Self-Service Towels
Offer Customers a Choice
By Becky Kube

White paper towel.

Triple-washed 100-percent-cotton towels. The purpose of multiple laundering is to remove the sizing applied in the manufacturing process to keep the cotton strands from catching fire during weaving. It's critical to remove the sizing because it coats the cotton fibers and keeps them from absorbing moisture. Full-service washes call this "breaking in the towel."

According to the International Carwash Association's 2003 "Cost of Doing Business" survey, 96 percent of those car wash owners who provide vending as an additional profit center sell
towels. Every type of towel - from paper to microfiber - is available at the self-service car wash these days. The best news is that most manufacturers conform to the size constraints associated with stainless steel vending machines and use plastic bags or cellophane to wrap towels used in spiral vendors.

PAPER

The original self-service vending towels were paper or synthetic fiber and sold for 25 cents to 50 cents. Part of the reason the vending price was so low was that coin mechanism technology had not advanced to the point where the mechanism could accept more than two quarters. Paper towels remain a big seller today, vary in size from 18.5" x 16.5" to 20" x 40" and vend from 25 cents to $1 depending on the fabric, color, and size.

The paper towel's biggest advantages are that everyone can afford one and that the customer already knows what the product is without a lot of information having to be included on the decal. The disadvantage to paper towels is that they have no perceived value after use and often end up on the ground, adding to bay and parking lot clean-up. Also, the cost of labor and time required to keep the vending machine full versus the profit margin may raise questions about the cost effectiveness of the product, especially with the advent of expensive electronic vending machines.

CLOTH

Mechanical coin mechanisms that can be adjusted up to $3 entered the market in the late 1980s. This advance in technology ushered in cloth towels and provided operators with the opportunity to make more money on a vending item. Cloth towels - 100 percent cotton, lint free, and nicknamed "huck" towels - vend from $1 to $1.50. These towels are traditionally blue but are also available in green and white. An operator may want to select a towel color that ties in with and helps advertise the colors or logo that the car wash uses.

Because the towels are 100 percent cotton, customers keep the towels and throw them into the trunk of their car for later use at home or as a rag when working on their car. The biggest disadvantage to cloth towels initially was convincing customers that the towel really was cloth and convincing operators that customers would pay $1 for any vending item. It's not uncommon today to find both paper and cloth towels offered at self-service locations.

TERRY

It wasn't long after huck towels were introduced for vending that terry towels appeared for the same purpose. Terrycloth towels are also sold for at least $1. Self-service operators that couldn't previously be convinced to try a cloth vending towel were quickly persuaded when terry towels arrived. Terrycloth towels absorb faster than huck towels, but terry cloth lints. Customer preference rules with cloth towels. The result is that many car washes sell both items because each has a "different" set of customers.

DIAPERS

Ultra soft, thick 100-percent cotton diapers were the next self-service vending towels. These are designed for waxing and polishing and vend for $2. The diaper was the first vended towel to break the $2 price barrier. Because the diaper is so thick, it totally fills the stainless steel shelf in the vendor and requires a wide spiral. The motorcycle owner is one of the best customers for diapers.

MICROFIBER

Microfiber towels are the newest vending towels to be found at self-service car washes. Comprised of polyester and polyamide, these manmade towels can absorb anywhere from seven to 10 times their weight in water. The ratio of polyester to polymide dictates the thickness and absorbency of microfiber towels. Microfiber towels have between 70,000 and 90,000 fibers per square inch. A single strand of microfiber is so small that it is almost invisible to the naked eye. The microscopic wedge-shaped fibers scoop, lift, and trap dirt and water without abrasive scrubbing. These towels are lint free and work well wet or dry. They can be one-sided or two-sided.

It is important to watch the size of microfiber towels if they are to be vended because a quality 12" x 16" towel will completely fill the shelf of a stainless steel vendor. This is the best towel for your car if you need to clean something that you can't or don't want to use chemicals on. Leather is a great example. Vending prices for microfiber towels start at $2 which could be a disadvantage to customers at some locations.

As with all vending items, the decal has to sell the product. Analyze the decal, determine if it attracts the customer's attention and clearly lists the towel's benefits. Offer your customer more than one vending towel option. Towels have different uses and different customers are comfortable with different price ranges.

Becky Kube is co-owner and president of Culpeper, VA-based Q.B. Enterprises Inc. You can reach Becky via e-mail at becky@quickdrytowels.com.