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CHICAGO — The specter of ever-rising utility costs should be enough to spur the average laundry owner to track this expense and explore ways to minimize it.

In response to a series of questions from American Coin-Op, Gary Dixon, national sales manager for Huebsch, and Kent Walters, national sales manager for Maytag® Commercial Laundry, discuss the role that tracking energy usage and maximizing its effectiveness plays in a successful self-service laundry, and offered some important tips for corralling costs.

Often, the battle against rising utility costs starts with your equipment.

Q: What is the average life expectancy of today’s washers and dryers?

Dixon: Life expectancy will vary depending on machine usage, installation, preventive maintenance and other factors. However, it is not uncommon for laundry owners to get 12-15 years of life out of their machines.

Walters: The average life expectancy of today’s single- and multi-load washers is seven to 10 years. As a result of fewer moving parts, single- and multi-load dryers typically have a slightly longer life expectancy of 10 to 12 years. If washers or dryers are used more or less frequently, life expectancy fluctuates.

Q: How much impact can following a regular equipment maintenance schedule make in a store’s efficiency?

Walters: Store owners who want to maximize equipment performance must regularly perform proactive and preventive maintenance tasks. In washers, cleaning equipment and surrounding areas, tightening bolts that hold machines in place, and looking for leaks, checking belts, bearings, and seals for standard wear and tear, etc., are important. By performing regularly scheduled maintenance, store owners are less likely to incur a major breakdown, costing them additional money for parts and downtime. When maintaining dryers, it is critical to keep vents clean and make sure the dryers have enough make-up air.

Dixon: By following a recommended maintenance schedule, the laundry owner is ensuring that their equipment is operating at optimum efficiency. This translates to lower utility costs and keeps down time to a minimum. The result is happier customers and more profit.

Q: If a store’s energy efficiency begins to decline, where should the owner first look to make changes?

Dixon: The first place to look is in the washer-extractor control software. Are the water levels set where you wanted them? Is the water temperature different than where it was? Is the software notifying you of potential leaks?

Walters: If energy efficiency begins to decline, the first place a store owner should investigate is the dryers. Specifically, an owner needs to ensure all ventilation is free of lint, which can cut down on the amount of air getting to the dryer, as well as make-up air.

Q: Does water usage impact energy efficiency, and vice versa?

Walters: Yes, water is a big expense for store owners and using newer, low-water-use washers can save a lot of money in both water and sewage savings. High-spin-speed washer-extractors are necessary to maximize cleaning performance by spinning out additional water from laundry so dryers don’t have to work as hard to dry the load.

Dixon: It most certainly does. The amount of water in each bath and the number of baths in a cycle has a direct impact on water and sewer costs. Equipment designs that minimize wasted water below the wash cylinder will also have a favorable impact on water usage. Water-level adjustability is critical for optimizing water settings at a minimum level that is still acceptable to your customers.

Q: How can a store owner “train” their customers and attendants so their laundry’s energy efficiency is optimal?

Dixon: In any business, the culture and message that is communicated comes from the top down. If you are adamant with your employees about maximizing efficiency and provide a mission statement and guidance to them for realizing your goals, you will create the culture. This will, in turn, be communicated to your customers.

Walters: Having a trained attendant who can show the customers the proper way to use the equipment is always the best. Signage is another great way to train customers and attendants on use of machines, proper amount of detergent, operating instructions, etc. Signage should include simple-to-follow instructions located in easy-to-read places.

Q: Besides laundry equipment choice and usage, where are some other opportunities to shore up energy efficiency?

Walters: Store owners should obtain an energy analysis of the store through their local laundry equipment supplier to help determine areas that need improvement. In addition to equipment, owners should consider incorporating energy-efficient options, such as high-efficiency water heaters, T-8s, electronic ballasts, light sensors and task lighting.

Dixon: There are many variables that impact energy efficiency. Some things to consider: alternative sources for energy needs, type of water heaters, choice of lighting and fixtures, window tinting, the thermostat setting, and even landscaping are just a few things to look at.

