CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FIRST METRO/HARKIN SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

It was only a year ago that we dreamed up the idea of the Metro-Harkin Scholarship: a unique program that would pay for one complete year of schooling at Pima Community College for one deserving Tucson high school graduate. Twelve months later, the Scholarship has been established, funds have been raised, a crazy Zombie Wash was let loose in Tucson, and Terrence Peel-Charles has been awarded the first ever Metro-Harkin Scholarship for the 2011-2012 academic year.

For those of you who need a little reminding, the Metro-Harkin Scholarship is open to any graduating Tucson high school student. The aim of the Scholarship is to provide a higher education for hard-working and hard-studying individuals who might not otherwise have the means to attend college. The Scholarship was created by the owners of Metro Car Wash and Jeremy Harkin a high school English teacher.

So … for this blog, we thought we’d share a little from our upcoming press release with you. We’re proud to introduce you to Terrence, Metro’s first-ever Scholarship winner …

From the Press Release: Marana Student Wins Metro/Harkin Scholarship

Terrence Peel-Charles (18) is a recent graduate of Marana High School. He earned a 3.4 GPA, was active in Key Club, volunteered for various charity events including Aids Walk and the Special Olympics, and worked part time as an after-school Classified Enrichment Instructor. Perhaps most notably, Terrence received an opportunity his Junior Year to participate as a foreign exchange student in Germany. He didn’t know the language, had never taken a German class, and knew no one in the Country. Still, none of this stopped him from packing his bags, leaving the comforts of his family and friends, and heading to Europe for a year of his life – an intimidating scenario for anyone, but an experience that helped him grow significantly into adulthood.

“Living in Germany helped me learn things about myself I didn’t even know,” says Terrence. “The most difficult task in my life was to grasp the German language. I had to learn German at a very fast pace to survive at school. I got home from class, took out my homework and my German-to-English dictionary and translated the whole assignment for hours on end until I understood it.”

In addition to challenging him educationally, Terrence claims the experience has also made him “a more worldly person”, more aware of cultural differences (and how to navigate those barriers), and more understanding of what it means to be alone and have only yourself to depend on. These, in turn, have now shaped his goals for the future.

“I came back to America with something to prove to myself,” says Terrence. “I’ve learned there is really no challenge I can’t handle. I want to become a doctor, hopefully one that can travel abroad. And I’m not going to let any obstacles get in my way, financial or otherwise.”

Terrence is now planning to attend Pima Community College for two years before transferring to the University of Arizona. He is extremely grateful for the Metro-Harkin Scholarship, a program that will pay entirely for his first two semesters at Pima. In addition to his own education, Terrence also holds a part time job teaching children in an after-school program (holding a part time job during the academic year is a requirement of the Metro Scholarship).

“We had a lot of great applicants,” said one member of the committee that selected the recipient. “There were interesting stories, unique backgrounds – a bunch of deserving kids, really. The selection process was difficult, but in the end, Terrence was the clear winner.”

The Metro-Harkin Scholarship is funded by Metro Car Wash, as well as through donations they receive. Last year, the Company raised the lion’s share of the Fund by hosting Tucson’s first ever “Zombie Car Wash.” The charity event turned Metro’s Speedway location into a haunted theme-ride for one week in October and was met with rave reviews. The Company is planning on another Zombie Car Wash this fall; this time around Terrence will be helping.

Terrence’s selection as the Scholarship Winner was based on a committee’s cumulative score that was comprised of his grades, his scholastic attendance record, extracurricular participation, two essays, and a final interview. The Metro-Harkin Scholarship is open to all Tucson graduating high school students. Information and application instructions can be found at www.metrocarwash.com, www.metroscholarship.com, Pima Community College Foundation, or at either of the Metro Car Wash locations.

(Terrence Peel, 2011)

Why You Really Should Buy Local

You here it all the time these days: Buy Local! Support your local businesses! Locally owned and operated! It’s become the mantra of small commerce. A battle cry.

But here’s the question: what does “buying local” really do for you? Does it honestly help your community? Is it better? Is it the right thing to do?

How does supporting your neighborhood business, as opposed to a large company out of Boston, really impact Tucson? Impact you?

Because when you think about it, job creation is job creation. Right? If you go to any restaurant, you’re helping to support local jobs. And that stands true whether it’s a local bistro or a large chain. Correct? It all puts money back into Tucson’s economy.

