Green... going, going gone.

I want to talk about the car wash industry's green program, like
where it was and where it is and hopefully where we can take it in the
future.Like most of you, I have watched this program grow from back when no
car wash claimed to be environmentally friendly and no one seemed to
care. I wanted to tell you about years ago, when many other industries
began their green programs, yet the car wash industry wasn't jumping
on board. In the northeast, it started with the chemical companies. Transmate, Simoniz,
EcoLab, Car Products, and all the others. They were all waiting to see
who would pull the trigger first. In talking with them back in the
day, they knew it was going to be a very expensive project and in the
long run, it wasn't going to show them any additional profits.
designing, marketing, production, training, distributing, it was going
to be like reinventing the car wash chemical industry. Most car wash
operators at the time weren't buying into the whole green theory
either. most of us did not see how going green was going to do
anything for our bottom line but bury it under more expenses. Going
green was going to be expensive for the operator as well as the
supplier and would it really make us more money or was it just the
right thing to do to help save the planet? The more time passed the
more chemical companies began to realize that it was inevitable, they
would need to just bite the bullet and start the ball rolling. I don't
know who the first companies were to go green but I do know it didn't
take off well in the beginning for most of them. Us old car wash guys
were stuck in our ways, and didn't want to switch to their new green
line of car wash chemicals. "I like the products i am using now", they
would say. The old products works well. there was a lot of doubt
whether or not green products would actually clean as good. We as
operators found that most customers did not show any interest or
concern in whether we were green or not. So not only didn't we care
about this new environmentally friendly program, neither did our
customers. I will not mention any names to protect the innocent, but
let it be told, the truth was, most of us were running a green car
wash already. The chemicals that we were using were in the drum pretty
strong and could harm the environment if dumped straight into a river
or sewer. But, most car washes dilute their wash products through a
metering device that breaks it down anywhere from 8 to 1 to 240 to 1
or more. By the time these chemicals mixed with the rinse waters then
cycles through the car wash's pit system and was sent out to blend
with the city's mainstream sewer flow, the car wash chemicals that
were originally injected to clean a car were now almost untraceable.
And even back then most of the products were already phosphate free
and biodegradable so what were we hurting? It was a campaign to show
the public that our industry as with many others was jumping on board
and cleaning up it's act and going green to do our part in saving the
earth,... even though we were already doing that. Did the public
notice? In other words, when Joe's car wash went green and he ran the
ads and put up the new banner, did people from the other side of town
start using Joe's car wash instead of Larry's car wash because he was
now using eco friendly wash products? I don't think that was the case,
I haven't talked to anyone who can show me those types of numbers. Do
you want to know what I think? I think we introduced an entire new
campaign and process to the public about how we wash cars during a
time when the economy was sinking to the bottom of the ocean and when
no one has any money the only choice the consumer has is to shop where
it is the least expensive. The only customer who stopped shopping on
price were the ones who had so much money that the price didn't
matter. When customers have a lot of spending money, they can shop on
other factors, such as quality or appearance or whether this wash is
using an earth friendly product line or not, but when people can
barely afford to put gas in the car, the only thing they are looking
for is the lowest cost to get the dirt off. So right in the middle of
a process where we as an industry were trying to show the world that
we were becoming environmentally responsible, a price war began. When
it was obvious that being green wasn't going to bring in more
customers, car wash owners began slashing prices trying to steal
business from the guy up the street. Then came the rush of new
investors right? Car washes were going up everywhere. In a nine mile
stretch between Nashua NH and Milford NH there are now seven car
washes. One has dropped the price for a basic wash to $3.99 which has
forced the car wash across the street to drop their price to $5.00.
The new investors were smart though, they didn't just use green car
wash products, they designed their whole business around being green.
They didn't just tell customer that they were using earth friendly car
wash chemicals, they built a totally green car wash. And even the
names of these new facilities told the customer that this was a car
wash with the earth in mind. I am not sure what the shelf life is
going to be for these new car washes that chose to make their whole
name, image and scheme around being green. Being a green car wash is
one day going to be like saying that you are a smoke free restaurant.
Isn't every restaurant smoke free? You don't hear a restaurant
advertise anymore that they are smoke free. As smoke free restaurants
are the norm now, so will green car washing become the norm one day to
come in the not so distant future. So what happens to all of the car
washes who made going green their theme? Soon, not too far down the
road, saying that you are Joe's Eco Green Car Wash will sound as silly
as today telling people that you are, Al's Smoke Free Steak House. I
always have felt that government will always regulate what we as a
society cannot control on our own. If my memory doesn't fail me, I
think Uncle Sam was already starting to regulate the chemicals that we
were allowed to use in the car wash industry long before there was any
mention of us going green. They were regulating it by not allowing
companies to produce harsh chemicals any longer and not letting
companies transport harsh chemicals from other states on the highways.
So, let's back up for a minute. Once Joe figured out that he wasn't
going to steal any customers from Larry's wash just by going green
because all Larry had to do was put up a sign that said, "we have been
a green car wash for thirty years", what is Joe to do now? We all know
what Joe did next... he teamed up with all of the other green car wash
owners who realized that this earth friendly change wasn't going to
make them rich and they turned on the only form of car washing that
wasn't green or eco friendly. Yes, the car wash industry got mad and
went after the driveway car washer as well as the good ol' parking lot
charity car washes. I hear ya'... people yelling,"you say that like
it's a bad thing". It's not a bad thing, but in many eyes it did make
us look like we are bullying up on kids trying to make money for their
cub scout troop. And as we all know, the State of Massachusetts was in
the process of laying down some serious regulations on professional
car washes without ever once consulting the car wash industry. And if
it wasn't for some quick action by our dedicated professionals on the
NECA board of directors, these regulations could have crippled our
industry which was already suffering badly. so where are we now? I
think the public is sick of going green. I think the consumer has been
bombarded with eco friendly, going green, protect the earth, recycle,
reduce and reuse. It's everywhere we go now attached to everything we
do, it's going to burn itself out or burn us out, but either way this
whole green theme isn't going to carry on forever. We are going to
become a cleaner, greener world and we will do these things daily
without ever thinking otherwise. it will become a choice we make as a
society or it will become law that the government passes down upon us.
So then what? What will we do next? I am sure we will come up with
something new... like the years when the wash industry switched from
bristle to cloth and everyone put up the signs that read "Brushless
Car Wash". We are always trying to find new ways to differentiate
ourselves from each other. I remember when the touch free car washes
were'nt considered real car washes by friction car wash owners. Now I
see where touch free car washes are trying to grab customers away from
cloth car washes by putting up signs that say, they don't scratch.
What kind of crap is that ? i am a cloth car wash manager, I don't
scratch cars, the touchfree customer is a different customer then the
one who comes through a cloth friction car wash. Customers choose
which way they want to wash their cars, and right now they are
choosing not to wash much at all. I want to touch on how we spend too
much time bashing each other's way of washing cars vs. teaming up and
promoting ourselves together as one united industry of car washers and
detailers. Who cares how they wash their cars, whether it be in a
tunnel cloth wash, a touch free tunnel or bay, an in bay automatic
rollover, a self serv bay, or a hand wash. we just need more people to
wash their cars more often. There are millions of cars on the road and
we are'nt washing half of them. We are fighting for the same customer,
we need to fight for any customer, there are plenty out there. As we
move forward and further away from the birth of this keep it green
endeavor let's talk about what we can do to educate the public and
become one industry helping each other as we help ourselves. Let's not
find new ways to make the car wash up the street look bad in trying to
steer the customer to come to my wash instead of his. Instead,...
let's team up and promote car washing like the quick lube industry
did, Let's teach the car owner that it is important to wash and wax
your car often however you choose to do it. It will help your car look
great and last longer if you get your car detailed, wherever you
choose to have it done. I think it's your association's responsibility
to guide the car wash operators in doing this. We all shake hands and
rub elbows when we get together at the meetings, but back to our wash
it's back to the battle, the opertors turn on each other like hungry
dogs going after the same piece of meat. well people, we are not dogs
and we are not going after the same piece of meat. there is plenty of
meat out there for all of us, but we are not getting it because we
have spent to much time bashing the other guy's way of washing
confusing the customer to the point where they are not washing their
cars as often or not at all. Instead of promoting the facts about
keeping your car clean as a regular part of vehicle's maintenance
program. keeping a clean car is as important as changing your oil. you
can change your oil regularly and have a great running motor that has
lasted over two hundred thousand miles, but it won't do you a bit of
good if your floor boards and rocker panels are all rotted out from
the winter salt because you never bothered to wash your car. If we all
start promoting washing your car in general, we will all grow from it.
Ok, we did our part, the world knows that car washing is now green and
eco firendly and we are all here to save the planet, now lets get
together and get the world excited about washing their cars more
often. That's it.

