Can There Be Too Much Wash And Fold?

[Howard]

WDF is highly profitable if done correctly, much higher than self service even after you factor in payroll. As others have said, assuming you have to or want to have an attended store then there is no incremental cost for payroll anyway.

I charged 3.5 to 4 times the amount for a pound of wash and fold versus a pound of self-serve. A typical wash and fold order was about twenty pounds at $1.75 a pound or roughly $35 per order. That order would typically take two small washers and then the dryers. At the full coin rate (which already has overhead and profit built in) that would represent a cost of well under $10 with soap and bags included. That leaves $25 to pay for the half hour of work plus a boat load of profit. So, after labor costs you have $20 pure profit. When was the last time self-service generated $20 profit for the use of two small washers and dryers for a load each?

[dbrown2508]

Howard:

I agree with everything you say. Except I am not at $1.75 per pound.

My competition goes everywhere from $0.75 to $0.95 per pound, and discounts from this. I am at $1.10 per pound. On those numbers, I end up being indifferent between the customer doing themselves or my attendant (except that I have to pay my attendant anyway). But I wouldn't hire someone to do this work exclusively - not worth it.

Everything that I'm seeing leads me to believe that in order to make wash and fold worth hiring people to do (rather than just deferring the attendant's salary), the selling price must be well in excess of $1 per pound.

[JohnH]

Doug,
Just a few thoughts in reply:

Originally Posted by dbrown2508

1. If you have to bring in a second attendant for peak times, is that too much wash and fold? Think most people do it to help offset an attendant's salary.

No, that's not too much. In fact, I love it! Remember the payroll figures I quoted included those occasional double shifts.

Originally Posted by dbrown2508

2. If you make 125% of payroll (or whatever you said), after you pay for the utilities, supplies and the wear and tear on the machines, are you making much?

Yep. Look at Howard's analysis, it's spot-on, only we charge $1.19 per pound. That equates to probably even more profit margin than charging $1.75 per pound in New Jersey, given the much lower overhead costs out here in the fly-over states, particularly utilities and real estate/rental costs. We are also planning a rate hike very soon.

Originally Posted by dbrown2508

On your point of crowding, my place does a bit more than you, but it is more of an issue of peak times. On Sunday afternoons, my place can be hopping. Other times, it is Saturday afternoon. At that time is the issue. It can be washers, dryers, or folding tables. Its not 5 or 10 minutes if the attendant gets busy with other things and leaves the items on the folding table. Yes, there is training issues, but no matter what I do, the attendants get caught up in washing and folding.

Yes, busy times can be problematic, but it's do-able. Our attendants are trained to give drop off customers an estimated time of completion, based on how many orders are pending, and how busy it is out on the floor. An experienced and properly trained attendant should be able to take care of self-service customers' needs in addition to doing drop off without much problem. The biggest problem is giving an unrealistic completion time to a customer who's in a hurry, but that is a training issue.

John

[subati]

Originally Posted by Howard

WDF is highly profitable if done correctly, much higher than self service even after you factor in payroll. As others have said, assuming you have to or want to have an attended store then there is no incremental cost for payroll anyway.

I charged 3.5 to 4 times the amount for a pound of wash and fold versus a pound of self-serve. A typical wash and fold order was about twenty pounds at $1.75 a pound or roughly $35 per order. That order would typically take two small washers and then the dryers. At the full coin rate (which already has overhead and profit built in) that would represent a cost of well under $10 with soap and bags included. That leaves $25 to pay for the half hour of work plus a boat load of profit. So, after labor costs you have $20 pure profit. When was the last time self-service generated $20 profit for the use of two small washers and dryers for a load each?

Howard,

How do you manage 20 pounds of WDF in half an hour? There is separating the clothes, loading, unloading of washers, loading and unloading of dryers, folding of clothes, packing of clothes and customer invoicing. On top of that if customers bring those mattress covers, which need a youtube video to show you how to fold, then you just busted your time budget. We have been trying to estimate the average time for WDF so that we can price it profitabaly. So did you train your attendants for WDF?

Thanks

[Howard]

Originally Posted by subati

Howard,

How do you manage 20 pounds of WDF in half an hour? There is separating the clothes, loading, unloading of washers, loading and unloading of dryers, folding of clothes, packing of clothes and customer invoicing. On top of that if customers bring those mattress covers, which need a youtube video to show you how to fold, then you just busted your time budget. We have been trying to estimate the average time for WDF so that we can price it profitabaly. So did you train your attendants for WDF?

