Earlier quoted context omitted.
The show was written in eary 2000s - I seriously doubt many people pay cash anymore
But people don't have to pay cash, the "pretend people" pay cash.
If you pay with card there will be an electronic trace.
Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
41–50 of 615 posts
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#42Did the serie Breaking Bad inspire a trend, showing a seemingly innocent/efficient way to clean money ?
Wow. The Term has been in use since the early 1900's
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#43In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway I guess it's too hard on the storm drains to have soap and dirt and stuff going down them Or maybe city council is just in some kind of racket with car wash owners or something But either way, that's why we have so many car washes here... And it sucks ass
I think generally it should not be allowed. A big component of soap is phosphates, which promote algae growth so you really don't want it in your rivers.
Some cities have combined or separated sewer systems. Even if combined, it may be designed to overflow during heavy rain, so it's not a guarantee that car wash water with dirt, soap and oil will not go into into a stream somewhere although in that case you're also sending literal shit there. Also when combined, there may still be old infrastructure that drains to a stream or river so a blanket ban is a good idea.
Typically a car wash would be required to have an oil-water separator (with maintenance records and occasional checks) and discharge effluent to the sanitary sewer. Not sure about everywhere but in Vancouver (I have experience working in water treatment there) you also need to have the car wash covered and send collected rainwater to the storm sewer.
Perhaps there could be a middle ground where you're allowed to wash in your driveway but only with a specific soap, and not allowed to degrease your engine bay. There's basically no way to enforce that though,.
Also might as well note here that in Vancouver storm drains that connect to the storm sewer have little fish stenciled by them.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#44Money Laundering, rings a bell ?
Hard to do since most of these are credit card only now. They are popping up because it is good, mostly passive income if you are in the right area.
"Credit card only" is a sure sign of money laundering: it's a way to game the cash vs credit ratio.
(Edit: maybe "sure sign" is a little bit hasty, but I think the other possible reasons for a "credit card only" sign are actually worse morally than money laundering)
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#45Year after Year, I kept thinking this was a fad and would crash. But years go by, and now they are calling it a 'boom'. 14 billion dollar market. For Car Washes? Isn't this an indicator that economy is fine, people are fine, since they can spend this type of money on car washes? How can something this worthless be booming, if people are struggling.
My local car was has a $20/month subscription for unlimited washes. These aren't exactly luxury services--they're priced similar to a Netflix plan. If you have a car, it's worth it if you value our time at all.
But if you value your time, why would you wash your car multiple times per month?
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#46Why so many car washes? Why are there so many cars? Because our country is ultimately designed and developed by urban sprawl madmen with a highway fetish and zero vision for a better way for humans to live and operate. I love how we hyper fixate on stupid questions about car washes while pretending like car dependency isn't the problem.
Do you think it's that orchestrated? I think it's more: evolution / chaos / emergent behavior.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#47I would have assumed its from the rise of gig workers using private cars. Uber/Lyft need to keep cars pretty clean to not be dinged stars, and even package and food delivery can create more mess which may require cleaning (but mostly taxi service I think). I skimmed the article and don’t see mention of that?
But if I can avoid buying a car because Uber, then number of washes goes down or is at least balanced.
In London at least, Uber is an alternative to public transport (and taxis obv), not to car ownership
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#48Did the serie Breaking Bad inspire a trend, showing a seemingly innocent/efficient way to clean money ?
The show was written in eary 2000s - I seriously doubt many people pay cash anymore
Interesting observation. I do use a car wash, not frequently enough as my car is more often dirty than clean, but I have only ever paid cash! For context, I currently live in Austria.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#49In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway I guess it's too hard on the storm drains to have soap and dirt and stuff going down them Or maybe city council is just in some kind of racket with car wash owners or something But either way, that's why we have so many car washes here... And it sucks ass
In my city, the mayor and his family own the largest chain of carwashes in the county and surrounds...
... and the city spends thousands a year on billboards, vinyl printed banners across main roads... "Save water - use a car wash!"
Ugh.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#50Year after Year, I kept thinking this was a fad and would crash. But years go by, and now they are calling it a 'boom'. 14 billion dollar market. For Car Washes? Isn't this an indicator that economy is fine, people are fine, since they can spend this type of money on car washes? How can something this worthless be booming, if people are struggling.
My local car was has a $20/month subscription for unlimited washes. These aren't exactly luxury services--they're priced similar to a Netflix plan. If you have a car, it's worth it if you value our time at all.
Only if you insist on a spotless car… we haven't actually cleaned ours in years to basically no detriment, and we're im the Central Valley. I'm inclined to agree with gp.