The One About Car Washes | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the car wash I. mean podcast I mean pod watch this is. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and this is stuff you should wash no. put your car in neutral take your foot. off the. gas foot off the break what well and gas. really yeah I guess I guess yeah but. yeah break see I'm I'm fired that's why.

you get. promoted right you're uh you know I'd. keep you on you're a great guy you keep. morale up with the other employees so. I've kept a lot of jobs that way I'll. bet man I'll bet I've lost a lot of jobs. because of the. opposite because your foot was on the. break because I purposely kept my foot. on the break question what What's your. deal how do you how do you get your cars. clean uh you walk me through that.

sure um I guess really we get them. cleaned we have a guy who details. sometimes he's really reasonable and. good like at your house yeah oh God. that's still never done that but uh well. it can get really pricey we just. happened upon this guy who was good and. very uh inexpensive comparatively I mean. some of those are like $400 or $500 a. pop that's too much money to geted Yes. um and uh so we stumbled upon on this.

guy so even even though we still use. them kind of sparingly yeah most of the. time we'll take them through an. automated car wash a friction type no. less and that's what we do and then we. vacuum it ourselves afterward we get all. sweaty and we start giggling and. laughing and we go get a slushie nice. God is that is the slushy thing a. tradition for real no no I just made. that up it seemed like a nice ending I. you get me again but that one was too. Normy.

and believable no I know I wasn't trying. to get you I was just trying to put a. pleasant spin on sweaty vacuuming yeah I. got you okay slushie sounds like a nice. ritual think about it I could go for a. slushie right now a blue raspberry. that's my. favorite uh yeah I like a little. Coca-Cola and Cherry mixed if we're. talking that traditional ices well. that's a frozen Coke right yeah those. are good too I grew up on those yeah you. remember the straws that had like the. cut out at the bottom which made it kind.

of like a little spoon too yeah gosh. good stuff how about you how do you get. your car washed or do you not cuz I read. that 16% of people don't don't wash. their cars at all ever like apparently. they'll own a car and never wash it for. the entire time they own it you know I. see those occasionally and I'm wondering. do you even ever wash your car and maybe. not do you even know what people say. about you behind your back they write. watch me on your car right lights up on. rules.

I go through the uh it's it's the. corporation is called Swifty but I've. always called it the shwifty I think. because of that old internet cartoon uh. from years and years ago um so I call it. thei and so I go through thei. about about once a month or so and there. you vacuum. beforehand H and even though you're not. supposed to I do like my armor alling. and and stuff like that my my sort of. lazy detail.

mhu uh and then I drive through the. Shifty um usually with Ruby she loves. the car wash and now because of the the. uh great TV show high maintenance um I I. got it from Ben Sinclair and high. maintenance I crank up the song. plantasia that you know well that served. as our opening song to our Biosphere 2. tour so he did that in uh of course he. was getting like super high in slow. motion listening to plantasia so Ruby. and I aren't doing that part but uh.

that's the tradition she says put on the. song we put on the song we go through. the Shifty and that's how I get my car. clean except maybe once a year I will. take it and drop it off for like a a. good non- lazy Chuck detail I gotta but. never had anyone come to the house man. that's the that's the dream one day. Chuck D a dream I know I I just Emily. doesn't do any watching She's always. just like can you please take my car to. get detailed yeah I'm with you and I'll. just that make that happen and yes.

that's one way you can clean a car you. can have it detailed you can go to one. of those like open brick Bays that have. a a high press washer hose I used to do. that yeah um we're not talking about. those we're talking about a specific. kind of car wash typically the automated. car wash where you you do what you just. described you just go through a wild. ride and your car gets cleaned As you. move through a tunnel and come out the. other side and a bunch of other types.

but there's like a a long storied. history and um what I took from this. research Chuck is that that history is. All. American it really is uh because since. the car started being a thing uh I. believe the first vehicle washer patent. was given out in 1901 to uh Scare at. Handley of U Milwaukee Wisconsin. American and when the Model T came out.

you had your first what was known as an. automobile laundry uh but these were all. on the west coast they were like. Portland Oregon for some reason San. Francisco They count as America. absolutely um but then that thing you. sent me was wild and I'm literally was. like I'm was 53 years old when I learned. of that car bowl that people drove. around and what were those called I. think they called it an auto Bowl an. auto Bowl can you describe. that it's like a concave.

um it's almost like a giant bird bath. that multiple cars can drive around in a. circle and apparently the bottom is. purposefully ridged in concrete to make. the whole ride very bumpy and you're. driving through water that comes up to. the undercarriage of your car old timey. car by the way this is the 20s and while. you're doing this it gets all the mud. and muck off of your car from all the. unpaved roads yeah it's like a little. splash pad and you just do donuts and. everyone else is doing donuts and.

splashing each other mhm and it just it. looked like a really kind of fun idea it. did but then think about that water man. and the stuff they were getting off of. the bottom of their cars yeah you want. to be first in line each day for sure. like for grand opening and then never. come back yeah yeah uh those were super. cool though um not what we were talking. about with the automobile laundry um. like I said they start on the west coast. but then um if you want to leave the. west coast and go to the first. automobile launch you'd have to go to.

