All over the world the coronavirus pandemic has led to special situations, operation disruptions and change of plans. The virus spread is affecting every single entity in the Professional Textile Care industry. We are receiving several queries from CINET members and partners all over the world asking how their counterparts deal with this situation.
As PTC’s global umbrella organization, CINET aims to create a open-platform in which every one of you can share his/her company’s experience during the coronavirus crisis. Therefore, feel free to share your experience (with text and photos) that you can send at cinet@cinet-online.com or using our social media accounts. We will publish them in the E-News section and weekly newsletter.
Mr. Maurizio Nicoletti, Owner Lavanderia Maxisecco (Italy):
“We would like to write you to inform that despite all the problems related to the covid-19 alarm in Italy, we laundries are doing the job that the state asks to carry out as a service to people with all the precautions of the emergency. In our case innovation does not stop!”
Mrs. Mrs. Yukonda Esparragoza, CEO, Lavanderia Romeral (Spain).
We do not have any work to do, because of the hotel industry we’re depending on. It is an extraordinary situation. All the employees are at home. Please see (in the video below) a tour of the laundry in the morning of March, 20th, 2020.
Mrs. Cristina Tarasevici, General Manager, Blue Lagoon (Romania)
As we speak, a new rule of partial lockdown was imposed in Romania. If the shopping malls will be closed, we will forced to close our shops we have within these malls, as well. We will maintain the pick-up and delivery service, until further notice. The employees will need a special document that will allow them to come to work, as well to perform the pick-up and delivery. From the financial point of view, 50% of the revenues are impacted as of today.
Mr. Ajay Prakash, Co-Founder & CEO, Rinse (USA)
“We have expanded the “no-contact” delivery options available at Rinse so we can maximize social distance between our Valets and our customers.
Effective immediately, we are working to ensure “no-contact” pickup and delivery in the following ways:
- Rinse Drop – Rinse Drop is a service we offer for customers who aren’t home (or don’t want to answer the door right away) when our Valet arrives, and it is incredibly well-suited for our current situation where we want to minimize in-person interaction across the board. There are two ways to set up Rinse Drop:
- Rinse Drop on your CURRENT ORDER – If you would like to set up a “one-time” preference for Rinse Drop (meaning we pick up or deliver items at your door without you needing to be there on that specific Rinse), click on the link we text you on the day of your order that asks for instructions for your Valet. Select “I can’t come to the door” and then authorize Rinse Drop and provide any special instructions around where we can pick up or deliver your clothes.
- Rinse Drop on ALL ORDERS – If you would like to set a permanent preference for Rinse Drop, you can do that on your “My Account” page under “delivery preferences.”
- Text your Valet – As you know, you can text actively with your Valet. During this period of social distancing, we will allow customers to request a “no-contact” pickup or delivery by simply texting your Valet and telling them to pick up or leave your order at the door. Please only choose this option if you are home and able to leave your items shortly before or gather your items shortly after your Valet arrives. If for some reason you aren’t planning to be home, please use Rinse Drop. If you do use this option, please send a photo of the drop-off location if it’s not obvious.
- “No-contact” in-person deliveries – We strongly encourage our customers to choose one of the above options to ensure “no-contact” delivery, but if you need to open the door to interact in-person with your Valet, please be aware that we are instructing our Valets to maximize space between themselves and customers to avoid any contact. Your Valet will now place or hang your clothes outside your door and maintain distance while you pick up your items. If your Valet is picking up items, we ask that you do the same for them. We recognize this will lead to some unusual interactions, but these are unusual times and this is an important change we can make to help ensure the safety of everyone involved.”
Ms. Ayushi Pande, Partner Laundromania (India).
Laundromania is a fabric care provider with outlets in three cities in India. We hope you are socially distancing yourself and are being safe. Since we provide an essential service and the government hasn’t requested a shut down, we continue to be operational and are doing every possible thing to be ultra careful. Our delivery teams have been trained to re-sanitize their hands anytime they touch anything continuously. We are using a proven German Laundry disinfectant to make sure the clothes that come to us are disinfected. We are monitoring the health of all our employees such that even the slightest symptom of even a sneeze, we ask the person to leave. We are wiping down the surfaces in our stores every hour. We will try our best to keep the essential services on to help our customers disinfect what they wear. Take care! Laundromania.
Nic & Lucas, Orange Sky Australia Co-founders:
“As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to affect families, communities and countries in Australia, Orange Sky is currently implementing a measured approach in close consultation with the service providers we work alongside, our volunteers and the sector – to support our friends on the street through the delivery of as many shifts as possible.”
You can also find a first story from the Chinese PTC companies’ experiences in the last 2 months, on this link – here!
Feel free to share your own laundry’s experience (with text and photos) that you can send at cinet@cinet-online.com or using our social media accounts. We will publish them in the E-News section and weekly newsletter.