Content about Wire Survey

CHICAGO — Roughly one-quarter of those responding to this month’s American Drycleaner Wire survey say they are planning to attend Clean ’13 in New Orleans, while another 36.8% are unsure at this point.

Approximately 37% of those responding to the unscientific survey say they will not be attending the biennial event slated for June 20-22 at the Morial Convention Center.

Asked about the biggest factor in favor of attending (whether they were personally planning to attend or not), 42.1% of respondents named “Exhibits of equipment and supplies.” Roughly 11% listed “Combining business and pleasure” as the chief factor, while equal shares of 5.3% look to Clean primarily for its “networking and socializing” opportunities or “educational sessions.” For a sizable portion (36.8%), “It’s all of the above.”

The Clean Show has been shortened from four days to three this year, which is OK with 52.6% of respondents. Approximately 16% “don’t care for this change,” and the remaining 31.6% are “indifferent.”

CHICAGO — Asked about their goals for the New Year, nearly 58% of dry cleaners responding to this month’s Wire survey say they’ve made resolutions regarding changes to their business and personal lives. Roughly 32% haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions, and the remaining 10.5% answered, “Not yet.”

Many experienced some degree of success in meeting their 2012 goals, according to the survey results. A vast majority of cleaners polled (68.4%) said they met “some” of their goals last year, and 15.8% said they had met “all of our goals.” Just 5.3% reported they did not meet their goals, while 10.5% didn’t set any goals last year.

What about goals for 2013? Raising prices and/or cutting costs is the No. 1 business priority this year for 31.6% of respondents. Roughly 26% want to attract new customers, and 21.1% wish to explore extra services or new opportunities. Another 15.8% plan to add or update equipment. Just 5.3% consider sprucing up their store to be their top business goal.

CHICAGO — The new fall fashions sometimes signals styles that present processing challenges for dry cleaners. American Drycleaner has identified four new styles that could be troublesome, but half of respondents to this month’s Wire survey say none of them will challenge a skilled cleaner.

Those polled were asked which of the following will present the biggest challenge:

• Patterned (head-to-toe graphic prints)
• Fur (real and faux fur)
• Baroque (lace and sheers; gold brocade and embroidery; accents such as metal sequins and glass prisms)
• Oversized (asymmetrical capes, “statement” coats, “drop-crotch” pants)

After the 50% who don’t fear one fashion style in the bunch, 27.8% believe baroque fashions present the biggest challenge. Approximately 11% pointed to fur, and another 11.1% said they didn’t know. No one who took the unscientific survey believed that patterned or oversized fashions would present the biggest challenge.

CHICAGO — It’s not unusual for a dry cleaner to find items that a customer has left behind in their garments, but the interesting nature of some of these items just might surprise you.

What forgotten or abandoned items do you see most often in your plant? This month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wire survey asked respondents to choose up to three item categories from a group of 11. Atop the list of items that dry cleaners find most often is pens or pencils (76.7%), followed closely by candy, gum or food (60%). Lipstick or lip balm, and paper currency, is also discovered frequently, according to equal shares of 40%.

Other items of note are lighters or matchbooks (23.3%), “other” (23.3%), makeup items besides lipstick (10%) and keys (6.7%). While they do turn up from time to time, wallets or pocketbooks and USB memory sticks are not among the items discovered most often by today’s cleaners, based on survey results.

CHICAGO — Summer is heating up, and the added heat produced by dry cleaning processes can lead to employee fatigue and increased human error. So how do dry cleaners combat the heat? That was the basis for this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wire survey.

Direct or indirect cooling devices are popular tools for making dry cleaning production more tolerable during the dog days of summer. Portable fans are the most popular choice (cleaners could choose any or all of six types, or indicate they don’t use cooling equipment), utilized by 57.1% of respondents. Running a close second, at 47.6%, is swamp coolers.

Other cooling equipment utilized includes spot cooling systems (23.8%), air conditioning (14.3%), portable evaporative coolers (4.8%), and “other” (4.8%). The “other” category included exhaust fans.

Only 4.8% of respondents say they don’t use these cooling devices in their plants.

CHICAGO — Dry cleaners employ a broad range of marketing initiatives to promote their business and services, and three-quarters believe their efforts pay off by generating real dollars, according to the results of this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wiresurvey.

Maintaining a company website is the most common marketing initiative, used by 71.4% of respondents. A close second, at 66.7%, is community outreach.

Other popular efforts include print advertising (57.1%), direct-mail marketing (52.4%), e-mail marketing (42.9%), and social media (33.3%). A smaller percentage (14.3%) uses other outlets, including radio, for marketing.

