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July 12, 2012
Survey: Coin Laundry Biz is No Fun During Summer, Many Owners Say

CHICAGO — Changing customer habits during summer influence store hours, attendant scheduling

CHICAGO — Is it fun in the sun or the dog days of summer in your store this time of year? Nearly half of the store owners who took this month’s AmericanCoinOp.com Wire survey say that summer is worse than most seasons (36.8%) or is the worst season (10.5%) in terms of business.

Approximately 16% say that summer business is the same as other seasons, while 26.3% think it’s the best season and 10.5% think it’s better than most seasons.

Fewer than 22% of respondents run specials or promotions specifically during summer. They offer things like cash raffles, gift-card drawings, and fluff-and-fold or dry cleaning specials.

“I do a two-for-one comforter special because they are easy to do,” says one owner, “and it helps a lot of people get a job done that they normally would wait until busy winter months to do.”

More than half of respondents (52.6%) say that customer habits, such as when they do their laundry and how often, tend to change during the summer and this affects their store’s hours, attendant scheduling, etc.

With most children on summer break, that means more opportunities to tag along with Mom or Dad to the Laundromat. But 52.6% of respondents don’t think there are more child-related issues—screaming, running throughout the store, etc.—during summer than other times of the year. Roughly 42% believe there are more child-related issues in the summer, and 5.3% aren’t sure.

What’s the worst thing about running a self-service laundry during the summer? Paying higher utility bills, trying to keep their store comfortable, fielding more customer complaints, and having fewer customers were some of the more common responses to the survey question.

While the Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.

Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each month. All self-service laundry owners and operators are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.

To sign up for the Wire, click the “Subscriptions” button at the top right-hand corner of this page and follow the instructions.

March 28, 2012
StatShot: Sales Up Nationwide for Second Straight Month

CHICAGO — Drop-off service sales also rise in year-to-year comparison

CHICAGO — Self-service laundry sales were up in all four regions for a second straight month in February, according to the most recent AmericanCoinOp.com StatShot unscientific survey.

February sales in the South were up 6.8% (compared to February 2011 sales). Sixty percent of the respondents reported an increase in sales, while 20% reported a decrease. Sales were unchanged for 20% of respondents.

Sales in the Midwest rose 5.6% compared to February 2011 sales. Roughly 64% reported year-to-year sales increases, while 14.3% reported decreases. Sales were unchanged for 21.4% of respondents.

“My customer count is up 15% over last February,” a Midwest operator reported.

In the West, February sales were up 3.6%. Fifty-five percent of respondents reported a bump. “Coin sales very spotty,” reports an operator there. “Have added credit card readers to one-third of the Laundromat, which resulted in better results.”

February sales were up 2.4% in the Northeast, where 57% of respondents reported increases.

Despite the rise in sales overall, many operators offered gloomy comments. Some said their local markets are suffering because of the economy.

  • West — “Not good. Nearby businesses are dropping their rate to 75 cents per top loader!”
  • Midwest — “Maybe fair at best. The national media keeps reporting the economy is in the upswing, but I do not see or believe it.”
  • West — “The economic slowdown did not impact our rural area as quickly as most of the nation but is affecting us now. I had the lowest income in 14 years during November-January.”
  • Northeast — “Too much competition, but I am the best.”

Respondents were also asked about drop-off-service sales for February (compared to February 2011). Every region reported sales were up, but there was quite a bit of difference in two of the regions compared to the others.

In the Midwest, where 71.4% of respondents have offered drop-off service for two years or more, sales were up 7.1%. Twenty-one percent don’t offer drop-off service, and 7.1% didn’t offer drop-off service last year but they do now.

Southern operators saw their drop-off-service sales rise 6% in February from the previous year. Eighty percent of the respondents have offered this extra-profit service for at least two years.

Sales increases were much less in the Northeast (0.5%) and the West (0.4%). Fifty percent of Northeast operators have offered drop-off service for at least two years, while 58.3% of West operators have offered the service during that time.

“Coin laundry flat, but oil drilling clothes for drop-off is great income,” says a Midwest operator.

“We ran a great promo in February that really boosted drop-off,” adds another. “Drop-off is thegrowth segment for our business.”

AmericanCoinOp.com’s StatShot includes information on sales, wages, costs or other financial data based on anonymous survey information provided by industry owners and operators.

Audience members are invited to participate in these unscientific surveys, which are conducted online via a partner website, on a regular basis. Self-service laundry operators are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define industry trends.

