A Look at One of the Most Critical Aspects for Successfully Scaling a Pickup-and-Delivery Service
[This is the third of a three-part feature article on managing a fleet of laundry delivery vehicles. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.]
One of the main elements in the pickup-and-delivery equation is the driver. Always keep in mind that – like an attendant in a laundromat – your driver represents your PUD service.
“They need to have a professional demeanor,” pointed out Matt Simmons of Super Suds Laundromat in Long Beach, Calif. “Look at their work history. Have they been with their previous company for a significant amount of time, or do they hop from one job to another?”
Simmons noted that, due to insurance reasons, Super Suds driver candidates are required to have at least 10 to 15 years of driving experience, with no accidents or tickets within the last three years.
“We drug test and conduct a background check,” he said. “We have the driver get behind the wheel on Day Two, and we find out pretty quickly if they know how to drive a larger vehicle. After all, we don’t want to spend time training them, if they can’t drive well.”
Ross Dodds leans heavily on his insurance provider when it comes to hiring drivers for WashClub LA – forwarding driver candidate information to his insurance agent, who will let him know if a particular hire will end up being a cost to the company, due to past violations, etc.
“We only hire drivers who are 25 or older,” he explained. “And they must pass our insurance check.”
All of 2ULaundry’s drivers are background checked through a third-party company called Checkr, according to Beck Miller.
“We have to add our drivers to our insurance, so the insurance company runs an additional driver history check to confirm they can be added,” Miller said. “From an interview perspective, we want to ensure all drivers are cordial and can put forward good customer service. In many instances, the drives are the face of the brand to our customers, so it’s important to make certain they’ll deliver the level of service our customers expect.”
At Art Jaeger’s operation in Simi Valley, Calif., he focuses strictly on those who have experience driving larger vehicles.
“We don’t want Door Dash drivers,” he said. “Those drivers have a different approach and don’t really fit the profile, because they’re used to working on their own time schedules. They also aren’t necessarily used to all of the stops required in laundry delivery. Plus, our drivers need to carry heavier loads than some Door Dash types of drivers might be used to.”
Once on the road, 2ULaundry employs telematics devices in all of its vans – to report on mileage, service issues, speeding, unsafe driving, etc. “It allows us to keep a pulse on our entire fleet of vans and drivers,” Miller explained.
“We utilize dash cams,” Simmons said. “We also have our phone number all over our vans, and people will call if they notice erratic driving. I’d also recommend GPS tracking. We use software to manage the number of stops made – and our drivers’ schedules are pretty packed, so there isn’t a lot of time for messing around.”
With regard to dash cam technology, WashClub LA specifically installs Samsara AI cams in all its vehicles, which send alerts for hard breaking, distracted driving, and so on.
Despite continued labor shortages in many fields, drivers seems to rather plentiful.
“There are tons of drivers out there,” said Mark Vlaskamp of The Folde in Houston and Austin, Texas. “It’s our job to make the job listing and the work environment compelling. Amazon may pay slightly more, but we can make up for it with better teammates, training protocols, and more upward mobility.”
“We were noticing some difficulty in finding good drivers, so we raised our starting pay,” Simmons said. “This has enabled us to be more competitive with companies like Amazon, and the higher starting salary has attracted higher-quality candidates.”
Simmons suggested others methods of attracting good drivers, beyond just their wages.
“For example, our drivers work 10-hour days four days a week,” he said. “This gives them a three-day weekend. In addition, we advertise in our help wanted ads that our drivers can make money on tips as well.”
At 2ULaundry, the driver position is considered an “evergreen” role.
“Even if we’re currently full, we leave the posting live and are always interviewing candidates,” Miller noted. “Unemployment is low, and everyone is competing with Amazon in some form or fashion, so it’s not uncommon to see higher turnover. We’ve been fortunate to have a relatively long-tenured core group of drivers, but we always have people in the funnel just in case.”
