So who was Murphy’s drycleaner?
OK, I have finally uncovered the secret of the drycleaning industry through my
various travels and research.
From the customer service end and to the production end, drycleaning is a matter
of not “if,” but “when.” It will go wrong when you least expect it and definitely when the timing is
wrong.
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The web site simply states this: Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”) was born at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 at North Base. It was named after
Capt. Edward A. Murphy; an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981,
designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.
One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he cursed the
technician responsible and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.”
Actually, what he did was take an old law that had been around for years in a
more basic form and gave it a name.
Shortly afterwards, the Air Force doctor (Dr. John Paul Stapp), who rode a sled
on the deceleration track to a stop, pulling 40 Gs, gave a press conference.
He said that their good safety record on the project was due to a firm belief in
Murphy’s Law and the necessity to try to circumvent it.
Aerospace manufacturers picked it up and used it widely in their ads during the
next few months, and soon it was being quoted in many news and magazine
articles. Thus, Murphy’s Law was born.
I simply assumed that Murphy’s Law came from an Irish operator from the 1920s who cursed each and every day
with what went wrong in his plant.
From a boiler breakdown to a driver not showing up, our Murphy’s Law scenarios in drycleaning occur every day in every plant and we simply have
no choice but to deal with it.
This is why you must have a system of running routes that will assist in dealing
with the speed bumps and hiccups of running your routes.
So, for the sake of the article, I have come up with a list of Peuster’s Laws. I am sure many of you have had to deal with them.
10 Peuster’s Laws
For Training Purposes Only
1. Your driver will think that he or she is the system and when they call in sick
you are in trouble.
This happens way too much in today’s world and many operators have had to deal with this. This is why the manifest
must be used, period.
2. The van will break down on your busiest day or when no one is around to help.
Regularly scheduled maintenance of your van is essential, a big reason why
Wednesday is needed as a day off for your van to rest and for oil changes or
such.
3. Your marketing pieces will work 20 percent of the time half of the time.
OK, Yogi Berra enters the picture here; however, many of you feel this. Going on
hope will get you in trouble; you must be in control.
4. When something goes wrong, everyone blames everyone else.
Communication (or, lack thereof), will fix this. This is why I strongly
recommend at least one to two monthly route meetings on a Wednesday.
5. Everyone has a bad day going door-to-door.
Again, this is why it is so critical to get properly trained and to understand
how to handle negativity and to build on being positive.
6. No matter what we do, we cannot make everyone happy.
Routes do help out in this one since most route customers complain less. Meet
the needs of the customer first, the wants second and you will deliver
consistency, what they desire most.
7. Route managers get dumped on by everyone.
Customers, drivers, owners and other personnel bring complaints and concerns
from all angles and expect solutions right away. This is why organization is so
key to this position. Organize or agonize!
8. Rainy days and holidays always get you down.
Another reason why Wednesday is a great buffer day is for special requests and
weather issues. Make sure the driver checks the forecast and communicates with
customers about your holiday schedule.
9. Over-promising leads to under-delivering.
OK, an old cliché that we still forget about today! So many projects require our company to
change the mindset of the driver or staff in order to make it more profitable.
How many micro-systems are in place that cause mistake after mistake?
10. If you think you know it all, you’re done — literally.
You and your staff must be open to listen, learn and implement in today’s changing world.
As a consultant, I strive to learn so that I am better on the next project than
my previous one. Your staff must be willing to learn to get better so that the
end result is more profit and more income for all.
The bottom line is that we need a system to lay a foundation of operations so
that when Peuster’s Laws come into effect, you are ready. If a driver calls in sick, a monsoon
hits your town, your van hits a mailbox or a dog or whatever gets tossed your
way, you will have some stability as well as peace of mind to handle the
situation.
Remember, it’s never “if” it happens, but “when.” And when it does, our company is just a phone call away!
James Peuster offers onsite training and all aspects of routes. Management,
marketing and maintenance are all key components in developing a million-dollar
route. His e-mail address is james@theroutepro.com. His route manual is
available through the Golomb Group. You can listen to his radio programs on www.theroutepro.com.
