Two Automatic Doors for each Self Service Bay!?

[mjwalsh]

Rather than hi jacking the recent & still current IBA category Airlift Trapped Inside Thread ... I am wondering if there any colder climate operators extending their automatic doors to all of their more numerous self service bays ... on this forum? The very close to brand new competition in my area has gone that route for all of their bays including their SS bays. Customer friendly ... yes ... but I am not so sure about the long term consequences for the newbie owners. I am definitely not jealous of them ... at least not from a long term stand point.

Any thoughts? Definitely deep pockets required for the initial outlay for that large of a number of automatic doors. I won't deny that I have lost some customers specifically because of that amenity to their customers. I am not talking about a Canadian Style two doors to a large multiple bay setup or even tandem bays. These are side by side individual single bays. There is a walkway between the bays but the 2 automatically controlled doors per each bay is a reality. The local overhead door installers might have a bit of glee with the arrangement ... not sure. Maybe their two heavy duty door openers in each bay are 100% rust proof ... again not sure. Maybe these newbies & the overhead door companies know exactly what they are doing ... again not sure.

At least the newbies are not giving away their vacuums 100% free for which some our fellow forum members swear by???

 

[dukeofsuds]

I have heard of this in general and wondered myself.

On the quick math of it, it seems crazy. That's about $13k per self serve bay in door purchases. Maybe in North Dakota, but that's a lot of money when compared to the revenue against a self serve bay. I bought new self serve equipment and it was less than that per bay! And I get to use that even in the summer when those doors would be wide open! Seriously those doors would double my cost basis for the few days it would be useful. And I don't get the value to price equation. I can see if in a competitive market, one person does it. But, the amount they would capture from that feature alone wouldn't have a good ROI.

One benefit it would do is likely chase away the people doing trailer washouts. That likely adds some trickery that even a sign can't stop lol.

Maybe they don't know what they are doing? Or their [insert relative here] sells garage doors?