Stan Caplan: Looking at liquid carbon dioxide

THIRD OF A SERIES

This is part 1 of the conclusion of a series of articles profiling the "alternative" solvents to the two "conventional" solvents, perchloroethylene (Class IV) and petroleum (Class II flash point of 100° F to 139° F and Class III-A flash point of 140°F to 199° F). Class IIIB has a flash point of 200°F and beyond. Class IV is non-flammable, non-combustible.

Covered first in the series was Rynex (June) followed by GreenEarth (July). This article is the first of two that will examine liquid carbon dioxide (CO2).

CO2 has always been thought of as carbon dioxide and the natural product that is given out when we humans, and animals, exhale. We always knew that humans and animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, and we always knew that all plants did the reverse: They take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Therefore, it stands to reason that both carbon dioxide and oxygen are the two most abundant element in the world.

CO2 has always been thought of as in carbonated water and other beverages. It is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas which is inert (non-ionic). When converted from a gas to a liquid, it becomes an effective solvent for use in drycleaning of fabrics, leathers and furs. This gas solvent is non-flammable and non-toxic. The commercial production of carbon dioxide, therefore, begins with CO2 in a gaseous state.

Liquid CO2 is produced by cooling and compressing carbon dioxide gas under (750 psi) pressure. The liquid is then a clear, transparent fluid that flows readily at temperatures between +87.8°F and -69.9°F, and it is normally delivered at 0°F under 300 psi. Below -69.9°F, liquid CO2 freezes to form solid carbon dioxide, more commonly known as "dry ice."

At room temperature, CO2 can also exist as a liquid if kept in a closed system at an elevated pressure. When blended with certain additives and, or, a detergent, it becomes a viable drycleaning solvent. This liquid drycleaning solvent produces no hazardous waste itself, and the waste can be disposed of in traditional landfills, or flushed down the drain (as in the wetcleaning process).

However, the detergent additive is flammable and combustible: one detergent has a flash point of 177°F, the other detergents have flash points of about 200°F.

The MSDS for each detergent should be consulted with fire and health authorities to determine its safe handling and storage. However, since the flash points of these detergent are considerably above the 140°F minimum of Class IIIA solvents, it is very doubtful that they would be denied normal disposal methods as still residue. It is therefore recommended that any chemicals used for prespotting be flushed out and the garment dried thoroughly to avoid making it a part of still residue.

Next month this series will continue with details on solvent cost, cleaning performance and cleaning procedures.

Note: As with Rynex and GreenEarth solvents, this article should not be considered as an endorsement by this author. These articles were reported based on information received by mail and personal interviews. Both negative and positive features have been reported.

Ray Colucci: How the survivors beat hard times

PART THREE

The age of perc was upon us in force by the early 1950s and for the next few years we saw an onslaught of competitors.

We all made a living. I remember the claim,"You can make a fortune in the drycleaning business!" What they didn't say was, "...if you started with a fortune!"

The problem was that there were a lot of lousy cleaners who got started under-capitalized, under-trained and under-skilled, but mostly they were just poor business people.

Meanwhile, the research chemists were coming up with new garments that defied detection, with plastic buttons and even plastic zippers that melted in cleaning. The labels told you nothing. Imagine a customer bringing in a swimsuit that had a label that clearly said, "Do Not Use Water. Dry Clean Only."

The first wave
The first wave of poor products in the early 1960s came from coin-op drycleaners. They lasted about as long as the machines took to fall apart, a scant two or three years -- the time it took to complete the last payment.

The manufacturers' names sounded like Who's Who in corporate America: GE, Westinghouse, Norge, RCA, Whirlpool, Philco Bendix, Vamco, Detrex. That's not much different than the corporate giants of today such as Woolite, Clorox, Dial and Procter & Gamble who are promoting the "miracle" home care products.

The coin-op drycleaning locations touted, "Do it yourself! 8 pounds for $2."

Wow!

What they didn't tout was the transfer of lint, unwearable garments due to odor, (they had to be hung on a line for a day, before being worn), no pressing, no stain removal, but plenty of shrinkage and dye transfer.

Most coin-op drycleaning stores closed up, or tried to go professional. This brought on more competition, which boosted the smart operators who knew how to improve their quality and service, and would charge fairly for it, and who knew how management works.

