Reinvest automation savings in the people machines cannot replace, columnist argues
An industry column makes the case that as car washes automate, the value of remaining staff rises, and operators should route savings into pay, training, and recognition.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
As tunnel automation removes more hands from the wash floor, the workers who remain carry more of what customers actually feel. That is the central argument in a recent column by Sonny's executive Anthony Analetto, published as an opinion piece in Auto Laundry News, which frames a car wash visit the way a diner picks a favorite restaurant: not for the product, but for the person who remembers them.
The piece opens with a steakhouse analogy. The writer and his wife return for a bartender who knows their order and their names, not for the ribeye. He applies the same logic to washing: customers come back for a face and a relationship, not merely a clean car.
Automation concentrates value rather than removing it
Analetto describes himself as an early adopter of labor-saving equipment, from vehicle-reading sensors to tunnels that run with a fraction of the crew once required. His point is not to slow that trend but to recognize its consequence. Fewer positions mean each remaining worker touches more of the customer experience.
His proposed response is to reinvest a portion of automation savings back into staff. That can mean higher pay, but he stresses it does not have to. Training, better scheduling, and respect for employees' weekends cost little and still signal investment. On compensation, he advises benchmarking against the strongest service jobs in the local market rather than picking a number arbitrarily, warning that top performers will leave for better-paying service work elsewhere, not just for a competing wash.
Data and recognition as retention tools
The column suggests operators point their existing performance reporting at their teams, not only at their equipment. Exception alerts, cycle counts by wash package, and performance trends can show workers what they are doing right and make the standard visible, turning vague praise into measurable proof.
Recognition, Analetto writes, is the cheapest tool an operator owns and where the whole effort begins. He recommends posting records for best hour, best day, and best week, then beating them as a team. He also points to profit-sharing structures where a strong month shows up in employee pay and a costly repair is felt across the team, arguing that such arrangements work only on trust and must reward long-term customer care rather than short-term stat padding.
Finally, he urges operators to build jobs that lead somewhere, mapping a path from entry-level tasks to shift lead to site manager, so strong employees see a future and stay long enough to become familiar faces for regulars.
Why it matters for operators
The column reframes a labor conversation many operators already face. As washes lean harder on automation and slim their crews, the marginal value of each remaining employee climbs, which raises the cost of turnover among the people who handle customer relationships. The practical takeaways are low-cost and immediately actionable: benchmark pay against the best local service jobs rather than the wash down the street, use existing reporting to reinforce good performance instead of only catching mistakes, and formalize recognition and advancement paths. For operators competing on customer loyalty in crowded markets, the argument is that equipment produces a consistent result, but repeat visits often follow a person, so directing part of automation savings toward staff is a competitive move, not just a morale gesture.
