What to do on "down" times

We have full service car wash with 3 bay lube.

We used to do about 22 cars a day on average.

Now we are down to about 15.

Are you guys experiencing the decline in business too?

My guys are getting bored due to the business being slow.

I don't know what to tell them to do when they have those "down times". You can only ask them to clean the pit so many times. I'm out of things to ask them to do.

Any suggestions?

This has always been a "tough call" with operators that suffer low volumes. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and keep them on for the busier periods. Your workers sense of decreased business will probably urge them to look around a little. Put one of the guys on "part time". He'll probably leave though - in this case you won't have the overhead and unemployment comp. This is numbers crunch time for you. I've kept guys on when I did'nt need them, but extra guys do not bring in more revenue. If you had 22 lawns to cut every day and then went down to a predictable 15 per day (average) would you decrease the help. I think I answered your question.

Best of luck

Joe

Hello Tom,

You may want to check this out: emptybay.blogspot.com

The "Black Monday" & "Disney World" postings may be of interest to you.

Good Luck

Chuck