Jaeger pointed out that the addition of tips as a standard component of most payment software these days – as well as the public’s recent overall acceptance of tipping delivery drivers – has helped Laundry Butler For You attract top drivers.
“In some cases, tips can amount to 20 percent to 25 percent of their compensation,” he said. “That’s a real benefit that Amazon doesn’t offer.”
And with Amazon seemingly gobbling up every able-bodied driver in the country, any leg up on the e-commerce giant needs to be exploited.
“Amazon might look like its offering more money on an hourly basis,” Jaeger said. “But I’ve found that, if I can come close to that number, many drivers are OK with that. Add in the tips and the fact that we don’t have the pressure or the dehumanization of the Amazon process. Plus, our drivers are part of a smaller organization they can feel good about.
“So, who am I hiring? In large part, I’m hiring Amazon drivers who don’t like being Amazon drivers anymore.”
‘It’s Not a Public Service’
As inflation continues to impact fuel costs and nearly everything else, it has never been more crucial to keep in mind that your laundry pickup-and-delivery business is providing the community with a premium service – which in turn needs to come with a premium price tag.
“We recently raised our prices and, starting in January, we will add a flat delivery charge for all orders,” Simmons said. “The nice part about pickup and delivery is that there are a lot of levers you can use to increase profits and cover costs – such as price per pound, delivery fees, same-day pickup premiums, and increasing the order minimum.”
Last March, as gas prices were skyrocketing, Jaeger added a $4 gas surcharge for every laundry pickup.
“If you’re doing 1,000 pickups, that’s $4,000 extra, which more than covers any increase in gas,” he said. “You can’t be scared to pass it along. I dropped that surcharge in October, but that coincided with an increase in prices.
“I’m in a for-profit business. It’s not a public service. I’m running a premium service, and I need to hold up my end and provide it. If something goes wrong on my end, I need to stand behind it – but it also means I don’t need to fit everyone in under the same tent.”
Travis Unema of Brio Laundry in Bellingham,Wash., concurred with the need to raise PUD charges to compensate for fuel costs; however, he also suggested consolidating and optimizing delivery routes.
“Adjust delivery days for certain customers to make the routes more streamlined,” he said. “Explain to your customers that it will help keep prices down for them. For example: ‘To avoid a convenience fee, we would like to move your delivery day to Wednesday for route optimization and fuel conservation.’”
Parting Shots…
Here are some final pieces of advice on managing your PUD fleet:
Beck Miller: “Take care of your team and your vans. Wages for hourly work in many markets are in the $15- to $20-per-hour range. At face value, paying double the minimum wage may be tough to swallow, but hiring and training is expensive. Similarly with vans, it may be tempting to put off an expensive service, but issues compound if they aren’t proactively handled. If you cut corners, you’ll end up paying much more in the long run.”
Travis Unema: “Hire drivers you can trust, and give them the tools needed to succeed – a company phone, business cards, uniforms, rain gear, and PPE for dealing with potentially hazardous laundry loads.”
Mark Vlaskamp: “Van wraps are a marketing expense. Do it right, and don’t be cheap with them.”
Art Jaeger: “Owning vans and having drivers is a super headache, expense and hassle. There’s no question about it. There is no one single piece of advice. You should be really serious about all aspects of how you manage your delivery fleet, because it is very time consuming.”
Ross Dodds: “Don’t get into pickup and delivery thinking you’re simply going to start using that equipment that sits idle 70 percent of the time up to 12 turns a day so that it now pays for itself. Pickup and delivery is a business in and of itself. It’s not just some add-on to your laundromat. It requires time and a lot resources.”
Matt Simmons: “Everything runs a lot smoother when you’re proactive. You need to create a system for accountability. Without a maintenance schedule, your drivers will run your vehicles into the ground – so, you can regularly change the fluids on your vehicles, or you can deal with a fully loaded van needing a tow on the side of a busy freeway!”