So what’s the big deal? Is buying local just a gimmick? A sneaky way to guilt you into supporting small shops? Is it like your mother asking you to please be nice, to invite the nerdy kid to your party?

I think this is a valid question. And (surprise, surprise), I think I have an answer.

In my opinion, there are three main reasons to buy local: better service, community involvement, and local profits. I’m sure there are more, but these were the ones I could easily come up with using Metro Car Wash as an example (again, surprise, surprise). I understand we are probably biased, but just the same, I hope the following helps to validate Tucson’s cry when we shout: “Locally owned and operated!” We just can’t help ourselves. We love the sound of it.

Better Service

OK, I’ll say it right away: not every local business offers better service than a large chain. That would be completely unfair to say and a gross generalization. You can get good service anywhere; you can get bad service anywhere. My point is, overall, I do believe there are a few factors that tend to tip the scales in favor of local businesses when it comes to quality of service.

First off, I think a local owner has a better understanding of the immediate market. Every city is different. Economies are dissimilar. Some places are hard on their luck, while a few are booming. Large corporations rely on feedback from outside firms or special divisions within their company to assess the temperature of these markets and to then “fit in” to what the community wants. The local business owner, on the other hand, lives it.

At our car wash, for example, we knew the right time to simplify our menus, to lower our prices, to improve our value – not because of research, but simply from dialogue with customers. Even our use of Facebook and Twitter is more conversational, a two-way street with local consumers. If we expanded beyond Tucson, this would become significantly more difficult to manage, we would lose the intimacy with our customers and as a result have less of an understanding of the market’s wants.

But being local can improve service in more subtle ways too. As an example, I think it can often mean more involved training and enhanced mentoring, each of which can lead to better customer experiences. At Metro, for instance, the owners have weekly meetings with the staff. This setting is more like a classroom; service concepts are taught, homework is given. But even more than this, the owners work with the managers and employees, expectations of how to handle customers are taught by example, by owners on site who know just how important each customer is. Employees pick up on this (they become our friends, in some cases, they feel like family). And the business as a whole improves.

Along these same lines, having an owner’s feet on the property also speeds up customer feedback when it comes to complaints, suggestions, or requests. At Metro, for example, if you want to talk to the owner … you can! You can usually find one of us walking the site. And if you email Metro from the website, it’s an owner that will get back to you, usually within 24 hours.

You just won’t get this from a larger company. Because the truth is, the local owner has more to lose. He or she is waking up every morning with their hard-earned, (personal) savings on the line. That’s real motivation. Pure and simple.

Community Involvement

A lot of large corporations donate big sums of money to good causes, which is certainly something to respect. But just as local ownership means a better understanding of the market, I believe it can also lead to a better understanding of a community’s needs.

Donations to large non-profit organizations are wonderful. But these are also the organizations that have access to large grants and other forms of assistance; these are avenues smaller, local organizations don’t have. The truth is, in economy like ours, it is the local charities and non-profits that are struggling as much as anybody. And local businesses have the best understanding of those needs.

At Metro, we have a great fundraising/community partnership program. I won’t go into details here (they’re available at our website), but suffice to say, we partner with almost twenty local charities, both financially and as volunteers. We award a significant number of Annual Passes every year to local heroes, teachers, and volunteers in Tucson. We’ve established our own scholarship with Pima Community College, sending one local student a year to one full year of schooling at Pima (and we raise money for it by turning our car wash into a haunted theme ride at Halloween). This isn’t to toot our own horn; there are lots of local businesses doing even more. The point is: local businesses feel the community; they understand the city; and they’re better able to serve and give back (to what is most needed). In our opinion, that’s one very strong reason to go local.

Profits Stay Local

I think this one is important. Jobs are jobs, but in a big corporation (not from Tucson), profits do NOT stay local.

When you shop at big box stores, when you eat at chain restaurants, you may be supporting local employment, but the profits are going somewhere else. And profits, dumped back into a local market, can do wonders for our little economy.

Not only this, but local businesses are also more apt to use community banks. And because community banks are also local, the interest they earn stays local too.

At Metro, we not only create jobs for Tucson, but any profits are also kept here. We believe strongly in keeping it local; we bank local, we buy supplies locally. Other car washes, like Simonize, are headquartered on the East Coast. The company Mister Car Wash isn’t even American (it’s Canadian, though their wash offices are in Tucson) and their sources of funding are foreign.

