Is anyone using Cintas for Uniforms?

[autoguy]

Just curious if anyone if anyone is using Cintas for shop uniforms and if you like their service. Are you getting rags from them also? What's the typical cost?

[Romeos]

Yes we use Cintas at our shop for uniforms, pant and shirts, rags, hand soap, toilet paper, and smell goods for rest room and office. The total cost like to blow my mind when I first heard it. I was shocked actually, but in a positive way. Before I called and eventually chose them for the services I went to a T-shirt place and had 13 tees printed and 2 collared shirts the coat was above $475 fasure. But cintas came through and for 13 pant and shirts, we pay 11 bucks a week. Per tech. Now add in the other supplies we get it’s only like 60 bucks a week which in my opinion is a great deal. The staff that serves our shop has been more then courteous and professional and friendly. Now the catch is for each shirt (13) per tech and service writer and or manager they charge a one time name plate/ logo plate and charge a 5 bucks per shirt, tech, missing days or time standard fee due after 30 days. In my opinion still  worth it no doubt. I paid the $5 charge for each template and then they pay for the uniform rentals individually via auto draw from payroll check. So far no complaints but we know how that goes. The second u pat backs you better duck bcuz you may just get slapped in return. Great thing is any button falls off or hole needs to be stitched they handle it in house as long as we mention it. Side note- if termination of a shop employee before you do the final assessment and have employee sign proper documentation, make sure he returns all uniforms before they get the last check. If not you will pay full price for any unreturned uniforms

[Robert Summers]

The uniform/rag industry is an interesting and very competitive one. Cintas is a well known player in most markets.

As a general rule, you're region will determine your experience. I have heard owners have wonderful experiences and horrible ones with all the major companies. It seems to vary based on region and your local driver. I'd suggest you ask a few shops near you who they use and what their experience is like.

I will also suggest you keep a log of your prices and check your bill regularly. Every company I have ever used starts at a decent rate and by year three I'm paying a good bit more. You need to keep your drivers honest on the price as they get paid bonuses for increasing your cost year after year.

[TheTrustedMechanic]

It has been a couple decades since I have had any experience with Cintas.  I have had my business for 14 years and the previous three employers that had used Cintas all dropped them for the same reason, service failures, poor quality and even worse customer service.  They solicited my business to use them and when they told me it was a minimum 5 year contract I told them that was all I needed to hear and we were finished talking.  They of course wouldn't take "No," for an answer and tried to "give" me stuff but it really wasn't truly free.  I currently own and launder my own uniforms but should I decide to go back to a laundry service I can guarantee you, based on my previous experience, I would NEVER consider Cintas, especially not under a long term contract.

[Guest]

Cintas that will nickle and dime you to death. You'll have a 5 year contract that only benefits them plus the drivers get incentives to get you to sign a new contract so theyll tell you that you need a new 5 year contract every year or 2.  I bought a washer and drier, order very nice embroidered shirts and dickies pants, ordered red rags that cost less to use once than Cintas charged for their smelly, oily rags with holes in them. You only need to order 5 set of clothes since you just wash them at the shop, everyone looks and feels more professional and I'm saving 400 to 500 a month. 

 

[autoguy]

Thanks for all the replies and feedback. I think the more techs and personnel you have the easier it is to manage with a service, otherwise like @Old and Tired said, you can probably buy the uniforms and wash them on site. Like with everything else, have to pay for service. It's like having your lawn cut, someone will do it if you pay them, otherwise you can save money by buying a nice lawn mower and doing it yourself. However, there's a price to pay the time spent cutting your lawn or managing employee uniforms I suppose.

[TheTrustedMechanic]

I am the only employee and own my own embroidered uniforms.  The only drawback I can think of with a small operation owning their own uniforms is the size/name issues if you don't have loyal long term employees.  But if you have a washer and dryer on site, the time required is pretty minimal since once you load the washer it's pretty much on its own until it's done.  If you don't pull the uniforms out and throw them in the dryer until the next morning, who cares? 

The biggest time suck I find is pretreating the stains.  I am NOT recommending nor not recommending, but I have the Red Kap Downshifter shirts, both long and short sleeve.  But now they call them "Motorsports" shirts.  Mine are red and black.  I find that the red portion of the sleeves will get stains and if not pretreated they will look dirty and grungy in a short period of time.  But a high quality detergent, a stain fighter in the wash and a pretreatment stain fighter and they come out nice and bright.  The seller's website gave care instructions to HANG DRY, do NOT tumble dry or any stain will be set and can't be rewashed with more attention to the stain.  So that's a pain the butt.  However, even as a small shop it's possible and economical to have your own uniforms and wash them yourself.  I happen to do mine at home but again, I'm the only employee.  I have heard of shops making their employees wash their own uniforms at home but giving them a stipend.  The only problem I see with that is if they don't use a high quality detergent or pretreat them, you will be replacing them more frequently than necessary simply to keep your image clean and professional.