The Environmental Protection Agency's review of current drycleaning technologies and their effects on human health and the environment was released last month, the product of several years of development.
The "Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessment for Professional Fabricare Processes," or simply CTSA as the document is commonly called, attempts to gauge the compares cost, risk and performance information on three main techniques of professional clothes cleaning -- perchloroethylene and hydrocarbon (petroleum) solvents and wetcleaning.
Industry trade associations have been wary of the CTSA, primarily out of concern for what EPA would have to say about perc exposure and cancer risk. In early 1995, when release of the CTSA was thought to be imminent, the trade associations provided cleaners with information to help defend themselves from an expected onslaught of media inquiries that the CTSA might engender.
However, the CTSA did not materialize at that time. Last month, when the CTSA and related documents were finally released, media attention was riveted to White House scandal and there was no immediate public reaction to it. That is not to say that there won't be, and the associations -- the International Fabricare Institute, the Neighborhood Cleaners Association-International, and the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance in particular -- have provided their own analyses, criticisms and responses to EPA's assessment of the state of fabric care technology.
On the key issue -- whether exposure to perc increases the risk of cancer -- the CTSA sends mixed signals.
On one hand, the CTSA says there is "a reasonable basis to conclude that there can be a health risk for cancer and some non-cancer effects to workers from the relatively high PCE exposures observed on average in the drycleaning industry."
The CTSA also cited "cancer concerns" for people living in buildings that also have drycleaning plants.
However, the CTSA notes that "there are a variety of uncertainties and assumptions that influence, to a great extent, how close the assessment of risk comes to representing a real-world situation."
For example, the CTSA notes that the "relevance of animal cancer studies to human carcinogenicity, and whether the mechanism of action of PCE in animals is comparable in humans is under discussion."
Information put out by IFI, HSIA and NCA-I in response to the CTSA all noted that same thing -- that the carcinogenicity assessments rely heavily on animal test data.
The CTSA also evaluates health and environmental risks for hydrocarbon solvent and wetcleaning. Each of the processes, the CTSA concludes, "may have health and environmental implications associated with their use." In addition to concerns with perc, the CTSA identifies flammability hazards from some hydrocarbon solvents and "possible considerations for the environmental release of detergents from machine wetcleaning."
The introduction to the executive summary of the comment notes that the CTSA "is not a rigorous risk assessment of chemicals used in the Fabricare industry and should not be used to describe the absolute risk assaulted with a particular clothes cleaning operation to specific populations or individuals." A similar caveat is given for the cleaning performance data and cost information, which constitute a large part of the CTSA.
The cleaning performance analysis notes that "drycleaning processes are more effective at dissolving oils and fatty stains while wetcleaning processes tend to dissolve sugar, salt and perspiration with greater success."
Drycleaning processes are most effective with textiles that contain water-loving fibers, low twist yarns, low-count fabrics and water-soluble dyes while wetcleaning is effective with "water-hating" fibers such as polyester and nylon, high count fabric and solvent-soluble dyes.
The CTSA also attempts to compare the costs of running a garment cleaning business using the different available processes. On this score, wetcleaning appears to have an advantage, coming out at a cost of 12 cents per pound of cleaning compared 34 cents per pound for perc cleaning and 44 cents per pound for hydrocarbon cleaning. However, labor costs were not included in the calculations, which would be likely to raise the cost of wetcleaning, and some of the newer technologies available to perc and hydrocarbon cleaners were not in the mix, which could have lowered those costs.
Keeping up with rapidly changing clothes-cleaning technology is one of the problems EPA -- or anyone -- faces in developing an extensive analysis over a period of years.
As the conclusion of the executive summary noted: "During the time that this CTSA has been under development, the fabric care industry has gone through major changes. Drycleaners have significantly reduced PCE consumption, established a new commercially viable cleaning process, machine wetcleaning, developed (high) flashpoint hydrocarbon solvents and witnessed the development of a number of emerging technologies."
"Emerging technologies" mentioned in the CTSA include liquid carbon dioxide cleaning, Rynex solvent, ultrasonic wetcleaning and Biotex solvent. Since all of those technologies are still in the development stages, no attempt was made by the CTSA to fully evaluate them. As information becomes available, EPA will provide on case studies and fact sheets through its Design for the Environment Garment and Textile Care Program.
Taken as a whole, the CTSA makes no hard and fast declarations about any cleaning method, makes no strong recommendations for what cleaners should do nor proposes any new regulations. Nonetheless, concern was expressed by industry trade associations that the CTSA could have a negative impact on the industry.
In a press release, IFI said it has "considerable and justifiable concerns about how the report's findings will be interpreted."
"For example," IFI said, "a cursory review of the CTSA might indicate that the authors identify an established link between perc and human cancer. In fact, the risk information provided in the CTSA does not attempt to determine whether perc is likely to be a human carcinogen."
The CTSA uses worst-case assumption to develop maximum theoretical cancer risk estimates for exposure to perc, IFI said.
NCA-I had a similar concern. "If not read carefully, it (the CTSA) may leave the reader with the mistaken impression that there is a serious and present danger with perc in the workplace apartments above the drycleaner, adjoining stores and even to people wearing drycleaned clothes."
NCA-I criticized EPA for not taking into account new state regulations in New York that address the issue of residents and drycleaning plants in the same building and take steps to reduce emissions and the exposure of the public to perc in those cases.
NCA-I, IFI and HSIA all noted the dramatic drop in perc use by the drycleaning industry over the past 12 years.
"We have shown by our actions a commitment to a cleaner and a safer environment," said NCA-S, adding that it felt "betrayed and deceived" by the CTSA report.
IFI noted that modern drycleaning equipment is approximately five times more efficient than old transfer units.
"The replacement of remaining stock of older equipment, expected in the next five years, will achieve significant additional reduction in emissions," IFI said.
Copies of the CTSA are available by calling US EPA/PPIC, (202) 260-1023. Related documents and other information is also available on the internet through the Design for the Environment world wide web site: www.epa.giv/dfe/garment/garment.html.
The Laurel, MD, zoning board of appeals last month denied Dryclean Depot's request for approval to open a new plant in this suburban Washington city, causing the chain to threaten a lawsuit against the town.
The Houston-based Dryclean Depot company saw its application to operate a business in the Tower Plaza Shopping Center rejected because the planning commission believed the new business would overwhelm both the center's parking lot and its sole entrance. The company sought a special exception from the board because the 6,500 square feet needed for the plant was three times as great an area as local zoning allows.
The attempt by Dryclean Depot to establish a new franchise at the Laurel location was opposed a number of cleaners from the region.
According to a local newspaper report on the zoning hearing, "about 50 owners of drycleaners" attended the zoning hearing at which Dryclean Depot was denied its permit.
A number of these cleaners spoke against approval of the application.
According to one participant at the hearings, the opposition was based on the perception that Dryclean Depot presented unfair competition to family-run stores in the area.
"The corporate giants are determined to take over and monopolize the drycleaning industry by offering limited services with prices well below the profit margin of the small business operators," drycleaner Bill Bogus of TRS Cleaners told the Laurel Leader, a weekly newspaper. "This makes it impossible for them to compete."
Bogus told the Washington Times that "we don't mind the competition but this is really a personalized business. The family-owned business is becoming a historical graveyard."
Dryclean Depot advertises a one-price service of $1.75 to clean and press any garment. It does not accept suede or leather goods. Its web site indicated that seven more stores are planned for the metropolitan Washington, DC, area with five additional plants scheduled for opening soon. One of those listed is the Laurel plant. In addition, the site advertises three plants now serving the area.
According to a Washington Business Journal story on the company, 77 Dryclean Depot stores have been opened nationwide since 1978 with only four failures reported by the company.
The franchise arrangement allows a potential buyer to rent the store and equipment for two years before a buyout is arranged. The corporation picks the sites for stores, manages advertising and assists the potential owner during the two-year period.
Randy Lievan is the chief executive officer of Dryclean Depot. He is headquartered in San Diego, CA. The company web site is www.drycleandepot.com>.
As interest in petroleum solvent grows in the industry, so too has concern that cleaners understand the safety issues involved in using the solvent.
Safety features on new petroleum solvent machines and higher flash point solvents have reduced the risks of fire and explosion. Many cleaners switching from perc to petroleum have gone the route of installing all-new equipment. But others have chosen to convert existing perc equipment for use with petroleum. Both the International Fabricare institute (IFI) and the National Coalition of Petroleum Dry Cleaners (NCPDC) have warned cleaners to proceed cautiously when considering a retrofit conversion of a perc machine.
Last month NCPDC published a safety bulletin on that outlines fire safety, regulatory and design procedures for perc-to-petroleum retrofits.
The bulletin was issued in response to questions the coalition has received concerning the retrofit conversions and their safety requirements, said Michael Jones, NCPDC president and owner of Highland Cleaners in Louisville, KY.
"Unlike petroleum-dedicated machines, which are intrinsically designed to safely deal with combustible solvents, retrofit conversion requires significant fire and explosion adaptations and regulatory approvals that are far too critical to be minimized or over looked," Jones said.
IFI CEO Bill Fisher also cautioned converting cleaners in an article in the June Fabricare magazine.
"Don't underestimate the importance of equipment certification, which tells you that the machine meets applicable standards when tested with the solvent for which the machine was designed," Fisher wrote.
"If an independent conversion is made to change cleaning machines or tumblers, and so on -- from one solvent to another -- the certification is no longer valid," Fisher continued. "It doesn't take too much speculation to guess what the reaction would be from a fire marshal or from an insurance company evaluating a claim."
Fisher pointed out that a tumbler for a perc machine was not designed to contain an explosion and "pales in comparison to the steel used for the petroleum tumbler."
"Look at the pop-off dampers, designed to vent the force of the explosion up and out, and then look for these features on a perc tumbler. You won't find them," Fisher said.
Fisher said that IFI believes both perc and petroleum can do a good job and both a safe when handled properly. The engineering advancements on the new petroleum machine at IFI, he added, "make it extremely safe to use and are, quite frankly, remarkable."
The NCPDC safety bulletin notes that over the past several decades petroleum cleaners have "achieved an excellent record of safe operation through the observance of strict safety procedures and in the industry's development of technologically advanced equipment. However, it is important to remember that petroleum solvents are flammable chemicals that "require stringent safety precautions and combustion-safe equipment to control potential fire and explosion hazards."
NCPDC said it is concerned that perc users who convert to petroleum via retrofit of an existing perc machine may not be aware of the more restrictive safety measure and equipment needed to maintain overall safety and code compliance.
Perc cleaners considering a retrofit conversion should "fully research the procedure and then consult with the appropriate fire safety regulator and engineering experts," NCPDC urged.
Situation
Many dry cleaners who use the solvent perchloroethylene -- known as perc or tetrachloroethylene -- are now considering a retrofit procedure to convert their perc -based cleaning machines to petroleum based.