We’re not saying these companies are bad (they are not). But it is a good example of the contrast.

Conclusion

I guess here’s what we’re saying: When you buy local, there is more than meets eye. We’re not advising you to never shop at a big, monster store. The truth is, it’s getting harder not to (as the little guys disappear).

But beyond the character of the local bistro, the neighborhood flower shop, your friend’s car wash (me), there are a lot of other things going on too. Profits are circulated back into Tucson, local charities are identified and helped, employees are cared for on a one-on-one basis, and you, the consumer, begin to receive better personal service in an increasingly bland and generic world.

OK, I told you we were biased. But just so you know, we really do care about you (and your car). And when you think about it, that may be the best reason of all to keep it local.

Thanks for listening folks! Stay clean my friends.

-DJ Drip Dry

Be Aware of Check Fraud

I’m writing something a little different this week, but I think it’s worth discussing.

At the outset of establishing this blog, we said we wanted this to be a place for us to communicate with our customers as well as Tucson in general. We said we wanted to discuss our business honestly (Metro Car Wash), as well as our customers, our community, and the interesting stories that might come from a group of individuals that love to wash cars under the desert sun.

Unfortunately, not all those stories are good ones. This is one of the bad ones.

This past week, Metro Car Wash had the very unpleasant experience of being a victim of Check Fraud (we got robbed of over $4,000). Ugly as it was, I thought it might be good to share our story. Once you understand what these crooks are doing, you might be shocked to find out just how vulnerable all of us (businesses and individuals) actually are to this form of theft.

Our story started off when we got a call from our local bank letting us know that our Petty Cash Account was overdrawn. This was quite a surprise. In addition to being a good car wash, we’re pretty good at keeping our books clean too. You can imagine my shock, then, when I went on-line and saw a negative balance of $3,000 (I’ll let you imagine the words that were spoken/shouted while my heart rate exploded and I pounded my fists on the table).

After my eyes rolled back into focus and my breath became manageable again, I noticed that there were four checks debited from my account that I didn’t remember writing. I clicked “view” and discovered why I didn’t remember writing them: I didn’t.

The checks weren’t Metro’s actual checks. They were generic business checks with the name Metro Car Wash on the top, but the wrong address underneath. The banking information on the bottom of the checks (the routing and account numbers) were also ours, but the names of the individuals the checks were written to were no one we knew. Furthermore, the check was signed by Pete Carroll (yup, the same name as the current coach of the Seattle Seahawks … I doubted it was the actual guy); in other words: not an authorized signer. I looked on the back of the check copies; all of the checks had been cashed at approximately the same time.

Since then, I’ve spent my time closing bank accounts, reconciling accounts, filing police reports, and generally walking around in a lousy mood. Oh, and I’ve learned how easy it is for someone to do this.

Here’s the skinny:

All someone needs to rob you is a copy of your check, a computer, and a printer.

Do you write payroll checks? Do you write checks to vendors? The pizza delivery guy?

Then your account number and routing number are out there.

All someone has to do is write these numbers down and take them home. Then, in front of their computer, they can actually download Check Writing Software for free. They place business checks they purchased at an office supply store into their printer, they input their name and the dollar amount they believe they deserve (typically a reasonable paycheck amount so as to not draw attention), and press: PRINT.

The check is made out to them, so they don’t have a problem cashing it; they show their real ID, collect their money (your money) and take their sweetie out for a nice dinner courtesy of you (they at least hopefully toast you for your generosity).

It’s as simple as that. I wish I was kidding.

And here’s the really disturbing thing: my bank didn’t even bother to press charges. They actually told me not waste my time either (I didn’t listen to their advice). They said this happens all the time. It is what it is in the banking world I guess.

So, OK … what do you do now? How do you protect yourself?

The truth is, depending on your bank, you may not be able to. Larger banks, like Chase, have some interesting on-line Fraud Protection Tools they’ve just rolled out, but smaller banks still rely on the chance of noticing when signatures don’t match (you can see how well that worked for us).

My bank told me: you should review your accounts every day.

The detective I’m working with gave me this advice: Don’t write checks. He was serious.

We’re now looking at switching our payroll to debit cards (rather than cutting checks).

