Issue No 69 | 01 September 2000 | |
SatireAnother windscreen washer joins millionaire listBy The Chaser
SYDNEY, Monday: After just a year in his new job, John Samuels has added his name to the burgeoning list of enterprising Australians who have made their fortunes by offering partial car-washing facilities in convenient inner city road-side locations.
Until the mid 1990s, Australians were only able to attend to the arduous tasking of cleaning windscreens at service stations or at home. But with the rise of the "Washerati", since 1998 Australia has experienced a revolution in road-side cleaning service convenience. Speaking from his modern, sparse "office" at the corner of City Rd and Broadway in Sydney, Samuels puts his success down to a number of factors. "Location is obviously a big factor" he says. "It's not that difficult to find a busy intersection where no other human being would think of working - outside the sex industry, of course. But once you've started working successfully, the trick is defending your territory. Any junkie within a two kilometre radius seems to think that your business is fair game. In my experience, the best way of dealing with this is violence and intimidation". Samuels also put careful thought into his customer service policy. "Most people in traffic are irritable and frustrated. The last place they want to be is stuck at my intersection and they could really do with a bit of light relief, and maybe a smile. But that's not my job. I do windscreens, that's it". In accordance with industry practice, he has employed an aggressive marketing strategy. This initially involves offering his services by walking down the row of vehicles at the red light waving the squeegee in a menacing fashion. Occasionally a motorist voluntarily engages the washer's services, but more often than he takes time to identify a target vehicle and then starts cleaning while the driver tries to avoid eye contact. Samuels adds, "It's important that you mouth the word 'free' - though you don't actually say it of course. Then you do the windscreen quite slowly, looking as desperate as possible. The idea is to make people concerned that you'll lash out if they don't give you something, and more often than not it works". With this simple, commercial approach Samuels says he has made just over a million dollars over the last twelve months, giving him an after tax income of just over a million dollars. "Now I can buy a higher grade of heroin" says Samuels, who's been able to start dealing as well. In fact, Samuels' business is so successful that he is looking to raise money through float on the stockmarket later this year. The shares will be $1 or $2, and instead of issuing a prospectus, Samuels will simply force people to buy shares at traffic lights. But success hasn't gone to his head - Samuels has been careful not to let expenses blow out. "Just because I'm making a lot of money, doesn't mean I'm going to start washing. And I figure if I got here by using the same flithy bucket of water all day long, why risk changing the formula?"
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Interview: Global Warrior International unions have won a game of political football with soccer`s hierarchy - and Aussie Tim Noonan is behind the victory. History: King of Broken Hill John Shields recounts the colourful life of William Sydney 'Shorty' O'Neil (1903-2000) and his place in the rich history of a remarkable town. International: History Repeats At Firestone More than 8,000 workers, members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), are set to strike at nine Bridgestone/Firestone plants in the United States at midnight tonight. Politics: The Past We Need To Understand In his Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture Malcolm Fraser retraces the path of Australian race relations and laments the terrible impasse we've reached. Unions: Economic Democracy Sharan Burrow on making Working Australia's money talk and reforming corporate culture for the 21st Century. Satire: Another windscreen washer joins millionaire list SYDNEY, Monday: After just a year in his new job, John Samuels has added his name to the burgeoning list of enterprising Australians who have made their fortunes by offering partial car-washing facilities in convenient inner city road-side locations. Review: No Long Term Much political commentary is about the global marketplace and the use of new technologies as hallmarks of the new capitalism. Richard Sennett investigates another dimension of change: new ways of organising time, particularly working time.
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