Although petroleum solvents afford more gentle cleaning and fewer health concerns than perc, petroleum solvents are flammable chemicals requiring stringent safety precautions and combustion-safe equipment to control potential fire and explosion hazards.
Over the past several decades, petroleum dry cleaners have achieved an excellent record of safe operation through the observance of strict safety procedures and the industry's development of technologically advanced equipment.
However, the National Coalition of Petroleum Dry Cleaners (NCPDC) is concerned that perc users converting to the petroleum process via retrofit rather than the purchase of a petroleum-dedicated cleaning machine may be unaware of the more restrictive safety measures and equipment needed to maintain overall safety and code compliance.
NCPDC strongly cautions all perc dry cleaners considering retrofit conversion to fully research the procedure and then consult with the appropriate fire safety, regulatory and engineering experts.
Key safety concerns
This following synopsis is limited to common safety concerns, and should not be considered an all-inclusive review of safety issues.
Explosion Resistance of Machines. Because perc is not flammable, perc machines are not designed for combustion control. It is therefore imperative that any retrofit process include the installation of all safety devices and adaptations necessary to ensure both fire prevention (e.g., nitrogen blanketing, oxygen monitoring, temperature limits) and fire protection (internal sprinklers, pressure vents, explosion-proof motors, air-purge devices, etc.). The use of credentialed retrofit contractors is strongly recommended.
Building-Site Safety. In most jurisdictions, the operation of a dry cleaning establishment using petroleum-based solvents is highly regulated in recognition of the potential fire and/or explosion risks.
NCPDC strongly recommends that perc dry cleaners consult with their local fire marshal, building code officials, insurers, etc. to ensure that any conversion will meet the necessary safety, deed and code restrictions regarding building egress, fire-resistant building materials, solvent class, maintenance procedures, fire suppression systems, etc.
Loss of Equipment Certification. The use of certified dry cleaning machines is essential to the responsible operation of any dry-cleaning facility, regardless of the type of solvent being used. However, when cleaning machines are retrofitted, their function and performance specifications are altered, thereby invalidating the original certification or listing mark.
To maintain standards compliance as well as assurance of a safe and properly functioning machine following a retrofit conversion, field certification or inspection should be initiated with a recognized third-party certifier. In most jurisdictions, third-party certification following retrofit is required for fire-marshal, approval and insurance coverage
Sparking. The accidental ignition of a petroleum-based solvent can be caused by a frictional spark or by static electricity within the cleaning machine, or from an unintended exterior heat source.
This "sparking" hazard is of major concern in any petroleum dry cleaning facility, and the reason behind the various anti-sparking measures incorporate into petroleum-based cleaning machines.
Because sparking is not an issue with perc-based machines, particular caution should be exercised during a retrofit conversion to petroleum usage to ensure that all potential sparking points -- especially exposed wires -- have been eliminated. The use of a licensed electrician is strongly recommended.
Operator Training. Employees in establishments using petroleum-based solvents should be fully trained in the- proper handling of combustible liquids, fire-prevention methods and related work safety issues.
Dry cleaners considering perc-to-petroleum retrofits should consider intensive employee safety training and education regarding petroleum solvents as an integral element of the conversion process.
Everett Childers & Associates will offer a management conference in Tampa, FL, Oct 16-18.
Practical information will be presented on Friday for managers and plant owners. One of America's fastest growing and highest quality drycleaners will explain in detail how the company grew so fast with a high retention rate of high-volume customers. A former banker, who now cleans and spots for a living in addition to financial planning for his company, will reveal the secrets of maximizing contact with your bank and extracting the most business from your area while improving profits. Another speaker will give an account of what is changing throughout the world in cleaning, wet and dry. Speakers on new technology, equipment and chemicals throughout the world will make presentations.
The cost is $125 for the day, including lunch and a complete printing of all that is presented during the day.
On Saturday and Sunday, Childers will present his complete two-day course in drycleaning, wetcleaning, bleaching and spotting. He has been teaching this class for the past 10 years in different parts of the country. The class fee is $275.00 per person and includes a copy of the Master Drycleaners Notebook and all handouts. Space for both events is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information or to register, call Everett Childers at (360) 604-0267, e-mail at echild@e-z.net, or write to PO Box 1005, Vancouver, WA 98666.
National Clothesline columnist and 30-year drycleaning veteran Dennis McCrory has been entertaining at drycleaners' convention with his stand-up comedy routine, "What's So Funny About Drycleaning?"
While a drycleaner by day, the comedian comes out at night. He also entertaining at casinos and nightclubs in and around his hometown of New Orleans.
While he also enjoys speaking on serious seminar topics like pre-employment screening and marketing, McCrory says he particularly like to make people laugh.
He recently performed at Rocky Mountain Fabricare Association programs in Denver and Salt Lake City and took his show to the Nebraska Fabricare Association fall convention in Omaha last month.
He also appeared at the Neighborhood Cleaners Association Suncess Show in Orlando, FL sticking with the serious stuff with a program on pre-employment techniques.
He says there is truth in the adage, "If we don't laugh at ourselves, others will."
Attending many serious conferences and conventions over the years led him to believe it was time to inject some humor. A few laughs, he says, help people learn more because they become more relaxed.
The comedy routine lasts 30 minutes, but McCrory said he hope the memories last much longer.
DOWNERS GROVE, IL -- The Double Tree Hotel near downtown San Diego will be the host hotel of the Coin Laundry Association's next workshop Feb 5-7.
Coin laundry store owners, distributors and manufacturers are invited to attend the workshop and participate in seminars and idea exchanges designed to improve coin laundry operations.
Registration for those who sign up by Dec. 18 is $249 for CLA members and $299 for non-members. After Dec. 18 the prices will increase by $50.
Separate reservations should be made directly with the San Diego Double Tree Hotel by calling (800) 222-TREE. Attendees qualify for a special room rate of $120 a night for single or double occupancy.
CLA has also announced a new workers' compensation insurance program for coin laundry owners. The program is through Aon Risk Service of Indiana and Wausau insurance companies.
Options for monthly payment with no interest and premium discounts are available. Renewals are based on the CLA group experience; individual experience is not important, the association said.
For more information, contact CLA, (630) 963-5547.
It happens once every seven seconds,10,000 times a day, 3.6 million times a year. An American reaches the Big Five-Oh plateau.
By 2000, almost 30 percent of the United States' population will be 50 years old or older. There will be 35.7 million people between the ages 45 and 54. And that segment of the population controls 50 percent of the U.S. discretionary income and 80 percent of all dollars in U.S. savings accounts.
Aging Baby Boomers, according to Gerald Celente, author of Trends 2000 and director of the Trends Research Institute, "are in their prime earning years and control the vast amount of wealth in the country."
Celente said marketers are ignoring that generation and he criticized the media image of mature adults as people who are "dull, stupid, selfish and don't know how to have fun."
On the contrary, their attitudes are more youth-oriented than their predecessors and they still feel young and fit. However, they have higher expectations for service, convenience and quality than younger consumers.
Meanwhile the "youth market" to whom many marketers target their message, is shrinking. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 25- to 34-year-olds' median household income dropped 3.1 percent from 1980 to 1995.
For that group, median household income was $34,701, compared to $48,058 for 45- to 54-year-olds. Discretionary income of the older group was $5,480 compared to $4,501 for the 25 to 34 group. And spending by mature consumers is rising while purchasing by younger shoppers is dropping.
Women are a key element in this changing demographic. Unlike previous generations, women in the "Baby Boomer" groups are more likely to be in the workforce and to enjoy personal and financial independence. And over the next decade, the over-50 female market will increase by 50 percent and enter its peak earning and purchasing power years.
Women's Wear Daily reports that garment manufacturers are stepping up their offerings in casual wear for the fall season.
Casual is the driving force in sales, WWD said, noting that while some stores reported double-digit increases in sales during the spring and summer seasons, sales of career business wear have been flat.
"Casual has been strong and we have planned it aggressively," Kathy Bofano, executive vice president of merchandising at Macy's East, told WWD.
Top selling items at Macy's East include Liz Claiborne twill and linen pants, Tommy Hilfiger's logo T-shirts and Jones Sport's knit and dressing cardigan.
Sheila Kamensky, fashion director of Rich's, reported that casual business wear has been a sales standout. Best sellers include care-free twill shorts and T-shirts from Jones Sport and washed linens from Liz Claiborne.
"The whole mode of dressing has swung to a casual vein," Kamensky said. "Women are finding that even their career needs are found in the casual department."
With casual a driving force in sales, manufacturers are increasing their causal sportwear offerings for fall.
Finity Inc., a career-wear manufacturer that had never offered weekend casual, will do so beginning with the fall selling season, bringing out a line of casual sweaters in Finity Naturals, its soft career dressing line.
The firm's Finity Studio, a structured career line, has become more relaxed while Finity Dresses, which debuted this spring, offers casual knit dressing.
"Even as a career resource, we need to think about casual," said Jason Tynan, chairman and chief executive officer of Finity Inc.
Another company, Karen Kane, has moved all the structured career pieces from its Lifestyle line to its Collection line, which has limited distribution. The Karen Kane Lifestyle line will have only casual dressing, such as Tencel jackets and knit tops.
"There is definitely a demand at retail for more casual," said Betsy Blair, vice president of sales for Karen Kane.
"I would go to the stores and I would see all our Tencel gone and all of our constructed jackets still on the selling floor," she told WWD.
Blair said that starting this fall Karen Kane's business casual will account for 50 percent and weekend casual will account for 35 percent. Structured career will make up 15 percent. Only two years ago, structured career accounted 50 percent of the business, Blair said.
Jude Zimmerman, vice president of sales and marketing for Sigrid Olsen, said her company is increasing its casual offerings by 10 percent for fall.
"Friday dressing has extended into Monday through Thursday," she said.
The company's So Blue denim-driven line will offer Tencel and corduroy jeans paired with sweaters and T-shirts for fall. The Sigrid Olsen Sport line will feature Tencel jackets and drawstring pants in rayon. The company will also offer Collection, a career line that is unstructured.
August Silk's president and CEO Jack Weinstock said his company is embracing head-to-toe knit-driven dressing with such combinations as georgette skirts with knit tops. Its knit tops will be more casual and the company is increasing its offerings in T-shirt for the fall.
"We are moving into a knit-driven cycle. Career has become more casual," Wesinstock said.
The "casual barometer" has been rising steadily over the past five years, according to Cotton Inc.
As part of its continuing Lifestyle Monitor surveys of consumer attitudes and behaviors regarding clothing, fashion and shopping, Cotton Inc. asks consumers about casual dressing. The surveys involved a 25-minute interview with consumers covering a range of eight subjects.
The results are tabulated to produce a "barometer" reading for each category on a scale of 0 to 100; a score of 50 represents a neutral response. Barometer readings below 50 reflect an unfavorable consumer response; above 50 indicates a favorable position.
