Guides for laundry owners

How to Manage Laundry Orders Without Losing Clothes

Most lost clothes are not stolen. They are mixed up: a shirt with no mark, a bag with no name, an order taken in a hurry when the counter was busy. A small, strict routine prevents most of it, whether you write in a daftari or use software.

Where clothes usually go missing

Follow one customer's clothes through your shop and look for the moments when nobody could say whose they are. There are usually four:

• At reception, when clothes are put down before anyone has counted them.
• At washing, when several orders go into the same machine or the same basket.
• At ironing and folding, when finished clothes wait on a table with no label.
• At collection, when someone else collects, or the customer has lost the slip and describes the clothes from memory.

Seven habits that protect every order

1. Give every order a number before the customer leaves the counter. One number, on the record and on the customer's slip.
2. Count and describe the clothes with the customer watching. Write down the count, and note stains, tears or missing buttons so they are not blamed on you later.
3. Mark every item with the order number, using a sewn or pinned fabric tag that survives washing.
4. Keep each order together. Use a separate bag or basket per order, and wash different orders apart wherever you can.
5. Move the order through clear stages: received, washing, ironing, ready. Anyone in the team should be able to say where an order is.
6. Check finished orders against the record before they are packed. Does the count match what was received?
7. Hand clothes over only against the slip or order number. If the slip is lost, confirm the customer's name and phone number against the record first.

A worked example

These prices are only an illustration, so use your own. Mama Asha brings a two-piece suit at TZS 8,000, two bedsheet sets at TZS 5,000 each and a duvet at TZS 15,000. The order comes to TZS 33,000. She pays TZS 5,000 now and will pay the rest at collection.

Her slip should show the order number, the four items, the total of TZS 33,000, the TZS 5,000 received, the TZS 28,000 still to pay, and the day it will be ready. If she disagrees with anything, you find out at the counter and not a week later.

What to do when something does go missing

• Check the same day's other orders first, because the item is often in a neighbouring bag.
• Tell the customer early and honestly. Silence does more damage than the mistake.
• Decide your compensation rule before it happens, and put it on the slip or a sign at the counter.
• Write down what went wrong and at which stage, so the same gap can be closed.

Doing this in Safio Business

Safio Business gives each walk-in order its own number and a slip you can print or show, and the order then moves through its stages until it is collected. It does not sew the tag on for you: the physical marking is still your team's job. If you want to see each step of getting started, read how Safio works.