The only value in coin-op cleaning was for garments that required no finishing, such as wool skirts, sweaters, or a child's snowsuit.

A wake up call
The real wake up call came in the late 1960s: "Wash n' Wear."

I don't know the exact mortality rate of drycleaners, but by the early 1970s at least 20 to 30 percent of the marginal operators had gone under. I said marginal, meaning those who never maintained their equipment or took an interest in properly managing the business.

The craze was shirts, polyester and double knit suits and trousers. I remember accounts that had been doing 5,000 shirts a week that went down to a 1,000.

The same was true for drycleaning where you could hand rinse a shirt or trouser, hang it to drip dry, and have it ready to wear in the morning -- with permanent creases.

The double knits also had a shorter life span. They snagged and offered no warmth in winter.

Eventually, wool came to the rescue, so a reasonable combination evolved. The same was true for cotton, which permitted shirts to breathe, offered comfort and provided longer wear.

Cleaners evolve
This whole evolution made good operators better, and increased the need for professional service with expert finishing, exactly what the customer demanded. It was the start and the advance of wetcleaning, that soon became an "art." Wetcleaning has never been a secret, but it emphasized the need for productive finishing.

The evolution also brought the resurgence of "service," in particular, "route service." Here again, the progressive operator went out and got the volume that was needed.

Where? By having unlimited route service. Most plants operate in a two- to three-mile radius. Routes offered a door to any new neighborhood, the more affluent the better.

Some operators also took on the commercial aspect such as uniform maintenance, drapery cleaning and rehanging, carpet cleaning, gown and tuxedo rental, and soliciting office, dormitories, and military bases.

The need has always been there, and these changing times demand that the present day drycleaner give customers what they want most! The two-income family is a reality and anyone offering service to the home is a welcome addition.

Will there be pitfalls and problems in the future? A quick look at the record tells us that perc consumption has dropped over 65 percent in the last 10 years! The new solvents look promising, but the equipment to use them can cost up to three times the price of present equipment.

The research chemist is hard at work creating light-weight fabrics that reflect sunlight and cool in summer offer warmth in winter and are truly washable! Not too far in the future there may be clothes that are both priced competitively and disposable.

The business man or woman will absolutely survive in this business because they are business people. Whether the plant of tomorrow will look and work the same as it does now is unlikely.

You can be sure of one thing. It's the millennium and it's time to support your organizations, subscribe to every publication, attend every meeting and convention and be informed. If you prepare and respond, the changes will be in your favor.

Don Desrosiers: Before you buy shirt equipment

Last month, we talked about comparing your shirt equipment to the beautiful, brand new equipment that you see at the trade shows.

If you feel that you do need new shirt pressing equipment, I hope it is because your present equipment is beyond repair or the cost to repair it is prohibitive. You have had independent observers look at your machines and you've honestly decided that it isn't worth repairing.

Or maybe you're adding shirt equipment for the first time.

Or maybe you just want to spend money on new equipment because it is nice... and new. And it will boost the morale of your shirt pressers.

So what should you buy?

Many people expect me to be a "Unipress Man" or an "Ajax Man." Sorry. I am neither. My preferences are not brand-related at all. I have some important guidelines, though. Probably things that you hadn't thought of.

Keep something in mind: Every shirt unit on the market will do a good job.

Development of new shirt equipment has been focused on what other needs a customer has. The desire to press a shirt properly has been a "given." All the manufacturers know that you want that. They have, for example, focused their development on reducing the footprint required for new equipment.

This, perhaps, will broaden the market. Someone who did not have room for a three-piece unit may be quite pleased with the advent of the all-in-one units.

Only you will be able to decide what is right for you. I will not be able to tell you that one particular unit is best for everybody. It simply isn't so.

I am often asked about Sankosha. It attracts a lot of attention at the trade shows because it certainly is new and different and "high-tech." It does a great job. Will it do a great job at your plant? Depends on the operator.

That statement can be applied to each and every brand. I pressed several shirts on a Sankosha unit once. I pretended to be an hourly employee in a bad mood. To do a lousy job, I only needed to not concentrate on what I was doing. With no effort at all, I did a lousy job.

Do not buy any shirt unit with the intent of turning lousy, careless employees into gems. It will not happen. If they do care about what they produce, it will be evident in the finished product.

What are your needs?

