wash, dry, fold question

[tbo]

Has anyone had success or tried residential pick-up for was, dry, fold? If so, what is the best way to market this? and will it work?

[TLR]

It is big in the UK. I have not tried it since I work a full time job and have the laundry as an investment - but it would be interesting to see how it works. You are talking about medium to upper income customers - so their paradigm would have to change - but if someone figured it out - it could be a huge untapped market. As laundries become more and more upscale and trendy - and it may take 5-10 more years - this pick up service will be big - but I think we are ahead of ourselves in today's mindset of the typical coin laundry. Let me know if you figure out how to make it work for a profit.

TLR

[srhaz]

I have about eight residential pickup/drop off customers. Some are on a set schedule, ie: pick-up Monday drop off Wed. Others just call when ready and I'll pick up within 24 hours. Some leave it on their porch or garage so I don't even see them.
I never have marketed it. They just called and said will you pick up?
Majority are elderly. Yes it works - mainly because they are all close, or on my way home from work.

[pete f]

I remember the dry cleaners dropping off clothes when I was a kid at our house. the guy would walk right in and stick them in the closet, leave a bill. I had an independent contractor who used my mat for w/d/f, he only pick up and deliver. I have a couple of his accounts now, he retired. I charge $2 to $4 depending on how far, and give that to the lady who does the pick up/delivery. I have a sign that says pick up, delivery. I have not marketed anything yet, if I do it will be a small, but weekly, ad in the local paper.

[Anonymous]

The big difference between commercial and residential is access and availability. Most of our commercial accounts either provide us access to their laundry rooms, or have regular business hours which make pickup and dropoff easy for us.

Residential pickup and dropoff has to be closely coordinated so laundry is there on a given day, or can be dropped off.

I have 2-3 residential accounts. One has given me her VISA #, which simplifies billing. I charge an extra $5 for pickup/delivery and our normal $1.05/lb.

[Mungo Spike]

I have been doing pickup/delivery for WDF and drycleaning for several years and it now represents about 25% of my total revenue. I have about 130 active customers. It took me a long time to get everything set up and fine-tuned to an efficient point, but the learning curve was worth it.

I've almost reached my laundromat's capacity (without adding a midnight shift), so I actually turn away about as many customers as I accept now. Except for commercial customers, for example, I won't take customers who have to be present for the pickup/delivery or who don't have a credit card.

I think the single most important thing to do, if you want to be profitable, is to set up routes and days that you service those routes. Now and again it's worthwhile to make exceptions - especially for large orders and first-time callers who need to get their laundry caught up - but routes and schedules are the way to go. You just can't afford to jump in the truck and run every time someone calls for a pickup (unless they're on your way home anway).

Mungo

[TotoMongo]

I think the single most important thing to do, if you want to be profitable, is to set up routes and days that you service those routes.

Mungo, can you be more detailed on how you set your routes and days? I have a P&D op and am very interested in learning new ways of doing things. Thanks.

Toto

[Mungo Spike]

Mungo, can you be more detailed on how you set your routes and days? I have a P&D op and am very interested in learning new ways of doing things. Thanks.

Toto


I started out by just taking every customer who wanted WDF service. As the number of customers climbed they were becoming too scattered geographically to take care of in a easonable amount of time. I grouped the customers into two geographic areas and assigned Monday/Thursday to one area and Tuesday/Friday to the second. As new customers called in, I assigned them to one of the two areas/days, based on their location. Eventually, those two groups expanded georgraphically and became too crowded to do in a reasonable amount of time, so I created a third geographic group (Wednesday/Saturday).

We usually do pickups/deliveries for up to six or seven hours, then take an hour or two at the laundromat to process and store the WDF and get all the drycleaning tagged and ticketed to hand off to the drycleaner.

I allow a day for pickup, a day for delivery, and two days in between to actually get the WDF and drycleaning done. Everything is usually ready a day early, but that second day in between is important to have for times when you have extra large orders or an attendant calls out sick, or whatever.

Cheers ... Mungo

[lland]

I started out by just taking every customer who wanted WDF service. As the number of customers climbed they were becoming too scattered geographically to take care of in a easonable amount of time. I grouped the customers into two geographic areas and assigned Monday/Thursday to one area and Tuesday/Friday to the second. As new customers called in, I assigned them to one of the two areas/days, based on their location. Eventually, those two groups expanded georgraphically and became too crowded to do in a reasonable amount of time, so I created a third geographic group (Wednesday/Saturday).

We usually do pickups/deliveries for up to six or seven hours, then take an hour or two at the laundromat to process and store the WDF and get all the drycleaning tagged and ticketed to hand off to the drycleaner.

I allow a day for pickup, a day for delivery, and two days in between to actually get the WDF and drycleaning done. Everything is usually ready a day early, but that second day in between is important to have for times when you have extra large orders or an attendant calls out sick, or whatever.

Cheers ... Mungo

I am in the process of starting up a pickup and drop off business and was wondering how you went about initially marketing it and how long it took to ramp it up. Also do you supply drop off bags?

I have three mats in CT near densly populated affluent neighberhoods and think it could be a winner, but want to make sure I do it right.

Any other lessons that you learned would be appreciated.

[Mungo Spike]

I started out marketing with the Yellow Pages and signage on my delivery van, and then shifted to the Internet. Ramp up time depends on how aggressively you advertise and market directly to commercial customers, so my experience won't serve as a reliable benchmark for you.

As for drop off bags, I lend customers bags if they go onto a schedule with me. Occasional call-ins use plastic trash bags or whatever, and we return their clothes in plastic-wrapped bundles in large plastic bags.

Good luck ... Mungo

[TotoMongo]

I started out marketing with the Yellow Pages and signage on my delivery van

How can you tell that these two methods are working for you? I am about to go into the Yellow pages but am wondering if I should go for the added expense of a commercially plated van.

Toto

[Anonymous]

Mungo----is it really necessary to plastic wrap when returning? Doesn't this cause a lot of wrinkles and isn't it good enough to return in a clean clear plastic bag?

[gjnic]

I have w-d-f service with pick up and delivery at 30 cents per mile. Most opt to drop off. I don't market at all. Word of mouth is keeping us very busy. All that is listed in the phone book is our address and phone number. No advertisment.

[Anonymous]

I have w-d-f service with pick up and delivery at 30 cents per mile. Most opt to drop off. I don't market at all. Word of mouth is keeping us very busy. All that is listed in the phone book is our address and phone number. No advertisment.

If you don't mind, what are you charging for your service? Price per pound? Does it vary depending on the customer?

[gjnic]

For my Sr Citizen's (over 60), 70 cent per pound, for all others 90 cents per pound. Fabric softner is 5 cents per pound extra.

[gjnic]

One other thing, I package the clothing in the hampers they send them in. (sometimes you have to wash them out :-) ) Some like hangers (they provide, or 5 cents per hanger from me) The people that drop thier items off in a garbage bag, I use regular brown boxes that we have in the storeroom.

[Mungo Spike]

How can you tell that these two methods are working for you? I am about to go into the Yellow pages but am wondering if I should go for the added expense of a commercially plated van.

Toto

When I sign up new customers I always ask how they found out about my service - currently the three biggest sources for new customers are the internet, the lettering on my van, and the yellow pages.

[Mungo Spike]

Mungo----is it really necessary to plastic wrap when returning? Doesn't this cause a lot of wrinkles and isn't it good enough to return in a clean clear plastic bag?

The plastic wrap doesn't cause wrinkles and it looks more professional (and hygienic) than just using plastic bags. I'm not saying that plastic bags aren't "good enough," just that the plastic wrap is a lot better.

Mungo