The first reading of the casual barometer registered at 56.5 when it was taken in 1994. It has risen steadily since then, into the mid-60 range with most consumer groups. Men in the 35-55 age group give casual its highest reading of 66.7; women are at 64.
When the surveying began, Cotton Inc. said it was trying to establish what percentage of companies had causal days, how many times per week and whether it was personal or not.
"Four years and million of Khakis later, working causal is no longer just a novelty for summer for many companies," Cotton Inc. said in a September report.
"Today it's time to ask, 'Have people begun dressing too casually on casual day?' About two-thirds think not."
This summer Cotton Inc., revised its 125-question survey to reflect a changing market and to get a better handle on certain types of data that retailers want.
On casual dressing, the Lifestyle Monitor now digs deeper into the trend, asking what consumers prefer to wear to the movies, the supermarket and the mall. Jeans came in first in all three categories. However, when women are at home and out of the public eye, jeans were a distant second to sweat pants.
Since two-thirds of the consumers say they would rather buy higher quality clothing than that which is more fashionable, new group of questions has been added to the survey to give a better definition of how consumers define "quality."
So what do consumers mean by "quality?" Nearly half said they mean fit or style. Less than a third say they mean durability of construction of the clothing. Just 11 percent cited "laundering instructions."
Weekly updates on Cotton Inc.'s Lifestyle Monitor findings are published in Women's Wear Daily. Current and past reports can be found on Cotton Inc.'s web site: www.cottoninc.com.
SILVER SPRING, MD -- The International Fabricare Institute is offering classes on stain removal and wetcleaning at its headquarters in Silver Spring this month.
The basic stain removal class will be Oct. 16-17 and the wetcleaning seminar will be Oct. 23-24.
Also this month will be the last session on the 1998 schedule for the Introduction to Drycleaning resident course. That course will meet Oct. 26-30 with the final session of the two-week Advanced Drycleaning course beginning the following week.
Three shirt laundry procedures seminars are scheduled for November as follows: Kansas City, MO, on Nov. 21; St. Louis, MO, on Nov. 22; and Las Vegas, NV, on Nov. 22.
The next opportunity to take the examinations for Certified Environmental Drycleaner and Certified Professional Drycleaner will be April 10, 1999. Sign-up deadline for those tests will be Feb. 15, 1999.
For registration or other information about the IFI educational offerings, call IFI, (800) 434-6222.
"Remember, old people are worth a fortune -- with silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet and gas in their stomachs."
Hiring older workers has worked for Vita, according to a report in the July 27 edition of the Economist magazine. The company's owner, Fred Hartman, told the magazine that he started hiring retired workers on a part-time basis partly to save money. But he found that they are harder working, more loyal and more flexible. At 46 years old, Hartman is young enough to be the son or even grandson of many of his 35 employees, whose average age is 73.
The family owned business, which served the medical field for 50 years before branching out into hundreds of other small niches (Vita's needles inflate basketballs, inject sperm whales and embalm corpses, among other things), has annual sales of more than $3 million and has grown by 20 percent a year for the past five years.
Hartman concedes that production dips in the summer when his staff wants time off to visit grandchildren, but all of the workers have been cross-trained, so they can cover for each other. Some even have their own keys to the plant so they can start work in the pre-dawn hours to avoid the mid-day heat.
By changing to accommodate an older work force, Hartman has done what other firms will need to do in the next few year as the U.S. workforce ages, The Economist said.
Every eight seconds, somebody in America turns 50. The oldest of America's 76 million Baby Boomers will reach 55 in 2001, the article noted.
By the year 2005:
The U.S. workforce will include 27 million people between 50 and 59, compared with 20 million in 1997.
The number of workers over 65 will be 4.3 million. Currently it is 3.8 million; 10 years ago it was 3 million.
The median age of the work force will be over 40 by 2005.
While all this is going on, the number of workers in the 25-44 age group will continue falling.
A report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consulting firm, characterized the over-55s as the "new workaholics." Their hard work may be motivated in part by fear of downsizing which has hit that age group particularly hard. But it also may be because they do not have children to rush home and tend to in the evenings.
But there are problems, too, The Economist noted. The cost of health-care coverage starts rising dramatically once workers reach about 42. Since older workers save more for retirement, the cost of company pension programs can rise if the company makes matching contributions. And senior employees generally expect and receive higher pay and more holidays than younger ones.
Also, while people over 65 have half as many workplace accidents as younger workers, they are more likely to be injured and take longer to recover.
Older workers also tend to have deeper roots in their communities. This can benefit a company that plans to stay in place and doesn't want to see its employees move away, but it can also mean that older workers are less flexible should the company want to relocate or staff a new location. When Vita needle was offered a cheaper, more modern factory just 20 miles away, Hartman turned it down. Half of his workers were unwilling to make the move.
And for the younger workers...
Workers in the so-called Generation X group look for jobs that will provide training and education. That was a finding of a phone survey done by the Gallup Organization and reported by the Associated Press.
The AP article noted that 84 percent of the respondents who received six or more days of job training in the last year reported job satisfaction, versus 70 percent satisfaction among those who had received no training.
Eighty percent said job training was an important factor in determining whether to take a new job or stick with an existing one; 58 percent of workers under 33 said job training was useful in preparing them for higher level jobs. The percentage who agree with that statement drops as workers' ages rise.
With $267.9 billion in transactions so far this year, the financial services sector is dominating the record-breaking mergers and acquisition market.
In fact, activity in this sector has accounted for more than 40 percent of this year's M&A transactions, according to Houlihan Lokey's Mergerstat.
Consolidation can often result in increased efficiencies and other benefits.
However, it can also fundamentally alter the relationship that a business owner has with his or her traditional financial advisors.
Your access to both people and resources may disappear as geographic presence or personnel, including advisors you have relied on, change.
Who you might need
In this kind of environment, it may be time to reassess your financial relationships.
Even if you're only a one-person operation, you need the same quality of professional advice and consistency of personal service that larger businesses seek.
As your business evolves from the time you set up shop to the day you retire, you may find that where once your financial advisor was essentially a source of capital, now you need advice on a wide range of business issues.
At any given time during the life cycle of your business, you may need the advice of any or all of these business financial specialists: business lender; business succession planner; investment advisor or financial planner; cash management consultant; insurance broker; business valuation specialist; retirement plan specialist; and merger and acquisition specialist.
While you may think you can't afford their help, be sure that you don't shortchange yourself when considering the services of these professionals.
Their knowledge and experience could mean the difference between achieving or not achieving your objectives.
How to find advisors
Finding the appropriate business advisors may require some effort on your part.
You might begin by asking other business owners, your lawyer or your accountant for their recommendations.
Look for a firm that provides the broadest base of high-quality expertise coupled with a consistent local presence.
Make appointments to meet with the most promising firms. You'll need to determine whether each candidate's services, philosophy and performance match your needs and goals.
Try to assess whether they really want to know your objectives and help you meet them. The best way to do this is to be ready to share a clear picture of your business's current situation and needs, as well as possible future directions and goals.
Ask questions
Ask about their credentials and, if possible, obtain references from the firm's current or former clients.
Call several names on the list to ask for an honest evaluation of the person's services.
Check with your local Better Business Bureau to see whether any complaints have been filed against the firm.
Finally, determine whether the firm has the capability and experience in handling your particular business need.
For example, if you have received an unsolicited offer for your business, determine whether the firm has solid experience in valuing companies and representing them in the sale process.
For convenience and more effective business planning, you might want to consider looking for all your professional advice under one roof.
Within the financial services industry, for example, you might be able to establish a relationship with a single business advisor who has access to specialists in all the key areas of business services.
Work with your advisor
Establish and maintain a relationship with your advisor even if you don't have any pressing problems to resolve.
He or she may be able to help you improve your business's operations and profits by making suggestions concerning such issues as cash management techniques, financing practices or employee benefits programs.
An advisor whose view of your company is up-to-date will have a sound base from which to work when issues or new opportunities surface.
If you've been trying to make a success of your business alone, start your search for an experienced business advisor who can give you access to resources that help you achieve your goals.
By making an informed and careful choice about your business services provider, you can increase your chance that you'll enjoy years of personal and individualized service.
WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Senate defeated a $1-an-hour hike in the federal minimum wage that Sen. Edward Kennedy had fought for throughout the year.
Kennedy's proposal, which died on a 55-44 vote, would have increased the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour by January 1, 2000, through two 50-cent increments. Kennedy said workers earning the minimum wage make an average $10,700 a year, $2,900 below the official poverty level for a family of three.
The Massachusetts Democrat tried to get the increase adopted as an amendment to pending legislation to overhaul personal bankruptcy laws.
The Sept. 22 Senate vote kept Kennedy's measure off the bankruptcy bill which remained under consideration.
President Bill Clinton, a supporter of increasing the minimum wage, said he was "disappointed" by the Senate's decision.
A similar minimum wage bill passed in 1996 provided a two-step increase that brought the wage to its current $5.15 an hour level last fall. The debate over the proposed wage hike echoed lawmakers' give and take two years ago, when Congress last boosted the wage.
"Giving low-wage workers an additional 50 cents an hour can make all the difference," Kennedy said. "It can help to buy groceries or pay the rent or defray the cost of job-training courses at the local community college. The need is real."
But opponents of the increase said it could actually hurt workers by dragging down the economy, stifling small business and increasing unemployment.
Sen. James Jeffords, a Vermont Republican, cited statistics showing that more than half of minimum-wage workers live in families with annual incomes exceeding $25,000, and the majority of the workers are young, single and childless.
The National Federation of Independent Business also strongly opposed an increase.
NFIB's Jack Faris said that government statistics show that arbitrary government mandated wage hikes do nothing to reduce poverty levels or narrow the gap between high and low income groups.
In fact," Faris said, "employers opt to eliminate marginal positions and fill any remaining openings with people who already have a proven work record."
During the month of August, Dave Spensley, host of the E-Mail Fabricare Forum, invited members of the internet group to participate in a survey to gauge the level of interest in a national advertising program for the drycleaning industry.
Of the approximately 500 forum members, 67 responded, representing about 14 percent of the entire group. All were in favor of such a program. Opinions varied on how it should be conducted.
Survey questions and responses were tabulated by Spensley as follows:
Are you in favor of the concept of a generic, positive, industry-wide advertising campaign designed by an outside independent advertising agency and funded by individual cleaners, associations, and any manufacturers and suppliers directly linked to the fabric care Industry? The agency, advertising content and funding amount are yet to be determined.
Yes, 67; No 0.
Would you be willing to contribute to such a campaign?
Yes 66; No 1.
The contributions by associations, suppliers and manufacturers would be substantial and determined separately, but individual plants would have to participate, also . Should those contributions be based on:
Pounds cleaned, 4.
Hangers purchased, 21.
Dollar sales, 7.
So much per plant, 22.
Whatever you can afford to donate, 8.
Other, 5.
Participation in the forum is free and open to any member of the industry who has an e-mail address. Applications can be made by sending e-mail addressed to: cleanlist@uncled.com and requesting a sign-up information.
