As a massage therapist, you’re trained in the art of massage, not laundry. But sadly, the life of a masseur comes with a lot of dirty linens.
Running a top-of-the-line massage practice means using fresh linens and towels for every client. You might have bathrobes, slippers, and hot face towels, as well as standard bed sheets and massage table covers—all items that need regular washing.
For a successful business, washing your own linens is usually a step too far. The sheer volume of laundry is beyond most massage therapists, and it’s an extra task you just don’t need.
So, when it comes to dealing with your laundry as a massage therapist, there are really two main options:
Rent your linens and towels from a linen service and exchange them each week for fresh ones.
Buy your own and have a laundry service like WaveMAX pick up, clean and return them for you.
There are pros and cons to both approaches. So, to help you decide what works best for you and your business, we’ll explore both options and give you an idea of which might be most suitable. Read on to find out about the best laundry options for massage therapists.
Rent Linens and Towels
There are several linen rental services that can cater to massage therapists, providing fresh linens at the beginning of every working week and taking away soiled ones. You don’t own your own linens, but you rent them from the service provider, who’ll take care of all laundry and linen maintenance.
Pros
Less upfront investment
The best thing about renting your linens as a massage therapist is that you don’t have to make an upfront investment. You pay for the service on a monthly basis, so you have more capital to invest in other areas of your business. For massage businesses that are just getting started, not having to pay upfront for towels can be extremely helpful.
Simple process
Renting your linens also takes away one aspect of stress and hassle from the smooth running of your business. Your linen rental service will collect dirty towels at the end of the week, replace them with fresh linen, and handle all the washing and laundering themselves. This means you have more time to concentrate on growing your business.
No storage
Another extremely convenient aspect of renting linens and towels is that you do not have to store them yourselves. For massage therapists with limited space at home or their place of work, this can be very useful.
Cons
Locked Into a Contract
Using a pay-as-you-go model essentially means someone else is making the upfront investment in the linens and towels for you. You will be paying more over time than you would have if you made the investment up front. This is because you are paying the service back for your linens, plus interest and the costs to launder them each week. This requires you be locked into a contract to ensure the linen service recovers their investment in you.
Sharing linens with others
By renting your linens from a service, you are sharing your towels and linens with other businesses—massage therapists, hotels, spas, and so on. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it does mean you rely on other people to take care of the towels and linens that you will be using for your business. This adds an element of risk when it comes to providing outstanding customer service.
Standardizing rather than standing out
Speaking of outstanding customer service, sharing your linens also means that you are standardizing your service—providing the same options and experience as other massage therapists. In a competitive industry, this can be bad for business and hinders your ability to stand out with a uniquely luxurious massage service.
Poor quality linens
Finally, rental linens and towels tend to be relatively cheap and low quality. Understandably, because the rental service themselves need to make a profit too. But if you want to provide an elegant and luxurious massage service, you might want to offer your customers higher quality linens.
Buy Your Own Linen and Towels
You can choose to own your own linens and towels for your massage business, and either launder them yourself, or partner with a local fluff and fold laundry service.
Pros
Choice
When you buy your own linens and towels, you get complete control over every choice you make. You can choose color, thread count, quality, sizes...in fact, you are in total control over this aspect of your business. For small business owners, this can be vital in creating the perfect service and distinguishing yourself from the competition.
Quality of service
With the ability to choose your own linens and towels, as well as caring for them yourselves (and not relying on others to treat them well, too), you can provide a far higher quality service for your clients. You can ensure that the quality of your linens reflects your business and that they are always in top-notch condition.
Simple process
You might think that by owning your own linens and towels, you have to cope with the hassle of laundering them yourselves, but this is far from the case! With WaveMAX’s laundry pick-up and delivery service, you can leave everything up to us! We’ll collect your dirty linens and return them washed and folded on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This makes for a straightforward process that helps your business run smoothly and lets you get on with more important tasks. And, best of all, WaveMAX Laundry in Thornton does not require any contracts or commitments!
Long-term cost savings
In the long run, renting towels and linens can be an expensive business. While it might seem great to begin with, those weekly or monthly bills will start to add up and create an ongoing business cost. By owning your towels (just like owning your massage table), you will save money week-in, week-out. And, in the long-term, this can have a significant impact on your business expenses.
Cons
Initial investment
Buying your own linen and towels does come with an upfront cost, which can be something that small businesses want to avoid. But as we mentioned above, even this cost will end up saving your business money in the long run! If you can afford to make this initial investment in your business, you will see a significant return over time.
Renting towels and linens as a massage therapist might seem initially attractive, but it comes with long-term costs and significant downsides regarding customer service.
If you do decide to buy your own towels and linens upfront, WaveMAX Laundry is the ideal partner for your massage practice! We can take care of all your laundry needs with a convenient pickup and delivery service, letting you get on with making your business shine!
