Six Numbers Every Laundry Owner Should Have on Them and Their Fridge

Any laundromat owner knows their circumstances can change overnight. 
Floods, Fires, Power Outages, Vandalism, Theft, can happen at anytime.
Every laundromat owner should have the following numbers somewhere in their store, on their fridge, and in their phone:
1. Police
2. Fire Department
3. Utility Company
4. Insurance Company
5. Plumber
6. Electrician

There is also a 7th...
Your distributor 

I hope you never need any of these numbers in an emergency.
We as owners know we'll need them at some time.
That doesn't mean we can't hope!

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Best Email Address Ever!

 

Over the years I've written a couple of lists of the worst email addresses I've encountered in my sales and teaching experience:

https://www.blogger.com/u/0/blog/post/edit/2171749413408731572/8464720420414909431

https://www.blogger.com/u/0/blog/post/edit/2171749413408731572/3438717135470883792

I am now proud to say I have encountered one of the best email addresses!

Here it is:

USETHEDAMNPHONE@...........DOT...

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Laundromat Newsletter July 2021

For years I've had a blog with tips on recruiting and other topics that I've sent to customers and clients. I've now added a section for laundromat owners.

Once a month I send out a short newsletter with links to a few of the articles/tips that I've written.

If you are interested in reading the article just click the link.

You can also search my blog for other topics or just click on the "laundromat" section.

I'm always looking for ideas to write about and I welcome articles you write.

! hope you find this useful.

Thank you!

3 Tips for Hiring Laundromat Workers

Hi and welcome to the July Newsletter for Laundromats!
Since EVERYONE has been having a hard time hiring, I thought I would concentrate on that in the hopes of helping you find some good people.
In my career previous to the laundry industry, I spent 15 years helping companies hire workers through various means.
In my time at WASH, I've had to hire over 105 employees.
Some hires were easy.
Some took a long time.
Below are the links to three of my most successful tips from my blog. Just click on the link to read them.
There are other hiring tips on my blog too, so feel free to search for them.
I hope at least one of these pays off for you!

I appreciate your patience with this email format. It is a new program for me, and I haven't quite mastered this program. Why don't they leave all the buttons that I'm used to where they were 10 years ago on these programs?!

Click on the link to open the articles Tip #1 Ask Current Customers Tip #2 3 Things Needed in Your Job Ad Tip #3: Overpay Your Workers   Until the day we meet over Suds! Ev A Heck of A Nice Guy Button

Fixing MHN33 F Number Errors

If you have Maytag MHN33 front load washers and need to occasionally fix an error to get the washer back in order, here is a quick cheat sheet.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Maytag MHN33 OUT OF ORDER, F29, F22, F28 or other "F numbers"
1. look on the screen 
2. have customer switch washers if beginning to wash or spin out if ending
3. open door (there may or may not be water inside)
4. open access panel on top

5. press down  white button twice (don't hold button down) screen flashes random numbers

6.  hold “Delicates” button on the front panel until entire display reads “P-01”

9. press “extra rinse” button on front panel until “P-03” appears on screen.

10. close door

11. Push start button

12. Door locks washer spins for 10 minute test
13. If no “F codes” appear on the screen washer can be put back into service
14. Replace top access panel

 

Fixing MHN33 Washers: SUDS of Need to Spin Clothes Out

Print this out as a guide for yourself or cleaners if you run into this situation so you can resolve issues for customers right away.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Maytag MHN33 Front Load Washers: What to do in case of:

ZERO MINUTES or SUDS on screen and lots of water or soap in machine or SPIN OUT clothes for customer

1. look on the screen
2. if it says "zero minutes" then machine was unbalanced either by too much clothes or something stuck to the inside of the tub
“Suds” means TOO MUCH SOAP was used
3. no refund because directions weren't followed for proper usage
4. open door
5. redistribute clothes inside washer or spread out amongst multiple washers
6. open access panel on top

 
7. press down  white button twice (don't hold button down) screen flashes random numbers

8.  hold “Delicates” button on the front panel until entire display reads “P-01”

9. press “extra rinse” button on front panel until “P-06” appears on screen.

10. close door

11. Push start button

Door locks washer spins for 5 minutes. Clothes should be spun out. Explain clothes did get washed just too much soap or unbalanced load to spin out
12. spin clothes again if needed
13. look in soap drawer and scrape out all leftover soap
14. Replace top access panel

Gettysburg Address by Andy Griffith and Don Knotts

 

Usually on the 4th of July I post the Gettysburg Address. I'm doing the same this year, however in a different version. You might recognize the two gentlemen reading it.

