American Coin-Op - September 2017

TAKE CONTROL

Programming, monitoring and auditing stores like never before

I N S I DI EN :S IJ DU EL :Y S 2E 0P 0T 5E M B E R 2 0 1 7 EVERYTHING’S ON THE HOUSE IN EVANSVILLE

KEEPING GOOD EMPLOYEES STARTS WITH GOOD HIRES

PRODUCT SHOWCASE: CASHLESS PAYMENT

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CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2017 VOLUME 58 ISSUE 9

COVER STORY

TAKE CONTROL Technology available today combines equipment controls and programming into full-store management systems, enabling owners to adjust cost structure, reduce utility costs and increase revenue from any computer, anywhere in the world.

(Cover image: ©iStockphoto/chombosan)

INSIDE 12 GOIN’ WITH COHEN: EVERYTHING’S ON THE HOUSE IN EVANSVILLE Laurance Cohen visits Evansville, Ind., and the Jack Henry Gates Community Memorial Laundromat, where the motto is “No Cash. No Coins. Leave Your Money at Home.” The business has been offering free laundry services to area needy for a couple years now, but not without having to overcome some challenges.

22 KEEPING GOOD EMPLOYEES

As owner of six Laundromats in the San Francisco Bay Area, guest author Brian Brunckhorst knows a thing or two about employee retention. And he says the first step to keeping a good employee is to make sure you hire one.

28 PARTNERING FOR PROFIT$

Vended laundry owners and dry cleaners are using each other’s expertise to increase their market share. A Clean Show education session featuring reps of each demonstrated what it takes to make such a partnership work.

32 PRODUCT SHOWCASE: CASHLESS SYSTEMS 2

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8 COLUMNS 38 THE IMPORTANCE OF TURNS PER DAY You’ve heard the term “turns,” right? Columnist Howard Scott walks you through how to calculate this figure in your own operation and how it illustrates the busyness of your store and how efficiently your equipment is being used. It is one profit factor you should be paying attention to.

DEPARTMENTS 4 VIEWPOINT 26 DISTRIBUTOR EVENTS 41 WEB UPDATE

42 NEWSMAKERS 46 CLASSIFIEDS 47 AD INDEX

20 A CLOSER LOOK Laurie Payne (left) shares a lighthearted moment with Dennis Gates outside the Jack Henry Gates Community Memorial Laundromat.

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VIEWPOINT Charles Thompson, Publisher E-mail: cthompson@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1680

Donald Feinstein, Associate Publisher/ National Sales Director E-mail: dfeinstein@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1682

THE CHANGE IN SEASONS

Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director E-mail: bbeggs@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1683 Roger Napiwocki, Production Manager Nathan Frerichs, Digital Media Director E-mail: nfrerichs@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1681

ADVISORY BOARD

Bruce Beggs

This month, we wave goodbye to summer and say hello to fall.

For those of us in the Great Lakes region, that means the arrival of cool weather, colorful foliage and football! Fall also happens to be a busy time for industry distributors, as a number of them host open houses, special sales, service schools and other events during the season.

We have a rundown of September’s distributor events (that were reported to us) on page 26. You can also refer to our Calendar online at AmericanCoinOp.com for these and other events scheduled throughout the year.

Distributors, you can list your events at AmericanCoinOp.com at no cost, so I encourage you to take advantage of this and get the word out!

Elsewhere in this month’s issue, I take a broad look at the state of today’s vended laundry equipment controls. We all know how integral that computers have become in our daily lives, right down to the mobile devices most of us carry with us wherever we go. Several equipment manufacturers discuss their latest controls (some new offerings are poised to enter the market soon), and some store owners describe what the controls and their management features mean to their businesses. It all starts on page 6.

Plus, Goin’ with Cohen travels to Indiana and home of a Laundromat that offers free laundry services as a memorial to a community leader. California Laundromat owner Brian Brunckhorst discusses what it takes to keep good employees. There is a Product Showcase featuring Cashless Payment Systems.

And that’s not all but I’ll leave a little to mystery and let you enjoy discovering the rest of our content yourself.

I hope you and your business had a great summer and that the changing of the seasons brings you more good fortune.

Bruce Beggs Editorial Director

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AMERICAN COIN-OP SEPTEMBER 2017

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Kurt Archer Wayne Lewis

Ann Hawkins Kathryn Q. Rowen

OFFICE INFORMATION Main: 312-361-1700

SUBSCRIPTIONS 630-739-0900 x100 www.AmericanCoinOp.com

American Coin-Op (ISSN 0092-2811) is published monthly. Subscription prices, payment in advance: U.S., 1 year $46.00; 2 years $92.00.

Foreign, 1 year $109.00; 2 years $218.00.

Single copies $9.00 for U.S., $18.00 for all other countries. Published by American Trade Magazines LLC, 566 West Lake Street, Suite 420, Chicago, IL 60661. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER, Send changes of address and form 3579 to American Coin-Op, Subscription Dept., 440 Quadrangle Drive, Suite E, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. Volume 58, number 9. Editorial, executive and advertising offices are at 566 West Lake Street, Suite 420, Chicago, IL 60661. Charles Thompson, President and Publisher. American Coin-Op is distributed selectively to owners, operators and managers of chain and individually owned coin-operated laundry establishments in the United States. The publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising for any reason. © Copyright AMERICAN TRADE MAGAZINES LLC, 2017. Printed in U.S.A. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher or his representative. American Coin-Op does not endorse, recommend or guarantee any article, product, service or information found within. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of American Coin-Op or its staff. While precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the magazine’s contents at time of publication, neither the editors, publishers nor its agents can accept responsibility for damages or injury which may arise therefrom.

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TAKE

CONTROL Advanced laundry equipment controls enable owners to program, monitor and audit their stores like never before

(Image: © iStockphoto/chombosan)

by Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

I

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my customers computer-operated dryers,” he wrote. “In my mind, this started our industry’s computer age.”

If that was the dawn of the computer age in vended laundries, where do things stand now?

Technology available today combines equipment controls and programming into full-store management systems, enabling owners to adjust cost structure, reduce utility costs and increase revenue from any computer, anywhere in the world.

Today’s tech is capable of analyzing output average totals, turns per day and revenue details, as well as use time-of-day pricing. Machines can be set to charge premium prices when the store is at its busiest and offer specialty rates during off-peak hours to further maximize the revenue stream.

Cloud-based tools open up all sorts of possibilities by storing and accessing data and programs via the Internet instead of a host computer’s hard drive.

In this story, we’ll take a look at some of these equipment controls, examine how they’re benefitting store owners utilizing them, and get a sense of how controls are evolving.

PROGRAMMABILITY OPENS DOOR TO PROFIT Continental Girbau’s branded Express Laundry Centers utilize washers equipped with the company’s ProfitPlus® Control.

“The ProfitPlus® Control delivers advanced programmability that sets laundries apart, satisfies customers’ need for wash options, and allows owners to boost profitability, simplify maintenance and improve store efficiency and marketability,” says Joel Jorgensen, vice president of sales and customer services for the commercial laundry equipment maker.

Based on the makeup of their laundry load and the soil level, customers choose from four primary cycles, but the control also gives them the option of adding

▲

t was a decade ago that Dion Marcionetti, president of commercial laundry equipment distributor Laundry Concepts, penned an article for this magazine titled Technology: a MustHave for New Stores.

In it, he recalled a time around 1990 that a “computer-operated piece of equipment was introduced into the laundry business.” He described a dryer equipped with a computer that allowed the operator to change the vend price by moving some switches in the controller.

There were a lot of “special features,” he recalled, but the one that sold him was the capability to control the temperature and the differential. The gas valve was controlled by a more precise thermostat, better regulating the flow of gas while keeping dryer temperatures at a level that would dry clothes in a reasonable time.

That meant saving money on utilities but still keeping customers happy.

“I made a conscious decision to only sell

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“We want to give (store owners) the flexibility to run their business without having to be at their business.”

—Jaimie Johnson, Dexter Laundry (Image: © iStockphoto/loops7)

an extra wash or rinse and/or a delicate cycle.

Marty Mullican co-owns Owasso (Okla.) Express Laundry Center with his wife Lynn. The 4,200-square-foot store housing 42 washers and 44 dryers has been in operation 18 months and was profitable after 120 days. Besides serving walk-in customers, it offers wash-dry-fold service, does laundry for a few commercial accounts, and is starting pickup/delivery.

“Well over 50% of our customers choose a selection driving an up-sell,” says Mullican. “Those controls, as customer options, really add value on both sides of the transaction. For example, we’ve taught our customers that whenever doing bedding, a load of towels or jeans, always ask for an ‘Extra Rinse.’”

When coupled with a card system like CCI’s LaundryCard, “we can quickly and easily program our wash/rinse/extract cycle parameters and machine price settings, in penny increment if desired,” he adds.

“Anytime you can offer customers more choices and options, it sets you apart from the competition,” says Phil Irwin, with Waters Express Laundry Center in Tampa, Fla. “The control is absolutely impacting our bottom line.”

