Comment of the Day: How Does the Coin-Op Strategy Work?

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW DOES THE COIN-OP STRATEGY WORK? “Speaking of quarter car washes . . . how much money do those things make? There must be 6 of them on Studemont sitting on some pretty valuable real estate. Do they even make enough money to cover the property taxes?” [Walt, commenting on Meanwhile, at the Corner of 11th and Studewood]

5 Comment

  • I know the man who owned Soapy Sam’s on Almeda. Imagine a MB trunk full or quarters. And he had more than one.

  • Trunks full of silver are hard for the IRS man to find :)

    I would assume that these car washes were packed back in the day when the demographics of the neighborhood were a little different, hop over to my side of 45 and you will see the quarters flowing.

  • Money laundering?

  • The free market side of me says they make enough to pay the bills and turn a profit simply by evidence of their existence. If they were losing money (or doing poorly) then highest-and-best-use rules would kick in.

  • That carwash is often packed. I’ve used it quite a few times. Mostly because I grew up where there were no such things as Bubbles or hand wash/detailing places – they seem too decadent for me.

    BTW, it’s one of the better deals around – 50 cents to start it up and you get a good amount of time. The vacuums suck more money down if you really need to spend time there.