Free Vacuums VS Pay Vacuums

[MEP001]

Keep in mind that the average customer washes only once every few months.

Might I ask what this comment is based on?

The purpose of free vacs is to bring in more foot traffic and to change the customers habits to washing a bit more frequently and/or to solely wash at your location and not your competitor..

You know what "foot traffic" is, right? I recently looked up a wash I'm thinking of leasing, trying to find what it last sold for, and found a realtor page listing amenities. The only thing on the list was "Nearby bus stop." Yeah, that's what every car wash should have on the nearest street corner.

 

[Jerry]

Might I ask what this comment is based on?



You know what "foot traffic" is, right? I recently looked up a wash I'm thinking of leasing, trying to find what it last sold for, and found a realtor page listing amenities. The only thing on the list was "Nearby bus stop." Yeah, that's what every car wash should have on the nearest street corner.

The comment is based off numbers put out by the ICA. It’s also pretty easy to google. I didn’t actually know what foot traffic meant but thanks to google i now know:

“A term used to describe pedestrian visitors to a business or commercial site. Foot traffic refers to those who are exposed to a commercial establishment, whether they walk past or into an establishment or drive by the building.”

Since cars aren’t driving themselves to your establishment yet, I use foot traffic quite loosely since the person behind the wheel has to still pay. And vacuum their cars. Most of these people have feet. Hence foot traffic.

Appreciate your sarcasm though.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

And they need their feet to drive, so there you go.

On a side note, I don't understand giving away a service that everyone expects to pay for. Frankly, I think whoever started this craze should have his scrotum split and his leg run through it, but that's just me.

 

[Jerry]

Everyone expected to pay for each long distance call made. Everyone expected to pay for each incoming cell call. Everyone expected to pay for each text sent or received. Restaurants used to make you pay for each soda or coffee you drank. People were used to this. I’m sure you don’t mind getting free refills or unlimited incoming texts.

It’s just a way to gain market share over your competition, increase revenues and gain loyalty from customers. If giving away a service for free helps you make more money, what’s the problem with it?

I also think it was a woman who started this trend. Her poor scrotum.

 

[MEP001]

Everyone expected to pay for each long distance call made. Everyone expected to pay for each incoming cell call. Everyone expected to pay for each text sent or received. Restaurants used to make you pay for each soda or coffee you drank. People were used to this. I’m sure you don’t mind getting free refills or unlimited incoming texts.

Everyone used to shop for toilet parts or hand/power tools and the like at small hardware stores or even smaller "mom and pop" stores. Big box home improvement centers have pretty much destroyed them. That's kind of what the EE's are doing to self-serve. They're giving away a service I'm used to charging for, so now in order to compete I might have to lose even more revenue by offering free vacs, PLUS increase cleanup and maintenance costs. Not trying to start anything here, just offering a point of view.

Also I meant no sarcasm, and I knew what you meant by "foot traffic, I was just making a joke. I feel I made an adequate attempt to convey that.

 

[Washmee]

Everyone expected to pay for each long distance call made. Everyone expected to pay for each incoming cell call. Everyone expected to pay for each text sent or received. Restaurants used to make you pay for each soda or coffee you drank. People were used to this. I’m sure you don’t mind getting free refills or unlimited incoming texts.

It’s just a way to gain market share over your competition, increase revenues and gain loyalty from customers. If giving away a service for free helps you make more money, what’s the problem with it?

I also think it was a woman who started this trend. Her poor scrotum.

For some I might suggest reading this book. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F

 

[Greg Pack]

I would also consider the cost of running individual vacuums vs a central vac. Central vac is great if you have multiple customers, but with only a couple of customers on the lot individual vacs are more energy efficient. If you decide to go central you may want to explore the cost of adding VFDs

Free vacs are going to be here, so we need to at least consider the impact on our business and how we can deal with them.