So how can I help? Make a list of the specific things that are important to you in a shirt unit. Think about your entire shirt operation, not just the finished product.

Think about:

Is it difficult to train your employees?

If it is, consider a shirt unit like Ajax. The body presses are the easiest to dress. Try the press yourself at a trade show. Get brief instructions on what to do and then do it. You may feel that brief instructions are inadequate, but consider that you will give your pressers explicit training (and follow-up supervision) and they will only absorb some of it. If you can't produce a good shirt after two or three tries, you will have to consider that it may be a challenge to train your people.

Is space in your plant an issue?

If that is your main concern, then look at the all-in-one units by Unipress.

Now you may have a dilemma already. You have difficulty training employees and you have a space problem. What do you do now? Well, isn't that the million dollar question? There will be trade-offs in this decision. That's what will make this a challenge.

If you dislike the fact that, on a double buck unit, one buck is further away from the operator than the other, consider the units that are not like this. Forenta has a model that brings both bucks to the same press position.

Who will fix it?

My favorite rule of thumb is this: If you do your own maintenance, buy the equipment that you know best. It is fine to be promised a great warranty and unbeatable service, but if you have a problem that you can't fix at 6 a.m. and the service people open at 8 and need to drive an hour and a half to your plant, you will be down for at least half of the day. That is really tough in this business.

If you bought equipment that you were at least somewhat familiar with, you might have been able to avoid this ugly situation.

If you don't do your own maintenance, consider the shirt unit that has a dealer that is on-call 24 hours, or works weekends. If your equipment distributor does this, then you can bet he understands your plight when the chips are down.

I think that the most important feature that any equipment in your plant can have is "ease and quickness of repair." How quickly can you get it back on-line?

Manufacturers may also target the market that wants to pay less. While there are good buys out there, consider that, generally, you get what you pay for. If two units look pretty much the same, but there is a significant difference in price, you can bet that the quality of the parts simply isn't the same.

Don't be afraid to mix and match. If you like Forenta's triple head, Ajax's sleeve press and Unipress' body press, buy that. Do not feel pressured to buy all of the pieces by the same manufacturer if you prefer not to.

What about the air-blown sleeves? Actually, they do quite a good job. If you buy it to save time, you will be disappointed. If you buy it to save space, you'll save very little. If you buy it to do a good job because you can not find a conventional sleeve press that you like, you are probably on the right track.

Admittedly, there may be nothing here that allows you to make an easy decision. Making a decision will take time, energy and perhaps be a strain on your stress level. Take comfort in the fact that you probably can't buy the totally wrong thing if you follow these guidelines and avoid making an impulse purchase.

It is a good idea to keep abreast of the equipment on the market and constantly evaluate it. This way, if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation -- a situation that requires you to make a decision quickly --you will have a history of knowing what is out there and what is best for you. Good luck.

Dan Eisen: Avoiding the prespotting pitfalls

Prespotting by definition is any stain removal done before the garment is entered into the drycleaning machine.

Prespotting provides many advantages, such as:

1. Avoiding setting tannin, protein and dressed stains by the heat used in the drycleaning procedure.

2. Removing soil and stains not removed in the routine drycleaning procedure and thus eliminating recleaning or wetcleaning.

3. Preventing rings by the use of levelling agents and avoiding excessive time in feathering out.

The agents used for removing stains before drycleaning are the same as those used after drycleaning.

• Tannin stains: acids and tannin formula.
• Protein stains: alkali and protein formula.
• Dryside stains: oily type paint remover (OTPR) and amyl acetate.
• Ground in soil: Commonly found on light colored soiled garments especially rainwear; denim, chinos, and corduroys. Wedding gowns and delicate fabrics are best spotted because of the limited cleaning time required and hard ground-in soil (hem or train) that requires special treatment.

Government regulations prevent the use of perchloroethylene solvent mixed with drycleaning soap for removing soil and for levelling out wet areas. The new types of prespotting agents use formulations that do not contain perchloroethylene solvent.

Many new silk prespotting agents are formulated with mixtures that are not perchloroethylene based.

Read the Material Safety Data Sheets or ask your sales representative for product content. Spray spotters are not solvent-based and can easily be used for removing soil and for levelling out wet areas.

