Next issue of SSCWN is underway

[Debra Gorgos]

Please send me any story ideas for the Winter issue of Self Serve Car Wash News. I hope everyone is enjoying the Fall issue. If you want a subscription, please write to Publisher Jackson Vahaly at jacksonv@sscwn.com

 

[Earl Weiss]

Read your piece about bad reviews. Some of these people are idiots. I know you target the SS industry but I have had some doozies. One has a picture of a gash in their "New Tire" and they were upset that they had a flat and spotted the gash after driving 25 miles from the wash. You couldn't drive 25 feet on that tire. Read reviews of some of my (Friendly) competitors. Similar idiotic comments.

 

[Debra Gorgos]

OOOOoooo, S!?$ my customers have said! Or something like that..... I am so glad they did not have Yelp! when I was bartender back in the 90s. I served some horrible drinks back then.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Sooo Page 18 ad has a double chain over under roller conveyor and page 20 has bay meters with a $1.25 start. Is this issue a Blast from the past?

 

[Debra Gorgos]

Hmm...good question!

 

[Ghetto Wash]

page 20 has bay meters with a $1.25 start. Is this issue a Blast from the past?

That is a Coleman ad. Coleman is in Houston. $1.25 to start is a good price in Houston.

 

[soapy]

Bob Lutz a very well known car guy stated in Automotive dealer news Nov. 6 issue that the modern car age is over. Within 20 years cars will all be owned by large fleet Companies. Self driving cars will pick you up and drop you off like a taxi. High speed freeway traffic at 120 mph +. No room for independent drivers. This would kill car wash ownership if it ever came to be.

 

[robert roman]

Please send me any story ideas for the Winter issue of Self Serve Car Wash News. I hope everyone is enjoying the Fall issue. If you want a subscription, please write to Publisher Jackson Vahaly at jacksonv@sscwn.com

Soapy brought up a notion to consider, the trend away from ownership.

Consider car subscription service. Here, people pay a flat monthly fee and they can switch between a selection of models within brand family. Programs bundle depreciation, insurance, registration, maintenance, and even car washing into fee.

Analysts say subscription economy has grown 420 percent faster than conventional retail sales.

Look at express. People pay a single monthly fee and are able to use the carwash facilities as often as they choose.

Closest thing to subscription in self-serve is pay-one-price-wash-all-you-want.

This pales because the service takes care of the customer only one time instead of as much as they want over a thirty day period.

Another area self-service seems to ignore is opportunities from indirect traffic generated from general website activity, mobile app, viral marketing, and social media activity.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

That is a Coleman ad. Coleman is in Houston. $1.25 to start is a good price in Houston.

When I read Earl's post, my first thought was that if it wasn't an old picture, it was in Texas.

 

[MudMoney]

I have hunters from texas that wash @ my ss wash ,it's attended & I hear them groan when they see the price $3.00 for 4 minutes.Their reaction statement is " I pay $ 1.00 back home" My reply is always " This ain't Texas".

 

[Earl Weiss]

For hire operators need washes to. If there are huge fleets they may have their own on site wash like large rental car fleets. While we get a good number of Lyft and Uber customers those "Fleets" are much less centralized, so along with the decimation of the taxi industry we have been adversely affected because we are located in an area that had lots of taxi usage. Taxi's also valued speed of service more since those vehicles often operated 24 hours a day and they did not want to take an hour or so to wash it at home themselves, I know this is in the SS forum, my experience for this was tunnel related.