National Clothesline

The Lehigh Valley Dry Cleaners Association will be teaming up with the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association to offer a customer service seminar presented by IFI Garment Analyst Chris Allsbrooks.

A popular industry speaker, Allsbrooks has taught classes at the International Textile Center on the campus of Texas Tech University for the Southwest Drycleaners Association.

She has also earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising and textile marketing from the University of Maryland, College Park.

She will focus her discussion on how the job of a customer service representative should be handled. Specific topics will include customer expectations, talking to customers, identifying potential cleaning problems, and handling difficult situations.

The seminar will take place at 7 p.m. on Monday, October 13 at Gus’s Crossroads Restaurant, located on Route 378 in Bethlehem, PA.

The cost is $20 per plant for members of the Lehigh Valley Dry Cleaners Association, so, multiple employees from the same business may attend for the one fixed price. The cost for non-members is $35 per plant.

For more information, contact Gary DiPasquale, the president of Lehigh Valley Dry Cleaners Association, at Al’s Cleaners. The phone number is (610) 258-7288.

A second customer service seminar has been scheduled in Pittsburgh in November. It will be co-sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Cleaning and Laundry Association. Call (412) 835-9240- for details.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Virginia Department of Business Assistance (DBA) are working together to help small businesses achieve environmental compliance.

Low-interest rate loans have been made available to small businesses that seek to purchase and install equipment in order to comply with the Clean Air Act. Small businesses voluntarily trying to implement pollution prevention measures or selected agricultural best management (BMPs) practices are also eligible to benefit from the program.

Already, the program has particularly favored drycleaners The fund has been useful to cleaners wishing to purchase state-of-the-art equipment. To date, twelve loans have been allotted to cleaners, helping reduce over 2,800 gallons of perc emissions from the atmosphere.

Interest rates on the loans are fixed at 3% and the maximum loan amount is $100,000 per person. The terms of repayment are based on each borrower’s ability to pay the money back. Other factors play a part, as well, such as the life expectancy of the equipment being purchased.

Loan applicants must complete the VSBFA application and submit it along with a $30 fee.

For more information on the program, contact Mark Heede, Virginia Department of Business Assistance, Financial Services Division, at (804) 371-7028.

The MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners has information available on similar programs that exist in Maryland and West Virginia.† Call the association at (800) 235-8360 or visit them online at www.macla.net.