I'm getting the calls again…………………"How in the hell can you raise the price of your soap!?""Your prices have become ridiculous; I'm going somewhere else!?""You ^&*(%$#>!, you're &*^%$ing me!"

Yes, we are in inflationary times again, …. Hello! … anyone remember 2008!It's been a long, long time but now we're here again.

I always ask the customers when I get these calls to name one thing that hasn't gone up in the last six months? ……. Crickets………, The last 12 months? …… Cicadas………. How about the last two years?Deafening silence.

I remind them that the last 12 years have been stable for most car wash products in the market. In fact, the only two major things that went up substantially in the last dozen or so years has been the price of water and electricity.

"Well, I don't know what I can do about it." Most of them say to me. My response – "Raise your prices too."

That's the dilemma, the conundrum, the proverbial Gordian Knot of the self-service owner but let's take a good look at this "self-imposed" dilemma.