Q: To whom may a store owner turn for assistance in improving their store’s energy efficiency?

Walters: Whether shopping for new equipment, looking to upgrade existing equipment, or needing some assistance related to a store’s laundry operations, it is important to connect with a reliable, established distributor for guidance. The best laundry distributors are those that have a long history in the business and have received positive reviews for the customer service they provide.

Dixon: The relationship a laundry owner has with their local distributor can pay dividends into the future. The local distributor is well versed in what is available from the equipment manufacturer. They also have an intimate knowledge of the area they serve.

Q: Do you have any other comments to add regarding energy efficiency in the self-service laundry?

Dixon: Over the past several years, many laundry owners have postponed upgrading their equipment to products that are more energy-efficient; this is certainly understandable. However, when the time comes and it makes good business sense to do so, it is important to not just look at the price of the products. It is also important to look at the cost of ownership of the equipment and energy efficiency is a major factor in this cost.

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CHICAGO — Many times we think we have everything figured out, that all is good because we have owned our laundry businesses for a few years and there is some cash flow. Let me tell you, that’s going be the downfall to being able to successfully sustain and maintain a business lifeline.

I am seeing businesses, in many cases, barely getting by month to month, scratching for cash because they either do nothave a business plan or refuse to listen to advice. They will not adapt like a chameleon and rethink their business plan in an ever-changing marketplace.

Do You Want Pennies or Dollars?

That’s the decision you need to make as you are running in circles trying to manage people, customers and your business. If what you are doing is not really making you and your family real money, then why are you not changing, listening to advisers or paying attention to all the red flags around you? Simply because you have had moderate success is not really being successful.

People go into business because they want to live the American dream, right? If you’re not in the financial position you desire, pick up the phone and seek advice from someone who has already been there and done it, someone with a successful track record in the industry who can help you re-think or create your business plan.

Do You Want to Be a Player or Not? 

In my 22 years of industry experience, I’ve learned that the people who are successful business owners are willing to listen, to make changes, and to build a solid team. They are willing to regularlytake meetings with their employees, be on-site to feel the pulse of what’s really happening, and then take the necessary steps to push their business over the top.

I released my first book more than four years ago and it has since gone international. I share this not to try to impress you but to empower you. I was willing to seek out and follow the advice of others who walked before me.

So ask yourself, do you want to be a player or not?

CHICAGO — How do you think your self-service business compared to others in the industry last year? Did you have a good year or a bad year in 2011? How does your pricing compare with others?

American Coin-Op’s annual State of the Industry survey offers you the opportunity to compare your operation to others in the industry. It focuses on 2011/2012 business conditions, pricing, equipment, common problems, turns per day, and utilities cost.

The survey is an unscientific electronic poll of American Coin-Op readers who operate stores.

ADDING EQUIPMENT IN 2011

Approximately 45% of the respondents purchased at least one piece of equipment (washer, dryer, water heater, vender or changer) in 2011. In 2010, that figure was 47%.

Here’s a breakdown of the 2011 purchases:

• 23.6% of respondents purchased at least one top loader. The average purchase was 17.1 machines (it should be noted that this statistic includes a single operator’s reported purchase of 97 machines; when excluding that operator, the average purchase is 9.1 machines).

• 28.9% of respondents purchased at least one front loader (a breakdown by capacity follows below).

• 12.4% purchased at least one dryer (regular or stacked). The average purchase was 11.3 machines (it should be noted that this statistic includes a single operator’s reported purchase of 97 machines; when excluding that operator, the average purchase is 5.1 machines).

And we break it down further by front-load wash capacity:

• 42.9% purchased at least one machine with a capacity up to 25 pounds. The average purchase was 8.9 machines.

• 48.6% bought at least one machine with a capacity of 25-50 pounds. The average purchase was 4.2 machines.

