Uncle Sam
Member
During my trip east I made it a learning experience to watch for car washes along the way and observe the amount of vending offered and where it was located. Almost every small town had one or two washes with the larger cities having many, many washes that, in some cases, were only blocks apart. Most were older washes but some of them were built within the past few years.
Observation #1—Almost all of the washes, especially those in the smaller towns, were using drop shelf vendors if they had any vending at all. It didn’t seem to make any difference if the wash had 3 self serve bays only or 5-6 self serve bays plus an automatic on site. I usually saw 2-4 vendors; very seldom any more than that. These operators didn’t give themselves much of any chance to make money with their vending operations.
Observation # 2—The location of the drop shelves was always near the bill changer (which is conventional wisdom because the drop shelves require quarters to use) and were usually far from the vacuum islands where customers spend most of their unmetered time. I don’t know about you, but, when I get quarters to wash my car, I don’t even think about needing vending products. When I am using the vacuum islands, then I may find a problem that I have the impulse to fix; that is when I look for vending products to fix my problem. There are times when I have to hunt for the vendors because they are hidden from my view at the vacuums. If the vendors are very far away, my impulse evaporates quickly.
I came across one new wash in particular that I drove around to inspect closely. It had two automatics at one end and then 5 self serve bays on the other side of the equipment room. Where were the vacuums islands on this site? They were on the other side of Bay 5 with enough room for the cars to get in and out of the islands. And where was the vending? It was one VendMaster in the wall of the equipment room by the automatics that was about 100 feet from the vacuum islands and you usually could not see it because the wall of Bay 5 blocked your view. Not even a drop shelf in the vacuum area! The owner did not give himself an opportunity to do very much vending business.
More observations in future blogs.
Uncle Sam
Observation #1—Almost all of the washes, especially those in the smaller towns, were using drop shelf vendors if they had any vending at all. It didn’t seem to make any difference if the wash had 3 self serve bays only or 5-6 self serve bays plus an automatic on site. I usually saw 2-4 vendors; very seldom any more than that. These operators didn’t give themselves much of any chance to make money with their vending operations.
Observation # 2—The location of the drop shelves was always near the bill changer (which is conventional wisdom because the drop shelves require quarters to use) and were usually far from the vacuum islands where customers spend most of their unmetered time. I don’t know about you, but, when I get quarters to wash my car, I don’t even think about needing vending products. When I am using the vacuum islands, then I may find a problem that I have the impulse to fix; that is when I look for vending products to fix my problem. There are times when I have to hunt for the vendors because they are hidden from my view at the vacuums. If the vendors are very far away, my impulse evaporates quickly.
I came across one new wash in particular that I drove around to inspect closely. It had two automatics at one end and then 5 self serve bays on the other side of the equipment room. Where were the vacuums islands on this site? They were on the other side of Bay 5 with enough room for the cars to get in and out of the islands. And where was the vending? It was one VendMaster in the wall of the equipment room by the automatics that was about 100 feet from the vacuum islands and you usually could not see it because the wall of Bay 5 blocked your view. Not even a drop shelf in the vacuum area! The owner did not give himself an opportunity to do very much vending business.
More observations in future blogs.
Uncle Sam
