SIGN - "Garbage Can for Paying Customers Only"

[2Biz]

For me, its the biggest Thorn In MY Side at the wash. To be there when someone pulls up, empties their garbage, and leaves without spending a dime. I try to keep my head down and not make eye contact thinking maybe they come back to at least buy a pop, an air freshener, or something....Let alone wash or vac their car! ...I've never confronted anyone, but still it infuriates me and raises my BP when I see it!

I have 3 Rumpke 1/2 Cu Yd totes at the vac islands...I don't get a lot of trash, I only dump the totes about twice a week which is a lot easier than when I had cans that needed bags! This is a hard one...There are 2 other washes in the small town I compete with...Less than a mile apart. So deciding on how to run my wash compared to someone with no competition might be a little different. I've read here on the forum where some operators have removed garbage cans all together....I don't think that's an option for me.

I try to change my thinking to "At least they know where my wash is if they ever want to buy something"! But usually the mood won't allow that way of thinking!

So wondering if anyone has had any luck putting signs on the cans like the title says...Or should I just keep my head down and keep reminding myself its part of the job?!

 

[JGinther]

The signs are very useful for gang tagging. That's about it. Your BP will probably just go higher. If you approach them, they will promise to use the bay in a minute... That minute never comes. I'm from Colorado. We voted in a cure for all these problems. Just don't worry about it and eat some Cheetos.

PS. Love that the name of your car wash is 7UP!

 

[chaz]

In agree...gotta have the cans as part of doing business. I rarely saying anything directly....but will say are you just vacuuming today or ar you washing too? Or I’ll great the customer and ask if they need any bills changed to wash or vac. Last week I had a lady pull between two vacs....obviously no intent to spend money....i politely said...you’ll need to pull closer as the vac hose won’t reach to your car. She said ...I’m only cleaning out my trash. I said oh..hopefully you’ll comeback and wash and vac next time...she got mad...drove off with her trash. Darn!

 

[2Biz]

PS. Love that the name of your car wash is 7UP!

About the sign...Had a guy stop in last fall and tell me the sign is rare and has value! Like a lot more than I would have thought. He knew all about signs like this. Luckily I know him and told him I know where he lives IF it ever turns up stolen! LOL...It has a manufacture date stamped on the lower rim of 1983 making it 35 years old. Its still in perfect condition...I gutted it late in the fall with the intention of putting LED's in it to light it up again. I have Vinyl Graphics for the lower part to identify our wash....But it has to warm up and quit raining before I can finish the project!

Now maybe if I had some 7UP and Crown before going to the wash everyday....I'd even ask the trash dumpers if they needed help! With a Smile!

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Send me 50 bucks and I'll tell you how to eliminate trash dumpers. It won't work, but I'll have $50 more

 

[OurTown]

I guess we are guilty of something similar when traveling. Stopping at a McDonalds is sometimes more convenient than a rest area so we use their restroom and leave. We do buy a coffee every once in a while but almost never their food. Also I bet they rarely find a McDonalds bag in their outside trash cans.

 

[chaz]

I guess we are guilty of something similar when traveling. Stopping at a McDonalds is sometimes more convenient than a rest area so we use their restroom and leave. We do buy a coffee every once in a while but almost never their food. Also I bet they rarely find a McDonalds bag in their outside trash cans.

I will always spend some money when I stop to use the restroom etc. and yes ...I’ll toss a bit of trash from my last stop...but it’s typically also McDonald’s,,,just a few hundred miles back.

 

[soonermajic]

I own the only 2 carwashes kn town. 1 is 33 yrs old & other is 28. Do good business, but the trash here is insane! Like 200 of 55 gal bags of trash/mo!!! I am at a loss. It costs me a LOT of man hours & bags + trash dumpster fees! Everyone in this town thinks it's totally acceptable to throw their trash away, as they always have.

 

[OurTown]

I own the only 2 carwashes kn town. 1 is 33 yrs old & other is 28. Do good business, but the trash here is insane! Like 200 of 55 gal bags of trash/mo!!! I am at a loss. It costs me a LOT of man hours & bags + trash dumpster fees! Everyone in this town thinks it's totally acceptable to throw their trash away, as they always have.

That sounds like you have some that do not have trash service at their residence.

 

[mjwalsh]

Does your area haulers charge extra for discarded tires based on the size. Thoughts on this? This is an aggravation in our area. Don't get me started on describing the stench & flies from summertime discarded fish.