RESTON, VA -- The premier issue of Lapel magazine, a marketing tool created for the fabric care industry, is now available from Ios Publications.
The magazine is designed for cleaners to give to their customers and to help build consumer confidence in the professional of the drycleaner. Information on garment purchasing, current styles and garment care is featured in the publication.
The four-color magazine will be published twice a year and will be directed to fashion-conscious readers with a substantial wardrobe investment.
The focus will be on educating consumers about clothing care, quality and selection. Services offered by drycleaners will be highlighted.
Lapel's editor-in-chief, Joyce Carcaise, said she believes the magazine will help cleaners "establish themselves as part of the fashion chain and as expert garment care professionals."
"The information Lapel offers will help open up the lines of communication between the cleaner and his or her customer," Carcaise said. "This two-way communization helps to prevent problems and customer complaints and, in turn, saves money for both parties."
More information is available by calling (703) 264-772 or sending e-mail to IosPubs@ibm.net.
Rex Beddies, executive director of the Indiana Drycleaners and Laundry Association, died in an accident September 18. He was 41 years old.
Beddies was reportedly working under an automobile when it fell on him. He was killed instantly
He had served as executive director of the Indiana association since early 1996. Prior to that, he was s drycleaner in Ohio for 25 years. Under his leadership in Indiana, the Five-Star drycleaner program took effect under which cleaners earn recognition for their environmental protection efforts. The program was the first of its kind in the United States. Several other association have adopted similar type programs since then.
Beddies was also among a group of some two dozen cleaners who were invited to IFI in the early 1990s to form the IFI Certified Instructors group. Since then he gave numerous seminars on cleaning and stain removal for trade association around the country. He was also a speaker for IFI at the Clean '95 program in New Orleans.
Details of plans for a memorial in his name were not available at press but should be by next month.
Charles H. (Chuck) Loomis of St. Louis, an industry leader and founder of Loomis Bros. Equipment Co. died Aug 19 after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 80 years old.
At the age of 16, Loomis found himself on his own when his parents died during the Depression and the family farm in southern Illinois was repossessed A businessman in Cobden IL, took him under his wing and later Loomis ended up marrying the businessman's daughter, Margaret.
After serving in his country in the Army Air Corp. during World War II, Loomis worked in a Detroit automobile factory before becoming a traveling salesman, selling flex forms and sewing supplies out his trunk over an 18-state territory.
In 1948, he and his brother, Burt, founded Loomis Bros. Equipment Co. in southern Illinois with chuck Loomis as the salesman and Burt as the company mechanic.
Dale Loomis, current president of Loomis Bros, remembers that as a youngster his father would fill the trunk of his car with laundry parts and not return home until his trunk was empty.
"I learned the valuable lessons of hard work and customer service from my father as I watched him make enough to first purchase a truck, then expand into a formal business which moved into the St. Louis area to accommodate its growth," Dale Looms notes.
The business continued to grow and in the early 1950s Loomis Bros. became the exclusive sales agent in southern Illinois and eastern Missouri for Pellerin Milnor Corp., then a small Louisiana manufacturer of commercial laundry equipment. Today, Pellerin Milnor is one of the largest industry manufacturers in the country.
In addition to Loomis Bros., Chuck Loomis also owned and operated several drycleaning plants outside the St. Louis area. Before retiring from Loomis Bros. In 1993, he sold the company to his son, Dale. The company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Housed in its own building in St. Louis county, Loomis Bros, now also has a branch office and warehouse in Kansas City and new office in Tulsa. The company is currently the official Pellerin Milnor distributor throughout Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, southern Illinois, southeast Iowa and western Kentucky.
All three of Chuck and Margaret Loomis's sons have become involved in the drycleaning and laundry industry.
Terry, who passed away in February, 1997, owned several One Hour Martinizing and Betty Brite Cleaners in St. Charles county, MO.
Dale, the company president, began working for the finally business while he was in college.
Dennis, the middle son, owned and operated several drycleaning plants in St. Louis county before becoming vice president of the National Indemnity Exchange (NIE).
Donations in memory of Chuck Loomis can be made to the Lafayette Grand Hospice, 3543 Lay, St. Louis, MO 63104, or the American Cancer Society, 4207 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108.
Robert K. Baker, retired vice-president and former co-owner of The Minnesota Chemical Co., died Aug. 19 after an extended hospitalization, in Milwaukee, WI. He was 80 years old.
Along with his brothers, Daniel and John, Baker assumed ownership of The Minnesota Chemical Co. from their father and founder of the company, Robert. P Baker, upon their return from military service in World War II. The company is a full line distributor of supplies, equipment, parts and service to the laundry and drycleaning industry in the Upper Midwest. It has been managed by the Baker family since it was founded in 1915.
In 1953, Baker relocated to Milwaukee, WI, to open a branch of the company there. In 1985, the three bothers sold the company to Michael, son of John, and Stephen, son of Bob. Today, another one of Bob's sons, Daniel A., is also involved in the company as an owner and manager.
Baker enjoyed all aspects of business, politics can current events. He is survived by six of his seven children and his wife of 51 years, Marion, and 10 grandchildren.
Two recently decided state supreme court cases give state environmental authorities broad power to assign responsibility for clean ups for contaminated property.
In a Wisconsin case, 400 drums of waste hauled away in 1970 came back to haunt the Chrysler Outboard Corp. which was held responsible for the cleanup even though it broke no laws in the process of disposing of its waste. The company that hauled the waste is no longer in business.
In Pennsylvania, the current operator of a landfill was deemed responsible for cleaning up contamination which even the state agreed was caused by a previous operator.
A Pennsylvania case
In the Pennsylvania case, the Adams Sanitation Co. Inc. had contested an order from the state Department of Environmental Protection to clean up water contamination on a tract of land it leased in Adams County. The company argued -- and the state did not disagree -- that the pollution was a result of actions by a previous occupant of the land.
The previous operator had disposed hazardous waste on a portion of a 108-acre tract in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When that company was acquired by the current owner in 1983, 78 acres of the parcel had been filled.
The new owner, Adams Sanitation Co., received permission from the state in 1984 to use the remaining 30 acres. No additional waste was deposited on the 78 acres used by the former owner.
In 1990, the DEP told the company that it was responsible for water contamination on a residential tract next to the 78-acre site. The DEP directed Adams Sanitation to provide a replacement water supply and begin a program to abate groundwater contamination emanating from the landfill.
The DEP agreed that the contamination originated from waste disposed on the parcel prior to the current occupant's of use of the site. However, DEP said the current operator was still responsible for the contamination under Pennsylvania's Clean Streams Law which lets DEP order the landowner or occupier to correct the condition.
In his opinion for the majority, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Castille said that the law clearly authorizes DEP to "order either the owner or occupier of land to correct the condition caused by pollution... regardless of that party's fault in causing the contamination."
The state, Castille wrote, does not have to "prove that an owner or occupant of land either knew or should have known of the existence of the pollution" before ordering a cleanup.
Castille wrote that interpreting the law to mean that a party is only liable for the water pollution it either caused or knew to exist before leasing or operating the property "would effectively undermine the DEP's efforts in achieving the legislature's mandate... because it would require the DEP to conduct an extensive investigation into the cause of the pollution before ordering that the polluted site be remedied."
"This extensive investigation would in turn delay the clean-up of the water and, in some cases, actually cause the polluted condition to worsen while the DEP searched for the party which caused the pollution," he wrote.
The court held that the "DEP can require a party who leases a parcel of land for the operation of a business to abate groundwater contamination... without having to demonstrate that the party was responsible for or knew of the contamination.
In a dissenting opinion, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice John Flaherty said the court's majority "would permit the Commonwealth to engage in regulation which constitutes the taking of property without compensation, and hence, would be an unconstitutional exercise of police power."
"To construe the subject Act as providing for strict liability, based on nothing more than the ownership or occupation of the land, would be to impose on innocent individuals the burden which should be borne by society as a whole, thus, an unconstitutional taking," Flaherty wrote.
Wisconsin ruling
The Wisconsin Supreme Court decision broadened the scope of responsibility for clean-up to former owners of contaminated property or generators of hazardous waste, not just the current owners or operators of sites where hazardous substances are found.
The decision also gave the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources the authority to order cleanups by those who caused a release of hazardous substances before the enactment of state's Spill Statute which was passed in 1978.
An analysis of the ruling published in the July-August issue of the Wisconsin Fabricare Institute's newsletter said that the statute historically has been used to impose liability on the current owner of property where hazardous substances were released even if that owner did not cause the contamination.
In the case before the state Supreme Court, Chrysler had sent some 400 drums of waste to the Bark River site in 1970. Twenty-two years later it was discovered that the drums had released hazardous substances to the environment, damaging the soil and groundwater.
Chrysler agreed to remove the drums and excavate the soil, but a dispute arose between Chrysler and the DNR over responsibility for groundwater remediation.
The Supreme Court concluded that Chrysler had caused the contamination and could be held liable even though it did not own or operate the site. And since the legislature had intended the Spill Statute to apply retroactively, it did not matter that the contamination occurred before enactment of the law.
The government also argued that every day is a "new release" and a new violation, therefore even through the disposal occurred before the state law was enacted and may have been accepted industry practice at the time, its prosecution was for "new releases" that occurred every day.
The analysis of the decision, written for WFI by Donald P. Gallo and Cynthia E. Smith of the Michael Best & Friedrich law firm, pointed out that even through Chrysler did not actually dump the waste it was still responsible under the theory that it was the generator of the waste and as such title or ownership continues until the waste is destroyed.
To determine when the violation of the Spill Statute occurred, the court broadly interpreted "causes" to include not only commission but also omission of an act. Thus the court ruled that Chrysler could be fined for failing to take action after the enactment of the Spill Statute to address the release even if it did not know until 1992 that it has caused contamination. The Spill Statute does not require that the release or damage be intentional or with any knowledge.
This definition of "causes" eliminated any concern that the DNR was imposing a new duty or attaching a new legal consequent to events that took place before the effective date of the Spill Statute and were legal at that time, the WFI attorneys said.
"The impact of the court's decision in Chrysler could be far reaching, imposing liability under state law on those who generated waste that caused contamination to another's property or whose conduct in the past has resulted in contamination that has only recently been, or is yet to be, discovered," Gallo and Smith wrote.
"At a typical drycleaning site, this decision clarified and reaffirmed the governmental liability of past owners and operators," they wrote. "Unfortunately, this statute does not provide for a private party right of action, but it does provide leverage for a current owner through the DNR against prior owners and operators."
In a dissenting opinion in the 4-3 decision, Justice Janine P. Gesek was sharply critical of the majority's broad interpretation of "causes," arguing that the semantics do not change that fact that it is allowing penalties which are based on pre-Spill Statute conduct and are, in the minority's opinion, unconstitutional.
The case was remanded to the trial court for a determination of he amount of the penalty.
