Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Let`s say I want to start a laundry pick-up/drop-off service for local college students in dorms.  I don`t want to necessarily open/operate an actual laundry facility, I just want to pick-up/drop-off and return to the college student.

I`m sure local dry cleaning/laundry businesses would be interested in teaming up with me to provide the actual laundering service at a discounted rate to me for each load, but there are literally hundreds of them in the yellow pages, so:

Question: What is the best way to approach a dry cleaning/laundry business about a partnership/alliance?  Is there an etiquette to something like this? 

Just call the business and ask to speak to the owner. Ask them if you can bounce an idea off of them. Tell them what you are thinking and how much business you think you can bring them. Talk about what would be in it for them. If you are looking for lower rates I would think they would be receptive since you are not looking for them to provide you some money.  If they do not agree find another  laundry since there are usually a few in most towns. Just make sure you account for all your expenses like auto maintenance and gas since that may tend to get overlooked. Also you may want to contact the Coin Laundry Association in Downers Grove Illinois. they may have additional ideas. You can Google them if you wish.


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Today is your lucky day...I happen to own several niche laundry pick-up services, one being Georgia Laundry: http://www.georgialaundry.com

Your dilemma is an easy one to solve.

As the user above suggested, call or go in and speak with the owner. Look in the phone book under (I`m assuming you`re only offering laundry services and Not Dry Cleaning). Look under:  Laundries and you specifically want to look for the ones that mention Wash & Fold Services. Here`s what you tell them.

First, find out what their rates are for washing your clothes. They`ll give you their retail rate, which in my area is like $1.50 per pound (more in the city). Ask if they offer a `wholesale rate` for commercial accounts. If the owner doesn`t answer they phone, the person will likely tell you no.

But ask to speak to the owner or tell them that you anticipate dropping off 1,500 pounds of clothes per week to start and that`ll usually get their attention and they`ll pass you onto the owner or will give you the owners name and cell number. (the owners are hardly there).

Just to give you an idea, my wholesale rate runs about .45 cents per pound. And the rate is always negotiable. Tell them what you do. And they`re more likely to try and give you the best rate.

Talk to them from the angle that you`re already working with another launderer and that you`re simply trying to find someone "closer" instead of having to go way into `town`. That way, if you really don`t have a thousand pounds, you can tell them you`ll test the services with a partial load and will eventually move your entire operation their over a 3 month time frame. This way, you won`t be expected to show up with 1,500 pounds the first few months.

Make sure you have a web site because the college students today are all internet savy and most likely won`t be calling you on the phone.

Get laundry bags with your company name on it, something like College Laundry, with your web site and phone number screenprinted on the bags. I wouldn`t charge to give them the bags like some people do, after they use your services the first time, they keep the bag (this way they know how to contact you).

You can get your laundry bags from this company name Cleaners Supply at wholesale prices. I think the bags are like $1.50/ea and for an extra $1.50 you can get your company name, web site and phone number screen printed onto the bags.

You can also get the receipts you give your customers customized from the same company too....as well as ID Badges that clip onto the bags too..

Heres the link:
http://cleanerssupply.com/

This biz could be huge..after you lock down the collegiate schools in your area, then you can break into other niches....such as dry cleaning ---offer the same service to Attorneys and u may direct them to a site called: Attorney Laundry.com

Or if you want to go after spas and tanning salons to pick-up their sheets, towels, and linens....route them to SpaLaundry.com or whatever...make the web site and company name specific to your group of prospects...

Unfortunately, CollegeLaundry.com is already taken, as well as CollegiateLaundry.com, but I`m sure you get my idea.

I wrote a manual where by I taught people how to start their own laundry pick-up & delivery service, but I don`t know where I put it, i never got the chance to put it online to sell....but if I come across it, and I`ll look tonight, I`ll email you a copy to keep.

Hope this helps. If you still have questions, let me know. I`m glad to help.

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What a coincidence and thank you for the information!

I like your idea about mentioning the "other" laundry facility and the "test" run.

Another good idea on the spinoffs.

I`ve got four questions for cartess3.  First, how do you handle billing customers?  Do you bill monthly, or what?  Do you have to carry cash to make change?    Second, how do you work out pick-ups and drop offs?  It seems like there would be a critical mass where scheduling with each customer beomes impossible.  Third, when you got started, how did you go about marketing your service?  Handouts on the street, classifieds, putting flyers all over?  What seemed to work the best?  Fourth, how good of a market are college students?  I live in a college town but I don`t know if students have the money to pay for a service like this.  What is your experience?  How fast did your business grow?  Thanks for being such a great resource.

