Carwash Closings

MEP001 said:

I'm also going to install a small sink and a hand soap dispenser.

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Careful, you'll be running a homeless bath house and laundromat within about 2 days. And the bucket washers LOVE them some free water.

I took my wringer sinks out last month; best decision I've made.

Last Tuesday I decided to double the pill size on the soap and add an extra cup every morning of Fonic soap directly in the soap tank.
I also doubled the presoak and bubble brush pills too.
LOTS OF SOAP.
With everything that is happening and all the crappy weather I decided I needed to try something else.
This weekend weather was decent. Volume so-so.
Many customer mentioned that they loved all the presoak/soap/ bubble brush and they didn’t mind spending more time to rinse off.
Ended up being a decent weekend... Finally

KleanRide said:

Careful, you'll be running a homeless bath house and laundromat within about 2 days. And the bucket washers LOVE them some free water.

I took my wringer sinks out last month; best decision I've made.

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I will put the spigot so low they won't be able to get any size bucket under it, and it will be a pushbutton on a solenoid on a timer that will shut off at sunset.

Most washes near me aren't closed. They're just doing some safety procedures to keep things safe.

I drove halfway across the state last Friday, and was shocked to see how many car washes were closed. We are still open, and are swamped (when the weather cooperates). I'm sure this will tail off, as the stay-at-home orders get extended. I'm sure when peoples wallets get lighter from not working that car washes will be low on the priority list. But as of now, we are doing business as normal.

We are not wiping anything down - unless you are going to do it after each and every customer it's a waste of time (just my opinion).

srr5008 said:

We are not wiping anything down - unless you are going to do it after each and every customer it's a waste of time (just my opinion).

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This (in my opinion) is the reason why you should be closed. If you can’t keep the equipment sanitized you are helping spread the virus. If the information that the virus lives on plastic for 2-3 days is accurate, how many people are touching vac nozzles and spray guns and hoses that are getting infected?

That’s why someone should wash hands after, wear gloves, sanitize hands with wipes, etc after, just like pushing a shopping cart or pumping gas.

It's impossible to sanitize every surface to stop the spread of the virus. It needs to be up to the people to diligently wear PPE, wash & sanitize their hands, practice "social distancing", and self quarantine if they feel symptoms.

From my microbiologist mom who has 49 years of infectious disease research and study.

6 of our locations were shut down in 2 cities this week. So far we have been lucky that others haven't gone to that extreme.

MEP001 said:

I will put the spigot so low they won't be able to get any size bucket under it, and it will be a pushbutton on a solenoid on a timer that will shut off at sunset.

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Laundromats also need to show some effort on our part ... so we tout our 2 sinks with soap (& paper towels) along with monitoring the number of people in a close proximity area. Also since we are almost 100% attended we offer 99.9% Clorox hand wipes (ring our Doorbell Fon) for those who forget to bring their own hand wipes as needed protection against the accidental rubbing of their eyes or touch nose-mouth etc.! BTW ... the coin laundry association has been proactive in convincing that it is better "not to close" us up. I am happy to say that I am observing customers who are "verbally & gesturing" reminding each other to keep social distancing ... kind of a policing within themselves if you will.

Car wash customers have the option to use the soap & rinse selections along with a towel to wash & dry their hands ... so I am not so sure sinks are that critical for our self service car washes.

I just heard our billionaire Governor Doug Burgum an hour ago say on his daily press conference that he wants everyone to voluntarily make the "flatten the curve - mitigation guidelines-orders work" but he will use law enforcement ... only as necessary ... based on valid problem spots with our communities! A few bar owners in our state who tested the Governor's new executive order guidelines are now paying the price.

I vividly remember when the price gas gets too high our self service car wash business went way down. With the price gas being so low & possibly going even lower ... it would be a shame to not have any benefits from that also current phenomenon.

Dallas Mayor just extended their “stay at home” until May 20. I suspect others in Texas will follow. Glad I’m not a restaurant owner...

Attorney General's office sends cease-and-desist letter to Portage car wash
https://flip.it/NADxBe

Just had a state trooper visit one of my washes in Maryland, and shut it down. I can not find a thing on the MD websites that specifically list car washes as non-essential. And of course the office could not email it to me. So I have to leave my quarantine at home to go 45 minutes away to get it.

I will pass along later, after I have retrieved it, with regards to the specific wording. I guess the gov't wont't be happy til everyone is out of business.

washnvac said:

Just had a state trooper visit one of my washes in Maryland, and shut it down. I can not find a thing on the MD websites that specifically list car washes as non-essential. And of course the office could not email it to me. So I have to leave my quarantine at home to go 45 minutes away to get it.

I will pass along later, after I have retrieved it, with regards to the specific wording. I guess the gov't won't be happy til everyone is out of business.

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That's interesting. Is it a self serve car wash? My self serve car wash is still open, but very little business.

Self-serve: 4 wand bays/ 2 autos. I have another 13 bay s/s about 3 miles from this one. No one stopped there, so it is still open and busy today.

The real bitch is that we absolutely had no winter here, and now we are just getting into pollen season. So if we are shut down, we miss the two busiest periods of the year.

I tried to apply for the PPP Friday, but none of the local banks knew what the hell was going on--just another government fiasco. Trump is on TV now touting how many signed up Friday, yet I could not find a bank doing the applications. I am afraid to say the worst is yet to come.

My bank finally got theirs up at 3 pm Friday.

One last thing-- they say we can not be open- where there is little, if any, interaction between people. At the automatics there is basically none. Yet there must have been 300+ people today at Lowes getting those essentials; potting soil, mulch plants, etc.

@washnvac Out of curiosity are the gas station IBA's closed too? I think you are allowed to be open from what I see on Delaware's rules.

Yea--in Delaware I am ok and still open at three locations. The incident today was in Maryland.