If a business is considering on-premises laundry or is already doing its own laundry, it shouldn’t assume this option is necessarily the best. Some reasons a business might want to switch to a commercial service for its laundry needs include the convenience of having laundry done by another entity, potential cost savings, the ability to save space and more. Generally, a company that specializes in doing laundry can perform this task effectively.
The Many Reasons to Switch to a Commercial Service Laundry
We’ve written in the past about cleaning dirty work clothes, towels and more. Laundry is an ongoing need of many businesses, and at first, you might assume on-premises laundry, if available, should be their preference. However, there are many reasons to switch to a commercial service. Here are five of them:
1. Convenience
One of the most obvious advantages for a business to use a commercial service laundry rather than doing its own on the premises is convenience. Laundry uses time and resources. A company needs to plan and schedule around laundry.
Using a commercial service greatly simplifies this process for a business. It’s important not to understate the value of convenience. For operations, especially larger ones, the individuals running the company may have hundreds, if not thousands, of items they need to think about in the course of operating the business. Reducing what needs to be considered allows leaders to better focus on other items that may be more important.
2. Potential Cost Savings
Having laundry regularly cleaned and maintained off-site helps save time and resources. This benefit is also fairly scalable.
A larger operation has a greater laundry need. It takes many hours to gather dirty laundry, transport it, clean it, dry it and prepare it for use. The more of those steps a business can cut, the more time and resources that were once devoted to laundry can be devoted elsewhere or simply saved.
Consider that laundry not only consumes workers’ time but also uses detergent, electricity and water. Additionally, machines need to be maintained. This responsibility can quickly get expensive.
Although a commercial laundry service also costs money, a point will come at which the scale of a business makes using a third-party service for laundry cheaper and more effective than doing laundry on the premises. This is the nature of business. A company specializing in laundry can do it more efficiently than a business that doesn’t specialize in this service. There is a point at which not using a laundry service is simply poor business.
3. Effective Utilization of Space
A laundry operation takes space, both for the large machines required to do laundry (especially at any significant, fast scale) and the storage of materials, such as detergent. In a commercial enterprise, space is often at a premium, especially in urban environments where rent can be steeper than it is in less densely populated areas.
Both small and large operations should be conscious of the space required to do laundry but for different reasons. Consider a small operation with a similarly small laundry need. For such an operation, devoting valuable space to something rarely done doesn’t make sense, especially if the task will require a significant up-front investment.
Now, consider a large operation with a large laundry need. For such an operation, doing laundry on the premises may be a more valid consideration. However, such an operation also requires significantly more space to do laundry effectively. It might take multiple large machines to do laundry at the rate required. That floorspace requirement will be quite large.
Many companies simply don’t have the space (setting aside the cost and hassle of installing all the machines). For those that do, that space may be better utilized for something else.
4. Quality Assurance
A reputable laundry service is going to do a significantly better job cleaning and drying laundry compared to a business doing its own laundry on-site. This is not to say a business can’t effectively do its own laundry, but it takes time and effort, and errors are more likely.
For businesses cleaning towels used to dry spills or otherwise cleaning materials for similar maintenance work, poorly done laundry may not be a major concern. However, service companies trying to deliver an excellent customer experience with well-laundered towels and crisp uniforms have a much smaller margin of allowable error.
Depending on the materials being laundered, safety may be a consideration. If things aren’t washed correctly, they may not be hygienic for customers, guests or employees to use.
5. Compliance Simplification
Depending on the nature of a business, fairly strict rules may be in place about how laundry needs to be cleaned, dried and otherwise prepared. This arrangement can further add to the cost, complexity and time required for a company to do its own laundry. A commercial service can simplify the process of keeping a business compliant with applicable rules.
How Alsco Can Help
Changing from on-premises laundry to a commercial service streamlines many of the complexities of laundry that a business has to contend with. At Alsco, we offer linen rental and laundering services aimed at a variety of industries, from fitness to hospitality to healthcare.
Alsco Uniforms is likely to be a good fit for the laundry needs of almost any business. If you’re interested, contact us to learn more.