One might get the impression from reading the EPA's Cleaner Substitute Technologies Assessment (CTSA) there is no way to remove dirt from clothes without possibly endangering human health or the environment.
Exposure to perc may increase one's risk of cancer. Petroleum solvents could present a fire risk. Wetcleaning detergents might be a hazard to aquatic life. But these are all worst-case scenarios, which is why the information in the CTSA must be studied carefully. EPA, in fact, makes no bold declarations that any one type of cleaning is bad, or that any one type is superior. Words like could, might and possibly are sprinkled throughout the document. Anyone looking for a firm answer or the final word will be disappointed. And anyone who says that any such thing is contained in the document either has not read it or is misrepresenting its contents.
What the CTSA tells us, more than anything, is that EPA is just as uncertain about the future direction of clothes cleaning technology as anyone else. While the CTSA was in development, the industry underwent rapid change. Old perc equipment was phased out and replaced by new, more efficient machines that are downright miserly in the solvent consumption. New hydrocarbon solvents were developed along with new cleaning machines that greatly reduce the risk of fire or explosion and that make it possible to place petroleum cleaning plants in areas where they would have been prohibited just a few years ago. Machine wetcleaning and new wetcleaning chemicals took the oldest method of garment care far beyond anything imaginable in the not-so-distant past.
And still, there may be more to come. A CTSA in the 21st century might need to account for one or more additional clothes cleaning technologies. There could be liquid carbon dioxide to evaluate, or Rynex or ultrasonic cleaning. Those are all definite possibilities that no one even talked about 10 years ago, so who knows what else might come up in the future.
So if EPA can give us no firm answers in 1998, despite thousands of hours and thousands of dollars of study, we can understand. No one else has those answers today, either. While some may pick and chose sound bites from the CTSA to buttress their arguments for this or that course of action, the truth of the matter is that EPA is neither endorsing nor condemning any type of garment care in its CTSA. The short answer is that there is no answer. In that sense, the CTSA is an accurate assessment of the state of cleaning technology in 1998.
In Kentucky, a little-known provision in Kentucky state law mandates licensing of drycleaners through the state Department of Insurance. Representatives of the Kentucky Fabricare Association recently discussed the requirement with the state Department of Housing, Building and Construction as well as the state fire marshal and the insurance department. In the end, the four groups agreed that since the licensing program had been dormant for so long, it would make little sense to revive it now. Technically, the housing department will now handle the licensing issue, but in the General Assembly session in 2000, the parties will press for repeal of the license statutes.
The issue of licensing remains, however, since the topic occasionally surfaces in discussions. Remember, licensing is not the same as certification. It is all well and good that some associations offer their own certification programs. But it defies political reality to think state governments would accept these as equivalent to licensure.
In examining the processes other professions undergo in the licensing process, one might find that the demands and protocols of licensing vary widely. There could be educational requirements at the college level, proficiency examinations, grandfather clauses for experienced cleaners and the question of who must be licensed. And then there is the question, by whom are cleaners licensed? That is easily answered -- that role belongs to the state.
Finally, we observe that licensing is a process for individuals. By pressing for it, we could create a change in the labor market where plant owners will be mandated to hire a licensed cleaner or spotter. Not certified, not trained but licensed.
So we should continue to train, educate and certify employees. But before we rush to seek more government intervention in our business lives, think about what we ask for.
It has long been a standing rule with me that I do not write about a particular brand or company, but I am making a rare exception. I will say up front that I am a friend to all salesman and all products. They all work well. Your choice as an industry consumer is to choose the product and technician that best serves you. So please, you other chemical companies, don't get mad at me. Here goes.
As everyone knows by now, the (former owners of the) Pilgrim drycleaning chain in Houston and San Antonio, TX, sued several entities three years ago for reasons of "knowingly" allowing solvent and machinery to be sold to this and other companies when perc contamination was imminent.
Simply put, the (plaintiffs) wanted to blame someone in the industry other than themselves for their own perc contamination.
R.R. Street & Co. Inc. was found innocent, as they should be. Perc, spotting chemicals and machinery made by this company or any other did not cause the contamination; the cleaner did.
Consider the analogy of a gun being a killer. No gun or rifle ever killed anyone until an individual picked it up and pulled the trigger. Even if Street's had been guilty of concealing the probability of perc being carcinogen (which they didn't) to its customers, the customer wrecked the environment, not the company that sold the product.
We seem to live in a world of blaming everyone else for our own mistakes. This lawsuit was an utter waste of everyone's money and put a blight on our industry. Not to mention dividing some of us over it. What a pity. Can we not see that we are fighting one another and wasting one another's money? Only the lawyers made out in this deal. And to think there are some people in this industry who gloated over this lawsuit.
I recently heard a statement was made against Street by an old competitor and his and another machinery person in our industry warned a new plant owner that putting a Street product in their machine would ruin it! Yes ruin it. I have never heard a more irresponsible statement uttered in my life. Why would any of us want to do business with any individuals who slam a good company name because they themselves have some vindictive and jealous attitude towards this company? Go figure!
I grew up with a company that sold and serviced and taught their product to me as a young apprentice working in the back of a cleaning plant. Without that company I would have just been a mediocre cleaner. But they invested in me and gave their time. They still do this for their customers.
Their name is R.R. Street & Co. Inc. They alone have invested more time and money into our industry's environmental woes than any. No one has thanked them. Instead they were sued down in Houston.
I have IFI bulletins dating back to the mid 1970s warning the industry that perc and its potential for classification as a carcinogen was in the works. Anyone who has kept up with the industry will know this. The problem with perc is not IFI or Street, it is the government. Forewarned is forearmed. None of this has ever been a secret. We just chose to ignore it until recent years. Thank God a jury had the sense to see the truth and common sense here.
Now shall those of us in the industry do the same and quit battling each other in our frustrations and go after the real enemy: the U.S. EPA?
Thank you for reading my opinion. I hope you agree.
Kenney SlattenI read with interest your lead article in the July issue of National Clothesline, "Consumers Give Mixed Signals Price Versus Quality."
As a marketing consultant who specializes in showing drycleaners how to create a flood of customers, without discounting their prices, I've made some interesting discoveries. Here's one: the main reason consumers are so influenced by price when it comes to drycleaning, is that more than 99 percent of all drycleaners do absolutely nothing in their marketing to quantifyably and believably differentiate themselves from competitors on any basis other than price!
Cleaners do little or nothing to spell out for the consumer what they're paying for and how they justify their pricing. The problem becomes that, in the absence of any other quantifiable basis on which to choose a drycleaner, consumers are left no option but to pick and choose according to who has the best coupon that week.
This may come as a surprise to some dry cleaners, many of whom tell me they believe their customers are motivated mostly by price: If all customers cared about was lowest price, we would all be driving Yugos, living in trailer parks and shopping at second-hand stores.
If a drycleaner wants to differentiate himself from his competitors, he or she must use more sophisticated marketing strategies than traditional discount coupons and image ads. The drycleaners using our marketing materials are able to demonstrate, beyond a shadow of a doubt to their prospects, that they are different from their competitors. They know how to create a perception of value so strong, that even if their prices were the highest in town, many consumers wouldn't consider doing business with anyone else!
When drycleaners learn the marketing secrets of educating their prospects and customers, quantifiably differentiating themselves from their competition (and you can't do this with empty slogans or fancy logos) they will be able to charge fair prices for their work, and have consumers lining up to do business with them!
Pamela Yellen
Prospecting & Marketing Institute Inc.
Lamy, NM
Spot removal is accomplished 100 percent by personal labor. Aside from finishing, spotting cannot be done by feeding the garment into a machine or clamping it to a device: it must be performed exclusively by hand.
In other words, spotting is the most non-productive operation in the plant since it is impossible to assign a "production time" to this operation. Removal of a hard-set spot can take as long as several hours while removal of fresh food and beverage spots can take as little as five seconds.
When you total the steps that the spotter has to perform (including inspection, spot removal, hanging the garment, feeding work to finishers and wetcleaning) it can be mind-boggling, especially when drycleaning is also added to his or her duties.
Therefore, your spotting department must be properly and totally equipped in order to help the spotter accomplish these many time-consuming tasks.
The basic piece of equipment for the spotting department is the spotting board.
Spotting board
A well equipped spotting board must contain vacuum, air, steam, cold water, solvent spray, an adequate surface for spotting chemical bottles and a frame to hold six spotting brushes.
Many boards I have seen do not have vacuum. This is critical to spot removal, drying the spotted area and feathering out rings.
Make sure that the vacuum created is of sufficient volume (or even more than sufficient) and do not reduce the pipe size. Pipe-in the vacuum with as few ells or tees as possible. If you need a cut-off valve, use a gate or ball valve, not a globe valve.
If your central vacuum unit is undersized, either replace it with a larger unit or install a separate unit (1 HP size) right alongside the spotting board.
When I prepare an equipment list for my clients, I always size the vacuum unit by doubling the number of vacuum-using pieces of equipment.
Also, I never recommend less than a 3-inch vacuum header (even for a little 1.5 HP unit). The header's take-offs should start from the center of the header, not from a riser off the top.
Use an ell-tee combination where the take-off enters the spotting board and install a 3Ž8 inch or 1Ž2 inch gate valve, ball valve or reversed vertical check valve at the end in order to drain the line of any water accumulation.
Air is another essential item on your spotting board. Ideal air pressure is 70 psi.
A filter to remove water and oil is also essential along with a pressure gauge and shut-off valve (either globe, gate or ball is all right).
Steam pressure at 65 to 70 psi is ideal. Below 65 psi, the steam contains too much moisture. Above 70 psi, the steam is too dry to remove water soluble spots.
A pressure gauge with pig tail and a globe valve for shut-off are recommended for the steam inlet line.
If your board's steam-air-vacuum-water inlet unit is functioning properly, adjust the cross-over bracket for the hot water valve about 3Ž8 inch to 1Ž2 inch spacing in order to permit the spotter to depress the first two pedals all the way to get steam, water and vacuum all together.
This combination will quickly dissolve a water-soluble spot, but do not use this method unless you place a 100 percent cotton terry cloth (turkish) towel beneath the garment first, Otherwise, the garment will become excessively wet.
A cold water spray gun is quite handy for working on silk, rayon, acetate and sheer garments or fabrics. The cold water spray gun will not bleed heat-sensitive dyes contained in many silk, rayon, acetate and dark colored cotton garments. In fact, most golf shirts have care labels recommending only "cold water wash with like colors."
Also, the cold water gun can be held within 1Ž4 inch from the garment, while applying the vacuum, without damage to the average garment; and it can be held four inches to six inches away from the garment if it is sheer or otherwise fragile.
The cold water spray gun can be either air-driven or attached to a city water line. A solvent spray gun can be most useful to dissolve grease spots (especially for users of petroleum solvents), lipstick, eye shadow, paste shoe polish, tar and ground-in soil. I have used this solvent spray gun to clean pocketbooks, stuffed toys and small pieces of luggage and hand bags.