• 37.1% purchased at least one machine with a capacity of more than 50 pounds. The average purchase was 1.8 machines.

(Editor’s note: Some respondents didn’t identify machine sizes, so the front-loader breakdown doesn’t include their purchases. Also, the percentages do not total 100% because some buyers purchased equipment in multiple capacity categories.)

SHOPPING IN 2012

Respondents were asked if they have bought, or plan on buying, any new machinery this year. Approximately 36% intend to add something (washer, dryer, water heater, vender or changer) to their mix, or already have done so. Last year, this figure was 47%.

• 6.6% of respondents have purchased or plan to purchase a new top loader this year. The average purchase is (or will be) 10.4 machines.

• 21.5% have purchased or plan to purchase a new front loader this year. (A breakdown by capacity follows below.)

• 14% plan on buying, or have already bought, a dryer in 2012. The average purchase is (or will be) 7.0 machines.

And we break things down further by front-load wash capacity:

• 34.6% purchased or plan to purchase at least one machine with a capacity up to 25 pounds. The average purchase was 6.0 machines.

• 30.8% bought at least one machine with a capacity of 25-50 pounds. The average purchase was 4.1 machines.

• 23.1% purchased at least one machine with a capacity of more than 50 pounds. The average purchase was 2.5 machines.

(Editor’s note: Some respondents didn’t identify machine sizes, so the front-loader breakdown doesn’t include their purchases. Also, the percentages do not total 100% because some buyers purchased equipment in multiple capacity categories.)

WE’VE GOT TROUBLE…

What problems cause you the most grief? Here are the top-five industry problems, according to the survey respondents:

1. High cost of utilities
2. Dealing with employees
3. A lack of customers
4. Poor economy
5. Equipment maintenance/repair issues

Gone from last year’s list is rent, although it did pop up on a number of surveys.

TURNS

The average turns per day for top loaders are 3.0, up slightly from last year (2.9). The average turns per day for a front loader is 3.8, also up from last year (3.4).

UTILITIES

We asked operators about their utilities cost (as a percentage of gross). The responses ranged from 5.6% to 50%. The most popular response is 25%, followed by 20%.

Operators are paying an average of 24.1% for utilities (as a percentage of gross).

2012 BUSINESS FORECAST

Slightly less than half of the respondents (47.5%) expect their 2012 business to be better than it was in 2011. Approximately 42% expect business to be about the same this year, and 10.8% expect their business to not perform as well this year as it did in 2011.

Click here for Part 1.

Click here for Part 2.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The 2012 Spring Educational Conference of the Multi-housing Laundry Association (MLA) will focus on increasing profits through business cycle changes; interviewing, hiring and evaluating employees; and the political picture of 2012.

Also, the group will bring back its popular route operator roundtable discussion.

The Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) will play host to the event on April 22-24.

Three educational sessions are scheduled in addition to MLA committee meetings, networking opportunities and more.

Educational sessions on the tentative agenda include:

• The Intersection of Politics and Policy, by Ron Brownstein, National Journal Group.

A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Brownstein explains with lucid precision the complexities of American politics. He appears regularly on MSNBC programs, including Hardball, Andrea Mitchell Reports, and Morning Joe, and has served as a regular panelist on Face the Nation.

His sixth and most recent book, The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, was published in 2007.

• Talent Acquisition and Retention, by Deidre Siegel, PEAR™ Core Solutions.

Siegel is founder and CEO of an outsourced, human resources management firm that provides core competencies in behavioral analytics for individuals and in the workplace, talent acquisition strategies, and all levels of human resource support in areas of legal compliance and organizational development pertaining to policies, procedures, process, and people.

Her company has worked with teams in many organizations across a variety of industries. Clients are able to understand their unique business culture in a strategic manner, MLA says, and using this knowledge of specific and unique corporate dynamics, as well as the implementation of proper processes, documentation and communication, remain in growth mode perpetually.

• Increasing Profits through Business Cycle Changes, by Alan Beaulieu, ITR Capital Partners.

