This time, the media is your friend
We spend a lot of time complaining about unfair and inaccurate portrayals of
drycleaning in the media. Yes, sometimes it seems that drycleaners are a
favorite villain for television and news reporters and the weight of all that
negativity naturally leaves many in the industry with a negative view of the
media in return.
Over the past few months, however, the media has been doing the industry a
favor. We hope you have noticed and responded accordingly. The favor comes in
the form of numerous stories in newspapers large and small and on television
stations across the country explaining how rising hanger prices have caught
cleaners in a situation beyond their control. Some of the reports have even
gone on to discuss how cleaners are hard-pressed by other increases in the cost
of doing business.
It all started back in March after the U.S. government announced steep tariffs
on wire hangers imported from China. The National Cleaners Association got the
ball rolling by sending a press release to major media outlets explaining that
drycleaning prices were likely to rise due to higher hanger costs, not to
mention skyrocketing energy prices. The media picked up the ball and cleaners
from coast to coast helped them run with it by obliging in interviews when
reporters called.
The story, as they say in the news business, has legs. It did not die out after
a few days; instead the stories have continued to pop up throughout the summer
and got another injection of interest when the hanger tariff was reaffirmed
last month by the Department of Commerce.
Thanks to this publicity, customers are expecting to pay more for cleaning. We
hope, in the face of rising costs, you have already raised your prices. If you
haven’t, there is no time like the present. And if you don’t, there may not be a future.
Your support group needs your support
When the Philadelphia Air Pollution Control Board recently proposed a set of
regulations aimed at banning perc from all co-located plants in the city in
only two years’ time, it was a shocking development. Proposed regulations are nothing new to
the industry, of course, but it was quite surprising to see such a strict,
unforgiving set of rules from the city made famous for its inherent “brotherly love.” After all, the proposed rules targeted every drycleaning plant that shares a
wall with a residence or a business to be perc-free within 24 months. That
includes any plant found in a shopping center or office building. Philly is an
old city, and a very congested one. There are few free-standing locations to be
found, so virtually all drycleaners in the city would have been forced to try
to beat a rapidly ticking clock.
Fortunately for Philadelphia cleaners, the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute,
the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association and the National Cleaners
Association beat a rapidly ticking clock of their own. The organizations pooled
their resources to inform the Air Pollution Control Board of the potential
catastrophic results of passing the proposed rules in their current state.
Giving cleaners a mere two years to completely phase from one technology to
another is simply not economically or logistically feasible. Such an act would
have undoubtedly put most smaller cleaners out of business which is precisely
why the US EPA’s 2006 Air Standard for Perc Drycleaning Plants gives cleaners who are
co-located with a residence until 2020 to rid themselves of perc.
It is also important to note the aforementioned distinction: co-located with a
residence. The federal government only focussed its perc ban on plants that
share a wall with residents. The Philadelphia Air Pollution Control Board
initially proposed legislation miles above and beyond any such rules proposed
in the entire country. That is a precedent nobody in the industry wants to see
come to fruition. For now, the Philly rules are being reevaluated. The board
will meet again in November. In the meantime, association representatives such
as Jon Meijer, Dale Kaplan, Nora Nealis and Carol Memberg will be vigorously
working with them to make a new set of rules that is reasonable and plausible.
It will certainly be a long battle ahead, but it’s good to know the associations will be supporting cleaners in the trenches.
Hopefully, that is more than enough reason to convince cleaners to reciprocate
that support in return.