Use VDS (trichloroethylene) solvent since it is non-toxic and very volatile, and this solvent does not affect the ozone layer. Do NOT use perchloroethylene or petroleum solvent since perc is not allowed as a spray and petroleum solvent is not too volatile nor is it aggressive enough for dissolving oil spots (vegetable-type and oxidized).
Use only the air-driven solvent spray gun for maximum effectiveness.
Note: There are two manufacturers offering conversion kits for American-made spotting boards that come with a cold water spotting spray gun, a solvent spotting spray gun, containers and hoses for each spray gun and a bracket or easy installation. Several foreign manufacturers offer spotting boards that use steam, water, solvent and vacuum built into the unit
One American manufacturer offers a spotting board with the same steam, water, solvent and vacuum built in the board, and it can be purchased either self-contained, including a small 1 HP steam boiler installed alongside the board, or it is available for hook-up to the plant's steam, water and vacuum central units.
Three American manufacturers offer spotting boards using steam, air and vacuum along with adequate space for spotting agent bottles and brushes, although none offer a good bracket to hold my recommended six spotting brushes.
Note: Since spotting brushes get contaminated with acids, alkalies, paint and grease removers (O.T.P.R.), detergent, wet/dry spotter, etc. I recommend using the following brushes.
The two nylon padded brushes are non-absorbent and therefore require cleaning after each use, however they are not used very often (only on silk, rayon sheer and fragile garments or fabrics).
The white or beige bristle brushes are absorbent and they only require cleaning at the end of the day. Using the three wet-side bristle brushes (white or beige bristles) avoids mixing and contaminating with each other's pH scale chemicals (mixing an acid with an alkali can actually set a spot or damage the fabric).
Remember, a neutral spotting agent such as neutral synthetic detergent, digester, wet/dry, glycerin or water should not be mixed unintentionally with an acid or alkali unless the spotter intends to do so and an alkali or acid should be applied separately, not together.
How can you avoid this when you use only one spotting brush for dry and another for wet?
Inspection for spots
A valuable piece of equipment is very simple and inexpensive -- and needs no installation. I am referring to a simple drafting table that consists of a flat surface attached to an adjustable (height and angle) base. This table is placed just before the spotting board, parallel to the board's tip (small end containing the vacuum), about 10 inches forward of the board's tip. A steel rod, flat bar or 3Ž4 inch pipe is installed above the inspection table to hold a supply of hangers for use by the spotter to hang garments that have been inspected or spotted onto the unfinished rail leading to the finishing department.
When the drycleaning machine is unloaded, the garments are placed quickly into a large basket on casters which is pushed a short distance to the inspection table. Here each garment is placed onto the inspection table with a four-tube fluorescent light fixture (with daylight tubes) shining straight down on the garment. If the garment needs spotting with steam, vacuum, etc., the potter pivots to the right with the garment and proceeds to work on the spotting board.
A very handy accessory to your spotting board is a hanger chain installed to hang at the left end (nose screen) of the board. This device permits your spotter to hang a garment that has already been pressed, and a spot was discovered by the inspector. The garment can be spotted without disturbing the entire finishing (press job). For spotting a dress or gown's skirt portion, a hanger chain is indispensable.
I prefer the monel metal screen to replace the almost "non-porous" screen at the left end of you spotting board. The monel screen has so many handy holes that you can't count them, and the garment dries more thoroughly by air and vacuum. You can use the same frame that holds the teflon screen. This device is manufactured and sold by U.S.A. Distributors in Dallas, TX; (800) 354-3789.
Spot digesting and hand washing
A two-compartment sink with built-in brushing table and electric thermostatically controlled temperature for digesting and hand washing, etc., should be located close to the spotting department This is in addition to a sink located in the wetcleaning department that might be situated at a distance from the spotting department.
A sink similar the one described above is offered by a U.S. manufacturer. It is a 100 percent stainless steel single sink with attached brushing table and integral electric thermostat.
A small size top-load washer-extractor (home type) should be installed next to the sinks to serve as an extractor for the sinks and also for machine washing garment needing that process, in addition to, or in substitution for, the normal drycleaning process.
Finally, a utility rail should be located in the drycleaning/spotting department to "line dry" those garments that have been soaked, hand washed or top-load washed. A small 15-pound steam dryer is an ideal item to have as a companion to the washing equipment as well as a source of quick-drying garments that were spotted for large areas on the wetside.
Obviously the best location for this complete wetcleaning department is in close proximity to the drycleaning/spotting department, but if that location is not practical due to building or plant layout restrictions, then those items described here are best recommended to be available at the spotter's fingertips.
Note: My new video, "The Caplan Method of Stain Removal," which includes my comprehensive text with handy spotting board reference, is now available for only $199. Please contact Dennis McCrory, (800) 646-5736, PIN #4615. Also watch for my latest video on step-by-step shirt finishing using both a double buck and single buck unit with either one or two operators. Soon to be released along with a comprehensive text.Can we be sensible? What I'm referring to is, of course our God-given gifts of our five senses. Hopefully, the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste are never taken for granted.
I like to add another sense and that is the gift of memory, or the ability to recall what our senses have taught us.
None of us lives in a vacuum, and how wasteful it is to keep re-learning and correcting old practices. Just think how much more advanced we would be if we could start to apply some of our successes to the drycleaning and laundry industry.
In our industry we have taken our senses and have applied a special technique to serve us quickly and with efficiency. I might add safely, because the price of mistakes in our industry has always been costly.
Learned at the counter
Let's take each department, starting with the very important "counter." We learn that the benefit of writing a correct ticket and following up to the final inspection is really what the customer has a right to expect. How many times has a belt been forgotten or a stain returned exactly as it came in with no explanation?
Can we make a mistake? Certainly, but I find amazing that when it happens, a friendly, smiling counter sales person is soon forgiven and the apology accepted.
That's where technique comes in -- the ability to smooth over the rough areas of dealing with the public.
The statistics have been with us for a long time. Over one third of customers change drycleaners, not for price, parking, service, packaging or even quality, but because of indifference at the counter.
Knowing this fact, shouldn't we hire and train only extroverts? People who like people, as the song goes.
The senses of sight and hearing are coupled with memory, and the practice of remembering names is in place, so that small details are constantly in use.
At the spotting board
If we move on to the spotting board, where technique has been learned and by visual identification stains must always be recognized, we soon appreciate the value of memory.
How vigorously can we remove a stain without damage? Have we developed and remembered our sense of touch of rayon or silks? Can we allow the chemical to do the work without agitation?
I have witnessed expert spotters bend and slightly twist a section of an old drapery or gown and refuse to dryclean because when they listened carefully (sense of hearing), they could determine a slight and audible dry-rot cracking sound, which would indicate tearing in the agitation of drycleaning.
Are we obligated to take the risk of destroying an old drapery or treasured gown, even with a gentle cycle, and nylon protective bag, for the cost of processing?
Let's be sensible! It's no feather in our caps to take chances and it's a thankless job, even with a release. Ask any judge.
Points at the press
How about that pressing department, or final finishing? How many pieces have been ruined from too much heat? How many buttons have been broken from old padding that should have been changed months ago? How many hours are lost in production because the operator goes through the motions of vacuuming and drying only to get zero results?
Speaking of poor vacuuming, it would pay to inspect any old order, especially on a floor-to-ceiling conveyor, where hot air rises and becomes trapped in the plastic bag.
A simple inspection might reveal a wavy or crinkled lapel or pocket flap, proving poor vacuum. The moisture was never removed. The drying was never accomplished, although the operator went all through the motions. The problem is usually an inefficient vacuum, or a pad with no porosity.
We can go through some other very important check points, such as low boiler pressure and, consequently, wet steam.
A strange odor?
But let's leave that to our other senses, as when something doesn't smell right. Is something burning? Is there a leak in a valve. Is that what we hear? Why is that fan motor making noise? Why is the reverse side of the trap so hot? Are we wasting all our steam? Is that what I see out back?
Why do I smell perc? Is my lint trap cleaned or do I have a dripping leak somewhere?
Have we tried to dryclean one half of a white cotton towel to match up with our test piece, to determine if redeposition has occurred? Imagine the customer who has drycleaned half a white suit only to see the difference between the skirt and the jacket.
Let's take each department and scrutinize it with our five senses. We might be surprised at the results; hopefully it would be a pleasant one.
Oh yes, the drycleaning and laundry business is full time and the learning process never ends, all we have to be is.... SENSE-IBLE!
Acrylic fiber is thermoplastic (heat sensitive), similar to polyester and nylon, but even more heat sensitive.
Acrylic, because of its heat sensitivity, can be closely made to resemble wool, due to its high bulking power. In manufacture, stretched high shrinking fibers are blended in a yarn with unstretched low shrinkage fibers.
When the yarn is subjected to steam, the stretched high shrinkage fibers cause the low shrinkage fibers to buckle, thus creating bulk in the yarn.
Acrylic fiber is extremely versatile and its look and hand changes depending upon the bulking of the yarn and how it is spun.
Acrylic is popularly blended with wool but can be blended with other fibers.
Acrylic is used in both dress up and sports attire. Acrylic fibers is used in both men's and women's sweaters including chenille. Hand knitted sweaters are often knitted with acrylic yarn. Women's dresses, skirts, suits and jackets are commonly blended with acrylic fibers. Acrylic is also found in household fabrics including blankets, draperies and slip covers.
Fabric problems
Acrylic fiber is more heat sensitive than other thermoplastic fibers. This means that acrylics can not be given a permanent heat-setting like that of nylon and polyester. This may be an advantage or disadvantage to the consumer. It means that pleats, creases, hem marks, etc., can be removed if desired. It also means that the garment has poor dimensional stability causing either stretching or shrinkage. It also means that intricate fluting and pleating is easily removed. This can occur during wear, drycleaning, wetcleaning or finishing.
Like fabrics made of other thermoplastic fibers, acrylics:
Identification
Acrylic yarns can have various trade names, such as acrilon, orlon and creslon.
Acrylic fiber can be identified by the burn test. The burn test is often used to differentiate a wool fabric from an acrylic fabric. Where there is a seam edge, snip a small piece for a sample. Where there is no seam edge, pick off enough nap to roll between the fingers. Bring a lighted match to the sample. Wool will sizzle and has an odor of burning feathers. Acrylics will melt into a black bead which is difficult to break.
Inspection
Inspect acrylic knits when receiving them for distortion, stretching and snagging. (Examine acrylic knitwear for stretching or distortion by lining up the waist and comparing hemline.)
Examine acrylic chenille sweaters for pile distortion and pulled yarns. Also examine areas of wear for pilling, such as sleeves, collar, waist and seat. These conditions can seldom be corrected and should be noted on the sales slip at the time of receiving.
