Pandemic keeps cart cleaner hopping

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This article was published 08/05/2020 (1770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chris Robinson isn’t home much these days.

The Steinbach resident owns and operates M & A Mobile Hot Wash, which specializes in cleaning shopping carts and bakery racks for grocery stores across Western Canada.

Demand for Robinson’s services has skyrocketed since the arrival of COVID-19. Robinson said the pandemic has doubled his typical workload. Regulars are requesting more frequent cleanings and new clients are hopping on board too.

“Right now every single phone call that I make, they book an appointment with me,” he said.

Robinson started the company six years ago after a conversation with a grocery store owner in Weyburn, Sask.

The owner said a father and son team from British Columbia used to crisscross the prairies cleaning and repairing shopping carts. It was a service appreciated by shoppers and store staff alike.

“I said to myself, ‘I think I can do that,’” Robinson recalled.

The connections he’d need to get up and running were already in place. Robinson had spent the past decade running an advertising business that made customized information display units for Co-op grocers. He still runs that business on the side.

Robinson purchased a 3,000-psi Karcher pressure washer, loaded it into the back of his pickup truck, and began driving around to Co-op stores.

The machine can superheat water to 220 C, lifting even stubborn grime.

“It cleans everything. There’s nothing that I can’t clean,” Robinson said.

Business rolled in then like it still does now, mainly through word of mouth referrals.

“The next year I went big or went home, so I went to Costco, and I went to Sobeys, and I talked to them, and they hired me. It just turned into a full-time business from there.”

Robinson normally focuses on his advertising business in the winter, then runs his cleaning business from May to October. But when the pandemic arrived, he hired a helper and hit the road early.

Robinson cleans stores and gas bars throughout B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. In the past, he’s also cleaned a few Co-op locations in the Southeast.

“What I like about my job is the fact that I get to meet new people and experience the country,” he said.

Robinson charges about $6.15 to steam-clean a shopping cart and sanitize it with food-safe detergents. A long hose allows him to reach into the bakery, where he degreases the bread racks and muffin tins.

Lately, it’s been a lot of 14-hour days and long drives in the hopes of a weekend with his children, Michael and Abigail, who contributed their initials to the company.

Though he’s busier than ever, Robinson has devised a way to give back to the communities he visits with something he calls “the COVID-19 percent discount.”

Robinson is subtracting 19 percent from his invoices during the pandemic and donating the money to a local food bank or homeless shelter. He then asks store managers to match his donation.

“I made a goal at the beginning of the year to help as many people as I can this year,” Robinson said.

Last month, he worked with Sobeys and No Frills stores in Humboldt, Sask. to arrange his first donation: $1,200 in food and gift cards for the local food bank.

“I’ve never made a donation to a food bank before, and to do that, it really warmed my heart,” Robinson said.

Last Friday, he teamed up with a Co-op marketplace in Swift Current for a $1,000 donation to the local Salvation Army.

The 45-year-old said he knows what it’s like to go through a rough patch, and wants to help those in a tight spot.

“I feel for those people that are stuck.”

Born in Toronto and raised in Vancouver, Robinson attended 13 schools in 12 years. Once, when he was fired from an oilfield job, he found himself homeless in Edmonton for six weeks.

In 1999, he left Canada to work on cruise lines. In 2003, after a stint installing cabinets in Spain, he returned to Canada, settling in Ottawa and establishing his advertising business.