Dan Sofranko, who runs the Perfect Wash Express Laundry Center in Huntington Beach, Calif., says communication between the equipment controls and his store’s card system allows him to quickly change vend prices and programs on multiple machines simultaneously.

“From my cell phone, I can adjust equipment settings, issue new cards and change vend prices, remotely,” he says.

“When the laundry first opened, I programmed eight days of free washes, which really brought people into the store.”

The ProfitPlus® Control comes standard on all new Continental Girbau vended washers, plus it’s available as a retrofit kit for older models.

MANAGEMENT FROM AFAR

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‘Washer 33 is so soapy,’ and I can go into the system remotely and say it’s ready for a final rinse and spin again,” he says. “We can take the opportunity to train our customer on what happened … and we saved them from spending another $3-4 on a 27-minute wash and rinse, by instead starting an 11-minute rinse for them.”

Electrical engineer Cody Millikin and the Dexter team releases DexterLive software/firmware updates every six months so even store owners who’ve had the system for a couple of years can have the “latest and greatest” version. Additionally, conversion kits are available to upgrade certain Dexter models dating back roughly 10 years.

Dower, whose background is in IT, having worked 25 years for Hewlett-Packard, says the controls available to self-service laundries have evolved dramatically in just a short time.

“It’s kinda neat to see this low-tech industry, relatively speaking, has just grown by leaps and bounds in the last six, seven years for alternative pay systems and remote management,” she says. “We run our entire operation remotely.

“I can turn the lights on and off. I can unlock a door if somebody gets locked out.

I can control the temperature in the store.

And everything is on my iPad.”

NEW RELEASES

At the Clean Show in Las Vegas this summer, Laundrylux unveiled LaundryPulse, an advanced cloud-based management tool, and LaundryPay, an app that allows Laundromat customers to pay using their cell phones. LaundryPulse works with all Electrolux and Wascomat Compass Pro washers and dryers, the company says.

“Successfully managing a self-service laundry today requires a great degree of control, competitiveness, flexibility and speed,” says John Olsen, senior vice president – vended & OPL products, for Laundrylux. “LaundryPulse technology lets our customers manage their business from anywhere at any time - 24/7. It gives the ability to see real-time revenue reports, adjust pricing, create promotional

▲

DexterLive controls are the brainchild of equipment maker Dexter Laundry and

have been available for three years now.

With them, store owners can solve problems and manage their businesses anytime, anywhere there is an Internet connection.

DexterLive features the ability to start, reboot, or remove a machine from service remotely. There are state-of-the-art reporting features (revenue, machine usage, and cycle selection, for example), and e-mail alerts can keep an owner up-to-date on laundry status or signal when there’s a problem.

Every Dexter C-Series washer or dryer comes with free access to DexterLive.com, for programming and setting machine promotions. For more features, networking a store is relatively inexpensive, say company representatives.

“We want to give (store owners) the flexibility to run their business without having to be at their business,” says Jaimie Johnson, Dexter’s marketing manager.

“We just see a need to let our customers live the life they want to, not the life they have to. Most people are trying to open laundries, looking to leave 9-to-5 jobs.

They’re not really interested in spending their entire day at their laundries.

And many have multiple stores. They’re not able to be at each store for a certain amount of hours each day.”

DexterLive’s ability to allow Deborah Dower to manage stores remotely is precisely what drew her to it. Dower owns four unattended stores in the Sacramento, Calif., suburbs, three of which are called Paradise Laundry.

“I don’t really use controls to look at my revenue, because my credit card readers do that, as well,” Dower says. “That’s an added benefit, not the reason that we upgraded all of our stores. It’s more about ease of programming. … I wouldn’t add a store that doesn’t have remote management.”

Ross Dodds, who co-owns attended Wash on Western in Hollywood, Calif., with husband Russel Pinkard, is equally enamored with DexterLive’s abilities, especially when one of his customers uses too much soap.

“My attendant can call me and say,

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“The reality is, you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

Having this information available ... is critical.”

—Kathryn Rowen, Huebsch (Image: © iStockphoto/loops7)

campaigns, machine utilization reports and more.

“With our payment app, LaundryPay, there’s no need for coins or cards.

Laundromat customers simply download the app on their cell phone, log in, and then use it to pay for machine use. They can also use the app to see machine availability and to receive a notification when their wash is done and ready for the dryer.”

Next month, Alliance Laundry Systems brands Huebsch® and Speed Queen® are due to release their own new control and management systems.

For several years, Huebsch has offered equipment with the Galaxy™ control, which enables a store owner to offer multi-level vend pricing, customizable cycle selections and modifiers, and timeof-day pricing.

Building off the control’s acceptance and success, Huebsch is now adding wireless access and cloud-based management tools. Huebsch Command™ will give store owners access to easy-to-understand data reports that show information such as store performance, as well as performance compared with their other locations; turns per day; revenue by machine capacity; and cycle modifier usage to assist with understanding what features customers utilize.

Huebsch Command can send service alerts via e-mail or text message or provide an at-a-glance error report showing any machine issues. The cloud-based system enables remote starts and changes to machine settings from anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Huebsch introduced Galaxy controls around 2008, rolled out enhanced features over time, and started marketing it more heavily in 2012, says Kathryn Rowen, North American sales manager for the Alliance brand. The addition of cloudbased management tools can be linked to the “speed and cadence of technology,” in combination with expectations of sophisticated, savvy investors, she says.

“I didn’t know life with a smartphone until five years ago, and if you would’ve told me that it was going to be something 10

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that people would have attached, like an umbilical cord, to their bodies, I would’ve been shocked,” Rowen says. “But that’s the reality of how people get, gain, gather and share information today. It’s the new reality.

“That’s the sort of speed and instantaneous information that our new, savvy investors expect, so that’s really what’s pushing us to continue to evolve the sort of products we’re launching in the market.”

Huebsch Command will be introduced with Galaxy 600 controls. At this time, the cloud-based system will be available on equipment with Galaxy 600 manufactured as of January 2017; it is not backward compatible, Rowen says.

“The reality is, you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” Rowen says. “Having this information available to the store owners is really critical.”

Speed Queen is building upon the acceptance of its Quantum® Gold control by adding cloud-based SQ Insights and SQ Insights Professional. Quantum Gold gives owners a high level of control of their laundry business and the freedom to run it anywhere, anytime, the brand says. The financial reporting capabilities give owners a window into their store’s profitability, and owners can program, monitor, audit and diagnose any machine issues easily.

As for customers, they have greater flexibility in tailoring wash cycles to their specific needs, and special features such as the “Lucky Cycle” reward them for their loyalty.

“Insights is a cloud-based management platform, so it’s machine management, facility/store management, a variety of management tasks,” says Scott Chiavetta, vice president, Customer One, and chief information officer for Alliance Laundry Systems. “It’s flexible, easy to use. Cloudbased, so there’s no software to install.”

The user-friendly system is designed to provide single- and multiple-store dashboard reports and on-the-go access to store data, in addition to remote management and configuration, as well as realtime alerts.

“Insights leverages our existing Quantum

network platform, so for customers that have already leveraged Quantum networking or customers that have our high-end Quantum Gold control, the solution is backwards compatible with existing locations,” Chiavetta says.

Speed Queen Insights Professional leverages the Insights architecture (required) but adds to it a payment system. The mobile app-based system has a CRM (customer relationship management) component that allows store owners or route operators to gather information about users to directly market services to them, he explains, and hones in on which pieces of the operation they can optimize.

“Everything on both sides, the machine control side and the software side, is designed around increasing the profitability of our customers, of our distributors and route operators,” Chiavetta says.

“When you look at Insights and Insights Pro, it’s really that next step. Anywhere in the world, Insights is giving them really detailed information about their operation and allowing them to make the right decisions around profitability.”

The Alliance Laundry Systems executive says his company’s product development efforts are less about seeing what other laundry equipment manufacturers are doing and more about watching consumer giants like Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

“I think consumer technology is where we are looking, not only from the perspective of controls but software as well,” Chiavetta says. “The consumer market is voting with their dollars on how they want things to look and how they want things to operate. Those consumer companies move very quickly, and we traditionally have a little bit longer development horizon, so hitching our wagons to them and taking the lessons they’re learning rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.”

And so the computer age continues to speed ahead in the laundry industry, offering store owners and customers the tools they want and need to conduct business quickly and easily in a fast-paced world.

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6/8/17 5:16 PM

GOIN’ WITH

COHEN

Everything’s

on the House in Evansville

Gates Memorial Laundromat gives back by giving it away

F

by Laurance Cohen

NO-CHARGE CAMARADERIE By 2 o’clock on this particular Saturday, the customer tally stands at 44, with a queue of five eager for one of the 16 smallcapacity washers and matching single-load

Evansville businessman Dennis Gates (center) pays tribute to his late father by offering the city’s less fortunate a laundry where everything is on the house. Dennis Hayes (left) 12

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stack dryer pockets.

For Christine Vaughn, who can’t bear the expense to repair her broken home washer, the 90-minute wait with two weeks’ worth of laundry is taken in stride: “It’s not a problem. There’s a lot of people like me who can use a free laundry.”