Thanks

It was kind of a glib number as an example, but fairly close. It takes less than five minutes to sort 20 pounds of clothing and throw them in the washer. It takes about two minutes to pull them out of the washer and throw them in the dryer. Then it takes 10 to 15 minutes to fold them and put them in a plastic bag. Can't address mattress covers as I am not sure what you mean, but we did lots of sheets and comforters. My primary daytime attendant was a wiz at sheets, she could fold a queen size sheet in under 30 seconds perfectly -- I could never do it!

While slavery is not legal, I bought my attendants with the store The one had experience in a commercial laundry and she trained everyone else for me. Good help is worth finding, and keeping!

[subati]

Originally Posted by Howard

It was kind of a glib number as an example, but fairly close. It takes less than five minutes to sort 20 pounds of clothing and throw them in the washer. It takes about two minutes to pull them out of the washer and throw them in the dryer. Then it takes 10 to 15 minutes to fold them and put them in a plastic bag. Can't address mattress covers as I am not sure what you mean, but we did lots of sheets and comforters. My primary daytime attendant was a wiz at sheets, she could fold a queen size sheet in under 30 seconds perfectly -- I could never do it!

While slavery is not legal, I bought my attendants with the store The one had experience in a commercial laundry and she trained everyone else for me. Good help is worth finding, and keeping!

I think they are called fitted sheets. The ones which have an elastic band on them and go on the mattress. You are also making the classical mistake done by several project managers. You are looking at the raw times for individual activities and adding them to arrive at the cycle time. So unless, you are running an assembly line like Toyota, you will likely have a lot of what they call "Muda" or waste, which adds to your cycle time. My guess was about 25 to 30 pounds an hour.
OTOH, if you have someone who can fold a sheet in 30 seconds, then she most likely can do the whole 20 lbs in 30 mins. As you said, good help is worth finding and keeping. Amen to that..

Cheers

[brucehwalker]

Too much Wash and Fold is like saying I made too much money. Most people look at all the laundry and go Aghhh! I look at it and say "Yeah baby, I'm gonna buy a new dirt bike!" I'm on track to my WDF best month ever!

[chslaundry]

My guess was about 25 to 30 pounds an hour.

I price the WDF price/pound based on our internal cost/minute, so i rarely give discounts by volume, but freely give discounts based on laundry composition type, those that i consider "small footprint" WDF. for example, we offer fixed priced WDF for all of our contractor customers (and some regulars that love the concept). basically, it's $18 for a: 24x30 bag, tide pods, downy, and 6 baths (pre-rinse, pre-wash, wash, 3 rinses) all in one machine. no sorting, no bleaching, no baby clothes, no female t-shirts that weight 1/2#, no freaking out that we might have caused a stain on a pair of $200 jeans.

sure, it costs a bit more for the materials, but it saves so much on time. plus, some customers will get multiple bags if they want bleach or to separate their "nice" clothes. and of course, they'll bring in all the bags when one bag is filled. another benefit for us is that the contractors always drop off the laundry pretty much at the same time every week (payday), so i know exactly when to bring in extra shifts. last friday evening, our two-person crew processed about 25 of these "contractor packs" in a little under 3 hours.

[Life of Brian]

Originally Posted by chslaundry

for example, we offer fixed priced WDF for all of our contractor customers (and some regulars that love the concept). basically, it's $18 for a: 24x30 bag, tide pods, downy, and 6 baths (pre-rinse, pre-wash, wash, 3 rinses) all in one machine. no sorting, no bleaching, no baby clothes, no female t-shirts that weight 1/2#, no freaking out that we might have caused a stain on a pair of $200 jeans.

sure, it costs a bit more for the materials, but it saves so much on time.

That's a fascinating idea! I like it. It would be fun to market something like that. It's kind of like the postal service and their flat rate boxes - "If it fits, it ships." You still offer your regular WDF, but for someone looking for a "deal", it saves you time which is the real cost of doing WDF. Sorting can take a while sometimes! Especially if you've got those darned baby clothes...

[STOUT]

[quote=chslaundry;72606]My guess was about 25 to 30 pounds an hour.

I price the WDF price/pound based on our internal cost/minute, so i rarely give discounts by volume, but freely give discounts based on laundry composition type, those that i consider "small footprint" WDF. for example, we offer fixed priced WDF for all of our contractor customers (and some regulars that love the concept). basically, it's $18 for a: 24x30 bag, tide pods, downy, and 6 baths (pre-rinse, pre-wash, wash, 3 rinses) all in one machine. no sorting, no bleaching, no baby clothes, no female t-shirts that weight 1/2#, no freaking out that we might have caused a stain on a pair of $200 jeans.

Chs;

So what do you do if someone puts in baby clothes or female 1/2# shirts? DO you charge more? What about the possible damage to clothes? Do they sign a waver in advance? Do you supply the bags the laundry goes in and back to the customer?
Your concept is very interesting.