What is the main goal of your company’s marketing initiatives? If you’re trying to accomplish a multitude of things simultaneously, then you’re not alone.

Roughly 57% of respondents say their main goal is multi-faceted: to encourage customer loyalty, increase brand awareness, build the customer case, and increase short-term sales.

CHICAGO — In light of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) updated assessment that lists perchloroethylene (perc) as a “likely human carcinogen,” 71.6% of respondents to this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wire survey believe the solvent will no longer be a viable option for the average operator within 10 years. Of that group, 37.5% believe perc has another 10 years while 34.1% say it’s only five years.

Approximately 13% give perc another 20 years, while equal shares of 8% peg its time remaining as a viable solvent option as either 15 years or “indefinitely.”

Should the EPA assessment create stricter regulation of perc or lead to a phase-out, it stands to have a major impact on the drycleaning industry. Perc is generally considered the most-used solvent among U.S. dry cleaners.

Among respondents to this month’s survey, 69.9% say they use perc. Other solvents used by respondents include high-flashpoint hydrocarbon (23.7%), GreenEarth (D5 silicon) (6.5%), liquid CO2 (2.2%), Solvair (1.1%), and DrySolv (n-Propyl Bromide) (1.1%).

CHICAGO — Wet cleaning has gone from being a dry cleaning alternative to a plant staple for processing certain garments, and nearly two-thirds of operators polled in this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wire survey say at least 20% of their volume is professionally wet cleaned.

The largest share of respondents—41.4%—processes 40% or more of customers’ garments using wet cleaning techniques (it’s worth noting that at least three operators who took the anonymous survey indicated they run 100% wet cleaning businesses).

Roughly 21% process 10-20% of their volume using wet cleaning. For 17.2% of respondents, wet cleaning accounts for less than 10% of volume processed. Approximately 14% wet clean 30-40%, and the remaining 6.9% wet clean 20-30% of their volume.

Respondents were asked on what kind(s) of items is wet cleaning their first choice of process; they could choose any or all from several types.

CHICAGO — Arrival of new fall fashions signals some styles that could cause headaches for dry cleaners. Of the four new styles analyzed by American Drycleaner, scales (snakeskin) are predicted to be most troublesome, according to the latest Wire survey.

One-half of dry cleaners polled see scales as presenting the biggest challenge, but one-third of respondents believe that none of the new fall styles will challenge a skilled dry cleaner.

Small minorities of 8.3% pick “mix and match” (prints, weaves and textures) and “baroque” (high-necked collars, sheer lace, and frippery) as the most challenging new styles. No one who responded to the monthly survey sees “geometric” (bright prints and patterns) as posing a problem.

CHICAGO — Performing their own plant maintenance is nothing new for the majority of drycleaners who responded to this month’s Wire survey. Half of the drycleaners polled said they perform “most” of their plant’s basic maintenance, while another 28.3% perform “all” of their maintenance.

Thirteen percent perform a “little” of their plant maintenance while the remaining 8.7% perform “none.”

And even though performing maintenance seems to be fairly common among the drycleaners polled, having a formal, written maintenance schedule is not. Only 36.2% have such a schedule; 63.8% perform their maintenance tasks without one.

The type of work they perform ranges from the most basic cleaning and parts replacement to “All, everything, if it needs doing, I do it,” according to one respondent.

“Fixing leaks, bad steam traps, filter changes, lights, analyzing problems via equipment manuals,” summarized one drycleaner. “If I can’t fix it, then I call an expert, but I usually know what needs to be done when I do.”

CHICAGO — Many drycleaners who attended the Clean Show last month favor the event committee’s decision to shorten the next show to three days, according to June’s unscientific Wire survey, but add that the biennial event should always be scheduled over a weekend to make it easier for small-business owners to attend.

Approximately 72% of respondents said they attended Clean ’11. Roughly 71% of them reported being “fully satisfied” (40%) or “somewhat satisfied” (31.4%) with their experience as a whole. Roughly 17% were “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied,” 8.6% were “somewhat dissatisfied,” and 2.9% were “fully dissatisfied.”

These attendees sought information about a variety of products and services. Among the exhibit categories that respondents sought out, drycleaning machines, washers, tensioning equipment and presses were mentioned most often.

CHICAGO — Although economic indicators say that the U.S. economy is growing again, many drycleaners remain unconvinced, according to this month’s Wire survey. Asked whether they think a generalized economic recovery is underway, almost half (47.3%) said “No,” while only 28.6% answered “Yes,” and 24.2% weren’t sure.