Beaulieu co-authored Make Your Move, a book on how to increase profits through business cycle changes. He is president of the Institute for Trend Research, principal and managing partner of ITR Capital Partners, and an active member of ITR’s Investment Committee.

Beaulieu has been consulting with companies throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. His firm’s accuracy rate and unique position—with more than 60 years of calls throughout every major historic economic turning point—as well as his extensive understanding of business cycles and the ability to explain the implications makes his presentation unique, MLA says.

Away from the conference, attendees can take advantage of Fort Lauderdale’s art and museum tours, yacht charters, sports fishing, casinos and racetracks, and more.

The reservation deadline has passed at the host hotel, but rooms may still be available. Call 800-542-8680 for information.

MLA membership entitles each company to two complimentary registrations. Additional registrants or guests may attend at a registration fee set to cover the cost of food, beverages, and speaker expenses.

To learn how to register, call 800-380-3652 or e-mail nshore@mla-online.com.

WASHINGTON — A jury last week convicted a Washington man of armed robbery and carrying a dangerous weapon for two separate robberies of a Northeast Washington coin laundry last summer, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Lawrence White, 41, remains jailed as he awaits his May 31 sentencing. He faces up to 30 years in prison for each of two robbery charges and up to a year for each of two weapons charges.

According to the government’s evidence, just before 6 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2011, White entered a Laundromat in the 1600 block of Benning Road NE. He went into a private office and brandished a knife at an employee, making off with several hundred dollars in cash.

Just eight days later, White returned to the laundry in the early afternoon and robbed the same employee, showing the same knife and taking hundreds of dollars in cash from a cash drawer.

During the second robbery, a surveillance camera captured White running into the office and then exiting the scene. The surveillance video led directly to White’s identification and arrest a few days later.

CHINO VALLEY, Ariz. — It’s been more than two years since Heavenly Graham opened Sudz Yur Dudz. Like many Laundromat owners, Graham opened her store while pursuing another career. Owning the store offered her another revenue stream, while not taking too much time away from her janitorial business.

She approached the investment through careful planning and research. She chose a convenient and well-visited area in the Chino Valley shopping center, with favorable foot traffic.

With the location secured, Graham needed to determine which machinery would be best for her customers and her bottom line. She chose Pellerin Milnor and, through the guidance of local dealer Laundry and Cleaners Equipment Co., elected to equip the store with Milnor’s coin-operated washers and high-efficiency dryers.

In order to get financing, Graham submitted a comprehensive business plan to her bank, laying out strategies to create a positive cash flow. “The community rallied in support of a new Laundromat,” she said. “Our employees are professional, helpful and friendly, creating an excellent reputation, which will contribute to long-term returning customers.”

Using Milnor Capital to finance the equipment helped her to reduce her terms and have more funds for operational expenses.

Sudz Yur Dudz is located across Highway 89 from a senior mobile home park; many of the park’s residents rely on her store for their laundry services.

Four different machine capacities offer them and other Sudz Yur Dudz customers, including individuals and families, flexibility in choosing the right machinery based on their needs.

With approximately 1,500 square feet of retail space, there is plenty of room for customers to wash, dry and fold their laundry comfortably.

With only one other coin store in the area, Sudz Yur Dudz has positioned itself for success in this market. A few months ago, the store began offering commercial laundry services during off-hours to local restaurants, a car wash, a mid-size hotel and the local Humane Society. The program fully utilizes its equipment and maximizes the store’s revenue stream. 

LAUNDRYLUX NAMES CHATEAU WESTERN REGIONAL BUSINESS MANAGER FOR COIN SALES

INWOOD, N.Y. — Robert Chateau is the new Western regional business manager for coin sales for Laundrylux. His territory includes Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Alberta and British Columbia in Canada.

“We have been working with Robert for a number of years and his sales skills, leadership abilities, and product knowledge are outstanding,” says Howard Herman, Laundrylux president.