I guess I don’t have a happy ending to this story, but I do hope it helps some of you avoid what happened to us. It’s a scary world out there and I’d like to think we can use tools like this blog to help each other out.

Until next time, stay clean my friends (and keep an eye on your check balance). Oh, and if you see a suspicious looking thug toasting a glass of Champagne and thanking Metro for his bonus, please let us know!

-DJ DripDry

Metro Car Wash's Honor Roll

Sorry about the delay in posting, folks. Yours truly has been a bit busy wrapping up the year.

Now that things have settled down a bit, however, I’m happy to use our Metro Car Wash Blog to announce the recipients of our Annual Metro Honor Roll.

Every year, we ask our Community Partners (the organizations we raise money for), as well as our customers, to nominate individuals who are making selfless efforts to positively impact Tucson. As a local business involved in the community, we really value, not only our city’s charitable establishments, but the people inside of these organizations who donate their time and efforts to assure Tucson is a better place.

All Metro Honor Roll Recipients receive a Metro Honor Roll Card that entitles them to unlimited FREE Uptown washes for the entire 2011 calendar year. It may not be as prestigious as a heavy plaque, a picture in the paper, or keys to the city, but it is our way of saying Thank You to a group of people who deserve a little extra recognition.

This year’s Honor Roll Recipients include the following:

Lisa Antkow. Lisa works with Tu Nidito, a Tucson agency that provides individual and group support to children and their families as they deal with serious illness and death. Lisa’s coworkers nominated her because of her maturity, responsibility, and dedication in interacting positively with children who are going through one of the toughest times of their lives.

Sloan Boatman. Sloan has been a volunteer with The American Diabetes Association in Tucson for years, donating her time in both the back office and fundraising events. She is passionate in regards to educating the public about how to stop diabetes, as well as how to support those living with the disease.

Terri Smith. Terri has been involved with the American Lung Association for a year and half now. A lung cancer survivor herself, Terri single-handedly raised over $3000 in last year’s “Fight for Air” Walk, started a Lung Cancer Support Group to emotionally encourage those going through lung cancer treatment, and began speaking to community groups to increase awareness for lung cancer screening, prevention and research.

Jared Ross. Jared is a faithful TROT volunteer of more than 10 years. T.R.O.T. (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson) helps those with special needs by using therapeutic equine programs to improve physical, mental, and social well-being. Jared volunteers weekly; his commitment is immensely appreciated by both the TROT staff and those receiving the therapy.

Alexandra “Ally” Rae Pesqueira. Ally is a volunteer with Tucson’s Children’s Advocacy Center, an organization that works within the community to prevent child victimization and abuse. Ally began volunteering while she was a student at the University of Arizona and continued to volunteer after she graduated. Her dedication and compassion are second to none, and she is currently focused on a new project involving the supervision of infant/parent visits in conjunction with CPS.

Mary Garrison-Vincent. Mary is a volunteer with The Shyann Kindness Project, an organization whose mission it is to pass on kindness by educating, supporting and encouraging children in stressful economic, social and medical situations. Mary has been an instrumental factor in the charity’s fundraising efforts, donating countless hours of work to assure the success of their events.

Lluvia Creek. Lluvia is a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson, an organization that pairs adult mentors with children to provide underprivileged youth with better guidance and growth opportunities. Lluvia’s co-workers and co-volunteers believe that she embodies what it means to be a Big Sister, staying actively involved in the life of her Little Sister, Maria, dedicating time to fostering the relationship and assuring that the girl has improved life opportunities.

Danny Simone (and Hooch). Danny is a volunteer with Handi-Dogs, a service and therapy dog training organization whose mission is to promote independence, freedom, health and dignity for seniors and people with disabilities through the use of trained dogs. Danny and his dog Hooch are Community Ambassadors and a popular Demonstration Team for Handi-Dog. As well, Danny donates his time to Delta Society Pet Partners, Gabriel’s Angels, Pets for Vets, and does Animal Assisted Therapy at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Diana Cordera. Diana is a Family Support Specialist at Parent Aid, a child abuse prevention center. Diana works personally with families in order to strengthen familial bonds and prevent child abuse. She is always on call and available for the individuals she works with, additionally, she leads the training of all Family Support Specialists.