Sitting nearby is returning customer Jamie Basham, who, like others, remains patient and in good spirits. With no apartment wash facility, and her shift on the assembly line fast approaching, she looks for a green light to launder her three loads.

“There is no price, that’s why I come here. I don’t have the funds yet,” Basham explains. “I’m not fixing to go to work wearing dirty clothes.”

Neighborhood resident Laurie Payne

▲

orget about the “wash here, dry free” format. The same goes for grand openings where they give it all away for a week.

You might as well throw in the so-called deep-discount charity coin-ops to boot. Here on Columbia Street in Evansville, Ind., it’s the real deal: free wash, free dry, all the time.

If you thought not charging for loads would turn this self-proclaimed “Free For All” laundry into a chaotic free-for-all, don’t fret. Manager Don Clark has that all under control.

Just check in at his makeshift reception and sit tight until he waves you over to

an assigned washer and dryer to load and reload until the job’s done without ever opening your wallet. Like the sign posted inside reads: “No Cash. No Coins. Leave your Money at Home.”

Can’t afford soap and bleach? Just pour what you need from the complimentary stock atop the bulkhead.

Welcome to the Jack Henry Gates Memorial Community Laundromat, where everything on offer is on the house — no questions asked.

and Don Clark (right) assist him to serve as many needy residents as possible in the small-footprint facility. (Photos: Laurance Cohen) www.americancoinop.com

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GOIN’ WITH

COHEN enjoys the camaraderie as much as the no-charge format.

“It lets you mingle with a lot of people and socialize. It’s a joy,” the 55-year-old patron says.

Frightened to use rodent-infested machines at home, Payne, who relies on Social Security disability, frequented a pay coin-op but found it a budget-buster.

“It got to the point where I spent 20 bucks and I only got three loads done. I can’t afford that on my monthly income.”

To her, the free laundry facility “is a gift from God.” Payne and the others have Dennis Gates to thank. The construction businessman and philanthropist admits he knew nothing about self-service laundry when a shuttered building on the market housing an abandoned back-to-back bank of washers and wall of stack dryers caught his eye two years ago.

“I looked around at it and thought, ‘Golly, it’s kind of small and the building is nice. It would be a good opportunity to buy this and give back to the community,’” he recalls, acknowledging the plight of homeless and those struggling to make ends meet in a neighborhood just north of the city’s downtown district. “I thought it

was a good idea if they could have good, clean clothes, make them feel better, and go out and try to get a job.”

Gates’ wife Shelley and nephew Matt Gates were soon on board, along with employees of the family-owned Ace Roofing and Construction, rolling up their sleeves to make a not-for-profit laundry a reality.

Before reopening the doors in November 2015, the facility’s machines were placed in operating order; lighting, water heating and HVAC updated; and new soffit, facia, roofing and fencing installed. City Hall required additional paved off-street parking, necessitating the purchase and razing of an adjacent building. The price tag, including acquisitions, came in around $200,000, Gates shares.

The benevolent operator picked up the tab and funds day-to-day operations.

NAMED FOR PATRIARCH Offering assistance to the less fortunate defines the family legacy and patriarch Jack Henry Gates, a wellknown Evansville pallet manufacturer who died in 2014. Naming the laundry after his father was a fitting tribute to a man who was always there to lend

a helping hand to “those down on their luck,” his son says.

As the project was taking shape, Gates reached out to let his intentions be known to Lonnie Pace, whose 24-washer, 28-dryer Family Laundry operates around the corner.

“That was very important because we didn’t want to take customers. If the shoe was on the other foot, I would be concerned — ‘What in the world does this guy think he’s doing?’ — so we wanted to make sure that we weren’t taking customers,” he emphasizes.

“I’m sure a few of them slip through because we’re very open. If they say they need help, we’ll help them. I think, for the most part, these people probably are ones that might have a job, but one got laid off, or they’re spending all their money on everything and they can take their laundry money — $20 to $25 a week — and do (continued on page 18)

The once-shuttered freestanding laundry was rehabbed as a labor of love and put back into operation

by Gates and his familyowned construction firm.

14

AMERICAN COIN-OP SEPTEMBER 2017

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GOIN’ WITH

COHEN (continued from page 14) something else with it — gas, food or whatever, it’s a small amount.”

To keep the focus on the truly needy, the new owner initially adapted the machines to token operation and enlisted the support of local churches to inform the community and hand out tokens off-site.

“This is only for people who can’t afford to go to (pay coin-ops). So we immediately said, ‘Let’s not make it money,’” Gates explained of the cashless format. “It would really minimize taking customers from them because they would have to have tokens.”

Within weeks, the response exceeded Gates’ expectations, and token distribution was moved on-site.

The philanthropist stresses that his project was never designed to compete with a traditional coin-op.

“That’s the real Laundromat there,” he says with a nod toward Family Laundry to the east. “Ours is small and tight. I think this facility would be hard to make a profit on, but it’s an ideal situation for these folks.”

Word spread through churches, food pantries, shelters and local caseworkers,

culminating in 60,000 loads being run during the first 12 months of operation.

Well into its second year, 1,000 patrons on average walk through the doors monthly without shelling out a single coin, Gates reports.

COMPETING VIEWPOINT Needing a wash but not a helping hand, I pull up to the nicely appointed Family Laundry. There, in stark contrast to the goings-on a block away, I’m one of two patrons during the better part of my latemorning visit.

How this all sits with Family Laundry’s owner is an eye-opener.

“Actually, it’s been a more positive impact than a negative impact that occurred. Truthfully, I thought it would close our business completely,” relates 10-year veteran operator Pace in a phone interview.

While he admits self-service trade dipped, overall revenue is up.

“What really saves us is our washdry-fold services,” the operator says.

Nowadays, more energy is channeled into a flourishing over-the-counter bundle service and less on resolving disputes that

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used to arise in the aisles among customers from all walks of life.

Pace says when it comes to attracting laundry customers, the intersection of East Columbia and North Governor streets where he and Gates set up shop has come full circle.

When Family Laundry debuted in 2007, the site to the west where the charitable operation now stands was one of a handful of coin-ops within a three-mile radius that were either closed or on their last legs.

Pace’s new, state-of-the-art, full-service facility filled the void and “boomed” for the next five years, he says, pulling residents and factory workers from afar until competitors came back on the scene.

As Evansville caught wind of a freebie wash-and-dry, this otherwise unassuming neighborhood corner re-emerged as a laundry crossroads, drawing in trade once again from a wide perimeter, with Pace ready and well-equipped to serve.

The congestion, small capacity, and long waits across the way work to his advantage, Pace explains.

“Once they experience that environment and they find we have a Laundromat over here, they will come to us. A lot of people say, ‘I’m not going to do that again.’”

STEEP LEARNING CURVE Welcoming the public to wash free of charge had a steep learning curve over at the Jack Henry Gates Memorial

▲

Manager Don Clark explains the one-patron, one-machine system to a new arrival before she signs in and awaits the next available washer.

Patrons sort the first of multiple loads into an assigned machine where they launder clothes free of charge.

www.americancoinop.com

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GOIN’ WITH

COHEN Community Laundromat.

While token handouts ensured personal interaction with those availing themselves of the gratis service, allowing patrons unlimited access to any and all machines had its consequences. Competition for small-load machines in a 900-square-foot customer area during the initial 7-hour operating window three days a week was fierce, as washers and dryers were commandeered at will.

“It was chaos,” recalls Clark, who came on board to help manage the store three months after its debut. To level the playing field, a one-patron, one-machine system was introduced, and refereeing turned into matchmaking with the store manager tasked with allocating washers and dryers. The new format improved throughput and eased tensions, he reports.

Last February, the nearly three-decade-

Laurie Payne (left) shares a lighthearted moment with Gates, whose offer of complimentary wash-and-dry to her and others struggling to make ends meet is warmly welcomed as “a gift from God.”

old token-op units were replaced with banks of used, yet newer-vintage, proprietary card-operated route laundry machinery donated by an acquaintance of Gates who was upgrading one of his accounts.

As gatekeeper, Clark pairs arriving customers with machines based on availability and steps away from the sign-in desk to manually activate washers and dryers using his cash-loaded manager’s card funded by Gates.

Some patrons have their favorites and patiently wait their turn.

“You can take it or pass it,” he explains. “If you take the washer, you can use it as many times as you want and will get a dryer assigned to it.”

Hours were expanded to the current eight-hour, sixdays-a-week operation, with doors open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Gates says he never knew Sunday is traditionally a big laundry day for many, but nevertheless desires to set aside the day for faith.

Patrons arrive on foot or by car. Others wheel up on bicycles or toting all their worldly possessions Customers keep a watchful eye on their designated washer to maintain the in shopping carts, inspiring self-service workflow as traffic peaks on a Saturday afternoon.

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Gates to consider installing a combo bike rack and grocery cart corral.

Plans are also on the drawing board to enclose the rear courtyard to enhance folding and seating, as well as accommodate children’s activities and, possibly, a free hair-cutting station.

