Cleaners from the 1976-1980 era
- Thread starter Rex Tyus
- Start date
Brian R
Member
Chem-Dry was on the rise and we had to convince everyone that it was better than steam.
Every fricken job "where does the dirt go? What is that thing?"
I can't sleep at night sometimes.
Every fricken job "where does the dirt go? What is that thing?"
I can't sleep at night sometimes.
Steve in Omaha
Member
Was in debt up to my eyeballs, lease, taxes,big YP ad, you name it. Measured my payables with a ruler in inches on my desk. Had my phone service cut for a day at one point. Was able to hunker down that winter and survived...barely. Earned my "masters" in finance the hard way and very very slowly dug out. Did not forget that lesson.
Jim Pemberton
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- Jim Pemberton
Its difficult to compare the eras, as our industry was so much younger then. We had little contact with the carpet industry, and the contact that we did get from them was bathed in contempt for independant cleaners. As much as I dislike the SOA program, at least they now acknowledge us.
If the point is to the economy and the future of cleaning businesses, we had far less cleaners then, but we did have many failures of businesses. Just as today, those that did not have enough business savvy and a large enough customer base failed. Unlike today, they were rapidly replaced by blue collar workers who were laid off from the steel industry (at least here in the "rust belt".)
Many of the cleaners of the 70's came from the dry cleaning industry, which was suffering because of the popularity of polyester "dress clothes" (aka "leisure suits") and the beginnings of restrictions on solvent use and handling. Those guys had enough of a business base and business know how to survive the bad times.
The times we are in now feel very much like this time we are in right now.
To survive you'll need:
A good customer base. If you have enough clients, you can survive a 30% drop (as an example). If you don't, its going to be difficult.
A marketing program that builds trust. It was tough then with only the Yellow Pages and newspaper's for business. A website will help immensely.
Deliver value. Whatever your pricing level, you better be worth it. In those days the "room pricing" concept became popular, as it was able to compete with the new rental machines that were introduced in the mid 70's. Room pricing did not take over the industry, but it made those who charged a premium price by the square foot learn to market and sell better.
It seems like yesterday for me. Damn I'm getting old........
If the point is to the economy and the future of cleaning businesses, we had far less cleaners then, but we did have many failures of businesses. Just as today, those that did not have enough business savvy and a large enough customer base failed. Unlike today, they were rapidly replaced by blue collar workers who were laid off from the steel industry (at least here in the "rust belt".)
Many of the cleaners of the 70's came from the dry cleaning industry, which was suffering because of the popularity of polyester "dress clothes" (aka "leisure suits") and the beginnings of restrictions on solvent use and handling. Those guys had enough of a business base and business know how to survive the bad times.
The times we are in now feel very much like this time we are in right now.
To survive you'll need:
A good customer base. If you have enough clients, you can survive a 30% drop (as an example). If you don't, its going to be difficult.
A marketing program that builds trust. It was tough then with only the Yellow Pages and newspaper's for business. A website will help immensely.
Deliver value. Whatever your pricing level, you better be worth it. In those days the "room pricing" concept became popular, as it was able to compete with the new rental machines that were introduced in the mid 70's. Room pricing did not take over the industry, but it made those who charged a premium price by the square foot learn to market and sell better.
It seems like yesterday for me. Damn I'm getting old........
The Great Oz
Member
HWE truckmounted cleaning took the industry by storm. Most of the carpet of the day was nylon (the scuff and shock kind) with commercial carpet being the "you can't hurt it" variety and residential being the long shag "you can't hurt it variety." The exception was it being tufted through jute so that over-wetting would make it shrink.
Not much has changed between then and now with wool carpet, except big-spending-old-money banks and law firms would install woven wool carpet designed to last for fifty years. The dog of the day was cotton wall-to-wall. It cleaned up OK but stuck to the wand and grew and rippled as you cleaned it; a huge pain to work with.
Sisal was rare, and some wool producers tried to blend bleached jute in their yarn for a cheaper product. This is the one good thing about acrylic - replacing bleached jute for this purpose. Polypropylene came in about ten solid colors and all of it looked like the stuff you see used on boat trailers. It was hated even then.
Cleaning chemicals used then would scare the crap out of the green fiends of today. Variations of Tide sans brighteners were sold by cleaning distributors to be used on anything but wool, but most cleaners didn't know the difference and used it anyway.
There was no such thing as a double-stick installation.
Bonnet and Host cleaning haven't changed a bit.
And many rug plant cleaners dismissed on-location HWE cleaning as "second rate" and refused to do it. Some of them are still in business.
Cleaners wore tight jeans, mustaches, and mirror sunglasses.
It's all coming back!
Not much has changed between then and now with wool carpet, except big-spending-old-money banks and law firms would install woven wool carpet designed to last for fifty years. The dog of the day was cotton wall-to-wall. It cleaned up OK but stuck to the wand and grew and rippled as you cleaned it; a huge pain to work with.
Sisal was rare, and some wool producers tried to blend bleached jute in their yarn for a cheaper product. This is the one good thing about acrylic - replacing bleached jute for this purpose. Polypropylene came in about ten solid colors and all of it looked like the stuff you see used on boat trailers. It was hated even then.
Cleaning chemicals used then would scare the crap out of the green fiends of today. Variations of Tide sans brighteners were sold by cleaning distributors to be used on anything but wool, but most cleaners didn't know the difference and used it anyway.
There was no such thing as a double-stick installation.
Bonnet and Host cleaning haven't changed a bit.
And many rug plant cleaners dismissed on-location HWE cleaning as "second rate" and refused to do it. Some of them are still in business.
Cleaners wore tight jeans, mustaches, and mirror sunglasses.
It's all coming back!
Desk Jockey
Member
We bought one of the first TM's in our town in the mid 70's.
I was almost a god back then!
It was truly different times, shag carpets, jute backs, seam splitting, blue lustre residue, color crocking.
Staring at bell bottom, hip huggers often slowed my production. While mini skirts and hot pants would stop production all together! :mrgreen:
I was almost a god back then!
It was truly different times, shag carpets, jute backs, seam splitting, blue lustre residue, color crocking.
Staring at bell bottom, hip huggers often slowed my production. While mini skirts and hot pants would stop production all together! :mrgreen:
