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Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

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Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#401

Post by thaumasiotes »

dgoldstein0 wrote: post #380
thaumasiotes wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There’s no need to limit land value taxes based on density as that’s what’s giving land its value. That can't be the case; density is an amenity and is, by definition, not part of the value of the land.

The point of land value tax is to charge the same taxes on an empty lot as to a building close by on the same sized lot. Under regular property taxes a speculator might buy a building, tear it down, and sit on the vacant lot for years, as a vacant lot is worth less and so lowers their taxes. With a land value tax they pay the same money either way, which may be higher overall - the general expectation is denser citie…

The problem with your comment is that you're appealing to a phrase, "land value tax", that isn't original to you. The definition you want to give to it is not compatible with the definition that everyone else uses. (And indeed, isn't even connected to the concept of "land value", making it unclear why you'd want to use those words.)

This allows you to avoid the logical inconsistency in what counts as land value that most proponents commit, at the minor cost that nothing you say has any meaning. What happens when I try to respond to your new point of view and you reply that, actually, you mean something different by "money" than what is normally understood?

What would you think if you voted to establish a "land value tax" and the tax that was put in place comported with the ordinary definition, instead of yours?

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#402

Post by TylerE »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #358
TylerE wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s anything like the 3 that have opened in my town of 80k in literally the last year it’s because they’re huuuuuuge. The wash itself is 100+ft long, and tons of parking, vacuums, etc. Just one of those things takes up the space of 3 or 4 normal gas stations. The crazy thing is that after a small wave of initial enthusiasm, they hardly ever even have customers.

If they don't have customers wouldn't we expect them to shut down at some point?

Then we get to look at ugly shell of it for years. Commercial real estate is not exactly booming. Most of those places are probably borderline superfund sites with all the chemicals that leach into the soil, anyway.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#403

Post by fergie »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #346
KingMachiavelli wrote: post #181

I really hate sounding like a broken record but this is just another instance of how low property taxes and the absence of land value taxes massively benefits low-value businesses. The real business of car washes is real estate, it's profitable enough to get 3-4x leverage with a low interest loan. TBH I think real estate used to have high information asymmetry between local residents and large investors; low property…

> The real business of car washes is real estate. Is there any evidence of this? Companies like Mister Carwash lease nearly all their properties and when they purchase plots seem to alway try to do a sale and lease. Their latest results claim they run 436 sites and lease 427: https://ir.mistercarwash.com/news-events/press-releases/deta...

Probably Mister Carwash (the franchise organisation) is leasing out locations to its franchisees, in which case the whole business is absolutely about real-estate.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#404

Post by gotbeans »

brhsagain wrote: post #400
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a profitable business is probably one that's serving the community well This argument reminds of the argument googlers to explain why placing paid ads ahead of organic results is better for the user: they say thay if someone can pay more for an ad than means that can get more money from the user, and therefore the user likes it more. Lol No, profit is profit, it doesn't mean anything else.

What’s wrong with that argument? Doesn’t getting more money from the user mean that the user is choosing to pay more, which reveals their preference?

No, it does not. That the users end up paying more in no way means or should be implied that they _choose_ to pay more.

If cheaper options are made less accessible or clearer, and customers are intentionally mislead to more expensive products, as a result they will pay more too.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#405

Post by higeorge13 »

It’s funny that in Greece we have a similar situation with take away coffee places. There are just too many almost on every corner. And to make it relevant to the article, the last couple years people open coffee-hybrid businesses, like barber+cafe, car wash+cafe, and so on. :-)

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#406

Post by makoto12 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #298
chaorace wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If torn jeans can be a fashion statement, then so too can an unwashed car. Let them have this, why don't you?

I'm perfectly happy to let them have this, I was just curious why someone would deliberately neglect basic maintenance. It's kinda foreign to me, and frankly I'm towards the lazy end of the motivation scale. Fashion statement is actually a pretty good explanation, thank you.

it's not maintenance if it's for aesthetic purposes. unless there's a serious concern for rust then i don't think it classifies.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#407

Post by helsinkiandrew »

fergie wrote: post #403
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real business of car washes is real estate. Is there any evidence of this? Companies like Mister Carwash lease nearly all their properties and when they purchase plots seem to alway try to do a sale and lease. Their latest results claim they run 436 sites and lease 427: https://ir.mistercarwash.com/news-events/press-releases/deta...

Probably Mister Carwash (the franchise organisation) is leasing out locations to its franchisees, in which case the whole business is absolutely about real-estate.

Except they don’t do franchises and the financial statement says they’re paying rent not receiving it.

https://ir.mistercarwash.com/company-information/faq

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#408

Post by logifail »

dboreham wrote: post #131
logifail wrote: post #89

> There are four full-service car washes in town, with a fifth on the way; three are bunched up on a mile-and-a-half stretch of Route 14. Social media complaints about car wash overkill spurred town leaders to take action. Four (or even five) doesn't sound that much? What's the actual problem here? How is a local politican supposed to determine what is the correct density of any particular type of service within her…

The lack of shuttles from those hotels to the terminal seems like a bug though.

> The lack of shuttles from those hotels to the terminal

https://www.heathrow.com/content/dam/heathrow/web/common/doc...

Admittedly, the local bus services around the airport which used to be free of charge (prior to 2021) are now chargable, but at less than £2 per trip the services are hardly expensive and are fairly fast and very frequent ... unlike the Hotel Hoppa services which seem primarily designed to rip off unsuspecting visitors.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#409

Post by [deleted] »

gotbeans wrote: post #404
brhsagain wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with that argument? Doesn’t getting more money from the user mean that the user is choosing to pay more, which reveals their preference?

No, it does not. That the users end up paying more in no way means or should be implied that they _choose_ to pay more. If cheaper options are made less accessible or clearer, and customers are intentionally mislead to more expensive products, as a result they will pay more too.

[deleted]

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#410

Post by kmacdough »

brhsagain wrote: post #400
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a profitable business is probably one that's serving the community well This argument reminds of the argument googlers to explain why placing paid ads ahead of organic results is better for the user: they say thay if someone can pay more for an ad than means that can get more money from the user, and therefore the user likes it more. Lol No, profit is profit, it doesn't mean anything else.

What’s wrong with that argument? Doesn’t getting more money from the user mean that the user is choosing to pay more, which reveals their preference?

*In a healthy competitive market with a consumer-base that's well educated on potential consequences of their purchases.

I do agree with the principle that a space-hogging marginally profitable business is detrimental to a community. Just that the opposite is not necessarily true; profitability does not imply beneficiality.

Humans do not fit the model of "rational self-interested agent" commonly applied for economic models. Gambling and addictive substances are two hugely profitable business sectors that would not exist if it we're remotely accurate.

I'll also preempt someone's inevitable assertion that the burden of verification should lie on the consumer. In informationally antagonistic environment, it's absurd to expect each individual to individually vet every service and product. That's a phenomenal waste of labor that favors only well-funded organizations practiced in deception. Any rational group would pool resources and have a single org do the research and share it with everyone. Oops we've reinvented a government.

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