Gates also looks forward to another Thanksgiving Day event at the venue, where last year’s giveaway of 300 turkeys and 500 lunches packed the property.

Gates says his cell phone rings with words of gratitude from new job recipients able to put their best foot forward and apply for a position wearing clean clothes.

His manager hears the same heartfelt expressions.

“I’d say 99% of the people who come in here need help. We’re all poor around here,” shares Clark, who was previously unemployed himself. “Some people come in wearing clothes, go in the bathroom, change, and wash the clothes on their back because that’s all they have. Others live paycheck to paycheck and can’t find money for laundry.

“The thing I do the most around here is say, ‘You’re welcome,’ because I get so many people saying, ‘Thank you.’ At the end of the day, I feel pretty good.”

ACO Laurance Cohen crisscrosses the country seeking out the most unique vended laundries. He served as American CoinOp editor in the early 1990s and currently operates Laundry Marketing Concepts based in Hallandale Beach, Fla. He can be reached at goinwithcohen@outlook.com. www.americancoinop.com

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BE OUR GUEST

KEEPING GOOD EMPLOYEES

Brian Brunckhorst

22

One of the biggest challenges facing most coin laundry owners is staffing. According to the Coin Laundry Association (CLA) 2016 Gold Book Survey, the average Laundromat, in 2015, had three employees and spent an average of 18% of its gross revenue on payroll. The survey also indicated that the industry was trending toward an increase in the number of attended coin laundries. This makes a lot of sense in today’s marketplace where customers are demanding better customer service and more services than ever before.

Getting the most from your attendant starts at the very beginning when you begin the hiring process and continues for as long as they work for you.

There are lots of people looking for a job, but finding someone who has the qualities that you want representing you and your business and who will actually work is not so easy. The first step to keeping a good employee is to make sure you hire one.

So, what traits make a good laundry attendant? Here are some of what we look for when hiring an attendant (in no particular order): trainable/follows directions; honest; good work ethic/hard worker; bilingual; friendly/ smiles a lot; outgoing; bubbly personality; shows up on time/reliable; attention to detail; and is a problem-solver.

Once you hire an attendant, there are several things that you must do if you want to keep them: 1. Give them clear job expectations and goals. In our company, there are three main components to the attendant’s job: • Customer Service – We expect and require exceptional customer service at all times. Our business is built upon the customer, and it is our job to make sure that they enjoy their washing experience with us.

• Cleanliness – I can’t say it enough: If the store is clean, the customers will want to wash there.

• Wash and Fold – We make sure that our attendants know that processing wash and fold is a big part of their job. But it is all about the quality and consistency.

Then, they have some additional responsibilities: • Maintain Good Communication with Store Supervisor – They need to talk to her at least twice a shift.

• Dependability – We track it and their performance review, and future pay increases are affected by it.

• Have Fun – We want our employees to enjoy the

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work they do and to take pride in knowing that they make a difference by serving our customers.

2. The next thing you need to do is to provide them with some resources, the first being an employee manual or handbook. A good employee handbook should contain a welcome letter; important contact numbers; a detailed job description; operating instructions for each type of washer and dryer; your customer service policy; daily duties, policies and procedures; and a summary of employee benefits.

Another resource I recommend you have is a quick reference guide/duties checklist. This will give your employees a list of the duties you expect them to handle each time they work. Here’s an example: Attendant Duties • Clean windows • Remove lint from all dryers, top and bottom • Clean/remove built-up soap from soap dispensers in all washers • Sweep floors • Mop floors nightly and as needed (empty water bucket at least twice, i.e., empty after mopping half the store) • Wipe down folding tables and white bulkheads with all-purpose spray cleaner • Dust all washers and dryers by wiping down inside and outside of machines • Make sure nothing is left behind in the washers (please dry any wet clothes and record cost to dry [leave bag with left items using Left Clothing Report]) • Empty all garbage cans (if not full, combine together so we don’t waste bags) • Keep back door closed and locked when you are not in the back room • Sweep parking lot once per shift • Take wash-and-fold orders • Fulfill wash-and-fold orders • Clean vending and video game machines using Windex only (no all-purpose spray cleaner) • Dust top of dryers, trim boards and windowsills • Pick up garbage around the Laundromat • Keep outside of Laundromat clean • Answer customer questions—please be nice and talk to customers (continued on page 26) www.americancoinop.com

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BE OUR GUEST (continued from page 22) • Other duties as assigned The last resource we provide is feedback through periodic reviews of work performance. Explain when you will be reviewing their work performance. In my stores, we do annual reviews of all employees in January and review new employees after their first 80 days.

3. After providing the resources to make your attendants successful, you need to provide them training—lots of training!

To start, we have each attendant watch the CLA’s attendant training video. It is a good general video and provides a clear base upon which we build. What I like best about it is that it is produced in both English and Spanish. Next, we train the attendant on our specific processes and procedures. We go over step-by-step our procedures for: • Cleaning the store • Maintaining the equipment • Processing wash-and-fold orders • Handling the money

T

Keeping good employees is not always easy, but by giving your staff clear job expectations and goals, providing them with the resources they need to be successful, training them and giving them feedback, and enabling them for success, your employees will come to work with purpose and finish each shift with a feeling of accomplishment.

ACO Brian Brunckhorst (brian@advantage laundry.com) is the owner of six Laundromats in the San Francisco Bay Area, president of the Golden State Coin Laundry Association, a real estate investor, author of Secrets of Buying and Owning Laundromats, and the Coin Laundry Association’s 2013 Member of the Year.

Brunckhorst went from the high-tech testing of computer networking software in Silicon Valley to the low-tech business of owning several Laundromats. He is dedicated to teaching fellow entrepreneurs how to find, evaluate, analyze, and buy a Laundromat (www.buyalaundromat.com) as well as improve its operations.

Calendar Fills Up with Distributors’ Special Events

he transition from summer to fall typically means a calendar full of opportunities to attend distributor special events and open houses is upon vended laundry owners and investors nationwide.

Here is a brief rundown of events through September as reported to American CoinOp. Call, e-mail, or visit the website listed for registration information. In many cases, space is limited.

Sept. 9 — Coin-O-Matic Service School: Speed Queen Horizon Front Load Washer, Alsip, Ill.; 708-540-2076, http://coinomatic. com.

Sept. 9 — Golden State Laundry Systems Open House, Rancho Dominguez, Calif.; 800-465-8300, www.goldenstatelaundry systems.com.

Sept. 9 — Super Laundry/Luca Laundry Open House, Carlstadt, N.J.; 908-862-2200.

Sept. 11 — Detergent Solutions Dexter Service Seminar, Utica, Mich.; 248-4083919, sales@detergentsolutions.com.

26

• Selling items over the counter Another area we focus on is customer service skills. We train the attendants how we expect them to interact with our customers and how to handle challenging situations. The customers need to come first, and treating them with respect goes a long way when a customer is having a problem.

Lastly, we train them on emergency procedures. Safety is job No. 1 and we teach them what to do in the event of robbery, dryer fires, customer injury, utility shut-offs, power outages, and when the need arises to fill out incident report forms.

4. Once your employees are trained, you need to enable them for success. Never forget that your people are your business.

For 90%-plus of the hours you’re open, the fate of your business rests with the lowest-wage earner in your organization.

Empower them by giving them predetermined decision spending limits and support their decisions. Listen to their feedback and incorporate good ideas into your company procedures. Allow them the ability to swap schedules, following your guidelines.

AMERICAN COIN-OP SEPTEMBER 2017

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Sept. 12 — Davis Commercial Laundry Solutions Open House, Atlanta; 404-5802121, admin@daviscls.com.

Sept. 12 — Gerrit’s Appliance Dexter Service Seminar, Grand Rapids, Mich.; 616532-3626, ryan@gerritsappliance.com.

Sept. 12 — Laundrylux Service School Seminar, Level II (technicians only), Inwood, N.Y.; 800-645-2205, https://laundrylux. com/events/service-school/.

Sept. 13 — Garment Machinery Open House & Sales Event, Dedham, Mass.; 781559-4077, www.garmentmachinery.com.

Sept. 15-16 — Gold Coin Laundry Equipment Annual Founder’s Day Sale, Jamaica, N.Y.; 888-411-0944, info@ goldcoinlaundry.com.

Sept. 16 — Golden State Laundry Systems Open House, Hayward, Calif.; 800-4658300, www.goldenstatelaundrysystems.com.

Sept. 19 — Cates Laundry Equipment Open House & Service School, Cordova, Tenn.; 800-489-0023, info@cateslaundry. com.

Sept. 19-20 — Statewide Laundry Equipment Laundry Improvement Expo, Kissimmee, Fla.; 813-877-6434, www. statewidelaundry.com/expo.

Sept. 23 — PWS Inc. Open House, Redwood City, Calif.; 650-871-0300, www.pwslaundrywest.com.

Sept. 27 — Statewide Laundry Equipment Laundry Improvement Expo, Miami (Hialeah), Fla.; 407-425-9274, www.statewidelaundry.com/expo.

Sept. 28 — Hermes Equipment Co. Open House, Bloomington, Ill.; 800-851-9939.