Lois Weimuth. Lois has been a volunteer with the Southern Arizona Humane Society since 2003. To date, she has logged over 3,500 hours working as an Adoption Lobby Greeter, a customer support representative in both dog and cat rooms, and an assistant in off-site adoptions. She is dedicated to improving the lives of animals and alleviating their suffering by helping to rescue, shelter, heal, and adopt animals in need.

J. Scott McManus. Mr. McManus is a long-time volunteer at SAAF (an organization that provides case management and ancillary support services for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families); he volunteers at the food bank, on telephone help lines and with Care Services and Prevention Programs (within SAAF). His co-workers and co-volunteers claim that his courage and personal strength help to empower those around him and that he has been a tremendous encouragement to others.

Metro Car Wash wants to thank and recognize each of these individuals. We look forward to meeting them and getting to know them better over the upcoming year.

And who knows, maybe you’ll run into one of them on your next visit to Metro. If you do, hopefully this blog will have given you a little extra insight into just how generous some of our fellow citizens are.

Until next time, stay clean my friends.

-DJ DripDry

Meet a Metro Customer

I mentioned several weeks ago that we were going to begin periodically blogging about a few of our favorite customers. We always said that our Metro Car Wash Blog was not going to be about washing cars, but rather about people, our Tucson community, and the stories we come across. It seems fitting then, that Sherry Elliott would be the first that we write about. She’s been a loyal customer of Metro’s since 2003 and she’s someone we count lucky to know.

First of all, Sherry is just a very friendly and fun person. Most of the time, we don’t get to know our customers on a personal level (we like to remember names and faces, but at the end of the day, we are viewed by most people as simply a car wash). With Sherry, however, things were different. Besides the fact that she’s got a smile and a personality that make you feel (almost instantly) as if you’ve been long-time friends, Sherry also made us feel as if she was making us a partner with her in her business venture.

Sherry is a personal chef and a custom caterer, and she believes her vehicles (which she uses for deliveries and errands) need to reflect that she’s clean, neat, professional, and efficient. She uses Metro - for which we’re very proud - but even more impressive to me is how many of our employees have come to know her personally and how much pride these same employees take in making sure she looks good out on the road. This is impressive because it’s not something our Company did; it’s something Sherry was able to do with a friendly, gracious and open attitude to all of our employees. When Sherry comes by for a wash, it’s not uncommon to see her receive multiple hugs from our employees while she waits for her car.

Sherry started her own business over seven years ago. She’d been working in communications and sales for large companies and she’d become tired of the corporate life. She was a self-taught chef with a passion for cooking, teaching and making people smile, and so in 2003 she decided to combine them all into her own business venture and head out on her own.

Today, CookingSherry, LLC is a very interesting business that we hope more people will take the time to learn about and try. There are three main services that CookingSherry provides: Custom Catering, Chocolate Fountain Rentals, and a Personal Chef Service.

Sherry’s goal, when she began her business, was to be able to create an economical cooking service for individuals and families who were too busy to cook great meals at home, but who never considered that they could afford a Personal Chef.

With CookingSherry, however, the product and service you receive is simply an incredible value. First, Sherry will personally sit down with you in your home to review what types of meals your family enjoys (as well as dietary restrictions and taste preferences). She then goes to the store for you, does your grocery shopping, and returns to your kitchen to prepare 5 different custom meals which are then frozen until you are ready to use them (oh, and she cleans up the kitchen too). Each meal can be served twice, so one visit from the CookingSherry equates to 10 custom homemade meals for you and your family. Prices vary upon family size, but the cost is refreshingly inexpensive. And the food? Well, it’s healthy, fresh and delicious.

In addition to the Personal Chef Service, CookingSherry also offers custom catering from parties of 2 -200. For parties of two, she can deliver a romantic dinner to your door, or if you prefer, she can cook one for you in your home (if you’d like to pretend that you actually whipped up something yourself).

Finally, she also offers Chocolate Fountain Rentals. These fountains of chocolate goodness are pretty amazing and impressive. They’re perfect for weddings or holiday parties … or car washes. We’re actually trying to get one into our lobby this Christmas for our scholarship benefit.

Like most businesses, of course, the economy has been hard on Sherry. She’s struggled and is working hard to keep her dream going. Because business is slow, she’s actually taken on a part-time job to help pay the bills and her staff has all been moved to part-time help. But she’s not giving up.