San Diego-based Chateau brings 12 years of industry experience to Laundrylux. He learned to repair commercial washers and dryers while in the Navy. In 2000, Chateau joined longtime Laundrylux distributor Golden State Laundry Systems as service manager and worked his way up through the sales department. For the past two years, he has worked for Electrolux Professional, traveling to the Electrolux factories in Sweden and France many times for training.

“I saw a great opportunity with Laundrylux and am especially pleased that I will represent the Electrolux and Wascomat brands,” Chateau says.

SEAGA WELCOMES BACK BOWERSOX AS CHANNEL MANAGER

FREEPORT, Ill. — Industry veteran Dave Bowersox has returned to vending machine manufacturer Seaga as its channel manager for the full-line division. He is in charge of serving the company’s full-time customers and prospects.

While based in Seaga’s headquarters in Freeport, he will be working from his home in Minneapolis.

“We welcome Dave back to the Seaga family with open arms,” says Steven Chesney, Seaga CEO. “Dave is the epitome of what a Seaga employee should be: loyal, honest and ready to serve any and all customer needs.”

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Let’s examine a delicate subject: the bathroom for customers in your store(s). You have four choices. You can have no public restroom, and let them use the employee bathroom when they plead. (Of course, some cities require that all establishments serving the citizenry have public bathrooms, so this alternative might not be possible.) You can have a filthy bathroom, which will discourage patrons from ever using your bathroom again. You can have a clean bathroom, which requires regular maintenance and periodic updating. Or you can have an interesting bathroom. Yes, you read correctly: I said “interesting.”

Let’s go over the choices one by one.

None

You will be able to tell stragglers that there’s no bathroom to save on toilet paper, but be real. Do you want your customers, who might spend an hour and a half to two hours on your premises, to have no place to go to the bathroom and wash their hands? Must they be required to ask the attendant to use the employee restroom? Even worse is forcing them to go home to use their own facilities. These options are not professional. Any restaurant that didn’t have a public restroom would soon be out of business. A Laundromat should avail its customers of this service on an up-front basis.

If your laundry is unattended, having a bathroom is a bit more problematic. Vandals might make the facility less than palatable. A compromise is to let customers use the employee bathroom when a staffer is there.

Dirty

You know the one—a filthy frosted-glass window covered with cracks, the stained linoleum floor curled and chipped at the edges, grungy toilet with a cracked top, dirty sink with permanent water stains and grimy shards of soap, rusty overhead pipes, wall surfaces that haven’t been cleaned in decades, and an empty paper towel rack above the overflowing wastebasket.

Many Laundromats have this sort of facility. It’s awful, but it’s a bathroom. To recount a line from The Odd Couple, fastidious Felix says to disheveled Oscar, “I’ve seen gas station toilets cleaner than your bedroom.” He could replace gas stations with Laundromats. The advantage here is that you can offer your customer a toilet without doing much work. You can check off the box, even though your customer might not appreciate the effort.

Clean

Here, we have relatively new fixtures, including the toilet, sink and vanity. The corner table is presentable, with contact paper carefully applied to the top. The place is cleaned every day, and the linoleum floor has been recently wet-mopped. The overhead lighting fixture casts a bright, full light. The vanity mirror is smudge-free. Maybe, there is a soap dispenser to minimize the mess. It’s pleasant, clean and up-to-date.

You are doing your job in providing a clean, presentable bathroom. Of course, you don’t want the privilege to be abused. The bathroom is intended for customers, and a sign on the door reads “For Customer Use Only.” If attended, you might require a key that can be obtained from the staffer.

If someone comes in and asks to use the restroom, you must have developed an approach to separate the customers from non-customers.

Ask if he or she is a customer. “Not today, but I use you occasionally.” Ask how often. Ask the person their name and consult a book entry (or pretend entry). If there is no entry (or you don’t recognize the person), say, “This isn’t a public bathroom, you know. If I let everyone off the street use my bathroom, it wouldn’t be fair to my customers.”

