Why are customers being so cheap

[DiamondWash]

I swear everyday I'am explaining to a handful of customers who come to my wash and try to bucket wash or tag-team wash and how using a old shirt or rag and dish soap to wash your vehicle is not allowed here, or when the wife is soaping the vehicle with the wand the husband is right behind her with the foam brush, and they can soap, scrub, clear-coat and rinse under 4 mins I swear some of these people are faster then a express wash! I now have the ability to remote into the coin boxes via computer and change the prices while they are stealing services I might as well be payed for it.

 

[Jeff_L]

You're not the only victim in those cases, they are too. For where are they going to go do that when you have to close the business because low revenue?

I don't know about those types of people sometimes, their thinking baffles me. However, before I ever owned a car wash, my father said he never thought twice about bringing a bucket and a rag to the wash with him. He never considered the impact it would have on the owner. He no longer does that.

 

[Waxman]

I am from the school of thought that says:'some money is better than no money'. Rather than scold bucket washers, I tolerate them unless it looks like a problem (someone waiting etc).

You didn't say how many bays you have. With ample bays, I would tolerate the bucket crowd. I always give out Armorall, pop, smelly trees, etc and when I do I say thanks for using the wash and check out the big blue vending machine cause there's alot of cool stuff in there!

You have to think like the customer. They're getting squeezed everywhere just like us; fuel, heating oil, groceries, insurance. It all goes up.

The customer thinks a self serve wash is 'anything goes'. It's up to you to decide what to offer and charge to make a profit at this, which can be tough I know. You have to enforce certain rules, but if I had all the rules alot of operators had here and enforced them with zeal I would alienate alot of folks and I WANT THEIR $$$$!

Kill em with kindness and freebies. The fast ones you should try and hire to do hand washes for you!

 

[pitzerwm]

Wax, another thought process, is that you are not only selling soap and water, you are selling time, like a cab. When people bucket wash they are stealing your time. That sets an example for others, when they see that you don't seem to care. You and I wouldn't take our bag lunch into a restaurant order a coke/water and sit there eating it.

The public thinks that the world owes them, because the government tells them that it is so. Every time O opens his mouth, he tells the people that are paying no taxes that it isn't enough that the top 10% pay 70% of the taxes. That he will make sure that those "fat cats" that are cheating them will be paying more as soon as he can take it from them.

Sooner or later you will be giving it away one way or the other, so maybe you're right, might as well do it now.

 

[Waxman]

Well, they will put money in at some point when using the bay. What is better if no one is waiting; getting $2 or getting $0? I say $2. I understand the bag lunch and taxicab analogies, but to me it is not that cut and dried.

It's money I want and it's money I get. If someone's being an A-hole and totally ignoring someone else waiting for the bay while they towel dry, bucket wash, etc., I move them along. I ain't no sucker; It's about the dollar bills!

 

[MEP001]

I never fuss at customers trying to get it done cheap unless 1) it's busy, 2) they're dunking the foam brush in their bucket or 3) they're doing something stupid like double-teaming wand and brush on an excessively muddy truck or a commercial vehicle their boss is paying them to wash. I've actually had a few customers ask if it's ok to do some of their washing with their bucket and sponge and I'm quick to tell them it's fine as long as it's not busy. There are two washes less than two miles away that are cheaper than us that already get most of the low-spenders - I'd rather try and get $3 from them than nothing at all.

 

[Kevin James]

I don’t think customers are being cheap these days. They are FUGAL!! There watching every dime they have and there are a lot of them who don’t have much of anything. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of our economy problems yet, I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better. With an adjusted U-6 unemployment rate of around 22% things aren’t getting better there getting worse. It’s pretty bad when a collage graduate can’t find a job in their field when graduate and they have to move home with their parents or take low paying jobs flipping burgers. We had an opening for a Building Maintenance helper pays $12.65 an hour with no benefits, we had over 200 applications in the first week. We ended up hiring a guy with a degree in Mechanical engineering. You guys should be happy that they come to your facility and spend a couple of bucks, because that’s probably all they have is a couple of bucks. To a lot of people it’s not important to keep a clean car when you don’t have barely enough money for food or shelter.

 

[mmurra]

Try bringing a competitor's drink into Mc Donalds (even if you are ordering food). Most of them will scoot you out in a NY minute! It is hard to enforce any rules when you are unattended most of the time. Good luck! Mark

 

[JustClean]

"Use of bay ONLY while meter is running!"
That's one of my signs. I won't enforce it unless I am busy. I am not here to entertain the public. My attitude has changed over the years...and yes, I really need a holiday.....

