Originally posted – Jul 25, 2012
If you’re considering adding some commercial work to your store’s self-service business or if you’re already servicing some commercial accounts, one of the most often-overlooked niches of the commercial segment are walk off floor mats and runners.
Most offices have these types of floor mats, and it’s probably potential business you should consider pursuing. After all, if you don’t supply these items through a rental program of your own, the large commercial laundries will – and, as a coin laundry owner, your goal should be to push those big guys completely out of the picture. And washing your clients walk off mats is a good step in that direction.
Personally, I don’t look to make as much money on this segment as the commercial laundries do – instead, I view it as something I don’t really want to do, but it’s a way of keeping the commercial laundries out and of locking up a particular client’s entire business.
In general, a walk off mat will pay for itself in eight weeks. However, I’m looking for my mats to pay for themselves in about four months.
A walk off mat typically will rent for 25 cent per square foot, and the commercial laundries will switch them out every week. In turn, they will charge the client for walk off mat rental and washing on a weekly basis.
By contrast, at my store we will switch out mats weekly during the winter and at other times when the mats are getting heavily soiled. But, in the summertime or when the mats are only lightly soiled, we will switch them out every month or two. Remember, the client most likely is vacuuming these mats every day anyway, so they’re not getting that dirty.
And by switching them out less often, this gives us the opportunity to price them a lot more competitively for the client, which gives us an advantage over the commercial laundries.
Most walk off mats will last about three to five years. But don’t try to cut corners by purchasing them from some big-box retailer. You need to buy quality mats and runners directly from a manufacturer of these products. The good mats will have a very flexible rubber backing, whereas something you buy at Costco will crack after one washing and you’ll constantly be throwing them away.
As far as I know, there are only a few of these walk off mat suppliers nationally, and they all have great programs. Obviously, the higher volumes will get the better prices, so a typical laundry owner isn’t going to get the prices that the large commercial laundries will get.
There are a number of different varieties. Over the years, I’ve used two thicknesses of mats. The thicker mats will last longer, but the thinner mats are lighter, a bit less expensive and, to be honest, are what most of the commercial laundries offer their clients. Plus, in my experience, the thinner mats tend to last about the same amount of time as the thicker ones.
For my business, I’ve chosen just one color to keep things easy. And I carry only a few specific sizes. There are 3- by 10-foot runners, 4- by 5-foot mats, 4- by 6-foot mats, 3- by 5-foot mats and so on. However, you don’t need to have every size that’s available. Keep it simple by offering three basic sizes. That’s all you should need.
The key is to have at least of couple of every type of mat you carry at your store. For example, let’s say you have 20 of the 3- by 10-foot runners at your clients’ businesses; if you have one or two of those same runners in your inventory at your store, you can continuously rotate those with the ones that are out in the field, depending on your route and your clients’ needs.
In other words, you’re not going to need to buy two of each item for each customer.
The only exception would be customized mats with, for instance, a client’s logo on them. If you were to offer this, you would then need two of each – one in inventory for each one that is down at the client’s location. Before offering this option, keep in mind that it will be more expensive and require more inventory space at your laundromat.
When it comes to actually washing walk off mats and floor runners, the nice thing about them is that they require no detergent or chemicals – just water. You’re basically just rinsing them off. So, they require very little labor.
As for drying, we typically hang dry them on a rack overnight. This way, we’re not expending any drying energy on them, and we’re not breaking down the rubber in a hot dryer, so the mats tend to last longer.
A downside of washing walk off mats is the fact that they can really tear up the bearings in your washing machine, especially if you’re doing a lot of them on a regular basis. Therefore, the more you can reduce the number of times your wash them in your machines, the better for your equipment.
That said, there is a definitely a place for walk off mats in your laundry business. In fact, I know some owners who do strictly walk off mats for their clients. Although I personally have chosen not to this, it’s certainly a good way to build your commercial route and make it more efficient.
For instance, if you’re already stopping at the hair salon client that is located right next to a UPS store – where walk off mats are likely that business’ only laundry need – why not go after that UPS business? You’re right there in the same building. It’s easy money. And that’s just one example.
If you decide to get serious about doing walk off mats, you should consider dedicating one machine in which to wash those mats, and understand that it needs to be a big machine and that you will probably be doing a lot of bearing jobs on it. But, again, that is a cost you can build into your pricing.
For me, about 20 percent of my commercial accounts also include walk off mats. For these clients, during the months where most of the time they can clean the mats themselves with a vacuum, instead of having to pay a commercial laundry $7 a week for the mat, they’re spending only $7 a month on it.
That savings can become rather significant to them. And this not only saves them money, but it simplifies those clients’ lives – because we’ve become their one-stop shop.
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