Drycleaning
Close zippers and button acrylic knit garments before placing them in a net bag. Classify by color and run in a soft wool type load with no moisture. Run three to five minutes of drycleaning with solvent temperature of 75 to 80 degrees F.
Immediately remove from the reclaimer (no higher than 120 degrees F) and fold over the bar of a hanger. Do not hang acrylic knitwear by the shoulders like other garments. The garment may stretch and become permanently distorted.
Spotting
Keep the steam gun between six to eight inches from acrylic knits to avoid glazing, fusing and distortion. Avoid steam gun on chenille knit acrylic fabrics.
Minimize mechanical action by tamping rather than brushing to avoid snagging, chafing and distortion.
When brushing, angle the brush so the outer edge of the bristle is used. This reduces mechanical action on the fabric.
Most wet and dryside chemicals can be used on acrylic fabrics. Avoid dryside agents when acrylic fabric is pigment or surface printed.
Wetcleaning
Place loose knits in a net bag. Agitate by hand or on a gentle cycle.
When drying, block over the bars of two hangers to avoid the weight of fabric causing stretching.
Finishing
Most acrylic bulky sweaters do not require very much finishing. When removing wrinkle on acrylics, steam lightly and only move the garment when totally vacuumed and dried.
Never use head pressure or hot irons on acrylics. Avoid steam air finishers and steam tunnels.
Corrective procedures
Stretching and distortion cannot be corrected. If acrylic knit has shrunk, it may be corrected by placing on the buck of the press, steaming lightly, and gently pulling the fabric evenly in the same direction on all areas of the garment.
Pilling (tiny balls) can sometimes be corrected by the use of a pumice stone or safety razor.
Years ago, the price to process a laundered shirt was 49 cents and it was profitable.
I can even go back to the time of the Great Depression in the early '30s when the price was 9 cents. But keep in mind, pressers were lucky to make $12 a week.
Everything cost less... rent, supplies, equipment, taxes, etc. But even back then, there were operators who lost money doing shirts and those who made a good profit.
Then came inflation and the price of laundered shirts started going up.
It was in the fall of 1980 that I wrote headline copy for an ad in the American Drycleaner for one of the largest shirt box manufacturers in the industry, Reliable Packaging Co.
The $100 shirt is here!
Shirt laundering had been in the doldrums from the early '70s on and was finally coming back when I wrote that ad. Prices had been way below 79 cents for years and finally we started to see some plants charging $1, and that's why I wrote that headline.
Most big plants that did a large volume of shirts in the '60s found they only had enough shirts to keep one shirt unit going. Some plants I called on back then had five shirt units with only one or two operating.
Package plants that had been doing 1,000 to 2,000 shirts a week were down to part-time finishing. Used shirt units were being offered at cut-rate prices.
Shirt volume dropped about 60 percent as a result of a combination of factors.
Colored shirts came on the market in a big way and consumers could and did wear them more than once.
The birth of easy care fabrics made it simple to wash and wear shirts. They could be rinsed out and hung up to dry and this satisfied a lot of businessmen.
After a few hand washings, the shirts no longer looked crisp and that was part of the problem.
Styles had changed and young people wore tee shirts and jeans and a dress shirt was not even part of their wardrobe. The country was in a depressed mood and the stock market had taken a dive and was in a bear market.
The economy for drycleaning hit a low ebb about 1973 and started to come back after that, but shirts were still way off and retail prices were very low.
Wages were much lower and it was possible to make a profit on a 79 cent shirt as long as a plant had enough shirts to process.
So when shirt laundries starting charging a $1 a shirt, it was a big deal. That's when I wrote the headline copy, "The $100 Shirt Is Here!"
Reliable Packaging is the largest manufacturer of shirt boxes in the industry but during the slow period, they had to turn to making boxes for frozen foods and chipboard boxes for Kentucky Fried Chicken and companies like that.
Not only were prices down but volume was down, wages were low and the buying power of a dollar was down.
To best illustrate the change in the value of currency, a brand new Caddy convertible could be purchased for $5,500. I know because I bought one in 1967. Today, that same car would cost over $50,000.
Things started to get better around 1975 and from then on, the economy started to improve. Wages rose. People became more clothes conscious and dress shirts became more prevalent.
And in 1980, cleaners starting raising their prices to the point where I realized that the $100 shirt was here.
Now that's history, so let's get to the present.
I'll ask you to take a guess as to what you think it costs to do a good quality shirt. I mean the actual cost to mark in shirts, wash them, shake them out and press them. That's far from the end.
Now they have to be examined for missing or broken buttons. If this is not done, you can't call your shirt a quality product.
You're still not through. You have to examine the shirt for creases where they shouldn't be, such as collars, cuffs, pockets and the placket.
You're not done yet. Now you have to check the whole shirt for spots or stains that can be removed, particularly the so called, "ring around the collar."
Those shirts that need further attention must be touched up, spotted and rewashed. Finally, you have to assemble the order, bag it and put it in inventory.
I didn't even mention folding or boxing those shirts for your traveling executives who want a folded shirt.
Okay, are you totally exhausted?
Now, how much did it cost for overhead, supplies, labor, energy, and depreciation/ maintenance?
Do you think it costs 50 cents?
If you do, you are wrong.
Do you think it costs 75 cents?
Still wrong.
How about the most common selling price for shirts in competitive markets.
Do you think your cost is 99 cents?
Wrong again.
If you are really doing a good shirt, your cost will be about $1.05 based on a multitude of quality plants we surveyed.
Is there money in shirts? You bet there is if you do a good shirt and know how to market your product, even in the most competitive of markets.
A cleaner, who shall go unnamed, competes in a 99 cent shirt market and charges $1.85 for his shirts. His plant outgrew his shirt volume and he had to add space to accommodate his increased volume.
Now he does 2,300 shirts a week at a profit of 80 cents each for an annual net profit of $95,680 a year.
This is not a particularly big operation, but because the owner knows how to do a beautiful shirt and get a good price and merchandise this service, his net profit is close to $100,000 a year on shirts alone.
In Houston, Texas, I have seen plants all over town offering 59 cent shirts. Now and then, some guy will figure he can bring in more customers by offering 22 cent shirts for awhile.
These folks are losers and have not stopped to really calculate their cost of doing business. They give away huge profit potential by doing shirts for far less than their cost in the hopes of growing their business. If their quality is poor and their prices go back up, their sales drop. PERIOD.
A very successful cleaner told me he was using shirts as a loss leader and was getting customers with a dozen shirts at a price below his break-even.
Some of his customers were bringing in orders of 12 shirts and two pair of pants. When he realized what was happening, he immediately stopped using shirts as a loss leader.
The difference between a successful dry cleaner and a marginal dry cleaner is pricing and marketing for volume and profit.
I've heard all the excuses as to why a cleaner can't raise his shirt prices and in some cases, we have even seen good quality operators drop prices because they get aggravated by the competition's low prices.
An example is a cleaner in the New York City area who was getting $1.65 a shirt and doing a great volume, but gradually, he lost some shirt volume and went from 2,000 down to 1,600 shirts a week.
He was angry that he was losing shirt customers to the 99 cent operators.
His drycleaning sales were holding up so he lowered his price to 99 cents to compete. His shirt volume did go back up but not the dollars and he ended up losing money.
This member knew his cost, did a great job and was making a good, healthy profit doing 2,000 shirts a week and grossing $3,300 a week for that service.
He kept accurate records and knew his shirts cost $1.05 to produce and was satisfied that he had been making 60 cents net profit per shirt. That came to a profit of $1,200 a week for his shirt processing.
What happened when he saw his shirt volume drop down to 1,600 shirts a week? He decided to fight back and still turn out a top quality shirt.
Knowing his cost was $1.05, he met competition and dropped his price to 99 cents.
His shirt volume returned to 2,000 shirts a week but now he was showing a net loss on his shirt business of $120 a week.
You see, at 99 cents a shirt, his income was $1,980 and it cost him $1.05 each to process the 2,000 shirts for a cost of $2,100. Therefore, a net loss of $120 a week.
Had he kept his price at $1.65, even dropping to 1,600 shirts a week, he still would have made a net profit of $960 a week on the shirts. When you convert a profit of $960 a week to a loss of $120 a week, the difference is $1,080 a week which adds up to a $56,160 annual loss.
Could he have maintained his original 2,000 shirts at $1.65? The answer is an emphatic, "yes," but he would have to do some creative advertising to convince the market that his shirts were worth the price.
However, if you do a lousy shirt and know it, and feel your shirt is as good as you can do, forget the option of getting good volume and good prices.
Keep one thought in mind...
A good, satisfied weekly shirt customer is the backbone of your business in today's marketplace.
We have a formula which proves that the number of shirts a plant does a week will indicate its total volume because the total sales of the shirt customer represents half of all sales.
I can't reveal all the factors as to how one cleaner can do a large volume of shirts in their particular market at good prices as opposed to the 99 shirt operators who are losing money on their shirts.
The Golomb Group has a covenant with all of our member plants that we will not provide inside profit making ideas to members' competitors.
Our members, who are scattered all over the world, are paying for exclusive information and it would violate our covenant if we provided information to their competitors.
However, Golomb Group members are a small part of the total industry, representing not more than 1 percent of all drycleaners.
Common sense, knowledge of your industry, the ability to produce a good product, and aggressive marketing are all it takes for success in the drycleaning business or any business.
If you want information about the Golomb Group, you can contact us directly at the address below.
Like no other place on earth, this country treats employers in safety matters as criminals, even where the violation has been the result of employee misconduct.
In fact, OSHA takes the position that when an employee violates an employer's safety rule that is designed to implement a government requirement, the employer is guilty of violating the law. If the employer can prove that he has taken steps to enforce the safety rule in the past, he might be able to raise an employee misconduct defense at a formal hearing.
In typical OSHA fashion, however, the government will argue that while the employer may have taken steps in the past to enforce the rule, this instance shows that enforcement efforts have been ineffective.
Incredibly, the employee will suffer no fine or repercussion from the government, except perhaps a subpoena to testify against his company.
As any employer knows, there is no disciplinary program in the world that will prevent employees from violating rules. Otherwise, there would be no need for employment lawyers or personnel directors.
No matter how much an employer tries, there will always be at least one employee who thinks he can skirt the rules.
There is, however, some hope for employers in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina as a result of a case handled by Kollman & Sheehan.
The federal appeals court for these states has rejected OSHA's position that an employer must prove employee misconduct as an affirmative defense to a safety violation. Rather, it is OSHA's burden to prove that the employee's misconduct was not unforeseeable or unpreventable. The Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, stated:
Although some sister circuits have held that unpreventable employee misconduct "is an affirmative defense that an employer must plead and prove," this circuit and others clearly agree that such must be disproved by the Secretary in his case-in-chief. That the Secretary bears this burden is clearly the law of this circuit per Ocean Electric [Corp. v. Secretary of Labor, 594 F.2d 396 (4th Cir. 1979)], and we see no reason to change that here.