Depending on how the person reacts, decide if he or she can use the bathroom. You’ve established guidelines for usage. Next time, the individual will be less likely to stop in your place. At the same time, you’ve been polite enough to avoid offending a real customer. Have your staffers memorize the formatted approach, and you will not be bothered by excessive use.

Tomorrow: What is an interesting bathroom?

CHICAGO — In 2001, when Boeing was looking to relocate its headquarters from Seattle, Al Lautenslager’s suburban Chicago printing company offered to print free business cards for Boeing’s employees if the aircraft maker would set up shop in the Windy City.

If Boeing chose to move to Chicago, it would need new stationery, brochures, etc., all services for which the huge corporation would presumably turn to a local printer. Lautenslager issued a press release announcing the unorthodox offer.

“We wanted to get Boeing’s attention,” he says. “We wanted to market to Boeing. We wanted to create awareness, we wanted to get our foot in the door, and we wanted to beat our competition.”

A suburban newspaper printed a brief mention, while the Chicago Sun-Times’ much broader yet critical coverage characterized the offer as a bribe.

“I’m going to tell you that any PR is good PR, unless it’s an obituary,” Lautenslager says.

Four months later, Boeing decided to relocate to Chicago. Lautenslager issued a second press release: “Was it the $78 million in state tax incentives or the free business cards that got Boeing to come to Chicago?”

Nine newspapers, two radio stations and one TV station aired stories about it. One newspaper featured it on the front page.

“We generated tens of thousands of dollars of PR, of marketing and awareness, just by using a little bit of time, a little bit of energy, and a whole lot of imagination with that second press release headline.”

Lautenslager is a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach who believes the No. 1 reason that customers leave a business is because the business in question doesn’t pay them enough attention.

Making efforts to reach customers and prospects was at the heart of his message at a Drycleaning & Laundry Institute-sponsored educational session during the last Clean Show.

Everyone a Marketer

So what is guerrilla marketing? Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term in his 1983 book, Guerrilla Marketing, when discussing unconventional marketing methods that rely on effort and imagination rather than spending a large budget. Lautenslager co-wrote Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days with Levinson in the 1980s, and a second edition was published in 2009.

“How do I know they’re proven?” Lautenslager says of the marketing strategy ideas he was about to present. “I proved a lot of them. I was a small-business owner for 15 years. I had to market. I had to create the awareness. I had to get new customers to stay in business.”

Based on Lautenslager’s theory, you’re not just a self-service laundry owner, store manager or store attendant. “You’re all marketers of the business you’re associated with,” he says.

And so it is that he offered a series of suggestions from his book, what he called “a step-by-step blueprint for how to put one foot in front of the other, from a marketing standpoint.”

Monday: The blueprint...

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Tax time is here again. You know the drill. You gather up all your paperwork, ledgers, computer reports, and the like, and drop them off at your accountant. A few weeks later, he calls, telling you to make checks out for so much in federal taxes and so much in state taxes. You’re finished for another year.

How about trying a different approach this year? Become proactive about your taxes; don’t just let the accountant do them. Try to learn from the process. In fact, suggest possible deductions. Your accountant might be a longtime family friend who has stuck by you through thick and thin, but no one cares as much as you do.

Here are a few suggestions for tax time:

File your taxes in a timely fashion. Be honest and above board. Call all inflows revenue and all expenses outflows. To do this accurately means keeping up with paperwork and maintaining the company books in a systematic fashion.

Get the payroll taxes filed, keep up with quarterlies, and turn in your personal tax return by April 15.

Pay estimates in a timely fashion. Estimates are due on April 15, June 15, Sept. 15 and Jan. 15. Estimate your annual tax liability, and pay estimates in four equal sums, both federal and state. If you don’t pay estimates on time to cover your annual profits, you will be assessed a penalty.

