Wash Club

[soapy]

I have been kicking around a concept for some of my SS bays at my car washes. The concept is to take 1 or 2 bays and make them a prepaid membership use bay only. MOCADDY car wash in Colorado did this a few years ago with some success. The only way to activate the bay would be if you had a prepaid card. The bay is set up to offer a little lower cost per minute and increased pressure in the bay. The best part of this concept is that it would be the customers responsiblity to keep the bay clean after their use. A fee would be charged to anyone who used the bay and did not clean up after themselves.
I have been cleaning muddy bays for the past 20 years and IMO you do not make any money on the mudders after you factor in the clean up costs of the bays and hauling all the mud from the pits. If they spend $5 in the bay and you then spend 10 to 15 minutes cleaning up the bay it does not make sense to offer the bay. People have certainly changed in the last 20 years and very few of them cleanup a bay anymore. My cost to change over a couple bays per location would be nothing since I already have a wash card system in many of the bays. Has anyone else tried something like this and if so what luck did you have with it?

 

[Jeff_L]

For my situation I do not think it would add anything to my business. I would probably spend more $ in signage and time in explaining what the bays are for. Also, to make sure the customer cleaned their own bay, would you have to have someone inspect it each time?

Muddy bays suck, but dirty bays also mean customers have been there. I do my best to clean up after myself and kids at a restaurant, but in no way is the table and below ready for the next customer after we leave. Not sure if the analogy works, but it's what I could compare it to.

To play devils advocate with myself, I suppose tanning bed users are asked to clean the beds after they are done. How many people do? Do they have video cameras to make sure the customer is compliant? Invasion of privacy? Do the workers clean the bed anyway? Kinda grosses me out thinking about it now. Yuck... take care

 

[DiamondWash]

Soapy, Do you have the new WashCard upgraded system?

 

[soapy]

I have the old style wash card system. It has never failed me in 19 years of use and I do not have to pay any processing fees with it. I even bought a bnch of used ones for spares or if I ever want to add more bays.

 

[DiamondWash]

You do know WashCard is turning off that old style forever and you have to upgrade to there new platform before Dec 31st 2012

Here is the info: http://vimeo.com/48052788

 

[soapy]

My wash card system is not the credit card accepting version. It is the original version that has its own cards and is self contained. It is a complete stand alone version and with it I pay no fees for any wash card transactions. I issue a card to a user and keep all the records in house on my own computer. I use other systems for credit cards.

 

[robert roman]

“I have been cleaning muddy bays for the past 20 years and IMO you do not make any money on the mudders after you factor in the clean up costs of the bays and hauling all the mud from the pits.”

“If they spend $5 in the bay and you then spend 10 to 15 minutes cleaning up the bay it does not make sense to offer the bay.”

Then, why are you planning to reward “mudders” by offering them;

“The bay is set up to offer a little lower cost per minute and increased pressure in the bay.”

How do you plan to resolve customer disputes, economically, when price is $5.00?

After all, you are planning to charge the customer’s account after they leave the property.

I understand “mudders” to include commercial vehicles (i.e. farm, forestry), residential (homeowners with lots of land to maintain) but mostly recreational – people that play in the mud with various types of vehicles.

Playing in the mud is not inexpensive – off-road type vehicle, massive tires, four-wheel drive, custom suspension, crappy gas mileage, etc.

So I would charge $5 plus the cost of 10 to 15 minutes.

The why is if your customer can afford the cost of going “mudding” they certainly should be able to afford the relatively low cost of cleaning up.

But higher price will push them to the competition. Let it.

If you can’t make money absorbing the cost of 10 to 15 minutes cleaning up after mudders, how can your competitors do so?

 

[soapy]

As stated in the first post I am looking for anyone who has actually done this. I am just speculating as others are but I would like actual real world feedback. MOCADDY car wash used a wash card and clearly stated that the bays must be kept clean or the card would be charged. They would call offending customers and tell them the charge. The idea was to making it feel like a privledge to use this bay. I am not saying this is the thing to do or not, just wanting to find some real world experience on this. I already am the highest price in town RR.

 

[mjwalsh]

The best part of this concept is that it would be the customers responsiblity to keep the bay clean after their use. A fee would be charged to anyone who used the bay and did not clean up after themselves.

Soapy,

It seems like laundromat operators with in house card systems like yours gain some accountability for customer behavior. Since they take cash in their VTMs I am not sure how they enforce the cleanup ... unless the customer registers their name, address etc. to protect against a lost card with its value on it. I would be concerned about the logistics of enforcement. Since the monthly fee applies you would have probably a pretty effective lever in refusing to renew their monthly unless they paid ... thus them missing out on a good deal. A bit like if & when a "rare" customer could potentially scowl at the dollar coin at our place ... the rascal would then miss out on the dollar coin bonus on the vacuums & on our laundromat dryers extra time given ... which would then free up the equipment for the more responsible & more thoughful customers!

I remember one time a rental shop employee told me about a personnel lift being rented to a painter who messed up the lift. The shop required credit card only so they just charged the credit card the additional amount & put the onus on the customer to dispute it ... not being real savvy about credit card transactions ... I am not sure ... but the rental outfit was one that was pretty big from a nationwide standpoint ... thus probably carrying a lot of clout with the credit card bank etc.

continued on next post

mike

 

[mjwalsh]

continued from previous post ...

With our dog wash from the very beginning we have tried to set the tone with the free disinfectant & mop left out etc for at least some customer volunteer cleanup. I am not sure what percentage actually do it but I do know that some of the customers go to great lengths in consideration of the dog wash customer immediately following them. It is natural for us to be extra good to those customers who are more considerate. By extra good ... an example would be ... sometimes they actually really need us to stay open a bit longer so they can get their "emergengy situation" of "dog freshly skunked" deskunked & we will more likely go to greater lengths with the better people than the ones that are rascals!

mike

 

[robert roman]

I have lots of real world experience.

I say go even higher with price, not as in privilege but as in supply and demand. After all, where is the mudder going to go?

Wash at home, wife says not in my driveway. Go to conveyor wash, I used to charge mudders a minimum of $30 for exterior hand wash. Go to in-bay, most won’t fit.

It seems like the alternatives to driving a filthy mudder around are pretty limited.

Supply and demand balance affects gasoline prices, but major oil companies also have a lot of control on price because there are few practical alternatives to gasoline.