Detroit where Frank McCormack and JW hle. opened up a uh an automobile laundry in. 1913 charging uh a150 which is close to. 50 bucks for that 20 minute wash 45. bucks I saw that's which is I mean this. is essentially detailing though is what. they were doing like you would bring. your car in you would get out and stand. around and a bunch of professionals. would clean your car inside and out so. yeah I mean that's pretty good for a. detail today even if they did a half a.

Soo job yeah and that was in 1913 but. hey that's 50 it's sort of clean as well. you know what I'm saying is that the one. that's at the corner of uh Pon and um no. that's Cactus yeah that's a good one I. used to go there yeah now that's a. detailing place okay uh and that's where. I would go when we were recording at. Pont City Market I think that's one. reason I don't detail as much anymore. cuz I could just drop it off there and. walk over to work yeah uh and we don't.

do that anymore cuz that building has. been. demolished has it really Pon Market oh. okay I'm just kidding I was going to say. wow I didn't realize we were propping it. up that much no it it emotionally is. demolished for me um but over the teen. years there were various patents awarded. um a lot of different like apparatus. like you know maybe a better sprayer or. better uh hose piping system like there. were a bunch of different patents handed. out mhm and then finally in the.

1920s uh we got our conveyor belt car. washes but still not automated cuz they. had like 40 people like you would watchh. the bumper then the next person would. watchh the back right Fender and that. kind of thing yeah but this was so this. is the first gleaming of the automated. car wash that we know in Love Today. Cunningham's automobile laundry which. debuted in Chicago in 1922 and like you. said there was a bunch of people um and. they did it assembly line style cuz. everybody every body was crazy about the.

assembly line at the time they would. hook your car up to a chain and tow it. along and as it was passing people would. do whatever they were supposed to do. like this guy um was in charge of of. cleaning off the headlights this guy. picked you know the gnats the dead gnats. off of the the canopy of the car um. everyone had a job and it was actually. an improvement from some of the earlier. ones where they used the assembly line. because there would be people who had to. push it from Station to Station so I'm. quite sure that the workers were like we.

love this toe line thing yeah absolutely. they don't have to push a car around and. those cars are heavy who wants to do. that they're not like these light things. these days right uh pre-World War II um. that was mostly those those laundries. after the war um there was a guy well. there were a couple of people really. 1946 was a big year yeah um there's one. guy named Thomas Simpson who was. credited as creating the first. semi-automatic system uh it also had a. conveyor belt you hooked your car to a.

bumper uh and it did its thing um but. you still like got out of the car and. there were still people involved right. um that same year in. 1946 a guy named Leo Russo and I've seen. different stories about this guy I saw. that he had this idea before the war but. then World War II comes along and they. take his steel foundry business the. government and basically says hey you. got to start making uh military parts. for it mhm so he kind of refined his.

Minute Man Min nit system during the War. uh and then pivoted and started kind of. making this system like he built the. actual equipment right as a system and. said hey you can buy this Minuteman. system and that's pretty much the. standard today if you want to open a car. wash there's plenty of companies that. manufacture entire car wash systems you. just need to build the building and then. buy their parts and install them yeah. and someone will build your building too. right you don't have to do it yourself.

have a lot of owner get this done yeah I. hope you know how to lay. bricks uh the minute man would cost. about 270 Grand today he sold it to. people for. 16,000 right and so this was a huge. breakthrough as far as like automatic. car washes went like there were still. people involved true but and they used. the existing technology where you tow a. car through a very long tunnel but there. was also like all like all manner of new. apparatus and um machines and cool stuff.

that your car would encounter along the. way like now there were spinning brushes. um there were there were jets of soapy. water um they used vacuums that could. suck the toue right off of somebody 20. Paces away um there was the overhead. dryers that kind of hung down like the. duct work hung down and it looked like. you were kind of passing under a giant. silver octopus like it was an amazing. like this guy basically said hm let me. think of the future and build it and.

