Originally posted – Apr 04, 2014
When it comes to drop-off laundry, there are different levels of wash-dry-fold service. And it’s up to each individual owner to define what that level of service should be for his or her particular store.
For instance, I recently spoke to a laundry operator in California who prides herself on being able to take out just about any stain and on the quality of the wash-dry-fold product she delivers. However, while charging $2 a pound for her drop-off service, she’s concerned that she’s not making enough money for the work she’s doing.
This brings up one of the key questions all laundry owners who offer wash-dry-fold need to answer early on: How far do you want to want to go when it comes to treating stains?
Every owner should develop criteria for how deep to go into the stain-treating process. You need to consider the amount of time it takes and how much it’s going to cost to actually touch each individual garment. After all, you can easily spend five to 10 minutes on a stain on just one garment.
If you’re charging the typical $1 per pound for wash-dry-fold, you and your staff can’t be touching any one garment for more than about 20 or 30 seconds throughout the entire process, including garment inspection, washing, drying and folding.
Whether or not you want to turn your wash-dry-fold loads into stain-treating projects is a decision you must make. Personally, I’ve always believed that, if the fabrics are color-safe, the best thing to do – rather than treating stains individually – is to have a soaking bucket. Throw the garments into the bucket for 30 minutes and then launder them. In my mind, that’s the cheapest and easiest way to treat most stains.
However, let’s say you really want to treat stains individually and provide that type of personalized service.
First of all, it should go without saying that you need to price your service accordingly, even if it means setting drycleaner-type prices for your wash-dry-fold service. If you’re not making money, it’s just a hobby.
Next, you need to know what the stains are. Hopefully, you can get that information from the customer, rather than trying to figure it out on your own. If the customer can tell you exactly what a stain is and how long it’s been there, that’s great. Those are critical parts of successfully removing stains, especially for a laundry operator who doesn’t have all of the stain-removing tools of a drycleaning plant.
Unfortunately, customers very often don’t know the origin of certain stains – or that there even are stains – on their garments. In such cases, the first thing to look at is the garment care tag to determine the fabric. Is it polyester? Is it a polyester blend? What percentage is cotton? What percentage are fabrics like spandex?
This information is important. With some types of fabrics, you can be pretty abusive with the chemistry in order to attack the stains; however, with other fabrics, you must be more gentle as far as the chemicals.
For example, if a garment is 100 percent cotton and white, you know you can use chlorine bleach. So, knowing what the fabric is and how you can potentially treat it will help immensely.
Also, by determining the type of fabric, you might be able to discover what type of stain you’re dealing with. For example, oils are not going to leave the same type of mark on a polyester garment as they will on a cotton garment. Most likely, the oil on the polyester garment will spread, but it won’t attach to the garment in the same way as with a cotton item.
An oil stain could be yellow, grayish or even light brown in color. And, on a cotton garment, the stain may actually have a ring around it, where the outside edge is stronger than the inside edge. In fact, that ring on a cotton garment is a good indicator that you’re dealing with an oil-based stain, as opposed to some other kind of food stain.
However, the ring won’t always appear as clearly on a polyester garment; the stain will look more even.
Of course, a yellowish stain also might be rust, which you would treat differently than an oil-based stain. On a cotton garment, a rust stain could feature spots of a yellowish tinge or a brownish gold hue. That’s an organic stain, so you’ll want to use an organic solution to treat that stain – something acid-based.
Being able to determine whether a yellow stain is either oil or rust is important, because these stains are rather common.
Other typical stains you’ll come across that are difficult to determine are certain types of food stains, which are red or darker colors. These stains could either be protein- or acid-based stains. Again, both types of stains need to be treated differently.
A dairy or food stain that is protein-based typically is not going to spread as much as an acid-based stain, such as wine or fruit juice. The acid-based stains will move out a little bit more and spread on the garment, where usually the protein-based stains will stay within a tighter area.
With a protein stain, you can use a protein stain remover, such as a 50/50 mixture of ammonia and detergent. By contrast, when treating an acid-based vegetable stain, you might use some vinegar or another type of acid-based stain remover. Always try to treat the stains as specifically as possible.
Other stains that are often difficult to distinguish between are ink and wine (or some other beverages like coffee). You often can identify ink stains by looking for a line within the stain or a defined area where the ink started from – that’s what you’re looking for. It’s a great way to verify an ink stain, versus a vegetable-based food stain, which will look similar.
Once you’ve identified a stain as ink, always use an ink remover. There are several paint/ink/grease stain removers that are OK for the laundry cycle, and they are available through most commercial cleaning suppliers. Ink will come out of garments very easily if you use the right chemical.
Lastly, when treating stains, remember to let the chemicals work, especially on ink and protein stains. Let those chemicals sit on there for 15 to 20 minutes before you launder the garments. With acid-based stains, you’ll likely see a pretty quick release and change; after treating an acid-based stain, you can usually toss the garment into the wash cycle right away.
Of course, this article touches on only some of the factors and techniques for stain removal. For more information, I would suggest reading some of my past columns or perhaps reviewing one of my stain-removal webinars at coinlaundry.org.
Again, it’s up to you, as the self-service laundry owner, to decide how deeply into the world of individual stain removal you care to venture.
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