 

[MEP001]

I would also consider the cost of running individual vacuums vs a central vac. Central vac is great if you have multiple customers, but with only a couple of customers on the lot individual vacs are more energy efficient. If you decide to go central you may want to explore the cost of adding VFDs

I was going to mention that if you didn't. You can regulate the motor speed with a vacuum transducer.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Not counting the cost of building out the infrastructure of cell towers or car washes but the actual cost of transmitting said cell data vs. washing cars are different.
The cell companies can offer “unlimited” transmission at a certain cost per subscriber because they also collect metadata that they use and sell. I do own 2 cell towers.
Restaurants can give away free refills of soda and coffee because you are buying a meal AND the soda/coffee initially.
Actual ounce quantity of soda with ice cost is minimual. The cost of a soda machine for a restaurant is minimal or free if they use a branded distributor. I do not own any restaurants thank God.
The cost at a self serv wash for a new vac will run anywhere from $1,200-5,500 or more with all the bells and whistles.
The cost of a vac system for a tunnel can cost $7,000 or more per arch not installed.
I understand your thinking and appreciate it but there is a difference
Saying all this I changed a full service that I built in to opened up my first express wash in 2008. Mainly because of the labor cost of full service and the great response both For and Against change on this forum.

 

[Jerry]

JMMustang-

whether the cell companies CAN offer unlimited data is not the point. Why they do it now when everybody was used to paying for each call, text, long distance charge etc is the question and the point I'm trying to make.

They do this bc it's more profitable for them.
They do this bc it gives a customer more value.
They do this bc they gain market share over their competition.

While we all might hate to give away things for free, we should at least be open to hearing why giving away some things for free or at cost will be beneficial for your business in the long run. our industry as a whole can learn alot from the mistakes/successes of other industries.

I didn't know if changing my pay vacs to free vacs would even work. That's why I didn't spend $50k+ to try it out. I modified my existing vacs and gave it a try. If it didn't work for me, I could always go back. It worked better than I even imagined and the benefits have far outweighed the cost of running electricity, cleaning out bins and changing brushes/motors/vac nozzles.

giving away free stuff to increase your overall revenues(that is the goal, right?) might not be for everyone.

 

[hkim310]

Jerry, since free vacs has proven to be beneficial for your wash, have you thought about switching to a central vac system? Are your monorail vacs on a canopy boom? We have 10 similar vacs here at our site. We priced out a central vac system with the canopy booms and total cost wash just shy of 40K!

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Your cost of changing self serv vacs to free vacs are an interesting idea and cheap way to possibly compete with the express washes.
As I said before I understand your thinking and appreciate your enthusiasm and I’m happy that you’re thinking outside the box.
Not until you spend the $50,000 - $100,000+ depending on how many vacs for vac systems, etc. can you understand what I’m saying.
When it rains or is overcast off and on for several weeks and your payment is due on those vacs will you understand what I’m saying.
I do think your idea for a self serv that is competing with an express wash might offer free self serv vacs could be an option.
I’d like to here more from Earl and any others that have tried the free self serv vacs as far as how it worked out for them.
Have they continued offering it or why they decided to stop doing it.
Did it increase self serv wash business?
Did most people just vac and leave, did it bring in people that just used the vacs and filled the trash cans up and not wash etc. or did they see an appreciated amount of new wash customers or more frequent regular customers?
Jerry since you have some experience with this concept I would like to here how it has affected your business before and after the change.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I had acquired a badly beaten down place. Got everything working well but volume was disappointing. Having MY $3.50 EE on the same site certainly didn't help. Tried Free Vacs for a month. Didn't seem to do much. No EEs with Fee vacs close by. Traffic has grown over time. Took several years. Better revenue enhancers were Bill accepters in Bays, then Credit Cards in Bays, Bonus time, Superbay and now trying Diskin blowers in 2 bays.

 

[robert roman]

“Not until you spend the $50,000 - $100,000+ depending on how many vacs for vac systems, etc. can you understand what I’m saying.” “Did it increase self serv wash business?”

Best gain from free vacuum I’m familiar is $30,000 to $80,000. This was wand to POP conversion. Conversion cost about $80,000.

If conventional self-serve (i.e. 5 + 1), don’t expect much just from offering free vacuum alone.

Reason is as self-serve vacuum represents maybe 10 to 15 percent of sales.

If this was given away, it would require extra business equal to wand-bay or about 2,000 more cars per year through the in-bay just to make this up.

2,000 more cars a year (about 500 more individual customers) would require something major like subscription program or express in-bay to wash more cars an hour at higher average sales.

Whatever, the solutions are not cheap.

