CHICAGO — An even 40% of coin laundry store owners rate the profitability of their drop-off laundry service as “good,” according to results from this month’s American Coin-Op Your Views survey.
Almost a quarter of respondents rate the profitability as “excellent” (24.4%), while 22.2% rate it as “average,” 11.1% as “below average,” and 2.2% as “poor.”
Roughly three-quarters of store owners surveyed (74.5%) provide some type of drop-off laundry service (excluding dry cleaning), while 25.5% do not.
In terms of managing the service, the majority of respondents report a mixed bag of “other” drop-off service headaches (37.8%), ranging from consistencies with the finished product to attendants losing garments to having no “market for this type of service.”
While 22.2% say that “dealing with problem garments” is the biggest headache in providing drop-off laundry service, others say “trusting an attendant with the job” (17.8%), “customer complaints” (11.1%), “allocating the machines for the work” (8.9%), and “getting the work done on time” (2.2%) are the biggest stressors.
A little more than half of respondents (51.1%) say they do “very little” in terms of marketing their drop-off service, while 15.6% say they are a “better marketer than most.” Only a small percentage believe they are the best in the area in marketing their drop-off service (6.7%), while equal shares of 13.3% say they “market as much as the next operator” or “do no marketing at all.”
The majority of store owners (43.2%) charge between 96 cents to $1.05 per pound for the service. A small percentage charge as little as 75 cents or less for the service (6.8%), while roughly 10% charge as much as $1.26 or more. About 20% charge $1.16 to $1.25. Equal shares of 9.1% charge $1.06 to $1.15 or 86 cents to 95 cents. Just 4.5% charge 76 cents to 85 cents.
Looking ahead, 47.8% of those that offer drop-off laundry service say that “profits will stay the same,” while 41.3% predict that “profits will increase.” Only a small percentage say that “profits will decrease” (6.5%), while 4.3% are unsure of what drop-off business will be like in the next year.
While American Coin-Op’s Your Views survey presents a snapshot of the audience’s viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific. Subscribers to American Coin-Op e-mails are invited to participate anonymously in an industry survey each month.
The entire American Coin-Op audience is encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define owner/operator opinions and industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].