 

[dukeofsuds]

I have experimented with signs, as I have the ability to make many of my own signs on a big color laser printer on special waterproof paper that holds up nicely. I put anti-trash signs on the walls, the trash cans, as well as the dumpster itself. I had one sign that was simple and big bold letters, I had another sign that concentrated on pointing out WV code violations as a scare tactic. No signs nor location of which have affected trash volume.

I also have a theory which I stated here earlier that every additional sign dilutes the ones you already have up. So we have eliminated the trash signs, and chalk it up to an "is-what-it-is" situation.

On thing I read on here in dealing with low lifes that I found helpful when I first started 18 months ago. Well two ideas. One was to get here before the customers. That helps too lol. But the best idea I got here was to raise prices. Most towns have an option to be the expensive/cleanest/best soaps car wash vs. the cheap car wash. Run the best and charge the best. You really just want the low lifes to go somewhere else. Some may still come here because of convenience, but at least when you're cleaning the bays/taking out trash, you are getting paid more while doing it

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Get on your hands and knees and thank the Lord you only have to dump your trash cans 2x a week. I had to reread your post twice to make sure that's what I understood. Man that's hardly any trash at all. We dump our trash cans 2-3xs a day from business and dumpers. I would be scared to death if I only got that little bit of trash because nobody would be washing cars. I had had to get onto dumpers before and we still do occasionally especially if they come back every week just to do that tell them where the local dump is at and to take there trash there. Tell them you run a business and you have to pay for the dumpster bill and labor to dispose it. Ask them nice the first time.

 

[Ghetto Wash]

PS. Love that the name of your car wash is 7UP!

If my pop machine did the business that 2Biz's pop machine does, I'd name my wash 7UP also!

 

[soonermajic]

Get on your hands and knees and thank the Lord you only have to dump your trash cans 2x a week. I had to reread your post twice to make sure that's what I understood. Man that's hardly any trash at all. We dump our trash cans 2-3xs a day from business and dumpers. I would be scared to death if I only got that little bit of trash because nobody would be washing cars. I had had to get onto dumpers before and we still do occasionally especially if they come back every week just to do that tell them where the local dump is at and to take there trash there. Tell them you run a business and you have to pay for the dumpster bill and labor to dispose it. Ask them nice the first time.

Glad wasn't just me. Trash 3x/week? O.M.G, that is NOTHING! WE empty about seven, 55 gal bags EVERY DAY!

 

[Randy]

I have signs that state that the garbage cans are for paying and the amount of the fine etc. no one reads them, but they do look nice. Our garbage bill is our highest bill at the car wash, higher than the power bill. I'd love to get rid of the garbage cans but that is just about impossible. When the cans aren't out they'll just leave there trash on the vac island or drop it on the ground.

 

[sparkey]

I own the only two washes in town. Got rid of my trash cans a couple months ago. Haven't seen any noticeable drop in sales. I see fewer scum bags blocking my bays which never intended on buying anything anyways. I had trash laying around the first couple weeks but once they figured out the cans coming back I rarely find trash laying around anymore. I will never put trash cans back in. I know of two other washes in neighboring towns that have done the same with similar results.

 

[LAF]

I bought a wash about 6 months ago, and it was the town dump. There were tires, car seats , furniture etc. in the dumpster all the time. People would stop by and drop a bag of garbage in the cans. We completely removed the trash cans for a few months, (and had to pick up quite a bit of trash), but it got the regulars to stop dumping. Then we put in smaller trash cans by the vacs, with holes drilled in the lid. We put locks on them and the dumpster. Trash is much more manageable now.

 

[soonermajic]

Our trash has been cut in half. Dump about eighty, 55 gal bags/mo now (on the 2 washes). Don't guess it will ever be good. My employees still complain about it constantly....

 

[Twodose]

I put this on the one 55 gallon drum I have in the only wash I have left, which I only have to empty about every other day, I don't know if it really does anything but if I see someone doing something that is says not to do I can at least ask if they see what it says on the barrel. I think carwash's over the years have taught people to come there and dump their trash by being one of the few places there is free garbage disposal, drive in, and convenient in multiple locations in there area. Unless I see someone going crazy with the trash I don't say anything anymore. I also believe that as the prices of getting rid of the trash goes up, so will the dumping activity.

 

[srr5008]

We have signs up, stating that the trash cans are for carwash customers only, that the customers are on camera, that no household garbage is allowed, and that violators will be prosecuted and fined. I doubt a single customer has ever bothered to read them.

Where I think I differ from some on this forum, is that I ALWAYS confront people that dump (large quantities of) garbage. The most common response used to be, "well how was I supposed to know?" Being able to point at the signs eliminated that line of BS pretty quick.