Wow!  I`ve been so busy getting my laundry pick-up/drop-off business started, I haven`t been back here to check responses.

First, "ryanbeck" good questions and I can`t agree with you more about cartess3.  From his one post here I learned so much and definitely got me thinking.

cartess3, here`s an update on my progress and I was hoping you would respond with your comments at your convenience:

UPDATE

FILED DBA: As of Dec 4, 2006, I officially filed my DBA as "Patriot Laundry Valet Services".  Originally, I stated that I would be serving the college market, but I sorta "fudged" that a little.  I`m actually going to serve the military niche.  I used college students to avoid anyone getting confused.  Many people start asking off-the-wall questions when I tell them I`m providing this service to military people on base.  Without too much into detail about this on this post, my laundry pick-up/drop-off service will work exactly like those that serve the college students.  On Camp Pendleton(USMC), there are barracks(a.k.a dorms) in which single Marines live(just like college students in dorms).  Regarding laundry, they have the same needs.  Although I am currently primarily serving the Marines on Camp Pendleton, if this works out well, I could easily replicate this process near other military bases.  Hence the name "Patriot Laundry Valet Services", not "Marine Laundry Valet Services".  This way I can stick to one name and still serve all branches. :)

OPENED BUSINESS  CHECKING ACCOUNT: Since I am an active duty US Marine, I bank with Navy Federal Credit Union.  Fortunately, they recently began providing business services, so I was able to easily open a business checking/savings account.

CREATED BUSINESS LOGO: Because I`m forced to "bootstrap" this project, I went ahead and created my own logo.  I just can`t see myself shelling hundreds of dollars for a log I can create my own.  Personally, I think it came out pretty good.  However, I may need to get someone to recreate it in layers, so that I can change colors easier.  I used Inkscape and Photoshop to create the logo.  To view it, click here.

BUSINESS CARDS:  I created my business cards layout and had them printed at a good deal.  I was able to get 2,500 double sided, full color and UV coated for $65.  Total cost was approx. $85 with shipping.  They arrived within 7 days.  They didn`t turn out exactly how I had hoped, but on my part.  The print quality is excellent.  To view click here(front) and here(back).

LAUNDRY BAGS: Funny you mentioned CleanerSupply.com.  I had also found them after googling around a while.  I really wanted to order the bags with my logo, but unfortunately, they only print 2 colors on bags, so I opted to order that bags with no logo.  My wife has a friend who`s husband does screenprinting, so I may be able to get him to do the screenprinting for me.  If not, no big deal for now since I`m just getting started.  For now, I am ordering 50 bags and they`ll be here Monday.  Hopefully, I`ll have to order 50 more each week!

ORDER FORMS: After speaking with local dry cleaners, most require 2 copies of an order form.  That would mean 2 would go to them, 1 would go to the customer and I would be left with no copy.  Therefore, I was hoping to find forms with 4 copies, but CleanerSupply.com and many others only offer 3 copy forms.  I may have to create my own and have them custom printed. 

THE LAUNDRY: I was able to find a laundry facility that currently charges $1.25lb and will be offering me a discounted rate.  I meet with the owner on Monday(Jan 22).  I`m keeping my fingers crossed for .45 cents(like you), but I don`t expect it.  I`ll be happy with anything under $1.00 since I pan to charge between $2.00lb-$2.50lb for my services.  Remember, I`m in SOCAL, so it`s not a ridiculous amount to ask for.

I considered using a dry cleaner for both laundry and dry cleaning, but they charge way too much for laundry and they aren`t usually enthusiastic about laundry, so I may have to use one business for the laundry and another for dry cleaning.  I already have 2 dry cleaning businesses that will offer me between 40%-50% discount rates, so that`s good.

TRANSPORTATION: For now, I will be using my personal vehicle, a Dodge Durango.  That should be sufficient until I begin generating enough income to constitute a van.

CURRENT ISSUES

WEBSITE: This has been the absolute biggest headache, which I completely expected.  I`m not a programmer and I don`t have loads of cash to drop on a website, so I have attempted to create my own through open source software such as Joomla, OSCommerce, ZenCart and recently WordPress.  I would prefer WordPress since I am familiar with it, but since I want to be able to accept payments online, I thought maybe a shopping card software would work better.  However they`re a nightmare to work with and Joomla is just to bulky for what I need.  To view a few examples of what it originally looked like, click her(1st layout) and here(2nd layout).  At this point, I`ve just about pulled all of my hair out.  I need to find someone willing to create my website at an affordable price and $800+ just isn`t in my budget.  I want visitors to be able to register online, schedule their pick-ups through an online calendar and pay for their service all online.