Sept. 30 — ACE Commercial Laundry Equipment Open House, Westminster, Calif.; 714-897-4342.

Sept. 30 — Martin-Ray Laundry Systems Open House, Albuquerque, N.M.; 505-8837277.

Refer to the American Coin-Op Calendar at any time for the latest events information! Distributors may list their upcoming events there at no cost, subject to ACO publisher approval.

www.americancoinop.com

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Partnering Clean Show session examines potential for coin-ops, dry cleaners to join forces

how it treats your order and how successful it is at cleaning your garments.

When he was first in the market for a laundry partner to process wash-dry-fold for his drycleaning operation, Moore ini-

by Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

V

ended laundry owners and dry cleaners are using each other’s expertise to increase their market share, and this summer’s Clean Show in Las Vegas served as the forum for representatives of each to explain what it takes to make such a partnership work.

The joint Coin Laundry Association/ Drycleaning & Laundry Institute education session featured Stephen Moore, owner of PressBox Cleaners in Atlanta, and Chris Balestracci, president of Super Wash Laundry, East Haven, Conn. Moderating was Jeff Gardner, who calls himself “The Laundry Doctor” and is a member of both associations.

Moore, previously a civil engineer by trade, started in the industry five years ago as a drycleaning route operator but now owns and operates a full-service plant.

He farms out wash-dry-fold business to a subcontractor.

Balestracci has been a laundry owner since 1988 and currently owns two stores.

Gardner says Balestracci has always worked with dry cleaners in providing those services through his laundries.

“The top thing, if you’re going to consider going with a dry cleaner or a Laundromat, is the reputation and the relationship that you might have with them,” Balestracci says. “Two of the key things we always looked at is their delivery schedule—can they do a five-days-a-week, consistent delivery schedule?—and also the quality of their product.”

Try quietly dropping off your personal dry cleaning at the establishment you’re weighing as a partner, he suggests, to see 28

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tially considered candidates based only on their proximity to his routes.

“Very foolishly, the only thing I took into consideration initially was location,” he says. “On my routes, I wanted to

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find wash-dry-fold that integrated into our logistics, where our routes were going. I found out very quickly it’s much more complicated than that.

“It’s very, very important to align your-

self with a wash-dry-fold provider that’s going to do the same quality, the same consistency.”

And it might take a while before you find a partnership that’s solid. Moore says he’s

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▲

on his fifth laundry provider, and their current deal is two years old.

“We’ve made mistakes all along the way in figuring out those important factors about who we were working with,” he admits. “Very integral to that was their ability to work as a partnership. We’re not just doing transactions. We have to work closely together, be in each other’s business, so it’s not like we’re just dropping off clothes and picking them up. There are daily conversations about what’s going on and how we’re interacting. It’s almost like we’re one company, even though we’re owned separately.”

Don’t be tempted to sign on the dotted line just because Company A’s wholesale price is the cheapest, says Moore.

“They have to cut corners,” he explains.

“They can’t treat your customers well.

They can’t handle claims properly. Even though the margins may look more attractive, it’s going to cause you more problems in the long run.”

If a Laundromat is going to offer drycleaning service, your check-in system becomes vitally important, Balestracci says.

“The big key is your front line, your employees,” he says. “When a drycleaning customer comes into your Laundromat and drops off stuff, you need to make sure you’ve trained your attendant to look for the material—silk, rayon or linen—to see if there are any holes or rips that will become worse as it goes through the drycleaning process. Is it beaded? Is it an iron-on thing that’s going to come off in the drycleaning process?

“Your front-line attendants really are the ones … to look over the item and say, ‘Should we do this or not?’ You shouldn’t do every single item. That’s going to prevent a lot of problems down the road, if your attendants are sharp and on the ball and caring about the customer’s clothes when they come in.”

Balestracci’s employees follow their drycleaning partner’s lead in unbuttoning shirts, emptying pockets (and saving their contents), removing collar stays, and placing tags so they are readable and don’t

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bring harm to the garment.

Both men say that point-of-sale systems are invaluable when it comes to coordinating laundry or drycleaning services between separate facilities.

“The first Laundromat I worked with, we literally had a ledger that hung on the wall,” says Moore. “When our drivers dropped off orders, they were writing them on there. When we were picking up the bags, they were crossing them out. That was the level of sophistication with that particular Laundromat.

“We realized we needed to be more involved in the process. We found a partner who had the same mindset. We’ve actually implemented our point-of-sale system that we use at our drycleaning facility, it’s now (in use) at the Laundromat. …

Even though someone else is handling the work, we can keep tabs on it.

“It also makes for seamless billing. We know, in real time, how much we owe the Laundromat. And they know it’s accurate, because that’s how we get paid (by the customer).”

Balestracci remembers a time when all receipts were handwritten, nobody could read them, and pricing was often wrong.

“If you pick up anything this week, it’s that technology is here to stay in our business,” he says. “We must embrace technology, because it will help us make more money and be more profitable.”

If you’re going to team with a dry cleaner to offer that service via your Laundromat, invest in a POS system that will enable your staff to track orders for both businesses, he says.

“If you’re writing on receipts, or on ledgers, it’s not going to work well,” Balestracci warns. “You’re going to have problems with your customers. You’re going to have problems with the dry cleaner. You’re not going to have accountability.

If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to make that commitment.

“Having a POS system means that you are professional. (Customers) can get a printed receipt, not a handwritten one. You can accept credit cards or Apple Pay or any number of things.”

Balestracci believes that a Laundromat’s pricing for dry cleaning is unique and dependent on U.S. location and the scope of services.

“I’ve had situations where it’s been 50/50. Right now, we’re about 70/30. I’m making the 30, and some might say that’s 30

AMERICAN COIN-OP SEPTEMBER 2017

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Jeff Gardner (left), “The Laundry Doctor,” questions Stephen Moore (center), PressBox Cleaners, and Chris Balestracci, Super Wash Laundry, about their individual drycleaning/laundry partnering experiences in a first-ever joint Coin Laundry Association/Drycleaning & Laundry Institute education session. (Photo: Bruce Beggs) low. We see it as a convenience to our customers. Yes, it’s a profit center. As I was getting prepared for this talk … I went over my prices and I ran up my drycleaning prices this week because I realized I wasn’t making enough.”

Balestracci charges $2.75 per shirt that his dry cleaner processes for roughly $1.25.

On average, he charges customers $6.95 to dry-clean a pair of pants, jacket or blouse, of which his drycleaning partner gets $5.75.

The more the dry cleaner does in processing and assembling orders for your Laundromat, the more money they’re going to make, he says.

“I’m OK with the 30% (share) because I know there’s going to be very few problems, there’s going to be good accountability, and my customers are getting a very high-quality product.”

Moore believes in a per-piece pricing model for dry cleaning.

“We take care of two independent route operators. They contract to work with us.

We charge them both the same price, one of them retails a lot higher, and that’s OK because he does 100% next-day delivery for his customers. Why should I make more because he’s doing more effort, while the other route operator has a longer turnaround time?

“We know how much it costs us to do the work and how much money we want to make off that work. We charge them a price, and anything they want to charge above that, great.”

Pricing should be an ongoing topic of conversation between laundry/drycleaning partners, Moore says.

“Experienced cleaners know we’re increasing your prices every six months, if not more frequently, just to keep up,” he says. “In any relationship you have, you have to be prepared for increased costs.”

Balestracci says he has no formal contract with his drycleaning partner. “It’s a gentleman’s agreement. I pay within a week the drycleaning bill they give me once a month. It’s been a great relationship in that way.”

“I strongly believe in having everything written down,” Moore says. “We may have a conversation, we may be on the same page, or we may have heard two completely different things.”

As the conversation drew to a close, it circled back to the need for both parties to first develop a relationship and then work together to continually strengthen it.

“The failures I’ve had in the past with different wholesalers was specifically because of that,” says Moore. “We did not intentionally, systematically, carve out time to build the relationship, to spend time outside of work on that.

“That’s become a part of what we do now, with everyone we work with. We want to see them outside of work, because it’s so valuable. It makes the issues, when they do come up, that much easier (to deal with) because you have the relationship, you have common ground.”

ACO www.americancoinop.com

8/14/17 1:37 AM

THE BEST OF THE BEST. The Huebsch® distributor network earned the highest Overall Distributor Quality Score in the vended laundry industry,* with outstanding marks for prompt response and proactive communication. Proof that whenever, wherever and however you need help, Huebsch distributors are there. Metropolitan Laundry Machinery Sales has been recognized as the 2016 Huebsch Distributor of the Year earning them the designation “The Best of the Best.”

13 TIME AWARD WINNER

*According to an August 2014 Leede Research Customer Value Analysis.

Learn what makes Metropolitan a Top-Rated Distributor.

