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From twist ties to barcode readers, there’s a few things you’ll want to consider before opening your laundry drop-off service.
For this article, we’ll be focusing entirely on what a laundromat needs. For a fluff & fold business outside of a laundromat, you’ll certainly have different needs and challenges.
There is no “one place” to get all the supplies you need. If there were such a business, it still wouldn’t be able to offer the best options as these are often proprietary products. This article will focus on finding the best resources at the best prices.
As a variable cost, your laundry service will use bags, twist ties, hangers, and a variety of other packaging options. Cleaner’s Supply is the industry standard shop for these items. They are also a great place to buy triplicates for the classic “pen & paper” service that were once the norm in laundromats across the country. Don’t buy a weight scale just yet, but we do recommend these products:
Ensuring every bag is professionally labeled is a must, especially when it comes to commercial accounts, many of whom actually require labeled bags to be reimbursed.
We’ve been buying these 4″ x 1″ bag labels with a 4″ core because they work perfectly with our bag label printers. They are cheap and just the right amount of sticky for clear plastic liners. Note that these aren’t for labeling anything other than completed laundry bags in clear liners..
Clear Plastic Bags can be used to take in dropped off laundry, but they are almost always used to return the finished laundry to the customer.
33 gallon bags are perfect for regular laundry (up to 15lb. bundles). The best we’ve found are from Sam’s Club.
50 gallon bags are perfect for most comforters. They also work nicely for lining the hamper or bin for dirty clothes drop-offs. We also get these from Sam’s Club.
Buying a low foam soap in bulk saves you money and is easier on your machines! We call this Peroxygen Low Foam Soap by Arcot Manufacturing our “house blend”. Sure customers can request Tide or Hypoallergenic for which we’re happy to oblige.
Some laundromats charge a little more to use name brand soaps, but this really depends on your market and pricing.
We buy this soap through FabriClean Supply, but this may vary based on your area. Here’s a few others we use:
Heavy Duty Blend – Master Clean by Arcot Manufacturing
Unscented Blend – All Free & Clear (widely available)
Color Saver Sheets – Amazon
Spot Stain Remover – Lift Off Liquid Emulsifier by Royal Custom Products in Dallas, TX. We buy ours from FabriClean Supply.
When the laundry is done, you’ll need a place to put it!
We use a lot of the Seville Classics 5-Level Large Chrome Shelving Units, because they allow for different sizes of bags (comforters are going to be larger than standard clothe bags), they are not too high to reach, and they are movable when they need to be.
There are many different sizes and styles of shelving available, and as you scale up your operations, your going to need all the shelving you can get! This is one of the most coveted commodities in a busy wash-dry-fold operation and it’s not uncommon to see every shelf and every wall covered from floor to ceiling.
While the laundry is being processed, you’ll need a place to put all your containers of soap, fabric cleaners, spot treaters, color catchers, etc.
For this purpose, we recommend a utility cart with wheels.
Our laundromat POS solution offers a Windows touch-screen computer, receipt printer, credit card terminal, bag label printer, and weight scale that seamlessly integrate with our laundromat management software to offer a best-in-class experience for your laundromat attendants and your laundromat customers. It’s the easiest system to use and train in the industry. This hardware must be purchased through Wash-Dry-Fold POS.
A proprietary Wash-Dry-Fold POS System (Hardware Package & Software) will enable the following capabilities:
