Laundromat Improvement Through Focus on Attendants

Improved laundry attendant or employee hiring, training and compensation may help grow your laundry businesses

A recent New York Times article on laundromat attendants in New York brought to the forefront the issue of employee hiring and compensation in the retail laundry industry.

The article gave two starkly different examples of laundromat attendants’ perspectives of their working conditions. In a nutshell, worker and owner satisfaction seems to increase with worker engagement, training and compensation.

Focusing on attendants is one of the many ways for laundry owners to improve their business. Not only are attendants the face of the business, they are often responsible for smooth day-to-day operations of attended stores. Unfortunately, attendants are often overlooked by many operators.

3 Proven Ways to Improve Customer Service by Focusing on Attendants

• Train them well. This includes how to greet customers in person and on the phone. Train them on how to solve common issues customers may face at the store.
• Compensate them well. Here’s a question: Your laundromat is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Why pay the attendant the least you are allowed or lower to run it? Consider incentives for performance too!
• Uniforms! It may sound like a no-brainer but having attendee wearing a uniform – apron or shirt – not only provides customers with a point of help, it adds to your laundromat’s brand. Even more importantly it can give the owner and the employee a sense of pride in the business

Brian Grell, Eastern Funding Executive VP, who gives his ZOMBIEMAT presentation across the country, encourages laundromat owner to be proactive about focusing on attendants: “Now is the perfect time to sure up your procedures and policies regarding attendants. ZOMBIEMATS owners tend to ignore the value of their attendants. You can do better!”