NY, CT & Eastern PA: 718-441-4000 NJ, DE & Philly: 908-687-9400 Peace of mind guaranteed is the pledge of every Metropolitan employee. Serving the Northeast as the local Huebsch distributor for over 20 years, Metropolitan provides only the highest quality customer service and support before, during, and long after the sale.

www.MetropolitanMachinery.com ACO StandardPage.indd 1

7/10/17 3:07 PM

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

CASHLESS SYSTEMS ROWE BILL CHANGERS

R

owe Bill Changers’ payment systems utilize wireless PCI-compliant USA Technologies’ ePort® and MEI® components to provide credit card acceptance for its token dispensing machines.

Operators can honor MasterCard®, Visa®, American Express® and Discover® for one low transaction fee, as well as handle $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills.

These changers also feature remote text and e-mail alerts for help messages, along with an easyto-use internal touch screen for machine operations, Rowe says.

These units can download software updates via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

Accepting credit cards and dispensing tokens is a “perfect fit” for operators wanting to give patrons an incentive to use higher-capacity machines, the company says. Using $1 tokens to start larger washers or dryers provides ease of use for patrons and is “dramatically more profitable” for operators, Rowe claims, as $1 tokens only cost operators 25 cents or less to purchase. www.rowebillchangers.com 800-669-7693

MITECH INTEGRATED SYSTEMS

W

ith the Laundroworks system developed by Mitech Integrated Systems, customers use lowcost contactless smart cards to activate laundry machines instantly and reliably, the company says.

Customers can obtain a new card or reload their existing card at the Value Add Center kiosk.

The latest iteration features a 15-inch, industrial-grade touch screen with clear usage prompts, 3D animations, and multi-language support, Mitech says.

It also features a smart terminal that accepts mag cards, EMV/chip cards, mobile wallet such as ApplePay, and even EBT cash benefit cards. The kiosk also accepts bills using an MEI bill validator.

Laundroworks is a wirelessly networked, cloud-based management system supported by a mobile web app, Mitech says. The owner has access to reports, diagnostics, remote refunding, vend price control, and more. www.laundroworks.com 888-629-8620

GENESYS TECHNOLOGIES

T

he CryptoPay Credit Card System from Genesys Technologies is a secure, cost-effective, and easy-toinstall wireless credit card payment solution, the company says.

CryptoPay Credit Card System encrypts credit card data the moment the card is swiped and has a proven track record of secure transactions in both the Laundromat and car wash markets, Genesys says. To date, CryptoPay has securely processed more than 13 million transactions totaling over $85 million.

The CryptoPay system is designed to deliver low startup costs and the flexibility to equip additional machines

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as one’s budget allows, the company says. CryptoPay transaction consolidation reduces processing fees by consolidating multiple customer credit card charges.

Data is accessed and analyzed using The MyCryptoPay Cloud-Based Site Management Tools, which allow operators to add new sites, remotely configure CryptoPay Swipers, view Laundromat site status, and see recent credit card purchases from their home, office, or mobile device.

The tool can also provide access to additional low-cost services like CryptoPay Site Analytics and CryptoPay GoGreen Receipt Service, Genesys says. www.getcryptopay.com 719-277-7400

www.americancoinop.com

8/14/17 1:41 AM

THE BEST OF THE BEST. The Huebsch® distributor network earned the highest Overall Distributor Quality Score in the vended laundry industry,* with outstanding marks for prompt response and proactive communication. Proof that whenever, wherever and however you need help, Huebsch distributors are there. Gulf States Laundry Machinery Company was recognized as the 2014 Huebsch Distributor of the Year earning them the designation “The Best of the Best.” *According to an August 2014 Leede Research Customer Value Analysis.

Learn what makes Gulf States a Top-Rated Distributor.

Houston: 1-800-289-4756 Atlanta: 1-800-875-4756 Gulf States Laundry Machinery Company, serving the Houston and Atlanta markets, is determined to provide the best service and best commercial laundry equipment at the best price. It’s the Gulf States Laundry Machinery Company way of doing business.

www.GSLaundry.com ACO StandardPage.indd 1

7/10/17 3:06 PM

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

ESD

E

SD offers the “Slim,” a new addition to the company’s line of Value Transfer Machines. The VTM is available for all card platforms manufactured by the company, ESD says.

The unit’s small footprint makes it ideal for both new stores and as an addition to any existing store location, as it requires little wall space. There is no cash acceptance so the unit is front-access, flush-mount, which makes it easy to be located in any area of the store. The new model brings the most forms of cashless add value to a small-profile VTM, according to ESD. The machine provides for the acceptance of

credit, pin-based debit, and EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) cards, the company says. In addition, the unit utilizes NFC technology to enable the acceptance of all mobile wallet payment methods, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. The terminal, which requires a high-speed Internet connection for all processing, is EMV hardware-ready.

Smart-card system store owners can also utilize the unit to generate Internet-based code revalue through a website hosted for the store owner. www.esdcard.com 800-523-1510

THE LAUNDRY PASS

T

he concept of The Laundry Pass system is to “eliminate the need for feeding coins” into laundry machines, the company says.

The cashless system can be installed in less than 24 hours, and is compatible with “a multitude” of major equipment manufacturers and models, it adds.

The Laundry Pass also can be installed on older machines and is easily transferrable to newer models in the event an operator upgrades his/her equipment, according to the company.

There is “no minimum and no obligation” for operators to transition their entire store to the card system, The Laundry Pass adds, as they are free to install the system on select machines, or only in a portion of their Laundromat.

Customers can purchase and refill their Laundry Pass cards through the “Add Value” dashboard, a kiosk that accepts both cash and credit/debit cards.

Among system benefits are the ability to adjust vend pricing by amount or time of day/week, as well as the ability to offer loyalty discount programs to laundry customers.

A “Data Reporting System” feature provides analytics on revenue, customer demographics and malfunctioning equipment, and can be accessed remotely. www.thelaundrypass.com 855-870-5625 34

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SETOMATIC SYSTEMS

S

etomatic Systems recently introduced several new features on its SpyderWash system to help store owners generate more revenue/profits and give endusers a better Laundromat experience: Free Wash – The program enables store owners to set washers to vend a free wash at a chosen parameter. It works with either a loyalty card or a customer’s own credit/ debit card, and the reader will count down every time that card is swiped.

Free Dry – Fully customizable by the laundry owner, who can set it up to work every day or on a random day as a last-minute special.

The owner can decide how many “free dryer” credits each size of machine will give, and this value is associated with a customer’s loyalty card or credit/debit card.

Mobile App – Customers can use it to register their loyalty or credit/debit cards, add value to their loyalty card, see their transaction history, and more.

Accept NFC Technologies – Store owners can accept Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay directly on washers/dryers.

Attendant/Wash-Dry-Fold Management – An owner can assign each attendant his or her own unique card to start machines, while having full accountability for every transaction. Cards can be set to “auto refill” when their balance falls below a certain dollar amount. www.setomaticsystems.com 516-752-8008 www.americancoinop.com

8/14/17 1:41 AM

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ACO StandardPage.indd 1

8/3/17 11:40 AM

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

COIN MECHANISMS

T

he DebitKey system by Coin Mechanisms is a debit/credit cashless payment system designed for use in place of coins and/or tokens. Software is available for most Maytag, Huebsch and Primus washers and dryers, the company says.

The system is based on a plastic key-shaped carrier with an embedded chip card integrated circuit. The unique shape was chosen to eliminate confusion with debit and/ or credit cards. Three levels of coded security have been implemented to ensure that only correctly designated keys can access a location’s equipment. The key can be configured as a stored-value media for use in debit applications, or as an intelligent PIN for use in credit applications in which the customer is billed.

The system also includes a key reader that can be packaged in various faceplates or enclosures.

It may be equipped with a display that can be used to show information such as vend price or remaining key value.

Other attendant terminal devices, which require the presence of an attendant, are also available to check and add value to customers’ keys. www.coinmech.com 800-323-6498

CARD CONCEPTS

C

ard Concepts (CCI) introduces the next-generation F2 Fascard Reader, the first laundry payment device with a color touch-screen interface, the company says.

The NFC-enabled reader supports emerging payment applications such as Apple Pay and Android Pay; supports dual coin drops for store operators who accept both quarter and dollar coins; and is capable of managing two pockets of a stack dryer with a single device.

FasCard customers can now take advantage of new system features that were recently added: • In-App Apple Pay – Customers can use Apple Pay to purchase loyalty credit; • Spanish-Language Prompts – Customers can view card reader instructions in English or Spanish; • Task Scheduling – Owners can schedule tasks for employees to complete during shifts; • Employee Scheduling – Store owners can manage employee work schedules via FasCard, and employees can clock in/out of shifts from any reader in the store; and • Cellular Backup – Store owners can back up their FasCard Internet service for a nominal fee.

The F2 offers a two-year parts warranty. It’s being fieldtested and is expected to be made available to store owners by late fall this year. www.fascard.com 630-930-5115

BCC PAYMENTS

T

he CRBC-VAK (Credit, Bills, Coins and Value-Add Kiosk) is a new addition to The Laundry Boss product line, says BCC Payments. This kiosk will complete the full line of products needed to service the vended laundry business, the company adds.

Built by laundry owners for laundry owners, The Laundry Boss is a cloud-based payment and control system uniquely built for laundry and vending industries. The feature-rich system is convenient and efficient for customers, BCC Payments says, while providing powerful management tools to the store owner.