When I sat down to interview Sherry, I was struck by how genuine and passionate she was. She says good food makes people happy, and she is intent on sticking to her vision of providing her products and services at a value price that the Tucson public can afford. Not only this, but she’s dedicated to delivering friendly and responsive customer service every day. She gets to know her clients, returns calls immediately, and works on her feet 15 hours a day. She was the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Member of the Year 2006. And in the long-term, Sherry has the further dream of creating a local Cooking School for children.

Oh, and in her free time she likes riding motorcycles, too. Yup. She has a 2007 Harley Sportster and belongs to a motorcycle club. Just in case you thought you had her all figured out.

All of the pricing for CookingSherry’s services can be found on her website at www.cookingsherry.net. If you’d like to reach her, you can do so at sherry@cookingsherry.net or by calling directly at 520-631-5201. (I've included a picture of one of her chocolate fountains below.)

We hope you’ll take the time to check the business out. If nothing else, she’s a great person to meet and know. At Metro, we’re very glad she stopped in some seven years ago and allowed us to get to know her.

Thanks for staying tuned, folks. And until next time, stay clean my friends.

-DJ DripDry

Does A Bad Economy = Forgetting How To Work?

There’s been some good news, of late, coming out about our economy. Nothing earth-shattering, but we’re hearing that the Recession has (officially) ended and that people are starting to spend a little more money. Put another way, experts are saying they may be feeling a pulse.

And in Tucson, I think we’re beginning to feel that pulse a little as well. The streets are more crowded, restaurants seem busier, and at Metro Car Wash we’re beginning to see more and more of our customers. That’s all good news and makes me very happy.

Then my wife made the following comment the other day: “Have you noticed how bad the service in Tucson seems to be lately?”

I thought about what she said, and then had to agree with her. We began discussing how our last few restaurant outings had been less than stellar (at places where we normally receive great service); we mentioned the lack of help and assistance we’d received in the last few retail stores we’d been to. My wife scratched her head and then made this suggestion: “Do you think that in this bad economy, people have just forgotten how to work?”

On the surface, it seems like maybe a silly statement. But the truth is: I think she might be right. I know this, because at our car wash, we actually have a real-life example of this phenomenon every year; we call it our Post-Monsoon Slump.

For most of the year, Metro Car Wash is a pretty hoppin’ place. Each of our locations washes around 300 to 400 cars each day. And for the most part, we do it without breaking too much of sweat (figuratively speaking of course, because actually, it’s a very sweaty job). We process cars quickly, our systems flow, and the employees do their jobs efficiently and effectively. But then the monsoons come. Every July, August and September our car counts literally get cut in half as customers stop washing their vehicles in anticipation of the next rain storm. It’s understandable, really. And there’s nothing we can do about it.

But here’s the interesting thing: In the first month of monsoons, our employees go crazy with frustration at the lack of work available. They hustle through their tasks like they’ve been trained to do, but then find that there isn’t another car in line to work on. They get bored. They tell me it feels like the days last longer. They miss all the cars; they miss the fast pace, the high-demand, and the excitement. But that attitude only lasts for a while. By September, their perspectives have changed. Instead of being frustrated, they’ve acclimated to the new (slow) pace of business. They don’t notice that we don’t wash many cars. And they don’t realize that their hustle is gone. They don’t realize, that is, until the sun comes out and all of Tucson decides to get their car washed.

This is literally something we prepare for every year: motivating our employees to find the spring in their step that they may have lost over the summer. We don’t get frustrated, we just remind our managers that they’re going to have an extra challenge in getting everyone back up to speed.

And so I wonder if this bad economy isn’t having the same effect on businesses everywhere. We have slowed down; there haven’t been as many customers; restaurants and retail stores are less crowded. And it’s human nature to adapt to these new environments.

But if the economy is starting to turn the other way—if we’re going to see people pulling out their wallets again and filling up our stores and eateries—then as managers and business owners we also need to be aware that our employees might have forgotten how to meet that demand. It doesn’t mean they’re bad employees. It simply means that they’ve grown accustomed to a slower work pace. And it’s our job to identify that. Furthermore, it’s our job to provide the proper motivation to get them back into high-performance mode. Because the truth is: when demand rises, if a business isn’t prepared to catch it with consistent service, they’re in big trouble. Using the excuse “we’re really busy” for poor quality or poor customer service is about the lamest excuse out there. It says you’ve stumbled into success and that you’re surprised by it, because you’re really not that good.

