Outsourcing Your Laundry and Ironing

Every week when I tweet or post on Facebook, as well as having a great time engaging with folk all over the world, I have a serious business intention too – I hope to persuade anyone that may be interested that to hand over your laundry and/or ironing services to us here in Iron Maid Towers make perfect sense.

According to the font of knowledge that is Wikipedia (by the way, what did we do before Google and Wiki when we needed to know anything?), the process is known as outsourcing.  “Outsourcing is the contracting out of an internal business process to a third-party organization.  Two organizations may enter into a contractual agreement involving an exchange of services and payments.  Outsourcing is said to help firms to perform well in their core competencies and mitigate shortage of skill or expertise in the areas where they want to outsource”.  The term became popular in the United States around the year 2000.

This all sounds great on a very large scale and something only done by big businesses but there are definite advantages for small businesses too.  And when it comes to the domestic market, services have been outsourced for years from the garage servicing your car to the cleaner coming in once a week to make your home spick and span for the weekend.

With that said, what are the benefits of outsourcing for businesses, especially with Iron Maid clients in mind?

Commercial concerns such as hotels, restaurants and health spas tend to outsource their laundry as it is both more cost effective and more efficient

Processing laundry in the quantities generated by such businesses is very labour intensive. Unless an on-site laundry is equipped to handle larger volumes, it is difficult to be cost effective. The costs of energy, staff and equipment is constantly rising and it is difficult for businesses to employ the economies of scale that a commercial laundry service is able to provide.  Outsourcing converts fixed costs into variable costs and releases capital for investment elsewhere in your business.  This also makes your business a more attractive proposition to potential investors, as you can focus on spending your money on generating more revenue.

Also, if you outsource your laundry, you do not have to employ dedicated staff, or re-deploy existing staff, to carry out the task; thus your staff wages, NI costs and overall employment liabilities are much lower.  Focus your staff on where you need them most. The same can be said of your management team too  - let them focus on work that serves your customers. 

There is also space to consider – doing your laundry in house could take up valuable space within your business.  Would it not best be served as extra kitchen space, an additional dining area or even more space for your customers to enjoy your services?

An outsource service is also more flexible.  Unless a business employs full time staff for its laundry concerns, there is likely to be a “time lag” between the laundry being created and it being laundered and pressed and ready for use again.  Feedback from our clients tells us that we do things far more quickly than they ever could – we can even offer a 24 hour turnaround service if a client wishes.  Our greater resources dedicated to the task means that we can be far more flexible, with short turnaround times and early or late collection/delivery times available.

Imagine a member of your staff tears an expensive linen table cloth or scorches one of your Egyptian cotton sheets.  It’s ruined and there’s a cost to bear as you have to replace the item.  Not so if you outsource.  Your outsource company will have liability insurance in place that should mean they are able to offer a guarantee and a full refund and/or replace policy. 

There is also evidence that outsourcing laundry services improves usage rate and prolongs life of items.  In other words your sheets, towels and bathrobes will last longer if you let the “experts” look after them.

Quite simply, outsourcing your laundry is all about better resource management and making your business work more effectively for you and your customers.  You can concentrate on what you do best and so can we.  We’re blinkin’ good at this laundry and ironing lark and what’s more, we love to help out!

It’s like the old Trevor and Simon sketches; you and your team “don’t do duvets”.  But we do!

Give us a call to day to see how using Iron Maids can help your business thrive.