National Clothesline

More than 2.2 million insurance claims have been filed in the wake of the four devastating hurricanes in 2004. Altogether, Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne have taken at least 130 American lives and have cost the country somewhere close to $23 billion in insurance losses. So many lives are in a bleak state of disrepair that it’s hard to look ahead too far into the future.

Unfortunately, more natural disasters will still loom overhead as a future possibility and there is no way to prepare for the physical and emotional havoc that they inflict. The only recourse homeowners and business owners have is to prepare financially. This year was incredibly hard for cleaners who have had to deal with everything from building damage and flood waters to power outages and destroyed garments. Many discovered that their insurance didn’t cover as much as they had anticipated.

For example, even those who had Business Income Protection insurance may not have realized that they weren’t covered for the loss of electricity unless they had Utility Service Time Element on their policies. Others found out that having a deductible based on 15% on their annual sales proved to be very costly when they could have paid more on insurance every month and reduced that figure. Many also learned for the first time about bailee insurance, which is coverage designed to protect for loss or damage to property of customers regardless of a bailee’s legal liability. It is often used by proprietors who store, repair or service the property of others, i.e. drycleaners, jewelers, etc. Just imagine losing a few dozen wedding gowns or fine furs during a hurricane and you can easily appreciate the need for such insurance.

It may be too late for many who have suffered the effects of the 2004 storms, but others have the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson now. You are probably not covered as well as you think you are, especially if you didn’t ask a lot of questions when you set up your policy. Now is an excellent time to contact your insurance agent and go over a “practice disaster” with them. Ask about what your policy would have covered if you had been hit by one of the four hurricanes. If power failed for three weeks afterward, would your employees’ paychecks still be paid out? Would you be personally responsible for damaged garments? Do you have sufficient flood coverage? Your property and building may be covered, but what about the expensive equipment inside that is considered to be its contents? In short, how much would a natural disaster affect your ability to remain in business? Nobody really likes to ask such questions, to be sure, but wouldn’t you rather get the answers hypothetically before you may need to find them out for real?

Another season of trade shows is in the books and a few thousand cleaners are a step ahead of the rest for having attended. There was no better place this year to examine the current line-up of equipment and supplies than at one of the many industry exhibitions where the top companies brought out their best hardware and software, along with the support staff that could explain how to use it.

If something new was coming out, you saw first at a show. If you were a buyer, you got your questions answered, comparisons made and best deal forged. If you were not in a buying mode, the shows still offered plenty. Perhaps for the smartest cleaner in the country whose business is running flawlessly in a perpetual state of growth, there was nothing to gain, but for everybody else, there was much to learn from networking with other cleaners and allied trades people, either at the seminars provided in conjunction with the exhibits or less formally in the aisles of the exhibit hall, the social events and even around the hotel lobby. It’s impossible to spend a weekend at one of the events without learning something.

While attendance at some of the shows was strong this year, at others it was, to put it kindly, so-so. It is unfortunate that too many cleaners don’t see the value in participating, but we suspect that their absence will eventually contribute to the solution of the “too many cleaners” problem in general. Those who took advantage of the opportunities this year will be around to reap the benefits after the non-participating cleaners are no longer participating in this industry.