National Clothesline

There is an old photograph featuring siblings Kit Price and Casey Smith, who currently serve as third generation owners of Robinson’s Cleaners in Columbia, MO, sitting on top of bags full of dirty cloth diapers — clearly bored and tired from a long, hot day of “helping” their father cover his pickup and delivery route.

Many lawyers consider getting into mediation or arbitration near the end of their careers. A mediator tries to help parties resolve their disputes without a trial, using his or her persuasive powers to convince the litigants to compromise. We joke that a good mediator puts the parties in separate rooms, then tries to convince them both that they are going to lose badly if they don’t settle. A mediator, however, has no power to compel the parties to agree.

For six decades, the newspaper originally dubbed The Clothesline has hung up the drycleaning and laundry news for all industry professionals to see.

October of 1961 was a tumultuous time for textile technicians who were terribly concerned with the rising popularity of wash and wear and self-service coin-op drycleaning machines. However, an optimistic Pennsylvania couple — Sol and Carol Memberg — took a chance and published about 500 issues of a new four-page “Newspaper for Dry Cleaners and Tailors in the Delaware Valley.” It was called The Clothesline and it was assembled on the kitchen table of their home.

Details for FallFest EXPO 2021 were recently announced by the South Easern Fabricare Association (SEFA), Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association (PDCA) and the North East Fabricare Association (NEFA).This year’s virtual event will focus on the theme of “Today’s Plans Build Tomorrow’s Profits.” It will be a three-day exploration of ways to help enhance your business. It is set to take place from Dec. 1 to 3 from 2 to 5 p.m. EST each day.

There are times in this business — in fact, in all businesses — when you present yourselves at opportune times to impress new customers. Sometimes they happen because we initiate them. Other times, they happen by chance. We can put a sign in the window that reads: This week only: Shirts 4 for $10! (or something like that). We can promote any aspect of our business. We can announce our hours of operation or that we are open on Sunday or the upcoming holiday..

The article for this month will be about how to prevent the failure of the water pump. This pump supplies coolant to the still and refrigeration condensers and, in many cases, the solvent cooler of the drycleaning machine. It is present in some form except in machines that are cooled by air or city water. To cool these components, a liquid called “coolant” is forced through the coils of the condensers by a pump. In systems using a water tower the coolant is water; in systems using a chiller it is either water or a mixture of water and anti-freeze called “brine.”

Your business value is determined by its future stream of profitability. But, how do we predict this? Let’s disucss the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Using it, there is one question you can ask customers that is an indicator of their satisfaction and a predictor of your future string of profitability. NPS is a metric for measuring customer loyalty. It can help you understand customers better, build business value and make smart decisions to create competitive advantage. I will explain how it works, why it is important for business owners and the benefits of using it. I apologize for the technical aspect of this information, but it was necessary to include.

If you ask drycleaners, along with almost any other small business, what their biggest challenge is, you will find a common issue: lack of good help. Even pre-pandemic we had been experiencing these issues and the pressures since have exacerbated the situation.

In teaching spotting and stain removal, we put stains in a category and use a prescribed method for their removal. Manufacturers of chemicals also provide spotting charts for their chemical usage based on the category placement of stains. The simplicity of this method makes spotting easier but does not necessarily work on all stains. Some stains are more complex and the methods used to remove the stains must be changed. We are going to list some stains that do not fall under the simplified procedures. The following stains are more complex and require a change in their procedures to obtain removal.

A lot was happening in the world back in October of 1961. Roger Maris hit his record-breaking 61st home run in the season for the Yankees — winning a game and simultaneously beating a major milestone held by Babe Ruth for 34 years. Meanwhile, the Dick Van Dyke show debuted on CBS and West Side Story was released in theaters.