Proper use of prespotting agents
Silk Spotters. Many silk spotters are formulated with hydrocarbon (petroleum) solvent detergent and a small amount of water. They usually can be put on the garment and then immediately drycleaned.

When additional water is used on a fabric and the silk prespotting is used as a levelling agent, then the garment must be allowed to dry before drycleaning.

Levelling agents & prespotters. The formulation of these agents may vary according to manufacturer. Check the Material Safety Data Sheet to determine if perchloroethylene solvent is used in its formulation.

Spray spotters. Spray spotters contain a tar amount of water. They are usually mixed with 1 part spray spotter to 4 parts water The prespotted area must be allowed to dry before cleaning. Drying time is usually longer due to a large amount of water used.

Two-in-one-formula. This mixture is made up of 2 parts spray spotter and 1 part volatile dry solvent. It is an aggressive formulation and must be tested before use.

Drycleaning detergent. Drycleaning charge detergent can be used with Volatile dry solvent in mixtures as a soil remover or levelling agent. Drycleaning detergent can be used without solvent dilution.

Oily type paint remover (OTPR). This should only be used for dryside staining. Oily type paint remover mixed with water removes and discolors dyes on fabric.

Test first. Large amounts of oily type paint can cause odors in the cleaning machine.

Prespotting problems
Many routine spotting procedures are misused and result in color and fabric damage.

The chart above shows problems that frequently occur due to faulty prespotting.

Rules of prespotting
1. Do not use paint removers with water unless you test for safety first.

2. Do not allow paint removers to dry on a fabric since color loss and oxidation can occur. Dryclean as soon as possible.

3. Acids and alkali including prepared tannin and protein formulas should be tested on bright vivid colors or those fabrics where dye is suspected.

4. Do not allow levelling agents to remain in the fabrics for long periods of time and do not use heat to dry them or difficult rings will occur.

5. Limit mechanical action on colors that may crock such as linen, cotton, and denim.

6. Do not use paint removers and other dressed spotting agents on surface prints and dyes.

7. Wet areas on garments should be allowed to dry on such fabrics as white or pastel, wool, silks, prints and those with special tailoring effects to prevent shrinkage, bleeding, redeposition and loss of tailoring effects.

Corrective procedure
Alkali which has affected color may sometimes be corrected by neutralizing with a mild acid. Conversely, acid which has affected color may be helped by neutralizing with a mild alkali. Otherwise discoloration occurring in prespotting cannot be corrected.

Summary
Pre-spotting is widely used to obtain better quality stain removal and to save time and money.

Don't prespot everything. There is no need to prespot dark fabrics, stains that are solvent soluble or sweet stains. Neither wetside nor dryside prespotters are safe to all dyes and prints. Test each prespotting chemical on an unexposed seam before using it on any fabric, dye or design that is suspect.

Stan Golomb: Increasing sales with agency work

This month's article will complete the series on the five sources for generating sales in the drycleaning business.

To recap:

1. First we covered package plants. With enough volume, this is the most efficient and most profitable.

The rent covers both the retail store and the factory, and when the store passes from break-even sales, the profits will soar.

2. Next we covered drop stores. These require enough sales to cover the operating cost of the store as well as the cost of servicing the store with pick up and delivery -- plus the cost to produce the work.

If the store does enough volume to cover all these expenses, the store profits will be as high as 30 percent to 50 percent of added sales.

3. Routes are similar to drop stores in that they, too, have to do enough sales to cover the route person and the vehicle. These two are relatively fixed costs.

Beyond that point, the route person will usually be commissioned and there will still be enough to show a profit on sales.

However, if the route adds a delivery charge, it can be very profitable providing it exceeds break even sales.

4. Wholesale cleaning is where a drycleaner will do work for other outlets such as drop stores or shirts from a cleaner who does not do his own shirts.

5. Now we come to agency work. This is something that has been going on since dry cleaning became a business.

Agency work is where a retail store or service type business, like a barbershop or beauty salon, will take in cleaning and have the complete job picked up, processed and delivered.

The agency was developed in towns which are too small to support a cleaning store but where the residents still have cleaning. They would arrange to have a rack for cleaning and the work would be picked up and delivered, often a week later.

Now, many supermarkets are going into agency cleaning because they have the traffic. They set up a sales area to handle the cleaning and supply their own labor and space.