Ok

It seems to me that "going green" at most business is a thinly veiled attempt to reduce their expenses. How about the hotels that tell you to reuse their towels? How about the banks that want you to go paperless to "save the planet", when in reality it's most likely about them saving .50 for them not to mail you a paper statement every month? My chemicals are biodegradable and I am continually attempting to reduce utility expenses,that is mainly by cutting usage of that product where I can, that is all the motivation I need to be "green".

One of the ironic things is a friend of mine uses ecolab at his tunnel and they placed a giant ad on the glass of his carwash that implied how eco friendly the wash was. Inside his back room were both bulk sodium hydroxide conainers and wheel cleaners that contain hydroflouric acid, which to me doesn't exactly fit the planet-friendly motif.

Trying to make little al gore happy has us sharks painting ourselves green in any attempt to pay the taxes. I'm green on the outside so I can get on the jet with big al ....... sure. Understanding the chemistry of green tells you the inorganic side of the equation was left out. So its green bubbles and friction? Seeing hydrofluoric, NaOH and KOH in formulas has a long following in results. This same following says I can wash a car cheaper than you and put you out of business thus giving me a monopoly. Pull my finger and dress me in camo, I still have a chance to make money or lose money in washing hard surfaces, as long as I pay the taxes. I want to second the authors appeal to get "together". I would warn against bleeding in this pack of green painted sharks. Just ask lil al when he went swimming in those Florida waters with them Bush boyz. Ouch

Dear Lucky,

I might be inclined to read your post and find your message if it did not read as one looooonng run-un on sentence. You might want to re-write it with some paragraphs. I stopped reading about two sentences in... guaranteed I'm not the only one.

Agreed

The reality is that only about 10% of car washes have anything to do with associations. The ones that do belong to associations are generally well ahead in the green movement. You basically are just preaching to the choir when an association pushes the green movement. When there is a true crisis like water rationing all the car washes that have never been involved with an association come running and say how could you let this happen?

lol @ jmoran..did the same thing.