August 8, 2011
Distributors Remain Optimistic (Part 1 of 2)

CHICAGO — Upon studying the results of this year’s American Coin-Op distributor survey, there are reasons to be optimistic about the state of the self-service laundry industry.

Nearly half of respondents said business was better in 2010 than it was in 2009. Better yet, nearly two-thirds of respondents predict that 2011 business will be better than 2010.

Every distributor listed in the American Coin-Op Distributors Directory prior to June 1 was invited to participate in the unscientific survey.

2010 BUSINESS

Last year was a bounce-back year for many distributors, based on the survey results. Forty-six percent of respondents said business (sales of newly constructed stores plus replacement business) was better in 2010 than 2009. Approximately 21% said business was worse in 2010 than 2009, and 32.1% said business was comparable in both years.

In the 2010 survey covering 2009 business, only 15.6% said business was better in 2009 than 2008, while 49% said business was worse in ’09 than ’08.

For those experiencing a change in business in 2010, the No. 1 reason, by far, was the economy. But it’s interesting that it was cited either as a positive or a negative, depending on the respondent.

Those who thrived saw investors who were inspired by upticks in the economy, or who chose to look into the coin laundry business after losing their jobs.

Distributors whose business suffered in 2010 lamented over changing demographics, tight lending/lack of financing, and potential investors unwilling to spend. One businessman partly blamed his company’s downturn on the BP oil spill.

REPLACEMENT BUSINESS

Replacement-business figures also showed signs of improvement from our report one year ago. In replacement business only, 39.3% of respondents said business was up last year compared to 2009. That’s compared to 20% who saw their replacement business increase from 2008 to 2009.

Roughly 29% saw replacement business fall in 2010, and 32.1% said their level of replacement business was unchanged from 2009.

The figures in this category have proven to fluctuate over the last several years. In the 2009 survey for 2008 business, 40% of respondents saw replacement business rise, and only 29% saw business dip.

NEW-LAUNDRY CONSTRUCTION

American Coin-Op asked distributors how many new laundries they built and/or to whom they supplied equipment in 2010. Fifty-six percent of respondents built or supplied equipment to three or fewer new laundries. In the 2010 survey for 2009 business, this figure was 62%.

How many new laundries are distributors dealing with in some fashion? Here are the most popular answers from this year’s survey:

  1. 2
  2. 0
  3. 1
  4. 4
  5. 5

Distributors were also asked if their 2010 new-construction total was more, less or the same when compared to 2009. Nearly 41% said new construction was up in 2010 (by comparison, that figure was only 14% in the 2010 survey for 2009 business), 37% percent said new construction was down, and 22.2% said new construction was the same in 2010 and 2009.

EQUIPMENT MIX

How to equip a store is a critical decision for an owner. Generating revenue is vital to an operation’s success, but overcrowding with equipment can be a detriment.

Fifty-four percent of the new stores had at least one top loader, down just a bit from last year’s figure (62%). (It should be noted that a handful of respondents chose to skip the top-loader question when taking our online survey, so the figure may be even a bit lower than 54%. It’s possible some respondents didn’t install any top loaders, and skipped the question as a result.)

More specifically, here are the most popular numbers of top loaders put into new stores in 2010:

  1. 0
  2. 6
  3. 5
  4. 10
  5. 12

Newly constructed laundries in 2010 have 3.8 top loaders. (This figure factors in the stores with no top loaders.)

Here are the most common numbers of front loaders installed in newly constructed laundries last year:

  1. 40
  2. 30
  3. 15
  4. 12
  5. 37

Newly constructed laundries in 2010 have an average of 26.9 front loaders. This is down only slightly compared to last year’s figure (27.3).

The average newly constructed laundry in 2010 has 32.1 dryer pockets. That’s compared to 32.6 dryer pockets in 2009.

Wednesday: Does size matter …

January 12, 2010
Majority of Operators Met Business Goals in 2009, Survey Says

October 20, 2009
What’s Hot, What’s Not

January 20, 2009
Nearly Half of Coin Laundry Owners Give Industry Image a 'C' Grade

October 20, 2008
Owners Say Wall Street Woes Have Hit Coin Laundries or Soon Will

September 16, 2008
Most Operators Seek Industry Education, Survey Shows

September 4, 2007
Survey: Most Operators Pleased with Drop-Off Service

August 16, 2007
More Customers Can Be Drawn, Survey Shows

January 17, 2007
Business Up In 2006, Survey Shows