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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 />

10th BI-ANNUAL<br />

CONFERENCE<br />

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

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