Customer Belonings

M

MarksDetail

New member
I have been searching for 10 gallon plastic bags that can be used for customers belongings. Any suggestions on where to find these?



Thanks in advance!
 
Another question I should ask is what others are using to hold everything that is taken from a customers vehicle prior to cleaning.
 
i usually put everything in the trunk (klennex boxes or kids toys... ect) and the small stuff (pens notebooks where i found them). i tried looking into those bags but they were supprisingly expensive
 
Plastic grocery / WalMart bags. Easiest way, and costs you nothing since you get them anyways when you purchase stuff. Also good for the environment since you're reusing the bags instead of throwing them out.
 
WAS said:
Plastic grocery / WalMart bags. Easiest way, and costs you nothing since you get them anyways when you purchase stuff. Also good for the environment since you're reusing the bags instead of throwing them out.
Click to expand...



Agree walmart plastic bags work great. For large stuff go to the dollar store and buy a box of cheep trash bags.
 
Ask customer to remove all personal belongings from the vehicle prior to detailing it. Tell them if anything remains, you will be skipping the areas where the stuff is at.
 
I'm not a professional detailer, but was looking for large zip locks for something unrelated. 14 x 20 Plain Zip Lock Bags, 2.0 Mil thick were $185/1000 bags and free shipping at Customzip.com.



I didn't think that was too awfully bad. 1,000 bags should last quite a while!
 
mini1 said:
Ask customer to remove all personal belongings from the vehicle prior to detailing it. Tell them if anything remains, you will be skipping the areas where the stuff is at.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and then that customer never comes back to you. Honestly, I probably see interiors 100x as dirty as you guys do, and I still pull the personal belongings. It takes less than 5 minutes to do. I've had vehicles where the customer's belongings filled (literally) 4 normal size WalMart bags, and it still only took a few minutes. That's why a customer brings their vehicle to you, so you take care of those kinds of things for them. If they were pulling all their personal belongings themselves, then why wouldn't they just vacuum and clean up the interior themselves ?



Not to mention, part of the job (detailing) is removing "items that don't belong" from the vehicle. That's part of what an interior detail is all about. Whether those "items" are empty McD's fries containers or gravel, you're getting paid to remove them.
 
Another vote for Grocery Bags. I have a large garbage bag full of them for occasions like this. Speaking of which, and not to hijack a thread, but I noticed some charge for clutter removal. I don't do this, but is it something I should look into incorporating in my cost since it doesn't take all that long (usually 5-10 minutes).
 
Street5927 said:
I noticed some charge for clutter removal. I don't do this, but is it something I should look into incorporating in my cost since it doesn't take all that long (usually 5-10 minutes).
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I mean, where does it end ? It's like saying you're going to adjust your prices because you have to tape up two tail pipes instead of one on a polishing job. There's definitely a time and place to change extra, but at some point, it gets rediculous, at least IMO.
 
WAS said:
I don't think so. I mean, where does it end ? It's like saying you're going to adjust your prices because you have to tape up two tail pipes instead of one on a polishing job. There's definitely a time and place to change extra, but at some point, it gets rediculous, at least IMO.
Click to expand...



Excellent....thanks for the input, and I will just keep doing things the way I do and not charge.
 
Get some reusable grocery bags made with your logo on them put all of their belongings in there and it could be a constant reminder of you and your company :D



You can get them made for as little as a dollar a bag...:)
 
Highrev1 said:
Get some reusable grocery bags made with your logo on them put all of their belongings in there and it could be a constant reminder of you and your company :D



You can get them made for as little as a dollar a bag...:)
Click to expand...

Where can you get them for as little as a dollar a bag ? Best I've seen is ~$5.00 each plus shipping, unless you're buying 1000+
 
WAS said:
Where can you get them for as little as a dollar a bag ? Best I've seen is ~$5.00 each plus shipping, unless you're buying 1000+
Click to expand...



Just get some blank bags which you can get cheap, print out your logo on some iron on paper and make them yourself. When I priced them out my friend hooked me up with .99 a bag :o
 
Highrev1 said:
Just get some blank bags which you can get cheap, print out your logo on some iron on paper and make them yourself. When I priced them out my friend hooked me up with .99 a bag :o
Click to expand...

Ah, OK, making them yourself, I can see that kind of pricing in that case.
 
WAS said:
Yeah, and then that customer never comes back to you. Honestly, I probably see interiors 100x as dirty as you guys do, and I still pull the personal belongings. It takes less than 5 minutes to do. I've had vehicles where the customer's belongings filled (literally) 4 normal size WalMart bags, and it still only took a few minutes. That's why a customer brings their vehicle to you, so you take care of those kinds of things for them. If they were pulling all their personal belongings themselves, then why wouldn't they just vacuum and clean up the interior themselves ?



Not to mention, part of the job (detailing) is removing "items that don't belong" from the vehicle. That's part of what an interior detail is all about. Whether those "items" are empty McD's fries containers or gravel, you're getting paid to remove them.
Click to expand...





Great point!:becky:



I would like to add:

Removing all personal items is only the 1st 50%



The other 50% is RE-ORGANIZING the personal stuff so that the clean-up/detailed interior looks tidy and organised. I hv a female employee do this, as she is especially detailed.



1. All kinds of receipts. These are separated into fuel receipts, toll receipts and general purchases. Each mini-stack is stappled and put into a small Ziploc bag. Makes it much easier for owner to submit to his company for claims. Takes time, but my customers love it!!!





2. Other small little knick-knacks.

Coins, pens etc are all reorganised.



3. Shoes.

Normally, I see some shoes in the trunk.

If the shoes are really dirty and grimy, I get the same employee to wipe it with a damp cloth and some mild products, so that it looks much more presentable. Customers are always pleasantly surprised by this!

Hey, if I'm good enough to mega-detail his/her expensive ride, a pair of shoes is nothing!:target:



4. Name cards.

I hv lots of empty, old name card plastic boxes, and i place all the random name cards into 1 plastic box.



If there are too many things in the trunk, I'll get a box and put everything inside. The objective is to give an organised, uncluttered look to a detailed interior. Makes a huge difference, especially to some errr...messy customers:becky:



In another thread, we talked about customers who often forget the detailer. The above re-organising of customer's personal stuff makes a professional high-end detailer different, and creates a most memorable 1st impression in customers' minds.
 
For something cheap to put them in, Coscto kitchen trash bags are about $10 for 200. They are thick enough and large enough for almost anything. I personally just have old plastic grocery bags that I use.
 
WAS said:
Where can you get them for as little as a dollar a bag ? Best I've seen is ~$5.00 each plus shipping, unless you're buying 1000+
Click to expand...



You can get 100 printed tote bags for about $1.35/ea I'm sure there are lots of design restrictions and charges for multi-color,etc., but would be a great extra for loyal customers that would be reused and possibly provide a little advertisement..
 
I trust that you pros who have helpers/employees/etc. all have policies in place regarding, uhm..."special" stuff that might turn up. People leave the [darndest] stuff lying around sometimes, stuff you'd never expect they could forget :rolleyes: From injury to legal issues, better to have given this some thought beforehand than think "coulda/woulda/shoulda".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top