Local competition

After driving through the Appalachian snow, and seeing my car look as salt-drenched as it does during the dead of winter, I took it to a local car wash place. (Yeah, I know... wash it myself, but it's so much more convenient!) Here, almost all car wash places (outside of the worthless gas station ones) are part of the same local chain. Now, I've never patronized that chain, for the simple reason that I had head the quality was poor shortly after moving here. I have no personal experience to back up this assertion, but it does go to show the power of negative press.

Previously, I went to the car wash place closest to work, an independent business, but that place was closed down and replaced by... another branch of the local chain. So, I went down the street to another independent shop. This place was not shy about telling you what they thought about the chain; for example, they claimed the chain used recycled water, rather than fresh water, for its washes. The typical chain is very non-confrontative, so you never know what the head of McDonald's really thinks of Burger King. It was quite refreshing to see this in-your-face confrontation, of a local business more interested in getting business than being nice.