Providing Exceptional Quality Since 1962

Laundry Cost Breakdown

Many laundry managers focus on direct expenses when asked what effects the cost of their laundry operation. Chemicals, purchasing new linen and employee hours are the top three concerns of laundry managers in regards to this.  This can cause a focus on the cost of laundry chemicals thus causing an increased amount of scrutiny.  It is important to have a discussion with laundry managers about the saving that can be had with a well-run laundry chemical program. Labor will be reduced by less reclaim linen being processed and less spot treatment.  Fabric replacement will also be down because of a low rejection rate.  Energy and utilities will be monitored to keep them as low as possible while retaining good results.  Regular in-service training will reduce the amount of supervision needed and also improve results.  As you can see chemical costs are a small fraction of the overall cost of a laundry operation (6%).  It is hard to put a dollar amount on the expertise of your laundry knowledge so it is imperative that you merchandise your commitment and knowledge with your customer.

How To Sell Quality?

When trying to sell a new product into a customer it often comes down to “who is cheaper”. Many sales people do not know how to deal with a customer that is a “price only” buyer.

One easy way to combat the “price only” buyer is to explain “case cost vs use cost”. Case cost is not a good representation of what it actually costs to use a cleaning product. Use cost is the most accurate measure of what it actually costs to use a cleaning product no matter the application. Use cost will determine how much product is being used, the cost per oz, and the frequency that the product is used. For example, let’s look at the cost to charge a 3 compartment sink with pot & pan detergent. We will have product A, which is much more expensive than product B that the customer is currently buying from your competitor.

Product Comparison

As you can see the cost per sink for product A is ½ the cost of the sink with product B based on the quality of the products and the use dilution they suggest. To make it even easier, you can see that product A has a use dilution of 1 oz to 5 gallons of water, while product B has a use dilution of 1 oz to 1 gallon of water. So to make things equal product A would need to be 5 times the cost of product B (or $160.00) for the use cost to be the same.

The next time a customer tries to block you with case cost, try using use cost and help them understand the true cost of using a higher quality product vs the cheap alternative. And if you want to impress them even more, take the “cost per sink” for both products and multiply it be the number of times they fill the sink over the course of a year. They will be amazed at how much money will remain in their pocket.

Washing New Linen

One of the more peculiar issues that come up from time to time is when we get a call from the field asking “why when they have washed a load of new linen that the whole load comes out a light green, or light blue, or light yellow color”?

Due to a majority of the new linen used in today’s hospitality environment originating in India, Pakistan, Egypt, and other foreign countries, we must be aware that they will use harsh chemicals to prevent mold and mildew on the fabric, and pesticides to prevent bugs from infiltrating the fabric during the long shipping process in cargo containers.

That being said, if the new linen is washed for the first time in a standard formula with Break, Suds, Destainer, Sour, and Softener it has a tendency to turn a light shade of green, blue, or yellow.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to wash the new linen in a formula with only a suds type product. The alkalinity, and acidity of the other products reacts with the harsh chemicals to cause the color change, by adding nothing more than suds to the New Linen formula you can remove those harsh chemicals and prevent the discoloration.

Every facility, whether a hotel, motel, or healthcare, should use this type of New Linen formula to prevent the shock of having all of the new linen change color when washing it for the first time.

On a side note, if the facility has washed their new linen and it has changed color all is not lost. By washing the fabric a second time in the appropriate formula based on the fabric type it will remove the discoloration from the fabric.

Covid-19 & Dishmachines

The topic of Covid-19 and how it is dealt with in dish machines has started to come up at several distributor locations.

Currently the CDC, WHO, and EPA all suggest that, just like in the laundry, if you wash the surface and remove the soil you are also removing the virus from the surface. They do not differentiate between high temp and low temp dish machines.

Covid-19 Contaminated Laundry

We are starting to receive calls from both end users and our distributor partners regarding proper laundering procedures for fabric contaminated with Covid-19.

At this time the recommended procedure for washing fabric is to follow normal wash procedures based on soil classification using proper temperatures, wash chemicals, and formula. The thought is that if we are able to remove the soil we will also be removing the virus from the fabric.

The CDC suggests setting your wash temperature at 160 degrees for 25 minutes to kill the virus. Since most laundry accounts cannot achieve wash temps of 140-160 degrees, much less maintain that temperature for 25 minutes, we can rely on the dryer to provide a temperature of 180 degrees for an average of 20-25 minutes.

If the account is looking for an additional level of kill claim we can inject Shurguard Ultimate into a pre-wash operation with warm water at low level for 10 minutes at a concentration of 3.5 ounces per 4.5 gallons (450 ppm concentration). Directions for use in laundry as a presoak are listed on the Shurguard Ultimate tech sheet. (This is not for use in California)

To test the concentration in the laundry you can use either the QT-40 test strip, sku D6009920 or the QC-1000 test strip, sku D014947. The QT-40 is good up to 500 ppm and the QC-1000 is good up to 1000 ppm. Test the ppm concentration at the drain after the pre-wash cycle is complete.

Removing Sunscreen Stains

During summer months and at warm weather resorts we start to encounter yellow spots on the pool/beach towels and in some cases on the sheets and pillowcases.

One of the biggest reasons for the yellow spots is the use of sunscreens containing zinc oxide. The sunscreens containing zinc oxide are very popular due to its ability to prevent sunburn but also because they can help with chapped skin and abrasions. The downside of using sunscreen with zinc oxide is that when the sunscreen gets on a towel or onto bed linen it can cause yellow spots to appear during the laundering process. The good news is that it is fairly easy to prevent the spots from becoming an issue.

The spots can be eliminated by increasing the laundry sour during the final rinse to 1.5x the normal amount, and increasing the final rinse time to 6:00 minutes. This will prevent the zinc oxide from becoming a problem and preventing the yellow spots on the linen.

Quat Sanitizers and Cotton Rags

Quat Sanitizers and Cotton Rags

When sanitizing dining tables in a cafeteria it is common for the staff to use a designated sanitizer bucket with a quat based sanitizer. They will generally use a rag or sponge to wipe the tables and then keep the rag or sponge in the sanitizing solution for future use.

The issue that arises is that if the rag is made of cotton it will absorb the quat based sanitizer into the rag. This minimizes the ability of the solution to sanitize the table tops that is necessary to prevent bacteria from creating a health risk.

To prevent the rag from absorbing the quat based sanitizer we suggest using microfiber rags. Microfiber rags will NOT absorb the quat like cotton. You can also use a ready to use sanitizer to spray the surface prior to wiping. This eliminates the need for the sanitizer bucket and the issues associated with rags absorbing the quat based sanitizers all together.

Please share this with your customers to help prevent the dreaded check mark on the Health Inspectors report.

How many coats of floor finish?

How many coats of finish do I need to lay on my floor?

This is a question we receive periodically from end users that does not really have a black and white answer. In some cases we might ask what the gloss expectation is, in other cases it might be what type of maintenance will be provided on the floor.

The most consistent answer that we can give is the “Rule of 100”. The “Rule of 100” proposes that you take a look at the percentage of solids of the finish and divide 100 by the percentage. So for example if the finish has a 25% solids you divide 100 by 25 and you come up with 4 coats of finish for the floor. If the solids content of the finish is 19-20% you would divide 100 by 20 and it would let you know that you should use 5 coats of finish on the floor.

This practice is designed to allow for cleaning the floor which can remove some of the finish without exposing the bare floor to be damaged or stained.