then eventually people will build better. versions of what I created that's. essentially what the minute man system. was yeah in 1946 which is impressive uh. his first client was a guy named Paul. morian in Detroit once again at Paul's. Automatic Auto Wash M uh again in 1946. he sold that very first one and it was. it's recognized Paul's as the first. automated car wash so much so that it. had a Life magazine article written. about about it uh two minute car washer.

colon spectacular new machine scrubs 750. Autos a day you like that I just bought. the thing said Paul I had nothing to do. with it yeah yeah someone even built the. building right so one of the other. things uh like we said that there were. people still involved but there was. vastly fewer people I saw 40 or 50 you. could you could run into in an auto. laundry working to clean your car. typically but with the with the minute. man system it was down to as few as.

eight people that's a huge reduction in. Workforce and therefore cost too and. that if there's any theme or thread to. the history of automated car washes in. the United States it's getting as as. many humans as humanly possible out of. jobs in the car wash industry that's. that that's essentially what they've. been trying to do since day one yeah I. was sort of laughing today at ironically.

the thought of like somebody in the. tunnel where we can where you can watch. your car go by and get cleaned by by. robots like on social media complaining. about like AI technology getting rid of. humans and stuff and they're like H took. six minutes for my car to get washed by. those machines right but yeah you're. right that's I mean that was one of the. first big examples of uh Automation in. America of of like let's get people out. of here let's design these robotic arms. to spray things and scrub things uh and.

it was a huge hit like huge um there. were 50 car washes in America in 1946. when Paul's opened um nine years later. there were 2,000 of them and 50 of them. were opening per month yeah because. America was like we love cars and we. have a bunch of money and pent up demand. from the war so let's go nuts and the. car wash industry Paul's uh or not. Paul's but Russo's Minute Man system was. invented at a perfect moment essentially.

yeah absolutely uh and then before we. break I think we we have to. recognize um the Anderson family the. Anderson boys right Archie Dean and. Elden Anderson in Seattle in. 1951 opened up their Elephant Car Wash. and that was what's sort of looked back. on basically is the first fully. automated automated. [Laughter]. automated I want to do one on the. automat by the way okay me tell you. about that is that the lunch thing yeah.

yeah yeah um but it was a no touch. system meaning things touched your car. but basically people did not right. things meaning like tools like brushes. and stuff yeah just because we're going. to we're going to differentiate between. the touchless true touchless systems and. the no FY system right so yeah so. finally in the early 50s we have like. the first TR truly automatic car washes. at car which is still around today it's.

one of the more iconic signs in the. United States totally so okay let's take. a break and um you know we'll come back. [Music].

so I said that um you know we've been. well not we but the car wash industry. has been trying to get fewer and fewer. people involved um like over time and. they've gotten really good at it because. it's entirely possible now that you will. go to a car wash a truly fully automated. car wash and there will be one person. you run into and that is the human being. who is standing at the entrance of the. tunnel you're pulling into waving you. You One Direction or the other to get.

your front left tire onto the conveyor. that's going to pull your car through. that tunnel that's that's essentially. could be the only person that you'll run. into at a car wash now you know I will. say at at my Shifty and I don't know if. it's a company thing or each um are you. just laughing at shift yeah I don't know. why it keeps getting me but it does it. sure does uh there are quite a few. people that work there still besides the. person guiding you in there's um there's. probably six or seven people that you. know they'll walk around and kind of.

make sure the vacuums are working right. or they'll help you out if you can't. figure something out like it it's still. it's still customer friendly there's not. just one you know someone picking their. nose saying like you know put put your. foot off the brake and put it neutral. there's one we go to and that is the. only person there I mean I'm sure. there's other people inside in the AC. but it's that's the one person working. outside at least one of the places we go. well I'm sure that's when you go to open. up a franchise guys I'm sure the Mr.

Moneybags or Mrs Moneybags is like how. many people what's the fewest amount of. people I can get away with on the. payroll right and uh Shifty hats off to. them because they they they keep the. payroll going at least a little bit yeah. and there's another model too the one. I'm talking about is the fully automatic. Express exterior model which was a. revolution in car washes it was. developed by Benny's Car Wash in Baton. Rouge down in Louisiana. in the very early 2000s 2001 as kubric.

would put it um and they it just kind of. took off from there because again you. need one person um like a bunch of. Manufacturers started making the. machines that you need to do this. touchscreen technology started to. develop a lot more reliably like you. could basically walk away from your car. wash I mean not really but it took a lot. less of your time and effort to to run a. car wash than it used to and they'd.

