Not just Competition...

[MrMachine]

It's becoming VERY tough to squeeze out a profit the past few years in our so called recession-resistant business.
It's not just the new competitors being built either.

It's the economy. Nobody seems to have money, and if they do, they are being far more careful in spending it.

We used to have some customers come every week without fail. Now they show up every 2 or 3 weeks.
Customers are now cramming so much into the washers that the laundry doesn't move or tumble in the baskets. The drums just turn and the laundry goes around in a circle.
People are WAY more price conscious these days!
There simply aren't as many people using Laundromats like they used too, and I believe we haven't even seen the bottom yet.

What do we do?
The issue of "Price Leader" mats, vis a vis "Charity Mats" no longer seems to apply here in NYC.
I believe we now need to do both....We need to have beautiful, well maintained Mats, but with prices low enough to knock out our competitors before they knock us out.

There is one retail business here that is doing fantastic: Trader Joe's
They have GREAT prices, GREAT selections of unique scrumptious foods, GREAT quality of foods, and terrific friendly people working there.

Anyone who has a Trader Joe's near them will know what I mean.

We have to run our Mats like Trader Joe's now.

[chad]

Paul, you hit the nail on the head. I do see this as well in both our stores. I was at my store last week and someone was using a 60lb machine, I never seen someone stuff a big machine with so much clothes that when the cycle started you barley saw water and soap.

For the longest time I have been a huge price leader in our areas but now its time to step up a little and offer something to our customers. I have decided to now only do the promo of free dry and $5 bonus at one store but I will be doing it at both.

[MrMachine]

Chad,

Yep, and when they stuff so much into the machine that you barely see the water and soap because it's being "wicked up" into this huge amount of laundry, they then complain that the machine isn't giving enough water!!!

[chad]

Yea the customer complained his clothes were still soapy..I had him put the clothes in the 80lb machine to show him the right machine he needed to use and told him next time not to over fill the machine.

[chslaundry]

yes, april was awful; 20% decrease in self-service revenue washer revenue, although WDF and dryer revenue increased.

spoke to several customers who are now dry-only. some bought used washers; some started washing at family/friends. they were fine spending three hours washing six loads, and driving them over to the mat, if it meant saving $20. on the other hand, drying six loads with a residential dryer? fugedaboutit

[Howard]

Its not just the laundry business, I was in Walmart an hour ago and was shocked at what I saw. About 20% of the lights were out and the rest were running at what seemed like low voltage and were really dim. The place looked really dreary. I asked the manager what the problem was, and was informed there was not problem, it is just an energy saving measure.

[jh]

I haven't seen a significant decrease during last year. Mostly because my store's revenue started from zero. I've seen two things going on that have affected my business -- People lost their jobs and people quit their jobs. Obviously they try to save every penny when they have no income. Some people had to quit their jobs because they couldn't afford to hire others to take care of their parents and/or children. The minimum wage is killing jobs.

[CanCanCase]

Originally Posted by jh

...The minimum wage is killing jobs.

It's not the minimum wage that's killing jobs. It's all the welfare, disability, subsidy and entitlement programs that are killing Americans' work ethic.

Around here, everyone is saying "there aren't any jobs" and "we need government and business to create new jobs for us." So what happens when I try to hire someone? The lady I interviewed last week mentioned she needed to earn $27.50 per hour. I asked her why such a specific number (and why such a seemingly high number for basic janitorial work?) $27.50 per hour times a 40-hour work week times 4 weeks per month = $4400 per month. Between her "disability" payments from the State, 3 welfare checks (one for each child), EBT and foodstamp benefit, and her income-based subsidized rent, that's the total she collects by sitting at home NOT WORKING!!!

The jobs are there... willingness to actually do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay? Not so much...

-Case

PS: What really bugs me, is this is the THIRD prospective employee I've interviewed who cited the same hourly wage to make up for lost entitlement benefits...

[chad]

Case are you serious? Wow...... Man my wife works for a bank has an operations manager and does not make that much. So many business cant afford to do business in California anymore but so many love to live in this state because of the welfare support they receive. Just a crooked system.

[Howard]

Hanity interviews one of the OWS scum bags on Foxnews last week and the guy explained that he would not take a job for under $80K a year. He explained that as an OWS protester his being there created content for the media to report on so he should be able to do that for an employer and deserved to make that much. What is this world coming to.