National Clothesline

Setting prices for drycleaning services is a slippery slope. A lapse in judgment can make it appear as if you have a gender bias, or if you charge too little or too much, your business can fall flat fast. Ironically, it was “flat” cleaners who garnered praise recently during a TV report by CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson when he examined flat-rate pricers in the industry — a trend that many larger cleaning corporations have gravitated towards. Attkisson used the example of Dryclean Depot — which charges $1.75 for any garment and $.99 for laundered shirts. According to the CBS News website, the reporter toured the company’s facilities in Sterling, VA, and was impressed that they cleaned her jacket on the spot for $1.75. Contrarily, the same jacket submitted to a store 15 miles away (in a higher income suburb) would take four days to clean and cost $6.70.

On the surface, it seems like a relatively easy choice for consumers. Why go to a mom-and-pop store when you get the same service done cheaper at a bigger company? But, is it really the same service? On the site, Attkisson quoted IFI Executive Director Bill Fisher, who summed up the industry’s ongoing pricing quandary: “There are different quality levels of dry cleaning service, just as there are different quality levels in almost everything. In drycleaning, you might pay $3-4 for a suit at a discount cleaner, $10 at a typical dry cleaner and $25 or more at a ‘carriage class’ dry cleaner. The quality that you get is different — and if it isn’t, you’re not using the right cleaner.”

Regardless of whether you run a multi-faceted drycleaning chain or a small shop on the corner, a successful pricing structure relies on two factors: 1) charge enough to make a profit; and 2) charge a price that customers believe is equitable and fair. No business will run successfully for a very long time without meeting both of those criteria.

If you aren’t sure on either point, then you are gambling with your livelihood. For advice on pricing for a profit, see Al Robson’s column on page 12. He will help you determine how much it’s costing your business to process each garment so you have a better idea of what to charge. For help on the second matter, go to the source: your customers. Ask them flat-out if they are happy with your service. Is it worth every nickel? If you charge more than your competition, make sure your customers are getting more for their money, and more importantly, they are aware of the extra service they receive.

Soil and groundwater contamination has been a tough issue for the drycleaning industry over the past decade and it has been proven again and again that there are no easy answers. On the national level there have been several attempts to solve the problem with legislation, but so far those attempts have succeed only on putting the issue on the table before Congress and federal regulators. No small achievement, to be sure, but still, no solution to the problem, either.

It has been a different story on the state level where cleaners in 13 states have succeeded at getting legislation enacted that specifically addresses the problem of environmental liability. But even here, we have to qualify the word “succeeded.” In some states, the political efforts have set cleaner against cleaner as views diverge over what type of legislation is best — or whether there should be any at all. In some states, the original legislation has needed revisions — several revision in some cases — after problems cropped up once the laws were implemented.

Most recently, we have been hearing about difficulties in Texas with a cleanup fund passed last year. Some cleaners were distressed at the fees they suddenly faced. Others had problems getting their registration paperwork processed through the state. And one group filed a lawsuit seeking to put a stop to the whole thing.

It is an ongoing struggle, in Texas as well as other states. But it is not just in those states that are trying to address the problem with legislation. Whether or not there is a cleanup law in a given state, cleaners everywhere face the problem of liability for contamination. It threatens the life of the business and the livelihoods of the business’s owners. The choice for cleaners is to face the problem individually or to work together as a group. This industry is strong on individualism, and that works in its favor for the most part. But this problem will linger forever if we don’t work keep working together to find a solution.