Labor activists have long claimed that working conditions at New York City's car washes are the worst of the worst.
...Now that labor groups have succeeded in dramatically raising labor costs, the city's car washes will simply play catch-up with the rest of the country—replacing men wielding hoses and rags with nimble units of spinning brushes and massive hot air blowers. It's already starting to happen.
...Operators with the means to make a significant capital investment could eliminate most of their workers. Mike's Minit Man (renamed Mike's Car Wash) was one of the first in the country to go fully automated in 1978.
Founder Joe Dahm invested in state-of-the-art machinery, including powerful hot air blowers that replaced the crew charged with drying off vehicles as they exited the tunnel.
The cost of a basic exterior wash at Mike's fell to just $2, but the increase in speed and volume led to a significant revenue boost.
"We think those blowers set us up for success," says Mike Dahm, now the company's president.
The Free-Vacuum Revolution
...Enning's answer to the interior problem was straightforward:
Set up an area with free vacuums and put customers to work cleaning their own vehicles.
The idea would later catch on in the U.S. thanks to Benny Alford, a second-generation car wash operator in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who traveled to Germany in 1996 to observe a Mr. Wash facility. "You just couldn't find many people who wanted to make a career out of vacuuming cars anymore," says Justin Alford, Benny's son and business partner.
Benny Alford combined the free vacuum idea with another labor-minimizing technology:
Working with a firm called Innovative Control Systems, he installed the first automated sales attendant, so that customers could line up at an electronic gate and pay for a wash without ever interacting with a human.
Alford opened his first exterior-only car wash tunnel with free vacuums in August 2001.
The setup required only two employees on-site to make sure everything was running smoothly..."
Founder Joe Dahm invested in state-of-the-art machinery, including powerful hot air blowers that replaced the crew charged with drying off vehicles as they exited the tunnel.
"We think those blowers set us up for success," says Mike Dahm, now the company's president.
The Free-Vacuum Revolution
...Enning's answer to the interior problem was straightforward:
Set up an area with free vacuums and put customers to work cleaning their own vehicles.
The idea would later catch on in the U.S. thanks to Benny Alford, a second-generation car wash operator in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who traveled to Germany in 1996 to observe a Mr. Wash facility. "You just couldn't find many people who wanted to make a career out of vacuuming cars anymore," says Justin Alford, Benny's son and business partner.
Benny Alford combined the free vacuum idea with another labor-minimizing technology:
Working with a firm called Innovative Control Systems, he installed the first automated sales attendant, so that customers could line up at an electronic gate and pay for a wash without ever interacting with a human.
Alford opened his first exterior-only car wash tunnel with free vacuums in August 2001.
The setup required only two employees on-site to make sure everything was running smoothly..."
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