No one ever expected the world to come to a near-complete halt. But that’s what COVID-19 did. As I contemplated the timing of reopening my car washes, my first concern was about safety, of course, and providing peace-of-mind to employees, and, our wonderful customers. Already, I had made the decision to temporarily close the car washes – though not required to – as a way to go that extra mile and demonstrate leadership to my team, while continuing their paychecks.
Now, after two months of a temporary shutdown to protect the health and safety of our customers and employees, we’ve determined that it’s okay to reopen, with significant new safety and health precautions; We’ve revisited our “business as usual.” Instead of just providing the best cleaning service in the industry, we are determined to provide the soundest peace of mind by ensuring that our customer’s cars are safe, and our employees are protected.
First, we reopened our car washes with new, unprecedented, sanitation protocols, including free vehicle disinfecting against COVID-19. That means our staff administers a fog sanitizer that functions as a bactericidal, fungicidal and most important, a virucidal — meaning it kills all viruses, including Coronavirus. What we have implemented means a world of difference to our customers.
As seen in this video, the lemon-scented fog completely disinfects the entire interior of the vehicle – including areas such as under seats, upholstery, and the roof of the car. We chose this product because it’s used in airport terminals, restaurants, day-care facilities, hotels and motels, nursing homes and hospitals. What’s more, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved it.
We’ve also recently extended vehicle disinfecting free of charge to fire and police vehicles. We are determined to ensure that this critical population focus on what’s important right now – without worrying about when they’ll have time to get their vehicles cleaned.
We have implemented the interior sanitizing treatment at all of our full service car washes. We will be rolling out the disinfecting process to all of our Bliss Express Car Washes in Southern California, starting with our location in Redlands.
According to the CDC, the novel Coronavirus may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for the prevention of COVID-19.
Keeping things extra safe, at all our locations, we are disinfecting vacuum nozzles — and hands — regularly. All team members will wear eye coverings and masks and we will not be handing out dash wipes for the time being. Every other vacuum stall will be closed to ensure social distancing and we’re offering the option to sign up for membership online, rather than in-person.
We know that this crisis will pass, and we must keep both our customers and our employees healthy and safe during these uncertain times. We’re all in this together, as they say, and we take that credo seriously. I’m truly grateful for the care and input of my team as we move forward in the new normal.
Be Blissed,
The Bliss Car Wash Team
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