It will simplify business operations while

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improving efficiency and reducing costs, with no up-front costs to get started, the company adds. The Laundry Boss’s real-time, web-based control and accounting is designed to provide complete accountability and better laundry business management. To accommodate differences in store layouts, The Laundry Boss is available as a stand-alone kiosk or a wallmounted version.

BBC Payments LLC, the parent company of The Laundry Boss systems, provides setup, training and ongoing support to retail Laundromat owners and distributors. www.bccpayments.com 888-823-6782

www.americancoinop.com

8/14/17 1:41 AM

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ACO StandardPage.indd 1

8/2/17 5:17 PM

AN OUTSIDER’S VIEW

THE IMPORTANCE OF TURNS PER DAY

Howard Scott

38

You’ve heard the term “turns,” right? You know it has to do with the number of times your machines are used every day. You probably even know how to roughly figure out your turns, by adding total machine cycles (top loader, front loader or dryer) per week, dividing by the total number of machines in that category, then dividing that result by 7. If you combine the turns for every equipment category and divide by 3, that is the store’s turns per day.

Say your top loaders have churned out 350 cycles a week, and you have 20 top-load washers. You divide 350 by 20, which equals 17.5. You divide that figure by seven days and your daily top-load turns equal 2.5. Finally, you’ve heard that turns per day is an important profit index, but frankly you’re too busy getting the workload out to worry about statistics.

An operator’s typical response might sound something like this: “Look, I want to satisfy my customers, so my first responsibility is to have enough machines available.

If, on a busy Saturday morning, 10 customers come in wanting 30-pound washers, and I only have eight, then someone has to wait or the person has to upgrade to a 50-pound unit if one is available. Another customer might walk out. I don’t want that to happen.”

That’s true, you don’t want a customer to wait. But absence of customers waiting with minimum profitability is no way to run a business. Otherwise, you would have unlimited machines, and never have a customer wait.

We will hammer away at this concept of turns per day until you modify your “no wait” dictum. The key is to have just enough machines to minimize wait times. Another way to say the same thing is to have just enough machines to take care of normal business.

Second, once you achieve that level, your task is to get as much business in the store to keep the machines busy for as many hours a day as possible. One way to achieve this is to take on wash/dry/fold volume that can be done during slow hours.

If you could do your wash/dry/fold work from 5 to 10 p.m., or in the early morning, say, from 5 to 9 a.m., you will achieve a high turn rate. Another option is to run sales, lower selective prices, or give 2-for-1 options that rev up trade, although this strategy compromises

AMERICAN COIN-OP SEPTEMBER 2017

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your margins.

A third idea is to realign machine composition. That might mean taking five machines out and putting them in another store. All these strategies serve to boost your turns per day.

Most importantly, a good turn rate conveys a busy operation. Is your business an active facility, where there are bunches of people there much of the time? Are odd times—evenings, early mornings—being utilized, perhaps because prime time is so busy? When filled, does your store exude a feeling of familiarity, a whiff of conviviality, a pleasure in the comfort in numbers?

Walk into any Trader Joe’s grocery around the country, and there’s always a crowd, always a bustling atmosphere, always people meeting and greeting each other, which makes people want to shop there. This good cheer exists even though shopping is a pedestrian, less-exciting-than-watching-TV kind of activity. And yet everyone feels uplifted when walking into Trader Joe’s and seeing the enthusiastic crowd. It is this commercial good cheer in numbers that a Laundromat generating a high number of turns per day will achieve.

Every customer will realize that this is a safe place, that they will interact with others doing their laundry, and that they might even meet someone they know.

(Image licensed by Ingram Publishing)

www.americancoinop.com

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AN OUTSIDER’S VIEW And quite possibly, for many of these customers, this might be the only time of the week that they experience this kind of community feeling. Let me say that any Laundromat generating 5 turns per day or more will approach this state of grace.

Another aspect of turns is that they show how efficiently your equipment is used. Achieve 3.5 turns and you are doing OK. Achieve 4.5 turns and you are doing well. At an average price of $3.50 for a front loader, 3.5 turns would achieve an annual revenue stream of $4,410 for that machine ($3.50 times 3.5 equals $12.25/day, $12.25/day times 360 equals $4,410).

Clearly, this is sufficient to recover the cost of the machine, perhaps $1,500, in a year. But by getting 4.5 turns at the same price, the revenue stream grows to $5,670 for a front loader ($3.50 times 4.5 equals $15.75/day, $15.75 times 360 equals $5,670). A daily turn rate of 3.5 gives you a shot at profitability. A rate of 5 almost ensures your profitability.

Turns per day shows investment needs. If your rate is low, say 3, then you don’t need as many machines, and your investment should be less. If your rate is high, say 5, then you might need to purchase more equipment or replace your current machines with more efficient ones. At minimum, though, your turns per day can be evaluated over time to show how much investment is needed at

different levels of activity.

A high number of turns per day approximates maximum capacity. Approaching maximum capacity is always your goal.

How many customers can you accommodate before people get in each other’s way, before there is confusion, before equipment starts to break down? By getting close to but never reaching maximum capacity, you get into the maximum profit range.

To look at another industry, a factory can make profit running on one shift. But if the same factory were to run a three-shift operation 24 hours a day, five days a week, it would really maximize its resource use. Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant, runs most of its plants on this basis.

Finally, your turn rate shows how well you manage your flows.

Are you tying everything together so that people and equipment are run at maximum efficiency? Are you maximizing your resources, getting full use without overstraining? Are you in control of every aspect of your operation, so that it works like a Swiss watch?

Pay attention to your turns per day. It’s an important profit factor.

ACO Howard Scott is a longtime business writer and consultant. He can be reached at dancinghill@gmail.com.

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SEPTEMBER 2017

AMERICAN COIN-OP 8/4/17 41 8:44 AM

8/11/17 11:37 AM

NEWSMAKERS

NOVAK JOINS CONTINENTAL GIRBAU AS CUSTOMER CARE ASSOCIATE Continental Girbau Inc. recently welcomed Eric Novak, of Oshkosh, Wis., as customer care associate. In his new role, Novak interfaces with Continental’s customer care department to process and maintain in-house orders and shipping dates; handle warranty administration and claims processing; and assist customers and distributors with product shipping and delivery information.

“Eric comes to Continental with impressive organizational, communication and customer service skills,” says Laurie Kilgore, customer care manager. “We look forward to great things from this young man and his contributions to Continental customer care as the company grows in its ‘Setting the Standard in Customer Service’ initiative.”

Eric Novak Novak, a recent graduate of Fox Valley Technical College, in Appleton, Wis., holds two associate degrees in applied science – one in paralegal and the other in criminal justice/law enforcement. Most recently, he served

as a paralegal intern for the Outagamie County District Attorney’s Office, in Appleton, Wis. Since 2009, Novak has also served as shift manager for a local pizza restaurant.

“Joining Continental meant having an opportunity to become part of a family of talented professionals and overall great people,” says Novak. “I quickly realized that Continental was a place where I would feel at home – a company where I would be given a support system to be successful and build a long-term career. In my role as a customer care associate, I look forward to interacting with customers and peers in the laundry industry, while building positive new relationships.”

FORMER AAXON LAUNDRY SYSTEMS CONTROLLER SPYER OPENS LAUNDRY Equipment distributor Aaxon Laundry Systems, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently had the opportunity to help one of its own open a South Florida Laundromat.

Theo Spyer, who was employed as controller by the company from 1996 to 2006, decided to become a laundry owner and open a store in Oakland Park, Fla., a Fort Lauderdale suburb, after witnessing the successes of so many others.

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“I chose to open a laundry because I saw the great achievements of many laundry owners while at Aaxon,” says Spyer. “I chose to work with Aaxon because of how long they’ve successfully been in business, and the fact I was extremely familiar with their manufacturer, Alliance Laundry Systems, who manufactures Huebsch laundry equipment. I chose to equip my laundry with Huebsch equipment from also seeing the success of so many before me with the brand.”

Spyer says he’s not sure if he’ll open more laundries but he’s definitely not shutting the idea down: “It is certainly something I am considering for the future.”

When asked what he enjoys most about owning a laundry, Spyer pointed to getting to know his customers: “I sincerely enjoy providing a service to this community and speaking with my customer base.”

Spyer worked with former co-worker Arthur Lapon, who has been a consultant at Aaxon for decades.

“Arthur is a long-term laundry industry veteran whose knowledge and professionalism is second to none,” Spyer adds. “I knew he would deliver the same level of concierge service to me as I watched him deliver to so many others before me.”

Systems) happier to see them represent the Primus brand vended line in their market.”

Belenky serves vended and on-premises laundry customers in a variety of industries. The company also offers drycleaning equipment, ironers, and ancillary laundry systems. It has a team of factory-trained service personnel, as well as a fully stocked parts department.

“The Primus line of vended laundry equipment gives our company a differentiated product to offer new investors and

▲

BELENKY INC. IS NEWEST ADDITION TO PRIMUS DISTRIBUTION NETWORK Belenky Inc. is the newest addition to the Primus distribution family, says Mark Schram, North American sales manager for Primus laundry equipment, an Alliance Laundry Systems brand.

