Price of Plastic going up Up UP

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Przrat

New member
Price of Plastic going up Up UP. Just like gasoilne. Anyone consider purchasing 3 mil and reusing the reusable plastic? Nahh we are all making way to much money for that. Anyone driving slower? To save gas. Anyone considering shrinking the load whenever possible? Profits going down? Restaurants slow paying and closing on you?
You have got to save somewhere.
My suggestions are, reuse reusable plastic
Drive slower
Schedule in groups
Customers that dont stay on schedule, Surcharge them
Every job has a fuel charge
Shrink what you bring to jobs.
Lower the weight your vehicle carries
Cold water electric machines when possible, no fuel!
Use restaurants hot water, no fuel!
Some gas stations will charge you less if you pay cash
Correct Tire pressure is a fuel saver.
All privately owned restaurants COD only
Work with your competition, consolidate jobs and areas
Any more?
 
Ive been reusing my plastic for a while now. The places I do on a regular basis I use the same piece of plastic. The plastic is now to the point that it keeps the shape of that particular hood. TALK ABOUT A TIME SAVER! It saves fuel too, just turn it upside down and strap it to the roof of the van, kinda like the things on top of semi trucks. I had an actuary friend of mine crunch the numbers for me, Im up 27 cents a job!
 
I've been doing many more estimates over the phone and been doing pretty good. Alot of ??'s helps with no surprises when I get to the job. Customers so far are ok with it and seem to understand. The tire pressure in my tires was way off so I fixed that last week. I've already noticed a change in mpg. I replaced one of my 25 gal tanks yesturday with a brand new 50gal tank so I won't have to be running across town so often to pick up chems. I know its a little added weight to carry but it should help plus it will save me time not running around. I also cleaned out my trailer and got rid of alot of stuff that I don't need to be hauling around. Did the same to the back of my truck. Didn't realize I had so much crap back there cause it is always covered. Don't know what you mean about using rest. Hot water. Machines dont like that! Anyway I hope some of this helps me save a few dollars. Fuel is a killer!
 
Larry Millette said:
Don't know what you mean about using rest. Hot water. Machines dont like that! Anyway I hope some of this helps me save a few dollars. Fuel is a killer!
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That is a trick some KEC guys use. With hot-packings in your pump, it wont hurt your equipment to run hot water through the pump.

I agree that fuel is a killer. I average 1,000 miles per week. I can think of other ways I would prefer to spend that much money.
 
When using a cold water electric machine you can run the restaurants hot water thru it. You can even get some hot water o rings.


Oh yeah thanks Roger you can always be counted on for positive feedback and helpful suggestions.
 
Larry, phone bids

I have been bidding over the phone for a few years now and it has been overall successful. This is how I do mine.

I tell them there is a minimum charge for sending two men and a truck out to their location. Say $_ _ _.00 Then I tell them that it is for a 2 to 2 1/2 hr job. Because I do have a job after theirs. I can give them an extra hour if needed but it will cost an additional $_ _ _.00 to $_ _ _.00.

Then I try to determine the size of the job by getting the overall size of the hood or hoods, number of filters, number of fans ,fans location and any info I can get about the duct. I also get the type of filters and material of the hood, SS OR GALVANIZED. Some other info I get is when it was last cleaned by whom, type of cooking they do and when I can do the job. Time and day of the week.

If I feel the job is going to be a big one I will go out and view it. Most are not going to be that big. Asian I pass on to other hood cleaners with Big Time equipment. I keep the size of the jobs within my scope of cleaning. I dont like the real big costly ones because often when they screw ya it hurts too much. Most jobs I dont need the hot water machine. I dont even have a hot water machine.
 
I don't do hood cleaning so I think our worlds are a little different. I didn't know about the hot water deal. Last time I hooked into a resturant hot water supply my sensor shut the machine off. Another friend of mine did the same thing and blew the pump. As for phone bids I try to do them over the phone as long as what they want cleaned is something that normally is the same size (aprox) as most other homes. Still, it is alot better if I can get to them in person. 90% of the time I can upsell for more cleaning. Hard to do over the phone. Too many things around the house that needs cleaning that the customer normally doesn't realize can be cleaned. In the words of Ken Fenner, I hate to leave money on the table! LOL
 
I dont think hot water through the pump on a flatworking rig is an option. At 5+gpm youd run out of hot water quickly. Ive been running hot water through my cold machines for a long time now, no issues. I do take the thermal reliefs off though, they usually let go the first time.

And Ed, you deserve all the helpful info and suggestions I can come up with................your welcome.
 
Try www.jimshare.com for plastic. You will have to buy it in pallets, but I think its around $14 a roll. Some of the Grease Police guys have been doing group buys on stuff like plastic and chemicals and splitting them up so they can save money. Too bad we can't do that with gas.

"Hello Exxon, I would like to buy a thousand gallons of gas" "Ok sir that will be $2 a gallon, cash or charge?" "Um here is my cc #" Ok sir where would you like that delivered?" "UUUUUM, can you just park it in the front yard next to the Chevy?" "No problem sir, we will be there tomorrow, have a great day!"
 
Roger,
I know absoultely nothing about flatwork. This is a grease exhaust forum, isnt it? My comments are all based on hood cleaning.
 
Let's just say that the price of a roll of 200' plastic went up to $40/roll- God forbid! It comes out to .20 cents per foot. A normal 8 foot hood would use about 12 feet of plastic for a grand total of $2.40 per account!!! :eek: If you we can't figure that humongous cost into our bidding then we need to learn how to re-bid jobs.

The only plastic I reuse is a piece I keep for over spray that hardly ever gets anything on it and I cover whatever is in front of the cook line if I need to.

As far as gas goes though....yeah, it sucks! Driving slower isn't necessarily going to save money though..if it takes you longer to get there then your total time for the job is longer which means more money. So, I drive like a madman :D I would like to get a Ranger "Type" setup and still drive like a madman though except they don't go very fast with 3000 lbs behind them.
 
Dude, sherwin williams is haveing a sale on 9X400 .31 MIL..........$12.95. I cover the prep line with it on every job.
 
I would like to get a Ranger "Type" setup and still drive like a madman though except they don't go very fast with 3000 lbs behind them.
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I love my new Ranger, only filled it three times in a month and a half. 48 dollars instead of 100 every other day. The one ton doesnt move unless I'm leaving town or need to haul more than 6 people. I drive the Hondas way more than i used too.
 
Przrat said:
Asian I pass on to other hood cleaners with Big Time equipment. I keep the size of the jobs within my scope of cleaning.
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Big time equipment:

Razor blade scraper: $5.74
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CMFK5Q?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=nextag-auto-20&linkCode=asn

Foamer: $114.98
http://www.sanitationtools.com/Products.asp?Product=1214&Category=69

Garden hose: $42.97
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100064124

Nozzle: $7.47
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...roductId=100043601&N=10000003+500493+10401001

Grand total: $171.16

Capability of the above listed equipment:
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