock off some mud.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

I guess I don't have that many mudders, but the mudders I do have can't wash it off for $2. When I'm at the wash, which is about 2hrs. a day I have heard the bill acceptor cha cing $5 to $10 to $15. The most money that I'm aware of spent $30. How do I know ? I asked him when he was finished, and pulled the bills after. Yes cleaning up was major effort. On the up side "cash flow will cure all my ill's". It allows me to have 1 clean up guy nightly and another twice a day fri. sat. and sun. I am finished wasting my time on this topic.

You guys run your railroad and I'll run mine.

 

[stevie g]

As a slight hijack:

Is there anything worse than the careless litterer? You know, the guy that has an unbelievable amount of trash on the floorboards of his car and while vacuuming it out, just throws stuff all over the lot when he's right next to a garbage receptacle?

People like that make my blood boil.

 

[Red Baron]

I guess I don't have that many mudders, but the mudders I do have can't wash it off for $2. When I'm at the wash, which is about 2hrs. a day I have heard the bill acceptor cha cing $5 to $10 to $15. The most money that I'm aware of spent $30. How do I know ? I asked him when he was finished, and pulled the bills after. Yes cleaning up was major effort. On the up side "cash flow will cure all my ill's". It allows me to have 1 clean up guy nightly and another twice a day fri. sat. and sun. I am finished wasting my time on this topic.

You guys run your railroad and I'll run mine.

The farmers in this rural community are both muddy and tight. They are masters at leaving big mud and 6 quarters. Some even use their shovel to scrape off the mud first so they are sure to finish the job for just 6 quarters.

I doubt very seriously that many of you would deal with the kind of mud we deal with around here and not change your tune. It's a little like someone from Dallas saying "Oh, we get freezing temps here; cold weather isn't that bad, I don't know why those people up in Chicago complain about it so much."

 

[MEP001]

I guess I don't have that many mudders, but the mudders I do have can't wash it off for $2. When I'm at the wash, which is about 2hrs. a day I have heard the bill acceptor cha cing $5 to $10 to $15. The most money that I'm aware of spent $30. How do I know ? I asked him when he was finished, and pulled the bills after. Yes cleaning up was major effort. On the up side "cash flow will cure all my ill's". It allows me to have 1 clean up guy nightly and another twice a day fri. sat. and sun.

Then your situation is very different from what this thread is about. Now I do get the occasional customer who brings in a very muddy truck and spends a lot of time and money getting it clean rather than just knocking off mud, and those are welcome. If I'm around I ask them to let me rinse the mud from under their tires so they don't track it all over when they leave. If I see them cleaning up after themselves, I'll add time for them and thank them. If, on the other hand, I see someone doing something stupid like digging the mud out of their fenders with the foam brush or wand, I refund whatever they've spent and tell them they're not to come back. I've watched a lot of what goes on and I've learned which type are good and which are bad. I have enough sense to decide which are not worth their few quarters, and over time I've gotten much, much fewer heavy mud messes.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Just as a little side note: I was up at the wash last night programming in my night owl specials and one of my regulars showed up. We got to talking and it was refreshing to hear how he enjoys coming up to my wash because it's always clean, and presentable.

He lives three doors down from a self serve, but drives 5 miles to mine since its clean, hot water, there isn't any grease on the hoses, nothing leaks, etc. He comes up there and cleans his quads, lawnmowers, sleds, etc. From the first day I noticed him up there, after he finished washing and loading everything up, he would start another cycle in the bay and spray down whatever he made a mess of. It's just nice to see that there are still some people out there that have some respect and are willing to clean up after themselves.

 

[Red Baron]

It's just nice to see that there are still some people out there that have some respect and are willing to clean up after themselves.

Exactly. When I find a guy like that I tell him: "You know, I really don't care what people clean here so long as they clean up their own mess."