So Ya think you want to be in the Car Wash business

[Randy]

This is the kind of $hit we put up with way to often. The police won't come out anymore, they give us a case number over the phone.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Damn!!! That hurts Randy. Sorry to see that.

 

[mjwalsh]

This is the kind of $hit we put up with way to often. The police won't come out anymore, they give us a case number over the phone.

Randy & others,

When small business owners in whatever area of the United States of America are on the receiving end of "too little of needed 'evidence based' proper law & order support" ... you would think that the "free press via any & all the media available" would properly shed light on the police being irresponsible whenever it applied IMHO. Private ownership property protection is needed to avoid the more serious consequences that can arise when circumstances can get even more messy as we make our own "citizen 'street justice' arrests" ... including maybe even a more likelihood of serious long term injuries &/or loss of life when we do the confrontation-apprehending!

I remember decades ago when our voted in local city commission mistakenly brought in a so-called PHD in law enforcement (military trained) police chief in from another state. It took a group of local business people ... who were persistent enough with organized collective protesting amongst the public ... they were able to run the police chief "out of town". The short terms police chief really had his priorities very messed up. It was not that the crappy chief did not believe in FEAR ...it is just that his fear mongering orders to his officers were most of the time with the wrong emphasis etc!!!

 

[traveler17]

This is the kind of $hit we put up with way to often. The police won't come out anymore, they give us a case number over the phone.

Randy where are you located if you don’t mind me asking. I’ve read past posts of yours where you stated law enforcement is non existent. That makes me mad for you!!

 

[slash007]

This is the kind of $hit we put up with way to often. The police won't come out anymore, they give us a case number over the phone.

But you have a sign that says cameras!

 

[JGinther]

This begs the question... Are cash customers worth it?

 

[GoBuckeyes]

This begs the question... Are cash customers worth it?

I would argue yes for the simple fact that half of these low life, drug addicts can't read or are too lazy to read and try to break in anyways. In our self serves we sell tokens. We have a vacuum system in the bays that suck the coins back to the equipment room. There is clearly no money in the meter box to anyone with a brain yet every few years someone spends a lot of time and effort to break into them! People are dumb!

 

[Greg Pack]

This begs the question... Are cash customers worth it?

I think every Year that goes by the argument gets stronger for card only washes.

 

[JGinther]

Expenses tied to accepting cash:
Surveillance system
Alarm system
Validator repairs
Coin acceptor repairs
Changer repairs
Vandalism related repairs
Stolen money costs
Employee skimming
Hourly wage to cash collector person
Security costs and risks of cash collector person
Bank deposit prep costs and wage
Bank fees for handling cash! (in some cases)
Upset customers getting short changed or coin jams/bill jams
High costs for high security equipment
Locks and keys for high security
Lock /key access control and auditability
Strong enough person to handle coin volume
Cost of Cash/coin sorting/counting equipment
Maintenance cost of sorting/counting equipment
Energy costs of heating/solving frozen vaults and wet money
And a BIG one: No vacations!? Who do you trust?
Did I miss any?

Credit/debit cards definitely have issues too (but only because the issuing banks are liability con-artists), but if you were to add up the above expenses and bill it to the cash income category, vs the credit card expenses to that category, I think the difference would be jaw dropping... The only unknown is how much business revenue you loose if going exclusive... And weigh that to the different client base you would have in exchange.... Hmm..

 

[mac]

Someone needs to add some chlorine to the gene pool

 

[Strava]

See the problem here is that you carwash veteran guys don't have anything else to compare the carwash business to, it's all about perspective.

I owned a bar for 20 years, try spending your weekend worrying about someone getting raped in the bathroom or someone getting shot or stabbed in the parking lot. Ever been sued because some guy drank at your bar and then hit and killed a woman? I have, it's not fun.

Everything about my wash is fun, dirty bays make me happy, trash cans full no problem, semi drives over my vacuums I can deal with that. Ill take crack heads trying to get into my vacuums over the anxiety of owning a bar any day.

 

[slash007]

Hey, at least no chargebacks with cash. I've been lucky, but had 5 last week. 4 were the same person. I found video of him using and swiping his card for 3 of them, the 4th was too far back in date for my cameras (claimed counterfeit card and he didn't participate in transaction). I submitted the photos and just got faxes today that they chargebacks were reversed on all 4. Problem is that I will still be charged $15 for each one as the fee. For the 5th chargeback, they spent $36.25. Since I only do a hold of $15.25, they claimed no authorization given on the remaining balance and I lost the $21 + fees.

 

[OurTown]

Hey, at least no chargebacks with cash. I've been lucky, but had 5 last week. 4 were the same person. I found video of him using and swiping his card for 3 of them, the 4th was too far back in date for my cameras (claimed counterfeit card and he didn't participate in transaction). I submitted the photos and just got faxes today that they chargebacks were reversed on all 4. Problem is that I will still be charged $15 for each one as the fee. For the 5th chargeback, they spent $36.25. Since I only do a hold of $15.25, they claimed no authorization given on the remaining balance and I lost the $21 + fees.

We went for a really long time without chargebacks and now getting them on a regular basis. I am not crazy about dealing with all that goes with accepting cash but it is still near 50% of our business. Also we have had what I think is more than our share of credit card accepting issues in the last couple of years.

 

[OurTown]

See the problem here is that you carwash veteran guys don't have anything else to compare the carwash business to, it's all about perspective.

I owned a bar for 20 years, try spending your weekend worrying about someone getting raped in the bathroom or someone getting shot or stabbed in the parking lot. Ever been sued because some guy drank at your bar and then hit and killed a woman? I have, it's not fun.

Everything about my wash is fun, dirty bays make me happy, trash cans full no problem, semi drives over my vacuums I can deal with that. Ill take crack heads trying to get into my vacuums over the anxiety of owning a bar any day.

Just like a car wash owning a bar very much matters where it is and its clientele. What is a great business to have right now? I know several business owners that are thinking of selling out or majorly downsizing for many different reasons. (not crime though) The stories I could tell you about some of our previous crazy tenants and many (seems like most) contractors I have hired is nuts. The last crazy was a commercial tenant and the situation was just in Feb 2020. He never actually threatened my life but it was close. I thought for sure he was going to end up at my house and we were on high alert for a while. Mrs. Ourtown is a teacher and is many times caught between (lying) students, the (crazy) parents and administrators. (playing politics) Very stressful.

 

[Rodebaugh1]

This is the kind of $hit we put up with way to often. The police won't come out anymore, they give us a case number over the phone.

Hate to see crap like that Randy and I understand your frustration with law enforcement. We do still get them to come out and take a report but that's pretty much the end of it. On our Facebook page, I occasionally post "Disrespectful Person of the Day" with short video clips of people that either trash, rob or vandalize the place. Don't get a lot of public responses but I do get a lot of PM's with names, phone #'s, addresses etc. FWIW.

 

[traveler17]

Hate to see crap like that Randy and I understand your frustration with law enforcement. We do still get them to come out and take a report but that's pretty much the end of it. On our Facebook page, I occasionally post "Disrespectful Person of the Day" with short video clips of people that either trash, rob or vandalize the place. Don't get a lot of public responses but I do get a lot of PM's with names, phone #'s, addresses etc. FWIW.

I like that idea of disrespectful person of the day.

 

[MEP001]

I like that idea of disrespectful person of the day.

What is that? Hope it's not diesel engine oil.

 

[Toms PTcarwash]

 

[Toms PTcarwash]

Always fun stuff to deal with.

 

[Toms PTcarwash]

Always fun stuff to deal with.