 

[hkim310]

JMMUSTANG, so did you convert from individual vac producers to a central vac style? If so, which brand did you go with? Did it increase foot traffic at your site? Do you regret it now? We are thinking about doing this here at our wash......

 

[Jerry]

Jerry, since free vacs has proven to be beneficial for your wash, have you thought about switching to a central vac system? Are your monorail vacs on a canopy boom? We have 10 similar vacs here at our site. We priced out a central vac system with the canopy booms and total cost wash just shy of 40K!

I thought about it but the placement of my vacs in relation to my self serve bays just won't let me have overhead booms with a canopy. I'd love to have the central vac system though. My thoughts are, save the 40k until you know what type of results the free vacs will provide you. Converting 10 vacs to free will cost less than 300$ including labor.

 

[Jerry]

Your cost of changing self serv vacs to free vacs are an interesting idea and cheap way to possibly compete with the express washes.
As I said before I understand your thinking and appreciate your enthusiasm and I’m happy that you’re thinking outside the box.
Not until you spend the $50,000 - $100,000+ depending on how many vacs for vac systems, etc. can you understand what I’m saying.
When it rains or is overcast off and on for several weeks and your payment is due on those vacs will you understand what I’m saying.
I do think your idea for a self serv that is competing with an express wash might offer free self serv vacs could be an option.
I’d like to here more from Earl and any others that have tried the free self serv vacs as far as how it worked out for them.
Have they continued offering it or why they decided to stop doing it.
Did it increase self serv wash business?
Did most people just vac and leave, did it bring in people that just used the vacs and filled the trash cans up and not wash etc. or did they see an appreciated amount of new wash customers or more frequent regular customers?
Jerry since you have some experience with this concept I would like to here how it has affected your business before and after the change.

see this post for how it effected my business:
http://www.autocareforum.com/showthread.php?15438-Free-Vacuums-VS-Pay-Vacuums&p=117518#post117518

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Hkim310 I used 2 Vacutech motors connected together with shut off between the motors so that when we’re busy we use both motors and when we’re slow we use one and have a backup in case 1 motors breaks down.
We built our own arch system with pvc tubing and teed off every car width with doors open to size up the spaces.
Our other location we’re using a complete Vacutech system, arches an all.
At my self serves I have carpet shampoo/vacs and regular vacs. The idea Jerry’s talking about is somewhat interesting to me.
Without other s.s. operators experience using free vacs to generate more bay business I would think I have to agree with Robert

 

[mjwalsh]

If it works for you great. I can only think of the increased crap to clean out of the individual vacs and no $ to offset the pain. I’m at $2 for 6 minutes....went to that price 18 months ago after cleaning out wet concrete from a vac. And yes, I watch my vacs get used on cloudy and rainy days...difference is...I’m also seeing $.

I am on the side of chaz on this one. It really is a matter of sizing up your specific location. I had an older retired master mechanic & former gas station owner working for me for about 7 years. He astutely observed customers coming in from a gas station (often free or semi free with gas purchase) automatic car wash a few blocks away still dripping water. He showed me where they were just washing the mud under the wheel wells at our self serve bay only car wash ... ugh!!! I did not believe customers could be that inconsiderate. Maybe not a problem for many of you who also have automatics at your car washes like some my latest competition.

My luck at our specific location ... we would have our lot filled up with non customers taking advantage of the freebie vacuums & freebie air for tires. That would be a problem because it could cause congestion considering our lot is somewhat shared with our laundry & dog wash customers. We already have an occasional partial customer & even 100% non customers parking using our laundromat's free wifi.

Is it becoming a "pick your pocket" for a large sum upfront world ... so the bigger outfits can squeeze out the smaller operator who depends on those lesser services for their entire income ...

 

[TEEBOX]

The comment is based off numbers put out by the ICA. It’s also pretty easy to google. I didn’t actually know what foot traffic meant but thanks to google i now know:

“A term used to describe pedestrian visitors to a business or commercial site. Foot traffic refers to those who are exposed to a commercial establishment, whether they walk past or into an establishment or drive by the building.”

Since cars aren’t driving themselves to your establishment yet, I use foot traffic quite loosely since the person behind the wheel has to still pay. And vacuum their cars. Most of these people have feet. Hence foot traffic.

Appreciate your sarcasm though.

Geez, what if you said, the purpose was for more door swings?