Calculations

[Kitty]

How do you guys figure the savings, and increased revenue projections when contemplating decreasing the dryer times. One store is currently 10 min for 50's 12 minutes for the MAytag double stack 30's.

I suggested to lower the times on all dryers by at least 1 minute, would there be a significant savings? Or would customers continue to dry as always and complain that the dryers are not as efficient, (for them)?

Its been so long since we adjusted the times on any dryers we cannot remember what the pros and cons are.....

[Anonymous]

That is a hard question in the world of reality. Theoretically, the total times the dryers run is a constant - as it only takes so much energy to dry the clothing. If you are giving 12 minutes for a quarter and it takes 3 cycles to dry the clothing then the dryer runs for 36 minutes. The question becomes are the dryers really done in 33 minutes, or do you need to 3 extra minutes to dry the clothing. If 33 minutes will do it then you will have a very small decrease in gas consumption when you cut the time and ZERO increase in revenue. IFF on the other hand it really takes 36 minutes to dry the clothing then the customer will have to run the dryer for 4 cycles not 3 when you drop the time. You will gain 25 cents in revenue, but your gas cost will not increase by much. Once the clothing is dry it will take very little energy to maintain the temperature. So it will run full out for 33 minutes then only run with much heat for 3 minutes of the next cycle and coast the remaining time. Sorry if I've confused you, but there is no exact answer - you will have to just do it and see what happens. You might try changing one dryer and playing with a few loads yourself to see the impact.

[anonymous]

Kitty, I just wing it. No joke, I really don't follow it that close and I am not sure you can. You see the cost of drying will change all the time make up air flow, outside humidity, outside temp and the amount of clothes put in the dryer at one time. So my feeling is that as long as month end is good then all is fine. If I want to make more I can try to change pricing some and see how it goes.

Gary

[Kitty]

What if any are you guys implementing for the new year in order to increase revenue and decrease your expenses?

What have you done that has successfully provided more money and less expenses???

Thanks.....Kitty

[Anonymous]

I am thinking about putting a brick in each washer to reduce water consumption - it works in the toilet tanks :D

[CharlieS]

Well, I'll have spent about $350K this past year for building a new mat and upgrading an older one. My goal is to not spend any money this coming year on upgrades!

I will fail. Its in my nature to make things better.

Charlie

[pete f]

a 50# dryer is about 40% bigger than a 30# dryer so should be priced 40% more. If 12 mins is the 30, than the 50 should be 7 1/2. Anything more and you are better off giving out quarters to the customer rather than have them use the dryer. Wash pricing should be somewhat close by the pound, ie, an 18 @ 2.00, 40 @ 4.00, near 10 cents for instance. Dryers are no different. Price according to mins per capacity, If the customers do not like it they can use the smaller dryers.
I would try kirby's brick idea but I think some kids tried it already,, it did not work so well.

[Kitty]

No hope eh?

[anonymous]

SInce during busy times, i.e. weekends etc I am constantly running short on Washers and Dryers. People wait for them and I am sure small percentage leave and go to my competitors.

I am planning add couple of Washers and replace some of the Dryers with new ones. Hopefully new more efficient dryers will save me on some energy cost and will process more people in a given time. The additional Washers will probably give me added revenue.

[vohraajay]

kitty- if you want, setup a test month. At the beginning of the month, drop your dryer heat time by 1 minute and still continue to run the dryer for normal length(i.e. 10 minutes). Post your findings in a month.

ajay