Wash with Wally: Increasing Vend Prices

By Wally Makowsky | May 02, 2011

I have been in the coin laundry business for seven years and have never increased my vend prices. My expenses have almost doubled. I want to raise my prices, but my competitors are all still priced the same. What should I do?

Increase your vend prices. If you’re in a business in which you cannot raise the price, it’s only a matter of time before you’re out of that business. You can only cut costs for so long – and most of the time it’s negligible in respect to your total overhead.

In many ways, coin laundries are in the energy business. They sell gas, water and electricity, and these three commodities have experienced some huge cost hikes in recent years. It’s time to evaluate your business and do what’s best for your bottom line.

I have a commercial account with a paintball company. However, I’m having trouble removing the odor of the oil-based paint from the towels. Do you have any suggestions?

Most of the paintballs used today are not oil-based. Some manufacturers use vegetable oil, but most of the paintballs are strictly a fabric softener or a corn-based type of product.

As a result, I would ask the person who purchased the paintballs who the manufacturer is. Next, you should call the manufacturer, who can let you know which type of paintball product they use. Again, some of them use fabric softener and others use a vegetable oil type of product.

If you find that the paintballs are of a vegetable oil type of composition, I would buy a product called Laundry Wetspo from your local laundry supplier. Of course, always follow the manufacturer’s recommendations when using such a product.

If you discover that the paintballs are either fabric softener or corn-based, the best way is to wash the towels is in hot water with about eight ounces of ammonia and detergent. Certainly, you might have to repeat this process two or three times, depending on how long the paintball stains have been on the items.

I do a lot of drop-off laundry at my store and was looking for a good spray spotter. Do you have any recommendations?

Yes, I would get Liquid Wisk. This product is good on food stains, some inks and some light oils. It is probably one of the easier products to purchase, because it’s available at most supermarkets or grocery stores.

For general spotting, I would recommend that you mix one part water with one part Liquid Wisk into a spray bottle. This will make a very effective spotter for most wash-dry-fold applications.

Another option is a product called Streetex Spray Spotter, which you can purchase from most drycleaning supply distributors.

Twice now, my customers have alerted me to the fact that yellow marks have appeared on their laundry after washing in my large-capacity washers. The stains look like bleach marks, but they are bright yellow. I have tried to remove them with various stain removers – but with no luck. Do you have any idea how they may have gotten there and how to remove them?
 
Yellow marks can indicate any of a variety of stains. A lot of things can create yellow stains. One of the more common reasons are tannins, which might be coffee, tea or beverage stains that turn yellow after being washed. In such cases, you would need a tannin remover, which you can purchase from your local distributor.

In addition, oil or grease stains can sometimes come out looking yellow after being washed, so you can try a grease remover as well.

However, I would first try soaking the stained item in a non-chlorine bleach compound for about two to three hours, and then process it through a normal wash cycle.

Again, yellow stains can be almost anything. But, more than likely, they are one of those two – tannin or grease stains.