5 Ways to Reduce Linen Replacement Costs in your On-Premise Laundry

As we talk with maintenance or housekeeping managers at a hotel, health care facility, and other on-premise laundry operation, it’s not uncommon to hear stories and frustration regarding linen loss. Chances are, you probably have some stories of your own. Maybe the linens got stained, maybe they wore out over time, or they may have even been stolen (intentionally or unintentionally) by a customer or guest. Constantly replacing linens isn’t cheap and has a serious impact on efficiency and costs for your on-premise laundry operation. So, what can you do? We’ve put together a few tips to help you reduce linen loss and replacement costs in your and look like a rockstar to management and your team.

1. Use the right amount of soaps and chemicals. Chemicals can have a huge impact on your bedding, towels, and other linens in your on-premise laundry operation. Using too much or the wrong types of soaps and detergents can damage the material and cause the fibers to wear out faster. Not using enough can cause sanitation issues, especially in hospitality and health care laundries. Good chemistry is key to proper linen management.
2. Don’t over-dry your linens. Much like chemicals, consistently over-drying linens can cause the fabrics to deteriorate and reduce their life. Advanced controls in today’s commercial dryers can help you better monitor dryness and reduce dry times — which increases linen life, increases efficiency, and helps cut down on utilities.
3. More training for staff. Turnover in on-premise laundry operations can be high, which makes training and onboarding difficult. However, training your staff to properly use the commercial machines, handle stains, and other processes in your laundry room will help reduce linen loss over time.
4. Treat stains immediately. Stains that are treated quickly are generally easier to remove. If possible, make it part of your process to spot-treat stains during linen collection and use special stain fighters during cleaning. If you’re able to remove a stain, you can put the sheets, towels, and other linens back in the rotation rather than discard them.
5. Monitor productivity and equipment. "Good" isn’t good enough. A good on-premise laundry manager is constantly looking to improve productivity and operations and catch potential problems. Having a good process for managing ongoing maintenance, training, and improving processes will help increase success in the laundry operation.

Do you have more questions about running an efficient on-premise laundry room or upgrading to high-quality commercial laundry equipment? Our team is here to help laundry investors across Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, west Texas, and western Nebraska.

Read now:

How to Save Money & Increase Efficiency in your On-Premise Laundry Room

5 Signs It's Time to Upgrade Your Commercial Laundry Equipment