MERCHANT ACCOUNT: Initially, I planned to open a merchant account, purchase(or lease) a wireless terminal that would allow me to also accept payments in person wherever I am(in handy for my drycleaning customers), but that again is much too costly.  Most terminals are again $800+ or require a 3yr contract and I`m not signing into any contracts. 

I have considered using a manual card swiper and processing payments when I return home.  The good thing is I already have a merchant account from a previous Entrepreneurial project of mine from a while back(one of many), so all I really need now is to have a website that accepts payments, etc.

ROUTE/SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT: I am a bit concerned about this.  There are approx. 22 areas on the base that I can service.  The base is enormous, so I will begin with 3-4 areas and gradually expand as I get my routes down.  I want to find some sort of route/traffic management software that will allow me to create routes and schedules more efficiently.

That`s about it.  I`m interested to hear feedback, comments, recommendations, resources, etc.

PS: cartess3... did you happen to find that manual?

PSS: Unfotrunately, due to this project, I have been neglecting my recently launched blog.  Not good.  Bad me... bad me... sorry.

Website:

Why don`t you try to use a web host service like godaddy.com or one of the other million hosts?  If all you want to do is collect payments on your website, then you do not need to do any SEO or fancy design.  The traffic will happen through passing-out business cards and through current customers.

Merchant Account:

I would be careful how you approach payment collections.  If you bill irresponsible college students, you might get burned.  Also, if you are sending bills to students for them to pay online, then that adds another wrinkle into the equation (including another cost with postage).  I would just recommend managing your billing through Excel.  If you would like help/advice with that, please let me know as I have a lot of experience.  Also, just FYI, if you do billings, you need to be prepared to send people to collections.  I would recommend taking the credit card number of a customerand automatically charging them after each use of your service based on the actual costs incurred.  This should alleviate a lot of headache...kind of like automated bill payment.  Since the provider of your cleaning services will most

Route Schedule/Management:

With only having one base/campus, I find it hard to believe that if you just look at a city map and mark your pick-up/drop-off locations, then it won`t be that hard.  However, I am not familiar with the base, so you may need some type management system.  If so, look into mapquest.  I believe they have a product that you can pay for monthly/annually that could help you out.  It might be a little more than you are willing to spend though. 

Question/Concern (if I may):

Are you prepared to do what could be a rather large reconciliation between your billings and the bill you receive from the provider of the laundry service?  To ensure you are billed correctly by the launderer and that you captured all the charges that you billed to your customers, you will have to go through this process.  Again, I would be more than happy to assist you in organizing this!

 

BTW, website looks good...very professional.  Best of Luck!

 

Hi villarrealsj,

First let me start off by saying OOOOOOORRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Secondly, it`s funny you should mention oscommerce. Vstore.ca (I`m the Liasion Manager for this ecommerce provider offers a platform based off of the oscommerce software.

We have free accounts which would be perfect for you to get the website up and going with little involvement. As your business grows, you can upgrade to premium which makes your website more customizeable.

Also, outstanding job on your logo and business cards. I like seeing someone who likes to take matters into their own hands and gets things done.

By the by, if you are interested in providing a military laundry bag, contact me for wholesale pricing. The olive drab is good to go and with the imprinted logo would be an awesome way to communicate your intentions to your customer. Plus it would fit in with the military theme.

Good to go my friend.

Talk to you soon.

Dan

I like the company name --- I probably would of went with MilitaryLaundry.com, which would be easier to `brand` with the local military base. Plus, it`ll be hard for them to forget the name, even the branch name would probably work - marinelaundry, armylaundry, navylaundry, airforcelaundry.

I like the 2nd website. I wish I could provide more advice but I found the manual and I think it`ll serve you better reading it than hearing from me.

I`ll send it to you provided you make me a copy and send it to me...I just don`t have time to go copy it myself

If that`s feasible, send me a private message with your mailing address.

Cartess

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Great topic and idea, i`ve been watching this topic for sometime as im very intrested in bringing this sort of idea to my area in the u.k! following an idea i am currrently working on... Nice to see you are really going for  this idea i hope it works out...B.t.w cartess is this manual electronic i would be very intrested in taking a look if possible?

Adam

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