already tried this once before in the'. 60s and 70s they tried it with coin. operated washes but they tried to just. put those in and walk away and that's. just not how it works so those things. got abandoned that's not happening with. these right now they're they're actually. proliferating at a um Untold. speed uh I will also say this boy I'm. really selling. Shifty right here but they have some and. this part annoyed me and now I.

understand it they even have someone at. the touch screen when you're in your car. like push touching offering to touch the. buttons for you and I'm always like no. man I got it it's fine but now I realize. that they're they also mention the uh. the subscription and they're trying to. sell subscriptions is what's going on. yeah because that's where the the big. money is yeah at yeah we'll talk about. that in a second but at the one we go to. they let you use your hand but they Hold. Your Hand they guide your wrist while.

you make your selections it's a little. they say make a pointy finger make a. pointy finger kind of offputting uh all. right so should we take someone through. the actual Car Wash yeah let's but get. inside take your foot off the brake put. your car in neutral let's not play. around because this is serious business. that's right uh you put your car in. between those rails uh once they give. you the thumbs up your car is going to. be guided in there by something called a. correlator and those are the.

perpendicular rollers to the tires that. are going to slide that puppy right in. there and then you uh like you said. hopefully your foot is already off the. brake and then neutral but if not it. should definitely be by this point right. uh and then you have these other little. wheels that uh pop up and move your car. along down that conveyor yeah it can. also be like a a tread that's you know. tall enough to keep your car from. rocking forward or backward but that's. the newer version so once the car enters.

the tunnel this is where I was like okay. and this is fairly old technology but. from what I could tell it's still. generally how they do it there's a beam. an infrared beam that's constant until. your car breaks it and the beam is. connected to the computer that's running. the whole show and it tells the computer. just how long the car is there you have. and then depending on how long the car. is um the computer will adjust the wash. that it gets it'll adjust just how far. back the rollers going and for what.

duration they spin for like there's a. lot of information they get just from. the length of the car and then that um. that kind of adjusts the wash that. you're going to get never even occurred. to me that that's I just figured. everyone got the same wash yeah me too I. thought so too until yesterday they have. another one that's similar at the exit. where you're supposed to break it and. then if it doesn't go back in the time. that the computer calculates it should. it'll it assumes that you've stopped at. the exit and it shuts down the conveyor.

and the whole thing and all these. teenagers come over and start yelling at. you to. go put it in drive now what's wrong with. you. man uh while you're going through there. you're going to get that pre-wash. sprayed on there and that's going to. start to loosen everything up a little. bit then you go through the these things. have names it's called a mitter curtain. that um sort of Sigman the sea monster. fabric strip that that goes left to. right that you drive under is called a.

mitter. curtain right uh and they they I think. of a more like Grimace than anything. they remind me of Grimace from. McDonald's okay the whole point of it is. it basically lays on top of your car and. moves around to kind of rub in that. solution and also kind of rub off. whatever Grime it can it's almost like. so if the solution is like the shampoo. that your uh stylist puts in your hair. the mid curtain is their fingers working.

it through is there anything better than. that when you get your. haircut uh no not really that with like. a hot towel and all that stuff it's. pretty good like now I know I all the. the kings and queens and royalty head. people wash their hair it's the best. sure my our detail guy does that. too right there in our driveway Joshy. first or Yumi okay have a seat yeah uh. take your foot off the break close your. eyes um then you get the foam usually.

some sort of Deep Cleaner uh and you're. going to get all manner of of and you. know they're all a little bit different. but you're going to your car is going to. be getting sprayed down really hard. you're going to have scrubbies that are. going to be slapping the side of your. car uh plantasia playing you and your. daughter are laughing um your car. gets. medium I'd say low low high to medium. high. clean okay when you get through it it. doesn't you know this is the lazy way to. do it and it costs like five or six.

bucks um so that's why I do it I'm not. fooling myself into thinking that this. is a great wash and it doesn't maybe. scratch up my car a little bit here and. there yeah it's not supposed to and. we'll we'll talk about why in a second. but it it's it's not supposed to it. totally does um the the if you get wax. you'll get wax after that rinse and the. second M curtain and then you'll get. dried off they have one now called the. Laser Wash 3 60 which is amazing and in.

a 10-second pass it can remove 80% of. the water on your car right but see that. one is totally touchless. right the Laser Wash yeah yes but it. still has a drier function yeah yeah it. was just too good of a stat not to share. I had to find a place to put it in no I. love it uh I also love that rain shower. at the end um this article that Dave. prepared for us talks about the high. pressure Jets to remove everything mine.