 

[zepher]

This may sound really crazy but I have never seen any "bucket washers" at my car wash or at my competitor’s car wash. I see the no bucket washing signs in the catalogs all the time but I would never put one up at my car wash and the competitor in town doesn't have one up at his either. It’s kind of like the no excessive mud signs, we are in a rural area and that would kill business putting one of those up plus no one would pay attention to it anyway. Sure it’s a pain shoveling the mud out of the bay but it takes a while to wash a muddy vehicle.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I don’t think customers are being cheap these days. They are FUGAL!! .

Frugal is what I do. Cheap is what you do

 

[TurboJet]

I have tried to compromise with bucket washers. I have signs that say "No hand or bucket washing during daylight hours".

During the daytime if it is not busy I will allow a guy to use a sponge or bucket, but I remind him of the policy, and that if it fills up he has to put the bucket away, or come at night and bucket wash all you want.

If I do not do any kind of enforcement, I know what will happen, when it's freezing out, these guys will tie up a bay for one hour to wash their wheels and car by hand while customers are lined up outside the lot. If I complain, they will just say I've always hand washed my car here, whats the problem. So some enforcement is required.

I'm thinking this winter I will place a movable sign on a pole right where the line up is saying no hand or bucket washing.

I know customers are creative with wash time, but bucket washing when there is a line up is a form of stealing from my business.

 

[U Wash]

I have the no bucket or hand washing while customers are waiting signs. Then we enforce it when we are busy and remind those that are hand washing that if someone pulls in and is waiting they must quit. How do you enforce it. One way would be to turn off the power to the bay and not let them rinse off until they pay you for the time they used in the bay.

 

[MEP001]

I "enforce" it based on the attitude of the customer. If all the bays are full I don't wait, I tell the bucket washer immediately that he needs to make quick work of it. Most of the time they understand and either finish up quickly or put the bucket away. I've had them say stuff like "There's no one waiting on THIS bay!" to which I explain that it's not fair to us as a business or to other customers that he tie up a bay to hand-wash for free. The other popular argument that "Well, I'm going to pay to rinse it!" gets the explanation that if he's not currently paying to use the bay and others are waiting that he's stealing. I've never had to do or say anything beyond either of those to a customer to get them to pay. I have had a few problem customers drying or waxing in a bay after they've washed and refused to leave - I've "fired" those customers and have had the police issue a criminal trespass warrant on one who was excessively belligerent.

 

[robert roman]

People are people. There are extravagant ones, middle of the roaders, frugal and just down-right cheap.

What do people have in common?

We all would like more of something than less of it, with the exception of taxes.

So, the cheap customer isn’t really cheap, he/she is just less extravagant.

Because self-service has a greater likelihood of attracting people with lower incomes (broad segment) versus people with higher incomes (narrow segment), you may want to consider targeting marketing.

For example, if you were “gated” pay-one-price (POP), bucket washers would simply be customers and no longer an “issue.”

One happy bucket washer may turn into six new customers you didn’t have before.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

One happy bucket washer may turn into six new customers you didn’t have before.

He could just as well pi$$ off six customers you already had.

 

[Earl Weiss]

For example, if you were “gated” pay-one-price (POP), bucket washers would simply be customers and no longer an “issue.”

One happy bucket washer may turn into six new customers you didn’t have before.

I think the jury is still out on this. We will ned more experience with the gated SS. Nimrods are nimrods. Will the gated system attract more or less? I could see idiots feeling justified that they paid the price of admission and were justified in tying up a pay all day to the consternation of those waiting.

 

[Waxman]

La La La; Whatever!

Saw a guy today 'dry humping' the trunk of a black Accord with the (none too foamy) brush. Probably doing a little pre-scratching while waiting not so patiently for his wife to get tokens.

I thought about saying something, but I was busy so I kept a walkin'!

 

[robert roman]

Wash all you want/pay one price, is not a license for the customer to do whatever they want.

For example, customers at a one-price buffet have purchased the right to eat as much food as they desire to consume. To prevent abuse, restaurants have policies like no doggy bags, no excess wasting of food (disposing of a nearly full plate), grossing out other customers, etc.

Having clear policies posted on site and an attendant would address this.

Once the novelty wears off, wasting soap just because I can, I don’t believe this would be much of an issue.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Having clear policies posted on site and an attendant would address this.

Once the novelty wears off, wasting soap just because I can, I don’t believe this would be much of an issue.

I don't think it would be much more or less of an issue than the frequency of dealing with nimrods now irrespective of the signs and attendants that are in place.