So let’s hope this economy is feeling the first pulse of heartbeat. Let’s hope it is getting back on its feet. And while we’re at it, let’s hope that businesses and their workforce rise to meet the new demand with energy and great customer service. In the end, I suppose, that’s the American Way.

Until next time, stay clean my friends.

-DJ DripDry

A Guide to Washing Your Car

Being in this business, I take for granted that everyone understands why they need to wash their cars (as well as why they should wash them at a professional facility and what services they need to purchase when they stop in). Then I talk to a few customers and realize I’m completely wrong.

It makes sense, really. The topic of “car washing” is not one of those exciting discussions that seem to generate buzz around the water cooler (like, say, Lindsay Lohan’s latest escapades, government healthcare, the NFL weekend, or Jonathan Franzen’s newest novel). But still, we “car dudes” have feelings too. And since we’re passionate about the importance of our business, I thought I’d take this opportunity to briefly give you some information on (1) why you should wash your car, (2) why you should use a professional car wash, and (3) what services you should select on your next visit. It won’t be too painful, I promise. And you really might learn something.

First, let’s address why you should wash your car. The truth is: it’s more than just about looking good. Aside from the fact that a clean car says a ton about your image (that it greatly enhances your sex appeal and that it will more than likely help you get promoted in your career), it really is a low cost form of auto maintenance that will prolong the life of your car.

In most basic terms, there are just a lot of things out there, every day, that are degrading your vehicle’s paint. Bird droppings contain acid that burns through your clear coat and causes damage that can’t be repaired; brake dust actually eats into your wheels and then becomes baked-on in the heat; road oils and other pollutants can permanently dull your car’s color if allowed to sit for extended periods of time. It’s all much uglier than most people realize. And by simply regularly washing your car, you can remove these factors and insure that the look of your car will stay bright and protected for a long, long time. And that can mean more money to you at trade-in, or when you decide to sell it.

Next, there are also a lot of good reasons why you should wash at a professional car care facility (we personally believe Metro Car Wash is the best, but any of them are better than washing at home).

Now it’s possible, of course, that you have nothing better to do with your weekend than wash your car in your driveway. You’re someone who hates to go to a barbeque, you dislike sports of any kind, you detest kicking up your feet and drinking iced tea or beer, you shutter at the thought of relaxing in a pool, and you feel that two hours of your time under the beating sun is the perfect way to spend the precious moments away from your boss. But even still … you shouldn’t do it.

There are two basic reasons professional car washes are better than your driveway. First, when you wash in your driveway, the run-off goes into the storm drains, which does not go to a sanitation plant. The soaps you use, as well as the oils, brake dust and pollutants you remove, get washed into the lakes and rivers and the general environment. At a professional car wash, this polluted water runs through a sanitary sewer system and is ultimately processed in a sanitation plant. Second, by using a professional car wash, you’re saving a lot of water. Studies have shown that washing an average car, with a typical garden hose, will use about 116 gallons of water (seriously). An average full-service car wash, however, will only use about 40 – 60 gallons for every car (at Metro in Tucson, we can get lower than this due to our use of reclaim water). So think of it this way: using a professional car wash is actually your duty as a respectable member of society!

Finally, let’s discuss what service you should get the next time you come in.

Of course, every time you pull onto a car wash lot, a salesperson is going to try to sell you something expensive. But the truth is: there are times you need to spend the extra money, and there are times you don’t.

The question we get asked the most is: How often should I wax my car? And the answer is: it depends.

The sun’s UV rays are a major source of damage to your vehicle’s paint. And on newer cars, they’re now using less paint and less clear coat (to save cost), which means less paint protection. In other words, the more your car is out in the sun, the more you need to wax your car.

If you’re lucky enough to have covered parking throughout the day, then you may only need to wax your car every 4 -5 months. If your car is out in the sun all day, however, we suggest you get a wax at least every 3 months.

And one more point while we’re on this subject. If you regularly wash your car (2x per month) and regularly upgrade to a package wash with spray-on paint protection (like our Metro Wash), then you can also prolong the time between spending money on a complete wax.

So keep track of when you purchase, as well as what you purchase. And don’t get talked into something that you just don’t need.

Hope this information helps. Hope you haven’t been bored to tears.

Until next time, stay clean my friends!

--DJ DripDry