does a a very heavy rain shower type of. thing which I really enjoy yeah I love. that and then that dryer that what what. do they say they get about 80% off or is. that just the Laser Wash well the Laser. Wash 360s website boasted that so I'm. guessing that's higher than the industry. standard yeah that feels about right. because when you come out it it it blows. some of the water off but again I'm not. I don't have the kind of car that I'm. precious about water spots and all that. stuff I don't get the wax I don't you.

know I just want to get it pretty clean. yeah and there's plenty of um car washes. like at a at a Express exterior model. like you're done go get out of here. maybe you can go use the vacuums if you. haven't used them beforehand right there. are some that um there'll be like a team. of people whose job it is to wipe down. the water spots that the dryers didn't. get off yeah and I was reading on a. detailer's website like that apparently. is really bad for your car depending on. where you live those water spots will.

dry up and the minerals inside stick. around and just basically eat through. your paint job and can go into the body. of your car to where you're talking. about body work again this was a. detailer's website but um I did see that. that's still considered a problem even. with the touchless car wash that there's. as long as there's water spots that can. that can stick around the the car wash. is conceivably harmful to your car wow. it's like the the blood of the uh what. was the creature and alien has a name I.

can't think xenomorph yeah dripping. through all the different levels oh yeah. yeah yeah I forgot about that what a. great movie was that an. aliens alien the very first alien has. that sort of iconic moment where it's. dripping down through all the levels the. one with Danny McBride. [Laughter]. yeah so there's one thing I am going to. take issue with and I'm basically going. to ask you what you think um the cph. rate which is per hour is how is a.

setting like it's how fast that conveyor. moves your car through the car wash and. apparently at a car wash like you make. money by how many cars you can wash in. an hour uh and you want to get that rate. just right because if you send people in. through fast to squeeze more cars in. it's not going to get washed as much and. people may want to go through again or. complain so you want to strike that. perfect balance but I just don't you. figure that people are going to come and. get their car wash no matter what or are.

there literally people that pull in and. they're like oh this Line's too long and. they just leave I think the greater risk. is somebody who gets their car washed. and notices that there's like still. Grime on like the the um quarter panels. of their car and they're like well I'm. not going back to this place I'm going. to go to the one that's two doors down. that's just as convenient for me and see. how their washes are like there's plenty. of people who would do that who'd be. like that's not okay uh and rather than.

go complain and try to get their five. bucks back they just go to a competitor. that's how how competitive the industry. is right now that you have to get it. right essentially even though plenty of. them don't get it right um ideally you. would get this right and that. calculation of how many cars to send. through there per hour is. extremely um well maybe extremely not. the word it's a lot more detailed than. you would think because it's it's not. just like okay if I put X number of cars.

through per hour I can make X number of. dollars and we'll just set it to that. you have to take into account the. quality of your water like the hardness. of your water the softness of your water. how much of your water you're recycling. the quality of the detergent you're. using would make a big difference like. all these things that in and of. themselves give you a good result or a. poor result are all going to factor or. they're all change their variables of. this larger cars per hour calculation.

that you have to make and these these. the Machinery gets like kind of slow or. gunked up or whatever on a daily basis. so you essentially have to stay on top. of this every day at a good car wash. from what I was reading yeah okay I. guess I'm not explaining myself because. here's what I don't get what is the. benefit of being like Oh I'm going to. set it just a little bit faster like I. don't think setting it a little bit. faster would. I mean it might get cars through there.

quicker but I don't know if that would. get more cars through in a day unless at. the end of the day they're like we're. closed all you 10 people go home you. know what I'm saying I I don't that. sense I well let me ask you this is the. answer like volume like if you have cars. backed up and yeah yeah okay yeah I. think that's exactly what you're saying. you're saying if the line's too long. somebody will turn around and go to a. different car wash totally totally there. like some of those car washes have lines. like out out into the parking lot.

outside or out into the road outside. sometimes and definitely people will go. and either come back later or go to. another one and at times like that your. cars per hour really matters but you. don't want to Juice It Up too much. because again all those people that you. just got money from might not come back. because you didn't do a very good job of. cleaning their car okay that makes a. little bit of sense to me I guess uh and. people are probably like Chuck why don't. you just get it uh I maybe I'm from my. own personal experience cuz it's. you vacuum.

first so you're already in there and. vacuuming and cleaning your car like if. the line's long you're just in that line. you're not like you can't just leave oh. really that's terrible that sounds. illegal. no like once you go in there and get. that free free vacuum youve committed to. the service of getting your car washed. huh the one we to has one of the ones we. go to has a free vacuum first and it. used to be afterward but then they redid. the Curbing and all that stuff so now.

it's first but there's an ex that you. can yeah totally you can just drive. right right through mhm I bet people do. that I'm sure some people do for sure. but I think also wouldn't you just be. like well I might as well get a car wash. while I'm here too well I mean I am here. and it's right there. exactly all right moving on okay so um. before we take a break let's talk about. touchless technology because we were. talking about a specific kind of car. wash that gives you that um exterior.