Happy birthday America!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

More Bad Email Addresses

Believe it or not these are more actual emails from actual job seekers, real businesses, and managers I've encountered!
Please get a professional email address for business or job seeking!
have-professional-email 
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

DarkLordofHades@
CottonCandyNipples@
OwnedBy Rage@
KeithPsycho@
DeathSnyper@
UnstopableHero@
GearsOf War@
MidnightKitty123@
DeadWood21@

Want more examples of bad email addresses?
very-bad-email-addresses

Laundromat Hiring Tip #3: Overpay your workers

 

I heard your objections to this tip as soon as I said it.
Let me explain.
Use McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot as a general guideline.
I know you are thinking “those are all big companies that can offer benefits I can’t.”
These companies will always be able to offer more money than you.
If these companies are offering $15 per hour you will have to offer at least that to get some good workers to notice you. If the money is equal but these companies offer healthcare or other traditional benefits, or even non traditional benefits like free soda while working, the scale tips in their favor and you lose.
Ten years ago the minimum wage was $7.75 and most job seekers were happy to get around $9.
Small business owners eventually had to offer $10 to compete.
As wages crept towards $10, small business owners had to offer $11 or $12 to get workers to come work for them.
If you haven't already, small business owners have put together an incentive where the worker could get $15 per hour in the next two months based on performance. Now as the pay nationally has shot past $15 per hour, be proactive and offer $20 per hour. 

You are probably adding up the increased cost for cleaners and thinking I’m crazy. I counter that by saying that you’ll keep your good workers. As soon as you get some good people you want to keep them as long as you can. They know they will get the pay they deserve somewhere else and have a way to make more just by leaving you to apply to another company, even another laundromat.  

What I'm reminding you of is whether a few extra dollars a day of expense is worth it to you to not have to go through the process of hiring someone new, training them, your time filling in for them, advertising, time spent waiting for the right person to apply and interview, drug testing maybe, uniforms...see how fast the cost of hiring ads up to more than the few extra bucks per hour you are offering? 
To pay someone $20 to clean your store, isn’t it worth the extra few dollars per hour if it means that more customers come to your store because it is clean?

Laundromat Hiring Tip #1: Ask Current Customers

 

You have a neighborhood coin laundromat. You need cleaners, counter workers, clothes washers, but you’re in the same situation as everyone else is, you can’t get people. How do you combat that?

The first thing you need to do is talk to your current customers. Odds are many of them like your store and know many of the things that need to be done there to improve the store (Remember they see things differently than you). They are there maybe once per week whereas you are there every day and things start to seem "normal" or blend in. Items that need improvement stand out to them faster than you. They see the dirt in the corner that you think is okay "because you'll get it next time." They notice the dirt because they saw it last week and the week before and they think it should be cleaned up by know because in their mind "how can anyone not see that dirt?"

They probably know many of the customers. They know the good stories about your store and some of the bad ones too. Take advantage of that intelligence and talk to them about who are the good customers and whom you need to keep an eye on. Is there a time of the day they come in and notice things or people that are not not improving to the store. Make sure you check out those times they tell you. 

Odds are since they like coming to their store they feel a little bit of an ownership stake in your store. They don't want other people to mess up the place they go to. Play to that feeling and thank them for that passion. Make them a fair offer. They will see getting paid for something they would do for free anyway when they are at your store (such as pick up the dryer sheets), as a huge appreciation. Even if they aren't interested in working for you, compensate these customers with free washes and dries, soap, snacks, or anything else you can do to make them feel appreciated. Use their knowledge to help you improve your store.

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Laundromat Hiring Tip #2 = 3 Things Needed in Your Ad to Hire Workers?

 

Everyone in every industry is screaming for help.

Our supply chain in many industries is disrupted because companies can’t get people to fill jobs.
This has led to lots of advertising for companies to use certain online or mass media recruitment services to get their hiring message out to candidates. No matter what you use to recruit, your message must have three things in order to break through the clutter and appeal to job candidates:

1.       You have to say how much you are paying. The old days of thinking “we talk money at the time of offer” has long been gone. Candidates hear messages about $15 per hour minimum wage in the news. They know their industry and what their peers are making, don’t think they don’t because all employees let it slip how much they make at some point to someone. Candidates know where opportunities lie in their industry. Don’t insult them by saying things like “we offer competitive wages.” What they think is a competitive wage is different that what you think it is. In a negotiating situation you often try to not be the first person to throw out a number. In recruitment it is an advantage. You will get those people from a competitor that might be making less than you are offering and will love the raise. You will also turn off people making more money for doing the job you are looking for, however you combat that by reading point number two…

2.       List all of the unusual benefits the person gets. Health, 401K, long term disability, etc. are all great benefits, but they don’t attract the majority of the candidates. Maybe your company is near a pond that has hiking trails or is available for fishing. Maybe you offer auto oil changes by having a mobile service come to your parking lot. Perhaps you have an employee lunch program. There can be many things that you might not think would be what people are looking for, however it could be the straw that tips the balance. IF two jobs are equal but one job offers free lunch, that company will get the employee. If the candidate that is making more than the money you are advertising, but they don’t get the benefits you are talking about, they will at least call you because they figure if they can get salary equal to what they have now AND GET THE EXTRA BENEFITS they think it will be better because they are getting more than what they are getting somewhere else. This leads to point three…

3.       Often times people leave a job because they feel they don’t get recognition from managers and co-workers.  Talk about all the ways your company does that. Is there a quarterly meting where awards are given out. Does the president have an open door policy? What kind of rewards are there for people that offer good ideas? What protections are there for candidates that are whistleblowers or offer controversial ideas? Let candidates know they will be appreciated and they will come to check out your company.

Good luck in your search! Save some good people for the rest of us. On second thought, get all the good people you can right now and make your company strong!

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy