Stanley the reemer at Costco

[Dwain Ray]

Was at Costco today and saw this, Stanley the reemer is advertising at our local Costco. But the closest Stanley reemer is 1.5 hours away??? Is this national ?

 

[hogjowl]

This would have been interesting if it showed prices

 

[Mikey P]

A free churro with every doormat...

 

[Cleanworks]

Great marketing if they can keep it up.

 

[hogjowl]

They’ve always been a step ahead

 

[Dwain Ray]

The less repeats you have, the more ya have to spend for " fresh meat "

 

[hogjowl]

True but they’re masters at marketing

 

[Dwain Ray]

True but they’re masters at marketing

They have to be to survive

 

[Jim Pemberton]

These are/were the biggest carpet cleaning franchises 40 years ago:

Chemdry
Coit
Domesticare
Duraclean
Rainbow
Servicemaster
Servpro
Stanley Steemer

(I know I likely missed some, but I want to get out of here as soon as the fog clears this morning)

Most of them migrated to become restoration organizations, with carpet cleaning having become an afterthought. Some no longer exist, or are now small.

Stanley Steemer, while also now in the restoration business, seems to be the only one who has stood the test of time and who still out markets everyone else.

They promote hard surface and air duct cleaning as much, if not more than carpet cleaning, and look to be entering the in plant rug cleaning industry with strong commitments there too.

Most cleaners find them to be unlikable, but when they run an ad, everyone’s phone rings.

 

[BIG WOOD]

These are/were the biggest carpet cleaning franchises 40 years ago:

Chemdry
Coit
Domesticare
Duraclean
Rainbow
Servicemaster
Servpro
Stanley Steemer

(I know I likely missed some, but I want to get out of here as soon as the fog clears this morning)

Most of them migrated to become restoration organizations, with carpet cleaning having become an afterthought. Some no longer exist, or are now small.

Stanley Steemer, while also now in the restoration business, seems to be the only one who has stood the test of time and who still out markets everyone else.

They promote hard surface and air duct cleaning as much, if not more than carpet cleaning, and look to be entering the in plant rug cleaning industry with strong commitments there too.

Most cleaners find them to be unlikable, but when they run an ad, everyone’s phone rings.

You left out Sears as one of the big dogs 40 years ago. Nothing important, just thought about that failure of a franchise

 

[Mikey P]

When Saiger, Zipper and I visited the Tampa Bay location with CJ, as well as his new shop, along with meeting his guys at a RMHC cleaning, and meeting the SS guys at a Minnesota RMH, I'm left with a favorable impression of the organization.

Overall they serve a need that most of you , and I, have any desire to compete with.

 

[hogjowl]

Darcy!!!

 

[Mikey P]

Darcy!!!

the comma after you is wrong.

 

[Cleanworks]

They have to be to survive

Someone once said, "there's a sucker born every minute".

 

[Jim Pemberton]

You left out Sears as one of the big dogs 40 years ago. Nothing important, just thought about that failure of a franchise

Thank you!

My father worked with their earliest version, which was owned by one individual who had offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New England. His name was Bob McCaffery, and the company was RGM Services.

The next phase was a group, name forgotten, who opened in towns and subcontracted to people.

Then a group of ex-Stanley Steemer people created the franchise along their lines. That one still has some offices around, but the Sears name isn't quite what it used to be, and at least in my area, none do very well any longer.

 

[BIG WOOD]

Thank you!

My father worked with their earliest version, which was owned by one individual who had offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New England. His name was Bob McCaffery, and the company was RGM Services.

The next phase was a group, name forgotten, who opened in towns and subcontracted to people.

Then a group of ex-Stanley Steemer people created the franchise along their lines. That one still has some offices around, but the Sears name isn't quite what it used to be, and at least in my area, none do very well any longer.

Is Sears still out there? I thought they just closed all their franchises and did away with the name

 

[Nate The Great]

We still have a local guy who has a Sears franchise.. He held it a little while.. I remember him when I was young.. Recently crashed one of his vans..

 

[hogjowl]

I met a local Sears guy at a gas station, probably 20 years ago. He’d just opened his franchise. He was so cocky. I don’t think he managed to even make it a year.

 

[hogjowl]

Virtually every young guy enters this business with the idea of low pricing his way into success.

 

[Rob Grady]

I bought two Butler vans from the Sears franchise that went out of business in Hamilton Ontario. My introduction to employee operated vans.

 

[Brian H]

One of the big names from years ago was Adler and Sons. They operated in about 35 markets in the U.S. and Canada where they represented a lot of major department stores, sometimes operating under the names of competing companies in the same town. I ran the J.C. Penney location in the Detroit area. In other cities they went by Sears, May Company, Boston Store, Macy's, G Fox & Company, Carson Pirie Scott & Company, Eatons and The Bay are a few I can remember. There was one location (their headquaters) in New Jersey that went by 3 or 4 different names. For their office staff, you answered the phone differently, based on the incoming line.

This was the company where I got my start. I trained for less than 3 weeks total, 1 week cleaning, 1 week in a regional office and a couple of days in the corparate office. They cut me loose in after that and all I ever had was weekly check-ins with the HQ staff. I churned through so many cleaners in that job, partially because I didn't know what I was doing and partially because the pay sucked. I would train a guy for a few days and send them out with a route after that. I cringe at the thought of the inexperienced people I sent out to peoples homes.

 

[Cleanworks]

One of the big names from years ago was Adler and Sons. They operated in about 35 markets in the U.S. and Canada where they represented a lot of major department stores, sometimes operating under the names of competing companies in the same town. I ran the J.C. Penney location in the Detroit area. In other cities they went by Sears, May Company, Boston Store, Macy's, G Fox & Company, Carson Pirie Scott & Company, Eatons and The Bay are a few I can remember. There was one location (their headquaters) in New Jersey that went by 3 or 4 different names. For their office staff, you answered the phone differently, based on the incoming line.

This was the company where I got my start. I trained for less than 3 weeks total, 1 week cleaning, 1 week in a regional office and a couple of days in the corparate office. They cut me loose in after that and all I ever had was weekly check-ins with the HQ staff. I churned through so many cleaners in that job, partially because I didn't know what I was doing and partially because the pay sucked. I would train a guy for a few days and send them out with a route after that. I cringe at the thought of the inexperienced people I sent out to peoples homes.

They were the worst company to work for. They had the Eaton's and The Bay franchises here. Employees, (read subcontractors) had to buy their supplies from them, use their own equipment which were mainly portables, received low commissions compared to their expenses, were overloaded with jobs. The Sears and Woodward's were much better run.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

One of the big names from years ago was Adler and Sons. They operated in about 35 markets in the U.S. and Canada where they represented a lot of major department stores, sometimes operating under the names of competing companies in the same town. I ran the J.C. Penney location in the Detroit area. In other cities they went by Sears, May Company, Boston Store, Macy's, G Fox & Company, Carson Pirie Scott & Company, Eatons and The Bay are a few I can remember. There was one location (their headquaters) in New Jersey that went by 3 or 4 different names. For their office staff, you answered the phone differently, based on the incoming line.

This was the company where I got my start. I trained for less than 3 weeks total, 1 week cleaning, 1 week in a regional office and a couple of days in the corparate office. They cut me loose in after that and all I ever had was weekly check-ins with the HQ staff. I churned through so many cleaners in that job, partially because I didn't know what I was doing and partially because the pay sucked. I would train a guy for a few days and send them out with a route after that. I cringe at the thought of the inexperienced people I sent out to peoples homes.

Adler was the group I was referring to when it came to Sears before they became a franchise.

Here in Pittsburgh, they handled Sears, Kauffmans ( a department store in Pittsburgh) and J. C. Penny's.

Back in those days, we still had a cleaning company.

One day, our office gal got a call, and the caller wanted her to describe our employee, and what type of vehicle that he'd be driving. That was of course, an odd request. When she complied, and mentioned he would be driving a van, the woman seemed to be relieved, and scheduled the job.

Of course we were all waiting to hear from the carpet cleaner we sent what was up with this woman.

Here's her story:

She hired Sears to clean her furniture. A guy showed up in a car, brought in a portable, and proceeded to spray her furniture with a cleaning solution and rub it with dirty towels. She asked if he had clean ones, and when he said he didn't, she told him to leave.

So she called J.C. Penny's to clean her furniture. Same guy showed up. She saw him at the door, and of course told him to leave.

So then she called Kauffmans. Guess who showed up? She didn't even let him get up the sidewalk

Now I will never know why the people who booked the jobs kept sending the same guy, or why the guy, when seeing who it was, accepted the job. What I do know was the lady was, by that time, totally freaked out. She must have felt like it was some kind of "Groundhog Day" experience.

 

[hogjowl]

It’s still 50/50 today on who/what you’ll get.