Express thing that we just walked. everybody through that is a in tunnel. friction automatic car wash checks all. those boxes this is very important. everybody like you can't go through the. rest of your life not knowing this. terminology there's another kind that. says that friction thing I don't know. about that uh we we should go with. something that doesn't use brushes that. nothing actually contacts your car. except water chemicals air and well.

that's it yeah I guess that's it I can. safely say I've never been through one. of these and I guess I'm a big dummy. because I've never even really seen. these I haven't either uh but I watched. a video of it and it is one of the big. differences it's a single Bay so you you. pull your car in and just it's sitting. there uh it's not on a conveyor belt it. doesn't have a car behind you and in. front of you well they're in line of. course um but yeah I watched this thing. and it's uh nothing's touching your car.

it's just spraying the heck out of it. and blowing things and uh water and. chemicals and the whole deal that you. described um and I'm sure they have them. in Atlanta I just don't know where they. are uh but in the late 80s it was a guy. named uh red Lewis uh William red Lewis. and he owned a car a car wash I think. more than one and he was tired of paying. people for you know damage mirrors or if. they break the antenna or you know. anything that can happen scratching up. your car really bad so he uh thought.

about this system it's the the Laser. Wash 4000 is the most prominent. technology um now there's the Laser Wash. 360 that you talked a little bit about. but um it was it it sold a lot I think. he sold about 8,000 of these and if you. have like a a super fancy nice. car and you don't want to pay for the. detailing um every time then I think a. lot of people like that use these yeah. and even um in Audi's uh user manual it.

says it is best to use a car wash. without revolving bristles if possible. essentially like use a either a hand. wash or a Touchless Car Wash which again. that's different than no touch touchless. again just means there's just water. chemicals there's nothing physically. touching your car right um so yes it is. indorsed the nicer the car you have the. likelier it is you're going to use a a. laser washer or some sort of of. touchless but yeah I've never seen one.

before either and I don't know where to. find one but I'm sure they're all over. the place too I guess because they're so. much smaller than the tunnels the tunnel. version you just drive right past them. and don't even. notice well they're not doing their job. if they don't have one of those. spaghetti arm blowup thingies right and. we should say also yeah totally we. should say also though that the reason. those brushes are so like hated among. Car Wash ofici and AOS is not because. the brushes themselves are the problem. they make them with like microfiber.

today like they're really soft like you. would at a slow enough RPM you probably. enjoy like just being having those spin. around your naked body. right but it like rocks Grime dirt all. that stuff can get stuck to the ends of. these things just a little bit tiny tiny. tiny little bit and when that thing. start spinning at 100 or 200 rotations. per minute um it's going to like like. tear up the the the finish on your car.

it certainly can and so they have to. clean brushes constantly all the time. every day or a good car wash well or. else you're you're going to have. customers complaining that you just. scratch the finish on their car and so. people who are into touch list are like. let's just avoid the whole thing and. don't use bristles at all yeah and I I I. do understand mine is not the only. perspective and just because I don't get. all been out of shape about a scratch or. two on my car I know that people there. are people that are really really um.

really really into their cars and don't. want any anything like that to ever. happen to their little baby. yes for sure can we take a break I think. so all right we'll be right back and. we'll uh we'll finish up with more. Carwash goodness. [Music].

all right so most of the car washes. we've been talking about or you know the. fully automated kind uh you get in you. go you sometimes you stand I mean I stay. in my car because that's what kind of. car wash sometimes you will get out. though still and your car will just be. ghost driven and I mentioned those. little Windows they started putting. windows in we like hey some people like. to follow kids certainly love to walk. along see their car get washed people.

that love their cars like their own. children M uh might want to follow along. and watch their car get washed uh there. they brought a um a certain. entertainment. value a certain entertainment value to. it by opening up those windows and. keeping people. occupied uh with the ones you have to. sit in um they started putting in you. know flashy lights and things like that. like that has to do with getting your. car clean or operating that computer.

system it's like hey you're in your car. you may have claustrophobia you may want. to freak out so here's some fun things. to distract you right and apparently. that doesn't really work for people with. like severe claustrophobia who still for. some reason take their cars through the. car wash and I was reading like a. industry website blog post on customers. with claustrophobia it was very. heartwarming they were like no matter. what like be patient with these people. they're experiencing like essentially a. mental breakdown right now if they're. panicking but it can be a problem at car.