(L.R. Willson and Sons, Inc. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, slip. op. No. 97-1492 (January 28, 1998).
Therefore, if an employee's misconduct has resulted in an OSHA citation, it may now be less difficult to defeat a citation.
Because most citations are the result of employee misconduct, including misconduct by supervisory employees, this case should present an opportunity to employers to stop OSHA in its crusade to absolve employees of all responsibility under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
OSHA reports the following Top 10 types of violations, their total and the penalties assessed in the SIC 7216 (Drycleaning plants) category between Oct. 1996 and Sept. 1997.
Description Citations Penalties Hazard Communication 34 $4,225 Personal Protective Equipment General Requirements 12 $1,875 Electrical, Wiring Methods, Components & Equipment 11 $3,650 Means of Egress, General 10 $1,675 Portable Fire Extinguishers 9 $750 Electrical Systems Design, General Requirements 9 $1,100 Guarding Floor & Wall Openings & Holes 7 $2,908 Respiratory Protection 7 $1,312 Machines General Requirements 7 $3,973 Mechanical Power- Transmission Apparatus 7 $2,025 Total 161 $30, 367Source: US Dept. of Labor
Load classifications for wet cleaning suede and leather are based on the type of leather, the color of the leather, the weight of the leather and cloth trims & combinations of color.
Classification by type
The first classification is by type of leather and is accomplished by separating suede items from painted leather items.
This separation is required because painted leathers may lose surface finish, color and gloss as a result of excess mechanical action if wetcleaned longer than five minutes.
Suede items will not lose color if cleaned longer than five minutes.
Painted leather items will clean easily with a five minute or shorter wet cleaning cycle.
Classification by color
The second classification is by color and is accomplished by separating the suede garments and the leather garments into light colors and dark/bright colors to avoid unnecessary contact of light and dark items in wet cleaning.
While two ounces per garment of detergent plus conditioner stabilizes color and protects softness of both dark and light colored leathers, it is always good practice to wetclean dark or bright colors and light colors in separate loads.
Classification by weight
The third classification is by weight of suede and leather items and is made on the basis of differences in the weights of the various types of skins.
Lightweight items made from sheepskin, lambskin, deerskin, cloth trimmed, etc., are not normally wetcleaned in the same load with heavyweight, stiff, cowhide and pigskin items.
However, it is good practice to run separate loads made up of heavy, rugged, stiff cowhide and pigskin suedes rather than to mix them with the more delicate light weight lambskin and sheepskin suedes.
Classification of combinations and trims
This classification begins by separating leather garments made with combinations of different colored panels of suede or leather from cloth garments trimmed with suede or leather.
Next, separate cloth items trimmed with suede from cloth items trimmed with painted leather. Then separate cloth items trimmed with light colored suede and painted leather from those with dark colored trims.
Combinations of light and dark colors on a single item should be classified as a dark colored item.
The item with a dark colored suede or leather trim must be wet cleaned as though it was entirely dark colored. It doesn't matter if the garment also contains light colored suede or leather trim or any type of cloth. The darkest colored suede or leather trim is the critical factor that determines that the item will be wet cleaned with similarly colored items.
Now, separate combination items made from different colored panels of suede from those made of different colored panels of painted leather. Then separate items made from combinations of different colored panels of light colored suede and painted leather from those with dark colored panels.
Combinations of light and dark colors on a single item should be classified as a dark colored item. The item with a dark colored suede or leather panel must be wet cleaned as though it was entirely dark colored.
If the garment also contains light colored suede or leather panels, the darkest colored suede or leather panel determines that the item will be wet cleaned with similar dark colored items.
Also, separate trimmed and combination items based on weight. For example, a stiff, heavy denim trimmed in suede or leather would not normally be wet cleaned with a silk blouse trimmed in suede or leather.
Likewise, an item that combines various colored panels of heavy cowhide or pigskin wouldn't be wet cleaned with an item that combines various colored panels of light weight lamb skin or doe skin. Separating by weight prevents damage by mechanical action.
Classification summary
1. The type of leather, trim or combination on an item dictates the wash time; short for painted leathers, trims or combinations and longer for sueded leathers, trims or combinations.
2. The color of the suede or leather, trim or panels determines the items that should go into a load; light colors or trims together and dark colors or trims together.
3. The weight of the item determines the other items with which it can be wet cleaned; light weight items with light weight items and heavy weight items with heavy weight items.
Author's Note: Do not attempt to use products that are not specifically formulated for use on suede and leather. Suede and leather products referred to in this article are available from Royaltone and are specially 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.Do you have the applicants you need when you need them? Labor sources throughout the United States are changing dramatically. The overall population is aging. The Baby Boom is over and labor-force growth will come primarily from minorities.
Drycleaners used to place an ad in the daily newspaper or a sign in the window and have a stack of applications the next day. This no longer happens.
The vast majority of people entering the work force today lack the basic skills and work ethics seen in earlier generations. We can no longer assume that applicants possess even the most basic competencies required to work in our stores.
If drycleaners and launderers are to thrive in the years ahead we will need to begin training at a significantly lower level. And while some cleaners are taking this initiative, most are still searching for employees who possess the needed skills.
Drycleaners must develop new sources of workers and commit to training programs that will satisfy their future needs.
Getting individuals to produce the level of work needed to keep your company competitive is one of the crucial challenges of the new millennium.
To begin this process, you must first have well defined screening. All of the applicants in the world will not benefit your company if you do not have a viable, reliable screening process in place. Using only your "intuition" will continue to make your cleaners a revolving door for unqualified, uncaring workers.
Not only must you find people with the ability, you must find people who have the desire to work. Individuals who want to be part of a productive and loyal work force.
We all need to rely less on personal feelings and more on objective testing results. Our internal voices should not be the only basis for making hiring decisions.
A formal pre-employment screening program will provide the tools and predictability needed to make the right selection. Smart hiring practices are reflected on your company's bottom line. It is profitability.
Nothing will ever replace the customer-based power of well trained, dedicated employees. If from the beginning, good employees are selected, placed in the right jobs, and continually improved through updated training, the ultimate benefits are new customers and more satisfied present customers.
Review your past hiring patterns. Are there certain times of the year when your company experiences more turnover? Do employees with certain backgrounds or experiences appear to be the ones that always leave? These might be the type of individuals to avoid recruiting.
Or might it be the work environment? Have you cooled your plant as sufficiently as possible? Are your employees friendly with each other? Will they accept new workers as an equal? Are you as fair to your employees as you possibly can be? Do you let them know that you appreciate them?
Let's take a look at a variety of ways that we can cultivate new employees. While some of these suggestions may appear unusual at first glance, take a minute to consider how each one might be applied to your recruiting efforts.
Ads featuring top workers. Ads with pictures featuring productive employees send the message that your company cares about its workers Other people will recognize this person and may consider applying to your company.
Ads in the community language..If you have a large Hispanic, Vietnamese or other ethnic group in your community, you may be able to attract some of these people by placing an ad in their language. A current employee or local liaison group can help your write the ad.
Business card solicitations. Provide business cards to all of your employees to hand out whenever they meet someone they consider might be a qualified applicant. The cards don't have to be personalized. They merely have to state the name, address and telephone number of your business.
Your own business cards can be printed or stamped on the reverse with: "I like your Attitude. If you ever consider changing jobs, please call me."
Cash rewards. Consider offering a cash reward to current employees who bring in referrals. The current employee might receive $75 if the applicant stays for one month, another $75 for the second month, and possibly $100 for the third month.
Commuter rail and bus passes. For those in low-income areas, providing essentially free commuting can be a significant incentive. Tokens and passes can usually be purchased at quantity discounts.
Competing personnel. Keep an eye on your competitors' top performers. While you don't want to encourage the pirating of employees, their restlessness may be to your advantage if they're looking for a change.
Customer advertisements. Customers who know and use your services can become reliable employees. Posting signs in your store windows or even hang-tags on outgoing orders are two effective strategies.
Customer referrals. Ask customers to refer applicants. You might even offer incentives such as discount coupons.
Past application files. By law you have to keep applications for at least one full year. Phoning applicants from six months ago may turn up someone who's taken another job, but is not happy there and would like to come to work for you
Full benefits for part-timers. This can be very attractive for single parents. While this may be expensive from one perspective, it will allow you to achieve better employee retention along with greater worker loyalty.
High school and college programs. Develop a program to assist students through financial aide. In addition, you can provide summer jobs. This is a long term investment with a long term reward.
Job shares. Allow two individuals to share the same position. This can be very attractive to skilled applicants who cannot work full time
Keeping in touch with former employees. Follow up on good employees who leave. Send them a periodic post-card or phone call. Former employees may want to come back in the future, and they already know your system.
Off-site interviews. Use a van or truck or use a temporary facility to take applications and conduct interviews in neighborhoods where potential employees may live.
Company meetings. Conduct periodic meetings with current employees for the purpose of hashing out concerns and grievances. While these meetings may be quiet at first, employees will open up after a while and speak out. This is also an excellent time to ask staff members for ideas on recruiting applicants.
Part-time workers. Examine whether you need to fill all new openings with full-time workers. Can one or two part-time employees do the same job? Part-timers are easier to find.
Personalized advertisements. Rather than placing the traditional classified advertisement, try a more personalized approach:
"We'll miss you, Margie! Margie has been our presser for the past five years and now she is leaving. She is skilled at pressing any type of drycleaned garment that comes her way, and is able to handle a hefty work-load. If you think you would like to take Margie's place in this fast-paced, but fun atmosphere, call Mike at 887-5621 before Friday!"
Retiree job bank. Maintain a list of retirees, both from drycleaning and other industries, who might be interested in working on an "as needed" basis. Companies that have tried this say it works extremely well.
School relations. Develop a relationship with the schools in your area. They can be a tremendous source of labor and referrals. Many high schools even have programs whereby students can receive credits for working in your store.
Sign-on bonuses. While this is common practice for ball players, the offer of an extra $50 or $100 may sway a good candidate from taking another position.
Telephone job line: Install a phone line dedicated to announcing current openings Potential applicants can call periodically to check for new positions available
Tenure awards. Give awards to those employees who pass certain marks in attendance. This could include eligibility for benefits after a certain number of months and cash awards for a particular number of years on the job. McDonald's recognizes their employees by awarding an attendance pin after the first three months at work.
Tours of the site. Offer tours to various groups on a periodic basis and place a table with applications at the end. As children grow-up and leave home, many mothers decide to enter the work force
Training. Many companies offer training to potential applicants. There are benefits for both the applicant, who learns a new skill, and the employer, who has a worker who only knows how to perform the job "the right" way.
Van services. Provide a van service to employees who have a genuine desire to work, but lack transportation. Employees in this situation usually appreciate their jobs more and aren't likely to seek other employment.
These are but a few of the many possibilities for procuring new employees. It is only the beginning of the hiring process. As stated earlier, you really need to follow through with a comprehensive screening process to insure that the time and expense incurred during recruitment is not wasted.