20% discount to agency 
The cleaners who service these agencies usually give their agent a 20 percent discount. This was and still is a good business in rural areas where a truck from the main plant will cover a route of hundreds of miles to reach all the small towns in these areas.

In order for the plant to make a profit, it has to service a lot of agencies if it's going to pay.

Eventually this will probably phase out. Nearby towns that are large enough to support a plant will be able to service these smaller towns and provide better service than the big plant with the huge trucks that did this in the past.

There is still another source that I didn't mention because it is a combination of some of the others.

This is what's called "Bob Tail" routes. These were covered somewhat in my report on routes, but it is simply an independent route person who runs a drycleaning route and brings that work to a plant for servicing on a straight percentage basis.

That completes the sources of traditional drycleaning of wearing apparel. Some may ask about industrial uniform rental and cleaning, but that is a subject unto itself. I will not get into that beyond mentioning that a lot of cleaners in the early 1970s diversified into uniform rental and cleaning as a salvation to their business and it worked.

If you missed any of these articles, you can order back copies from the National Clothesline.

Frank Kollman: Don't neglect employee evaluations

Perhaps the most neglected personnel tool among small employers is the employee evaluation. It is a pain in the neck each year to sit down and prepare a written evaluation, go over it with the employee, and place the document in a personnel file. For the typical small business owner, there are far more important tasks to complete.

This view, however, is short-sighted. Written evaluations are valuable tools for small employers, and if it ever becomes necessary to fire an employee, written evaluations can save the day if the employee decides to sue.

Evaluations are extremely important in identifying chronic performance problems among marginal employees.

So often I am asked to defend a termination decision based on poor job performance where the employee has been with the company for years. The company just never got around to dealing with the problem because "at least there was a warm body to staff the cash register" or "she never really engaged in serious misconduct."

Defending those terminations always requires me to explain why the employee was fired at that point, while these problems existed for years. Some judges begin to wonder if discrimination -- not performance -- was the real reason for the discharge.

An annual evaluation forces an employer to review those performance issues, along with attendance and lateness, before years have gone by with no disciplinary action. Marginal employees can be warned about their performance and given distinct, objective goals at evaluation time. If those goals are not met, a termination based on that failure is easy to defend.

Annual evaluations also give an employer the opportunity to praise good employees and recognize their contributions.

While most employees would prefer a raise to praise, a raise accompanied by a superior evaluation will send a good message to the employee, as well as to other employees who are seeking more money.

I advise my clients to perform evaluations at the end of the probationary period and annually after that. Six-month evaluations are fine if you have the time, but my experience is that small employers are unlikely to do them on such a frequent schedule.

Start by gathering attendance and lateness records, as well as the personnel file of the employee being evaluated. You can use a pre-printed evaluation form, but it is not necessary. Written comments are more important than how an employee scores on a scale on a pre-printed form.

Compare the employee to your other employees, and use that comparison to judge whether that employees is excellent, satisfactory, marginal, or poor.

Identify the problem areas for that employee, setting appropriate goals for improvement. In some cases, you might even conclude that termination based on the evaluation is appropriate.

Nevertheless, make sure the evaluation is a document that provides meaningful information to the employee. It should also be a document that would convince a judge or jury, in the case of a poor employee, that some sort of disciplinary action in the future may be appropriate. Remember, that document could some day be used in litigation.

After the written evaluation is complete, go over it with the employee. By all means, give the employee a copy. Any comments the employee wants to make concerning it should be noted.

In some cases, you might even find out information that you did not have previously. Such information can be valuable in determining whether the employee has a long-term future, or whether you should start looking for a replacement.

Written evaluations are a great way to evaluate how your business is doing from a personnel standpoint. Use them wisely, and they can make future employment decisions easier.

Frank Lucenta: Spray finishing suede and leather

This article will serve as an introduction to the spray finishing procedure.

Some suedes that are faded and leathers that are worn may be restored to a more usable condition by replacing the dye or paint that was lost as a result of ordinary wear or through improper leather cleaning.

The dyes and painted surface coatings used to restore the faded color or worn leather surface are applied with a special suede and leather spray gun.

The garment being sprayed should be placed in a spray booth that contains an exhaust and filter system and that meets all governmental safety and environmental statutes and standards. This method of restoring color and surface coatings to faded suedes and worn leathers is known as spray finishing.