washes when people panic in their car. because they become CL claustrophobic in. the tunnel and they try to get out and. people have died getting pinned um not. necessarily from claustrophobia but for. misadventure essentially getting pinned. between their car and the Machinery um. and like dangerous to do that you do not. want to get out it's not just a matter. of getting wet like it you can die in. Car Wash and if you get out at the wrong. place so they they were basically saying.

like if a customer ever comes up to you. and they're acting anxious or nervous. and they ask you or one of your. employees to drive their car through the. car wash for them just say yes say sure. of course and and do it for them because. they probably have claustrophobia and. they might freak out like in the tunnel. and they also started opening tunnels up. uh a lot of the Machinery um has like. stuff that's kind of on the sides or up. higher a little more out of sight but. it's really open they'll put in Windows.

to let an outside light into the tunnel. they've tried a bunch of stuff but. apparently it still. happens I definitely remember when I was. a kid car washes were much. more claustrophobic feeling mhm I. remember they were darker and I remember. those they were the big roller brushes. that would basically like all come at. you at once uh and it's just not like. that now so I defitely can remember the. difference um I did mention Car Wash.

subscriptions being where all the dough. is and uh I've never bought one because. I'm one of those people it's like uh. sounds you know they're trying to sucker. me into something if you get your car. washed more like if you go go through. those things like once a week then. you're you're making money not making. money but you know what I mean like I. think you have to go through like three. times in a month to break even or maybe. even get ahead a little bit on most of. these services so it's it's a pretty. good deal actually I don't know if I'm.

still going to do it cuz I don't know if. I would commit to going once a week M uh. probably not but that's just like Dave. said in the article like you can. basically print money if you have a a. healthy subscription service at your at. your franchise yeah because like let's. say somebody does come through let's say. you sell subscriptions for 25 bucks and. um you sell regular car washes for 10. bucks to try to encourage people to go. with the subscription right yep somebody. washes their car three times they've. actually come out ahead but there's. plenty of people like you who get it and.

just do it that one time and don't find. time to come back in that month and. you're subsidizing or offsetting all the. people who make make sure they come back. like five times in that month and even. still what the car washes used to cost. which is like five bucks or something. before the subscription model you're. still making way more than you were. selling Individual Car Washes from the. subscription and it's apparently very. easy to talk somebody into it you just. have to say come on like a bunch and.

they cave every time and this. subscription model is so lucrative that. it has created a boom in the car wash. industry in the United States and abroad. I take it yeah because Equity firms are. like oh wait you can put in this much. money and make that much that quickly. right uh there are more than 60,000 car. washes in America is according to. Bloomberg News um that they're that is. going to be double like they're talking. up to 120,000 car washes in the next.

eight years wait what year is it six. years yeah by 2030 and uh Dave found out. this little stat um more car washes have. been built in the last decade than since. 1946 when they started doing this to. begin with combined isn't that nuts that. is nuts but you know they're basically. like a you can make like a million and a. half bucks in Revenue if you have a. pretty average subscription based car. service. and 20 I think the most recent stat Dave.

had was 2021 um only 21% of people. probably even less now are washing their. own car compared to 50% in the mid 90s. so like people are using these things. and they're making a ton of money yeah. they are so um it these things are. proliferating so much that some towns. are actually putting moratoriums on on. their um construction they're like we. got we got enough we got five we don't. need anymore there's only 5,000 people. in the whole town um and these companies.

are pushing back in some cases they're. suing the towns or whatever which seems. shoddy like the town should be able to. say no we don't want you in there um but. they the the thing that the towns are. worried about is number one these things. employ almost no one right so maybe they. bring two three jobs to town that. weren't there before um they pay very. little in taxes I'm not sure how but. they figured out the tax based stuff. they're they're just not paying a lot in. taxes and they're not giving back to the. local economy they're sucking money out.

of the local economy into the. corporations and Equity Funds that own. these car washes and they're enriching. their investors they're not having any. positive impact on the economy there and. then on top of that it's getting so. close to oversaturation or has reached. that in some places that very soon these. things are going to start being. abandoned and it's going to end up just. like malls where you overbuilt and now. all of a sudden you have these big. hulking buildings that you can't figure. out what to do with the same thing's. going to happen with a car wash what do.

you do with an abandoned car wash. building aside from demolishing it and. starting. over yeah I mean you're not you're G be. shooting Chuck Norris movies and zombie. movies in a car wash like you can an. abandon mall right exactly oh yeah that. was good stuff Invasion USA right. Invasion USA and was that day of the. dead in the mall oh I don't know I just. sort of threw that in there I'm sure I. mean not of the Comet had a mall. sequence there have been plenty of uh.

