Five years ago, the Coin Laundry Association launched its Excellence in Laundry Conference. This year marked the third biennial event, and plans are already in place for the 2018 event.
Given that, I want to share a few of my own takeaways from this year’s Excellence in Laundry event – and the impact they’ve had on my business.
First of all, let me summarize two of the speakers’ presentations. Economist Alan Beaulieu noted that this fall’s presidential election will have little effect on the economy, that the U.S. economy will continue to grow into the near future and that we will see inflation return as a result of this growth. He added that most of us will never again see interest rates as low as they are right now.
The following day, demographics expert Paul Taylor backed up many of Beaulieu’s earlier statements by explaining the world’s population cycles and trends, based on the current birth rates.
In a nutshell, the trend is for the world population to continue to spend into the near future, which will cause inflation. Of course, both of these speakers shared numerous details to help attendees design and implement both personal and professional strategies for the future. (A great reason to attend Excellence in Laundry in 2018 and 2020!)
Here is how those key points are guiding my own strategic planning:
1. The economy will support price increases, and inflation will require it to keep pace with costs.
2. Invest today in cost-controlling equipment or practices. They will be more expensive tomorrow, and the cost to acquire them will be higher. As a side note, the event’s third speaker, Tim Greiner, discussed sustainability practices globally and provided examples of the micro-effect on individual businesses. Cutting costs through utility savings has always been a driving factor in this industry. However, looking at your laundry’s total environmental impact offers many other opportunities for savings, as well as for creating customer loyalty.
3. Reduce labor as a function of finished product sold. Labor will be less available and more expensive. I believe this will have a positive effect on self-service laundry consumption, as well as full-service wash-dry-fold businesses.
4. Secure your costs as they relate to location. The CLA white paper, “The Laundry Owner’s Guide to Leases,” contains some very relevant recommendations. Although I currently own my building, I know that renting can place you in a precarious financial position – landlords, who may be on a variable-rate mortgage, might be looking to recover the higher cost of money, as well as to take advantage of the economy.
5. Position yourself to take advantage of double-digit interest rates, because they could be here as soon as 10 years from now.
Excellence in Laundry not only gives store operators the chance to receive great information from outside of the industry, but it also provides laundry owners with the opportunity to discuss this information with colleagues and to reflect upon how it might affect them. Most importantly, the format of the Excellence in Laundry Conference, which is completely different from that of the Clean Show, enables attendees to brainstorm together and to formulate action plans that we can implement to the benefit of all of our businesses.
Of course, speaking of the Clean Show, Clean 2017 will return to Las Vegas with a four-day format, packed with industry education and everything new in the garment care world. Next year’s event is currently in full planning mode. In fact, many participants have already signed up, including several first-time exhibitors, no doubt with exciting new ideas for the vended laundry industry.
I hope to see you there!