Spray booth
Suede and leather garments can be spray finished with the special air gun as easily as cloth garments are spotted and feathered with a steam-air spotting gun. Most drycleaners do not realize how similar the two techniques really are.

When they do, they find that they are in fact already experienced in techniques that are very much like those required for spray finishing and are able to begin spraying with the confidence needed to master the art.

Leather spray gun
Spray finishing procedures for suede and leather garments consist of the following:

1. Place the suede or leather garment on a hanger or body form with the lining facing the outside and the collar up. This will expose the outside of the collar, lapels, inside front facings and hemline so they can readily be sprayed.

2. If the garment is to be redyed or recolored, the lining should be masked off to prevent it from being covered by over spray.

If the lining is a lighter or contrasting color it is even more important to mask it off to keep it from being colored by over spray.

Masking can readily be accomplished with masking tape and kraft paper or equivalent.

Paint over-spray on coat linings, etc., can be removed with a thinner stripper. Buttons can be protected from over-spray by covering them with aluminum foil.

3. To get even coverage when spraying, keep the spray gun moving with spray flowing without interruption. Use broad, smooth sweeps of the air gun, moving from one end of the area being sprayed to the other. Cut off the spray at the end of each sweep of the gun.

4. Spray the collar, lapels, inside facing and inside hemline of the garment. Then remove and reposition the garment on the hanger or body form with the lining facing the inside and the collar up. This will expose the outside of the garment and the underside of the collar and lapels so they can readily be sprayed.

5. Start spraying at the collar and then work down from there to the lapels and front. Then spray the shoulders and back. Finally, raise the sleeves and spray the sides of the garment located under the sleeves.

6. Now place the sleeve expanders into the sleeves of the garment and spray each sleeve.

Start at the armpit and spray the underside of the sleeve down to the cuff. Spray inside the cuff and then spray the outside of the sleeve up to the shoulder.

7. To prevent sleeves from sticking to the sides of a leather, use a six-inch length of hanger wire to hold each sleeve away from the body of the garment until it dries.

8. Be sure to spray belts, under buttons, under belt loops, under shoulder straps, under cuff straps, under pocket flaps, inside pockets, inside cuffs, inside pleats, etc.

9. To obtain a semi-gloss finish on Painted Leather increase the spray pressure to 70 psi and hold the spray gun further away from the garment, approximately seven to eight inches.

To obtain a dull gloss finish increase the spray pressure to 80 psi and back off from the garment to approximately eight inches.

Also, adjust the screw at the back of the spray gun to a fogging setting which is a 1Ž4 turn open from the fully closed setting.

10. After spraying, allow the garment to air dry thoroughly before press finishing.

Spray finishing materials for suede and leather garments consist of the following:

Materials that contain no dye or pigment color are the easiest to work with and may be applied with little concern about over-spray staining adjacent linings, etc. These include Suede Nu neutral spray, Royal Shield repellent protective coating, Leather Sheen clear cuir savage leather finish and Leather Pro clear painted leather finish.

Materials that do contain dye and pigment color are more demanding to apply and require even coverage and procedures that protect garment linings and other adjacent areas from over spray in order to achieve a satisfactory result. These materials include the Brit-N dye and Leather Pro color leather finish.

Finally, spray materials must be removed from the spray gun after each use to keep it in good working order for long term service.

Clean the gun immediately after each usage by spraying clear water through the gun to clean out Suede Nu neutral, Royalshield repellent, Brit-N dye, Leather Sheen and Leather Pro leather finishes before they dry in the gun. Spray Leather Prep thinner stripper through the gun to clean out any leather finishes that dry in the gun.

If this is not enough to clean out dried and solidified finishes then the gun will have to be disassembled and each component cleaned by hand with thinner stripper .

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Do not attempt to use products that are not specifically formulated for use on suede and leather. The Royaltone suede and leather products referred to in this article are formulated to process suedes, leathers, furs and trimmed cloth without causing color loss, color bleed, color transfer, stiffening of the skins or matting down the nap. Other brands of products for use on suede and leather may not give the same results when used as described in this article.

Dennis McCrory: A half-million dollars well spent

I may not be the largest cleaner or, for that matter, the biggest spender on marketing for a cleaning plant, but during the past 20 years I've spent better than $500,000 on many different marketing approaches.

So what have I learned from spending over half-a-million dollars, that some say would have been profit in my pocket and was a wasted effort?

First, that $500,000 that I invested in the future of my business has brought me many times that amount in increased profits because I was willing to "take a chance" and apply that money toward business growth and not just sit-tight-and wish that "word of mouth" would eventually build my business.

Secondly, I learned that the most cost-effective means of applying those marketing dollars was through direct mail. That's right. For me, direct mail has outperformed yellow pages, radio, television, newspapers, telemarketing and the internet.

Direct mail works so well because of its tremendous ability to target specific customers.

Now, I'm not talking about so called "marriage-mail" like ADVO or Val-Pac, where your advertising piece is jumbled in a cluster of ads for any number of different businesses.

I'm talking about a single piece mailing, which demands the customer's attention because of its graphics, and then provides them with an incentive to take action.

If you are interested in the many benefits of direct mail, try this simple step-by-step guide.

Set realistic goals
Begin by focusing on obtainable goals. Be realistic. You're not going to double your business in one month. But a 20 percent increase in one year is a possibility.

Are you looking only for new customers?

Are you trying to generate greater customer loyalty from your current customers?

Or would you be happy to do both simultaneously?

Do you want to reach a specific geographic location?

A specific household income? Or, a specific household income within a specific geographic location?

No other medium can do this and obtain the results you will obtain with direct mail.

Develop a strategy

Develop a strategy as to how you're going to achieve your goal. Decide what is the best offer for meeting your goals. Decide on the "featured" service you want to promote.

When determining the offer, keep your goal, strategy and target market in mind.

Set your budget and consider it throughout the entire process. Determine how much you can afford.

Remember, the size and cleanliness of your mailing list will go a long way toward determining the cost-effectiveness of your mailing.

Hire an expert
If you hire a direct mail company, like I did, make sure they know your budget and understand your business situation. They should not only be familiar with printing and postal regulations, but also should know the drycleaning and laundry business inside and out.

Hiring a direct mail company can actually save you a considerable chunk of change.

First, they can save you money on printing, either by selling you a pre-printed mailing piece (such as a postcard), or by "ganging" your customized piece with a number of pieces for other businesses. It's impossible to do this yourself, but a company that specializes in direct mail can cut your printing costs by 20 to 50 percent.

Next, a good direct mail company can insure that your mailings receive the most advantageous postal rates available. Remember, if you send out 50,000 pieces, over a period of time, a 1 cent difference in postage amounts to $500.

Finally, a reputable direct mail company will be able to buy or develop a mailing list that will target the specific people that you want to be your customers. They know how to "merge and purge" lists so that postage and printed stock (translated, this means "your money"), are not wasted on duplicate mailings to the same addresses or people who no longer live in your area.

It is all but impossible to do this for yourself -- certainly, not as cost effectively as a direct mail company can do it for you. And certainly not without wasting precious time and energy that you could be directing toward your core business.

Alan Robson: On price, productivity and profit

During a recent Biz Builder Management Group meeting, I took a price poll of the attendees. This group of drycleaners charges their customers, on average, $1.84 each for dress shirts and $5.34 per piece for drycleaning.

Further questioning revealed the following facts:

1. Everyone in the group has at least one competitor within a mile of their plant that is charging $.99 or less for a dress shirt and $2.50 or less for a drycleaned piece.

2. Every group member pays their employees "on the books."

3. They pay their employees 20 percent to 30 percent more than their low-priced competitors.

4. They raise their prices, on average, 2.3 times per year.

5. These business owners monitor and control their labor costs as a percentage of sales, weekly.

One business, many ways
hat they have their own management style and business philosophy -- some have drop stores, some operate residential and/or commercial routes, some do a large volume with hotels, etc.

Everyone is in the drycleaning business, but every business is as distinct as the people who own and operate them.

For this group, the prices charged for dress shirts on a hanger range from a low of $1.59 to a high of $2.10.

On the drycleaning side of the business, the average price per piece goes from $4.25 to $6.81.

Some may wonder how drycleaners with such diverse customer bases and a wide range in prices can get meaningful comparisons by using percentages.

The answer is that this is the only way to get meaningful comparisons. I read somewhere that comparing labor costs as a percentage of sales does not take into account differences in prices charged and wages paid.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In order to explain this, we must first recall a few of the Basic Rules of Management:

1. In the drycleaning industry, the only piece of automated equipment is your drycleaning machine. At all other operations, you can process only one piece at a time.