“Belenky has a 100-year history of providing excellent service to laundry equipment customers,” Schram says. “We couldn’t be

Here’s the interior of the Oakland Park, Fla., Laundromat opened by former Aaxon Laundry Systems Controller Theo Spyer. He spent 10 years with the distributor and decided to become a laundry owner after witnessing the successes of others. (Photo: Aaxon Laundry

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Ύ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞ ^ĐŚŽŽů ǁŝůů ďĞ ƉƌĞƐĞŶƚĞĚ ďLJ Ă DĂŶƵĨĂĐƚƵƌĞƌ dƌĂŝŶĞĚ ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞ dĞĐŚŶŝĐŝĂŶΎ We will also have presentations by the following guest speakers

Guest Speakers:

Skyline Laundry-Austin

Brian Wallace- President of the Coin Laundry Association Jeff Deal- Hamilton Engineering Joel Jorgensen- Continental Girbau Brian Grell- Eastern Funding

Wednesday October 18th, 2017 3100 N. Main St Taylor, TX, 76574

Times for both locations are:

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Skyline Equipment- Houston Friday October 20th, 2017

16502 Northchase Dr Suite: B Houston, TX 77060

Rsvp to Ashley by Sept. 18th, 2017 @ 281-445-9907 or email ashley@skylineequipmentco.com

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NEWSMAKERS

current store owners,” says Rob Minster, president of Belenky.

“This is a brand with a solid track record of innovation and durability internationally. I think it’s an excellent complement to our current offerings.”

STATEWIDE LAUNDRY EQUIP. HONORS ROGERS FOR LENGTHY SERVICE Distributor Statewide Laundry Equipment, with offices in Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando and Miami, Fla., recently honored Jim Rogers, vice president of the Central Florida offices, for his 32 years of laundry industry service, including the last 18 with Statewide.

Prior to joining the company in 1999, Rogers held executive positions in several Northeast area laundry distribution companies where he designed and built new Laundromats, and discovered and evaluated Jim Rogers new laundry locations and leases.

Rogers oversees the overall operations of Statewide’s Tampa and Orlando branches, including developing laundry sites, and creating new opportunities for new and current investors looking to grow.

When asked what he enjoys most about being part of the Statewide team, Rogers says, “Giving birth to the rise of new Laundromats and new Laundromat owners is something I wholeheartedly enjoy about working here.” He adds, “Being a part of an experienced team, having the management that will support and take the risks, and be willing to teach the art to others is an integral part of the reward for me.”

One highlight has been building a laundry for an owner who lived 3,000 miles away.

“I promised I’d build the customer a store he could successfully manage long-distance using the remote technology of Speed Queen Quantum equipment,” says Rogers. “From the day the laundry opened to fast-forward five years, it has been an absolute success.

The owner walked into his store for the first time after weeks of its opening and witnessed it fully operating with ease. The look on his face was priceless. I live for moments like that.”

Rogers says he is looking forward to new opportunities that may arise from Statewide’s Laundry Improvement Expos coming up Sept. 19-20 in Kissimmee and Sept. 27 in Hialeah (Miami).

ATLAS INTERNATIONAL WELCOMES WECHSLER TO STAFF Atlas International Laundry & Dry Cleaning Equipment Co., a distributor of vended and on-premises laundry equipment in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, welcomes Arthur Wechsler as its new vended laundry equipment sales manager. His duties will be working on expanding sales and Atlas brands in the territory.

Wechsler has been in laundry sales for over 25 years, and has specialized in vended laundries for the past 15. He has been active in developing new vended laundries as well as selling replacement equipment, and is getting involved with wetcleaning systems.

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“I know dry cleaning, having spent 10 years with my father in the business, so I’m excited to be representing cutting-edge wetcleaning systems,” Wechsler says. “I believe these systems will change the way dry cleaners operate … and can add additional revenue for the vended laundry business, too.”

Atlas says Wechsler is a recognized leader Arthur Wechsler in vended laundries, having built over 150 stores for investors and produced informational YouTube videos on the vended laundry business.

“I’m sure our customers have heard of him, worked with him, or are familiar with him and his work over the past 25 years,” says Ulli Mandelbaum, owner of Atlas International. “We are excited to have a person with his outstanding reputation join our sales team, and help us provide that knowledge and experience in our expanding territory.”

Wechsler will be covering his territory from his office in Dallas.

CONTINENTAL TEAM HAMMERS HOMES FOR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Employees of Continental Girbau Inc. recently contributed to a Habitat for Humanity project near the company’s headquarters, in Oshkosh, Wis. Two Continental teams donned hard hats and tool belts in an effort to build an ADA-compliant “twindominum” to accommodate two special needs families, according to Christine Skupus, director of finance administration. “Continental’s Executive Committee has donated financially to Habitat for Humanity for several years, but we wanted to take those contributions a step further,” she says. “As a work family, we feel very blessed and wanted to help others who aren’t as fortunate.” (continued on page 48)

Team members of Continental Girbau Inc. lend a hand to a local Habitat for Humanity project in Oshkosh, Wis. Pictured here is one of three groups to help out at the Habitat site: (from left) Joel Jorgensen, Courtney Krepline, Wesley Kraemer, Karen Washebek, Neal Gadzinski, Sarah Griffin, Seth Willer and Kelly Zabel. (Photos: Continental Girbau Inc.) www.americancoinop.com

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Advertiser

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ACE Commercial Laundry Equipment 42

Laundry Concepts ............................39

American Switch ...............................47

Metro Laundry Tech Corp. ..............47

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Skyline Equipment Co. .....................43

Gulf States Laundry Machinery ........33

Speed Queen ...................................7, 9

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Huebsch ...................................... 28-29

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NEWSMAKERS

(continued from page 44) In doing so, the Executive Committee launched a more aggressive and ongoing philanthropic campaign to give back to the Oshkosh area community and those in need. At press time, a third group of Continental team members was set to help Habitat again.

“One home is being built for a family of five with a teenager with cerebral palsy,” said Skupus. “The other home is being constructed for a single mother with two children under the age of 2.

Her adopted nephew has sickle cell syndrome.”

Habitat works in 1,400 communities across the U.S. and in approximately 70 countries.

Kim Kallas, accounting clerk for Continental, enjoyed working with her co-workers on the project.

“It made me feel good to be part of a company that is involved in the community and helping others,” she says. “It was nice to

Other Continental Girbau employees who have assisted Habitat for Humanity are (back row, from left) Andy Davis, Matt Lehman, Kim Kallas, Laurie Kilgore, Matt Schlimgen, (front row, from left) Renee Lienhard, Julie Zeitlow and Kim Loderbauer.

in Tampa, Florida.

The Washlava-branded Laundromat in Tampa’s Carrollwood neighborhood is now completely coinless and cashless, with the store’s Huebsch laundry equipment being controlled through the Washlava mobile application.

“By eliminating quarters and cash, we can provide customers with a safer, faster, more convenient laundry experience,” says Todd Belveal, serial entrepreneur and Washlava owner, founder and CEO. He says the platform allows Washlava to “remotely manage and monitor its equipment fleet, and engage with and market to customers directly – all features that are impossible to do with a coin- or card-operated location.”

In addition to enabling mobile payments, the technology allows customers to find Washlava locations, see machine availability, reserve washers, and receive push notifications when their laundry is finished.

In operation at the University of Florida since fall 2016, students there prefer the app 12 to 1 over quarters and 7 to 1 over credit cards, Washlava claims.

The Tampa-based team of five is partnering with other Laundromat owners to roll the technology out to other locations and is working with laundry equipment providers to install it in multi-housing environments like college dorms and apartments.

Washlava is preparing for its technology to launch at Laundromats in New York, Austin, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

“Our technology enables a better, more modern and convenient experience for customers, and more efficient, profitable locations for laundry owners,” says Belveal.

Its platform is now available on LG Giants, Huebsch and Speed Queen Quantum commercial laundry equipment, with additional makes and models coming soon, the company says.

ACO

work with others in the company who might not work together on a daily basis. I can’t wait to do it again.”

Already making plans for the holiday season, Continental has launched a companywide campaign for The Salvation Army’s Adopt-A-Family. This holiday program is designed to assist families who are in crisis as a result of unemployment, homelessness, medical issues or other difficult circumstances, and who otherwise wouldn’t have the resources to celebrate the holidays. Families who are adopted are provided with food, clothing and gifts from their sponsors.

WASHLAVA LAUNCHES EXCLUSIVELY APP-ENABLED LAUNDROMAT Washlava, the mobile technology startup modernizing Laundromats through its patent-pending machine-integrated technology platform and corresponding mobile application, reports it has launched the world’s first exclusively app-enabled Laundromat 48

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The Washlava-branded store in Tampa, Fla.’s Carrollwood neighborhood is the world’s first exclusively app-enabled Laundromat, says the team behind the mobile technology startup.

(Photo: Washlava) www.americancoinop.com

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