Winter2024_SSCWN_web
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Please Note: Some posts feature minor edits for readability. Also note that opinions and statements made<br />
here are by each forum user and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Self Serve Car Wash News.<br />
Money behind the message<br />
Our billboard lease is coming up for renewal and I am wondering what<br />
some of you with a billboard are getting per month? Right now ours is<br />
2 sided on a 14k car per day road. [We currently get] $125/month but<br />
the current lease is from 2002 so that might have been good back then<br />
because we did not own the property at that time… - DYLANBENNETT<br />
I always thought the rent paid for these things was way<br />
too low. Had a guy approach me once for an electronic<br />
billboard and I was going to get a small percentage of<br />
the time on the billboard as rent. I told him I wanted<br />
10% of the gross. He ran away angry. You could have<br />
a similar situation. They pay whatever now but could<br />
make a boatload more money if they upgrade to an<br />
electronic version with multiple advertisers. - EARL WEISS<br />
I don’t have one on my property, but I rent one for<br />
another business I own....we pay $225 a month....for 1<br />
side of the billboard. - RFREEMAN<br />
It’s probably worth your time to get a company that<br />
specializes in billboard negotiations. As you know billboard<br />
leases are usually long term. The billboard company<br />
representative negotiates billboard leases all day<br />
He’s not heavy,<br />
he’s my dumpster…<br />
I was emptying buckets of sand from my SS bays (not pit mud) into the<br />
dumpster when I overloaded the front and it tipped over. I’ve never<br />
had this be an issue in my past 25 years. Thought I’d just throw it out as<br />
a warning to the young guys and some of the older guys that aren’t quite<br />
as nimble as I am. - ERIC H<br />
Had that happen at my place once. Not fun to reload<br />
and get it back up.<br />
- EARL WEISS<br />
I had dumpsters like that, but some of the front<br />
wheels were attached like outriggers, and were about<br />
6-8” ahead of the front of the dumpster. Apparently,<br />
you are not the only one this has happened to. - I.B.<br />
WASHINCARS<br />
32 • WINTER 2024<br />
long, most businesspeople may do it once or twice in<br />
their lifetime. You need a pro on your side. Make them<br />
pay for electricity if they are using your power. - KENO<br />
They have their own meter for the billboard and the<br />
only thing I can find is it rents for at least $1500 a<br />
month minimum their <strong>web</strong>site shows the range for the<br />
area being $1500 to $6000 a month. - DYLANBENNETT<br />
We currently have a three-sided billboard on our<br />
property that has been there since the eighties. My<br />
father said that it was put there with only a verbal<br />
agreement, currently we are being paid a total of<br />
$2,000.00 + per year for all three signs. My question<br />
is ….should we have a written agreement, and is this<br />
a fair price? This billboard sits in a major intersection<br />
that sees probably 10k cars per day. - WSM 1989<br />
Wouldn’t want to think of the outcome if a kid was tagging<br />
along with you and got caught up in that, yeesh!<br />
Never seen a bin like that.<br />
Is there a reason why you load it on the sloped side<br />
and not the reverse where there’s no chance of it trying<br />
to bite your legs off ? - EDREDTOP<br />
It’s easier for the driver to get the dirt out if it is towards<br />
the front. Any water that is in the dirt or other<br />
liquids drain to the bottom of the can and freeze. On<br />
long cold spells I can lose half of the capacity of the<br />
Presenting some of the best self serve<br />
discussions from CarwashForum.com.<br />
<strong>SSCWN</strong> EDITOR CHIMES IN:<br />
As of 2022, the billboard industry for<br />
the United States is worth $8.5 billion,<br />
according to VCoutdoor.com. Today,<br />
there are over 370,000 billboards in<br />
the United States, with over 15,000<br />
added each year.<br />
Our car wash was built around a large 2-sided billboard.<br />
We’re located on a prominent corner in our<br />
city, with 102,000 cars per day. We renewed our<br />
10-year contract 3 years ago. We used to get $1500/<br />
month, but they reduced it down to $1000/month.<br />