2. Labor costs as a percentage of sales are a function of:

• Productivity.
• The selling price.
• Wages paid.

3. Management is the ability to get work done through others.

Fact One: To process a garment that is acceptable to the average drycleaning consumer takes time.

Fact Two: Time is money. Those who charge the highest prices spend more time cleaning, finishing and packaging each piece than the drycleaner who is charging $4.25 per piece. There is a definite relationship between the prices you charge, the service that you provide and the amount of money that you make.

What about wages? How do they affect the percentage?

The vast majority of business owners that I have been privileged to work with over the last 20 years are not greedy people. They want very much to provide their employees with a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. As a result, the higher priced owners pay more and offer better benefits.

The third ingredient involved in controlling your labor costs (after prices and wages) is productivity.

Therefore, the key to success is in finding, and then managing, the balance between your labor costs and your selling price.

Calculate your costs

Your drycleaning finishers should cost the company between 8 percent and 10 percent of drycleaning sales. To calculate your drycleaning finishing costs as a percentage of sales, you need to know:

1. The dollar value of the drycleaning garments that your pressers finished last week.

2. How much you paid your drycleaning finishers last week.

Example 1: Dollar value of drycleaned garments finished equals $8,000. Drycleaning finishing labor costs, including the company share of payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA. SUTA, etc.) equals $710.40 (710.40 ÷ 8,000 = 8.9 percent).

In this example, drycleaning finishing labor costs are 8.9 percent of drycleaning sales. This is very good.

Example 2: Drycleaning sales equal $8,000. Drycleaning labor costs equal $1.065.60 (1,065.60 ÷ 8,000 = 13.3 percent).

In this example, drycleaning finishing labor costs 13.3 percent of drycleaning sales. This is not good. Drycleaning finishing costs should not exceed 10 percent of drycleaning sales.

Now the question is... What do we need to do to correct this problem?

First, we must determine the cause of the problem. To do that we need a little more information.

1. How many drycleaning pieces were pressed?

2. How many hours were used to press the garments?

If this company processed 2,000 garments and used 120 finishing hours to do the work, the finishers averaged 17 pieces per hour (2,000 ÷ 120 = 16.7).

In this case we also know that the average price per piece is $4 (8,000 ÷ 2,000 = 4) and the finishing wages average $8.88 per hour (1,065.60 ÷ 120 = 8.88).

Three options
In order to get the finishing costs down to 10 percent of finishing sales, the owner must:

Option #1: Increase productivity.

Option #2: Increase prices.

Option #3: Decrease the amount of money being paid to the pressers.

Productivity: To reduce finishing labor costs to 10 percent of sales, productivity has to increase to 23 pieces per hour (8,000 x .10 = 800).

By dividing the $800 by $8.88 per hour, we know that we can only spend 90 hours on pressing (800 ÷ 8.88 = 90).

Next, divide 2,000 pieces by 90 hours and you will find you need to press 23 pieces per hour (2,000 ÷ 90 = 22.2).

Selling Price: If you wanted to reduce your drycleaning labor costs to 10 percent of drycleaning sales by increasing your prices, not productivity, how much would you have to charge?

For the payroll figure in Example 2 to equal 10 percent of sales, sales will have to equal $10,656.

Divide 10,656 by 2,000 drycleaning pieces and you will have to charge $5.33 per drycleaning piece.

Wages: In order to get your labor costs in line by reducing your hourly wage rate, how much less would you pay your pressers?

We know that labor costs cannot exceed $800 (800 ÷ 120 hours = $6.67).

You would have to pay your presser no more than $6.67 per hour (including the company share of payroll taxes) to achieve a 10 percent labor cost.

The above three options are the only way to achieve a 10 percent labor cost in the drycleaning finishing department.

Obviously, the best method is to increase productivity. As a matter of fact, if you increased productivity to where it should be -- 30 pieces per presser per hour -- you could afford to pay the finishers a very nice bonus.

Only by properly analyzing the information that is right in front of you can you make the best possible decisions.

Remember in the game of business the more you know the better you can play the game.

Copyright © 2000, National Clothesline
Maintained by: Hal Horning