But the penalty is only the beginning of your problems. With this tendency to be late, you’ll probably struggle to comply with your obligation. For instance, the end of the year is coming, and you’re in a tough cash-flow squeeze, so you don’t put in the last estimates. This begins a vicious cycle of always trying to catch up. Don’t fall into that bottomless hole.

Include all mileage driven in connection with work. That includes visits to other Laundromats, trips to vendors, explorations of other markets, and even rental car costs in distant places if it is used to parse the Laundromat situation there.

Volunteer miles driven become business miles. For instance, say you conduct a free cleaning for a charity drive. All related activities are fully deductible. Pickups and drop-offs count as business miles instead of volunteer miles, because the activity helps your company’s image.

Professional subscriptions and association dues are legitimate deductions. For example, if you take several fellow association members out to dinner and you discuss your companies, you could take that expense. If you host an association party, all related costs are deductible.

Expense books purchased that help with work. For example, if you buy business or psychology books to understand employees, these are legit expenses.

Count the cost of any experiment to improve or try new processes. This might include cost of chemicals and equipment for testing out new cleaning agents.

Deduct total expenses of conventions and workshops. All charges related to your attendance at an event—flight, hotel, car rental, meals—are included. If your wife attends, her individual expenses cannot be included. But the charges common to both of you, such as lodging, can be.

If you use the Internet for research, take a portion of the monthly fee.

The costs of all education programs and workshops are real expenses.

Any payment made to your young children for working in your laundry is a deduction. Now you can employ your young children and expense their incomes. While it’s a deduction for you, they will probably not pay any taxes because their incomes fall under $3,700, the individual exemption amount.

The cost of gifts given to individuals who helped you with your business is a marketing expense. For instance, if someone gave you a lead, and it results in a new client, any giving to that individual is a valid deduction.

If you buy art and rotate it periodically in the laundry, you are entitled to expense the purchase.

If you have a space where you do administrative work regularly and exclusively at home, you can take a home office deduction. You can deduct a portion of your mortgage interest, property taxes, house insurance, maintenance, repairs, and depreciation. The portion is that square foot percentage that you use for the office plus any space you store material versus the total square footage of your home.

By regular and exclusive, you don’t have to do the work there all the time, but when you do the activity, you do it there, and you don’t do anything else there. In other words, that space is set aside for you to work at home. You might have an office in your store, but that doesn’t negate the possibility of taking a home office expense.

Many “Laundromateurs” stay clear of home offices. They don’t like the sound of the phrase, perhaps harkening back to the days when a home office would send up a red flag. But those days are long gone. With more and more people working from home, the practice has become an accepted part of the business landscape. Additionally, a home office is often a significant expense, particularly if the business owner has a sizeable house and a large mortgage. A home office could easily become a $2,000 or $3,000 deduction.

Use the time with your accountant to learn something. Examine your tax return and come back with questions before filing. Some changes might benefit you.

• Why do we have so much depreciation?
• What do the figures represent?
• What is special depreciation?
• Why did my cost of utilities go from 23% to 26%?
• Is my wash, dry and fold business profitable?
• Am I paying out too much to settle customer complaints?
• Which machines need replacing?
• Were my marketing efforts effective?
• If I made X profits, where is it?
• How could I make more money next year?

Make your accountant a business partner. After all, he or she is involved in many ventures as an accountant, and might be an investor or business owner. He or she could give you good advice, much like a consultant can.

Make the next tax season really count for you.

WASHINGTON — The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule to allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those who operate small and medium-sized businesses.

The new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31.

The decision to extend the rollout period from November followed queries from businesses and trade organizations indicating uncertainty about which businesses fall under the Board’s jurisdiction, and was made in the interest of ensuring broad voluntary compliance. No other changes in the rule, or in the form or content of the notice, will be made, NLRB says.

Most private-sector employers will be required to post the 11-by-17-inch notice, which is available at no cost from the NLRB through its website, either by downloading and printing or ordering a print by mail.