I wasn’t happy about the reduction in rent, but had<br />
no wiggle room. I had a billboard attorney review it<br />
too. Outfront Media owns the billboard base to the<br />
ground, and was willing to remove it if I didn’t agree.<br />
I can’t complain too much. $12,000 a year is better<br />
than nothing. The billboard is a landmark and makes<br />
it easy to find my wash. They have their own meter,<br />
and pay for their own electricity. - KIMBERLY BERG<br />
dumpster with paper frozen to the bottom.<br />
I had less issues with the square dumpsters that are<br />
used on front loader garbage trucks. - ERIC H<br />
I wouldn’t have something that dangerous on my<br />
property. It’s a safety hazard. I’d be calling the garbage<br />
hauler and would ask for a square dumpster. I<br />
have a square 2-yard dumpster on wheels that gets<br />
dumped twice a week. - RANDY<br />
Let’s talk trash<br />
I manage a car wash in Florida. We have 6 SS bays, 1 in bay automatic plus vacs,<br />
etc. In past years we would occasionally have a contractor or off-road enthusiast<br />
trash one of our bays. Over the past year we’ve had an explosion of this. It has<br />
become a multiple-times-a-day issue and is affecting our labor costs, pit pumping<br />
costs, and our reputation. We’ve put up signage, asked them nicely when we<br />
see it, and had some egregious offenders trespassing. Any advice would<br />
be greatly appreciated. - MH12956<br />
I had a software company create a program where<br />
I can remotely turn off each bay. If I see something<br />
on the camera, I just turn it off. If they call, I explain<br />
to them and ask them to clean it up. If they won’t<br />
then I won’t turn it back on. Sometimes if I see it<br />
beforehand, I just turn it off before they even have<br />
a chance to wash. - SUNAHARA<br />
Comes with the territory, unfortunately. The best<br />
thing to do is raise prices so those off-road guys<br />
spend some good $ getting that mud off. - AXXLROD<br />
It takes a lot of time and patience to train your customers.<br />
Some say it’s not worth it and just tolerate<br />
it. Some look forward to the business and will<br />
happily clean it up. To discourage the unwanted activity<br />
you have to be willing to spend time on site<br />
and learn when the offenders come in. I noticed a<br />
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pattern of my bays being trashed at one wash on<br />
Sunday night during hunting season. All the people<br />
that go hunting all weekend would come in and<br />
wash it off before they went home. I started closing<br />
down on Sunday nights and over time that greatly<br />
reduced hunters washing mud as I trained them to<br />
go elsewhere. In the past I’ve also closed the bays on<br />
rainy days because very little “good” business happens<br />
on rainy days.<br />
The wash that is closest to me is old school and welcomes<br />
all washers. He has a place to dispose of the<br />
mud onsite whereas I do not. I’ll send the big mess<br />
makers to his wash, and he happily accepts them.<br />
I used to know an owner who literally would sit<br />
in his truck for hours at a time watching customers<br />
like a security guard. He ran a clean wash but IMO<br />
that was a bit too much. You can get a lot of cleanup<br />
done in an hour at a wash. - GREG PACK<br />
I draw the line at stuff that doesn’t go down the<br />
drain. Mud goes down into the pits, so I don’t kick<br />
the off-roaders out, even though I don’t enjoy their<br />
patronage. Users I don’t allow:<br />
• Contractors that spray out construction debris<br />
like wood scraps, nails, drywall pieces, etc...<br />
• Landscapers that spray out mulch or yard waste.<br />
• Horse trailers that spray out hay or horse ^%$#.<br />
Users I call police on:<br />
• Spraying out spilled wet paint.<br />
• Roofers spraying out tar.<br />
• Carpet cleaners dumping their wastewater.<br />
• RVs dumping their waste tanks. - AXXLROD<br />
10th BI-ANNUAL<br />
CONFERENCE<br />
Salt Lake City, Utah<br />
June 16-18, 2024<br />
This conference is our place to thrive<br />
together, positioning ourselves to succeed<br />
and lead confidently. It’s a designated space<br />
for professional women in the car wash<br />
industry, becoming a movement to educate,<br />
inspire, and support each other in various roles.<br />
email: bjj@womenincarwash.com<br />
204.489.4215 | www.womenincarwash.com<br />
WINTER 2024 • 33