yeah um so as far as you know people. washing their car at home uh down to. probably less than 20% now uh that's. what I grew up doing the old routine uh. in the 1970s and 80s when um the. environment was a complete afterthought. when you would just turn on the hose uh. you didn't even have the the sprayer you. would just throw the hose down on the. ground and it would just run water all. over the driveway and you would get out. your your bucket and just wash your car. and rinse it I did that like every other. dumb kid in the 1980s but boy that's a.

waste of water uh even if you're using. and I don't have the exact percentage of. sprayer versus non obviously the sprayer. is going to make sure water's not moving. unless you're pulling that trigger but. you're you're using more water by a. large margin I believe 60% more than a. car wash does to wash your car uh and. then all of that water all of that Grime. and the you know engine residue and oils. and exhaust and just you know you're. washing car stuff off of your car that's.

going down into the storm sewer that. isn't treated that's just put right in. the waterways um your car wash didn't do. that they have to they have to take care. of their water they can't put it down a. lot of them reuse it um like at least a. few times uh you know they clean it and. use that gray water I think in. California they have to recycle 60% of. their wash and rinse water um but all of. them have to put it uh they can't put it. down a storm drain they have to put it. in the sewer drain where it's treated.

yeah and so those requirements like. California's laws have kind of driven. the industry to invent like more and. more efficient systems that use less and. less water and are able to reclaim more. and more water for reuse right so. they've got it down to like a really. good um Car Wash can use something like. uh I think 8 to 70 gallons per car. that's a lot of water still yeah but. still though I looked at a 2011 house.

stuff works article and they said 300 to. 400 gallons per yeah no no no I mean. it's a a huge Improvement but also and. then Dave makes a good uh Point here. like also just be wary of any kind of. weird advertising that you see in terms. of being eco-friendly because these days. you can pretty much say what you want uh. so if you see a car wash advertising you. know ask him about it maybe but I'm not. saying it's all fraudulent. but you will see a lot of car washes. that that throw words like you know.

eco-friendly or uh you know there's just. a lot of greenwashing no pun intended. that's going on right with what they're. using to wash your car and how little. water they're using and I should say I. get your point like if we're about to. start fighting resource conflicts over. water we should probably stop using it. to wash our cars it car. washes. eventally we just have dirty car I mean. look what uh I guess in Mad Max it was. gasoline but. any water shortage movie all the cards. are dirty that's right so or any.

Alexander pain movie so one of the is. that like one of his things yeah he. doesn't he's like every car is clean and. every street is wet he's like not in my. movies right I got dry streets and dirty. cars nice um so you mentioned uh sales. gimmicks uh that's the same with add-ons. too Consumer Report said the wax the. sealants the wheel cleaning. undercarriage cleaning unless you have. like salt crusted on your your. undercarriage it's not worth it it's not. worth the money I I always just had I.

think both of us are a little bit like. uh uhhuh yeah no thanks right so I've. never gotten that stuff and it always. seemed like a bit of a sucker deal but. yeah you know any kind of upsell I'm. always a little side eyed at what's your. angle pal yeah more money for you. cleaner car for me I don't think so yeah. um this is it for the episode but we. cannot go through this episode with. without mentioning the great movie Car. Wash M which that's it for me I mean we.

can just mention it and then also uh. breaking bads Car Wash two two very. famous car washes oh yeah. okay we did it uh if you want to know. more about car washes go get your car. washed and see what you think and since. I said that it's time for listener. mail uh I'm going to call this first. thing I just looked at when I picked up. my phone hey guys long time UK listener. wanting add a fact that you miss in your. dopamine episode uh you mentioned the.

role of genetics in addiction which can. often be taken as denoting an addictive. personality whilst people's. personalities may make them more. susceptible to peer pressure Etc. personality has no genetic influence in. addiction as it isn't biologically. inherited if someone is genetically. susceptible to addiction this can mean. they have more receptors in their. synaptic cfts uh or less enzymes. breaking down excess neurotransmitters. leading to heightened effects of. substances leading to more dopamine. released thought you guys might find.

this interesting always happy to dump. random knowledge on and suspecting. victims at any opportunity that is from. Steve uh. guio great name Steve we're going to. call him Steve G Steve G uh if you want. to be like Steve G and throw out some. information that we walked right past or. maybe even got wrong we love hearing. that kind of stuff we love being. corrected you can do it via email as. stuff podcast at iheartradio.com.

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