Is it Time to Add Fluff n Fold?
The decision as to whether or not to offer Fluff & Fold, or drop off laundry or dry cleaning services is a big one. Many owners wrestle with the idea for years. When they finally make the decision to do it, some find it doesn’t work and doesn’t pay. Most find they like it and wonder why they waited so long to do it.
Operators of laundries that are not attended feel that having employees there could curtail vandalism and they hope that the employees will bring in enough income in fluff and fold orders to pay for themselves. They quickly see an improvement in machine income, even if the fluff and fold end doesn’t take off as quickly as they would like.
When a laundry business does not have people on staff, doing a drop off service isn’t in the cards. It takes employees and it takes time to get things rolling and profitable.
The primary decision laundry operators need to make is the viability of the location. Is there enough space in the laundry to be adequate for a drop off service? If not, can you make changes to allow room? Is the overall area one in which a clientele can be -developed for drop off laundry service?
Are there enough middle and upper middle class folks there to support the service? Is there a pool of workers available, and can you afford them?
Generally speaking, there have to be enough potential customers for the service to make it effective.
If your laundry operation has the room and is already well attended, offering fluff & fold should be a no brainer. You are already paying people to be there anyway. Any cash you take in helps to mitigate those costs. The expenses of doing drop off laundry, when you exclude labor, is minimal. Other costs for doing the service, such as tickets and wrapping materials is so small as to be incidental.
It is when you do not have employees that the idea of offering such a service becomes -debatable. Because you can’t do it without having people on staff to perform the service required by the public. It is here that your big decisions must be made.
Find space for the service at the front of the laundry, if you can, because that’s the best place to do it. You may have to change and relocate some equipment. Many operators have found room when they upgraded older -dryers and installed stacked units. All that is needed is about thirty square feet, just enough room to store customer bundles and a few supplies.
When you have enough usable space available, -doing a drop off dry cleaning service is a natural function to add to fluff & fold. It does take more floor space, but it offers more profit per square foot of space than any other service a coin laundry usually offers. It does require arrangements with the cleaner who will be doing the service. Most areas have one or more wholesale establishments who will contract with a laundry for the service.
One thing to check for is whether or not the lease on your premises allows you to offer the drop off cleaning. Is there someone else that the landlord has an exclusive arrangement with to perform dry cleaning in your shopping center?
The paperwork for offering either -service is quite simple. To do fluff & fold, you’ll need preprinted three part tickets available either at Vend Rite or from local laundry supply houses throughout the west. These are sequentially numbered. One is the customer copy and one stays with the order as it is being processed. The third copy is for a control, and is attached to the bundle when assembled. There should also be a notebook or register kept to show the date in, out and amount of money needed to complete the order. Keeping good records is needed to insure honesty by employees and to give the owner good management data.
For cleaning, the service provider usually has a system for doing all the necessary paperwork. They normally provide it for you. All the workers need to do is follow it.
Advertising and promoting a new laundry service such as fluff & fold or drop off dry cleaning is really a pretty simple thing. Most of the new customers for the new services are already doing laundry there. When they hear about having their wash done for them at the low drop off prices, many are quick to take advantage of the service. Many of your existing customers are already doing dry cleaning. All you need do is convince them to do it along with business they already do with you.
The already existing clientele are also one of the best sources for finding attendants. They are already familiar with the business, plus they know how to do laundry. Over time, there is an almost limitless supply of customers who look for work.
The choice of adding fluff & fold along with drop off cleaning should not be made lightly. There is an investment to be made, and it will take time to get the money back. Look at it as an investment over time. It’s an even more serious decision if you are presently running your laundry without workers, so you should look at offering the services over six months, at a minimum. One year would be preferable, because success takes time.
Over time, fluff & fold can become very important for long term success of business, as having attendants has been proven to make a laundry itself more successful. Of course the money brought in by the services adds to your bottom line, but having personnel on site will draw in more customers too.
There is little scientific evidence backing it up, but for years people in the industry have said that having attendants at a laundry will increase its cash flow by twenty percent. That is the money that comes out of the -machines. Now add cash flow from fluff & fold, drop off cleaning, even ironing and you -really have a strong -motivation to investigate adding drop off laundry services.
Assume a laundry doing $8,000 monthly would soon do $1,600 more because of being attended. There will be labor costs -covering eight hours daily six days a week. At $10 per hour it comes to $2,400 each month. You can see that in time the owner of the laundry is at risk for about $800 if they take in no fluff & fold money. But they will, especially if the owner is aggressive about building it up.
Yes there is a risk, but it seems to be a very reasonable one to anyone who has faith in his business location. Do an analysis then make the decision. It might prove profitable.
Date:-05/28/2011
By:-Admin
