attended vs unattended

[dwaynw]

i just wanted to see if anyone went from unattended to attended and how much of a difference it made in income mine is unattended as i work a full time job and try to spend as much time as i can ( which isnt much) at the laundromat.i have cleaning lady come in a few times a day.im trying to see if anyone has quit thier full time job and made the laundromat their full time job and if its working out better or worse as i seem to be losing to much money monthly to stay open for business for long the way it is now.i put a few new dryers in yesterday and keep the others running , i am close to asu in tempe az and am even thinking of staying open all night if that may bring more people in
thanks
dwayne, at university laundromat in tempe az

[Adamski]

dwaynw,

Are the other laundromats in your area attended or unattended? If there are no attended laundromats in your area, I believe you could do better by changing to full time attended.

If most area laundromats are now attended, you may want to consider staying unattended and going to 24 hour operation. I hesitate to advise you to join the crowd and go attended as your operating costs will increase substantially and you will merely be duplicating the service offered by your competitors. Since you say you're losing money now, I'd hate to see you lose money even faster.

Whatever changes you decide to make, it will take months for people to become aware of them. If your location is poor, turning the laundromat around may be an uphill battle.

Larry /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[epic02]

dwaynw
If you say your loosing money now your going to loose alot more until people catch on, that you have a ful time attendant. And that could take some time. To save money You would have to put alot more hours in yourself. or if you have deep pockets you can hire some one else.

[Buick8]

I agree that you need to offer a service others dont; if they are not attended, don't just pay someone to sit there, get someone reliable to iron, wash drop-off, do mending and/or alterations maybe. You could either pay them hourly or give them a cut of what they sell. The right person and services could be a great asset. Brings in extra customers and money and helps pay for someone being there. attended prevents vandalism and general mayhem. My 2C worth, based on advice from old operators from 'way back.

[Adamski]

Buick8,

There are 2 schools of thought regarding attendants. One school says that attendants must generate enough income to pay their wages. This is generally accomplished by having the attendant constantly processing Drop Off Laundry, Dry Cleaning, Alterations, etc. to generate new income for the laundromat.

The other school says that attendants must keep the laundromat very clean at all times. The thought here is that a clean laundromat will attract additional self-serve customers and positive word-of-mouth advertising. A clean laundromat can and should charge higher prices as well. These higher prices pay the attendant's wage.

You cannot have it both ways though. If the attendants are doing large amounts of Drop Off Laundry; they cannot be keeping the laundromat very clean at the same time. If they are keeping the laundromat very clean; they won't have time for large amounts of Drop Off Laundry.

Choose the scenero that fits your situation best. Never hire attendants to just sit behind the counter and read a book as I've seen in some laundromats. It's your business ... tell the attendants what you expect of them ... then make sure they do it.

Larry /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Dryman6]

My advice would be absolutely positively quit your job and run the laundromat full time. Becoming a hands-on operator will not only eventually bring you as much income as you're making now with both jobs, but more importantly, will bring you an improved and happier lifestyle. On the day I bought my first laundromat, I quit my job and I never regretted it. The one caveat I would mention is that once you become your own boss, you have to have the discipline to be a good financial manager and you have to set priorities and stick to them. This is where operators fail sometimes. They don't live within their means, and they don't manage their stores as well as they should.

[dwaynw]

thanks for the help i do plan on quitting my reg job and making the mat my full time job and have started putting flyers up and thru out the area offering drop off service which i will do myself

[Dryman6]

[ QUOTE ]
have started putting flyers up and thru out the area offering drop off service which i will do myself

[/ QUOTE ]

Big mistake, in my view. If you are a male, doing drop off laundries will drag you down quicker than anything. I have never and would never do drop offs myself. Get yourself a wife or girlfriend to do that if you want, but doing it yourself is a disaster.

[DuboisLaundry]

Dryman6, Laundry is a task. I'm not sure why you think it will bring a man down but not a woman. Maybe women are tougher than you, I don't know. I'm a man, and doing the WDF is my job in my mat; along with taking out the trash, mopping the floor (also "women's work") and equipment repair (only women's work when all the men are away at war such as WW2)

I suppose doing WDF laundry might bring some PERSONS down but I really don't think which ones is determined by gender. In fact, some of my regular WDF customers are women and they prefer to pay me to do it because it brings them down!

[Dryman6]

Dubois, Taking out the trash and mopping can be a man's job, but doing WDFs? Every operator I knew that did that is dead now, or out of the business. Coincidentally, one of the guy's last name was DuBois. He died a slow, painful death. And I took over his laundry. The police asked me some questions about it, but I told them I had nothing to do with it. It was the drop-offs that did it.

[A4JT]

My father is thinking of opening a laundromat in Texas. Can anyone help with what or who we need to contact in order to get started?