So here it is again, the Holiday Season.  No banter about how quickly the year went by, even though I can barely comprehend that it’s December 2013…already.

I enjoy writing this “Christmas Wish List” column and it is with equal parts excitement and flattery that I see several of the abstracts that I’ve envisioned become reality.  Some of my wishes have been complicated and perhaps a bit far-fetched, but I think that in all cases, my ideas are intended to enhance the product, service or experience of being in the business of washing and pressing shirts.

I think that its safe to say that the most often neglected rule of management is “hire slow and fire fast”, albeit grammatically incorrect, the point is clear and it’s a lesson difficult to refute. 

But we break this rule all the time.  Frankly, we are much more likely to hire quickly and fire slowly.  In the nineties, if a human could fog a mirror he/she was qualified to work in a drycleaning plant.  With jobs as plentiful as they were back then, it’s a miracle that we got anybody to work for us.

It’s much easier these days to get someone to apply for a position, and there are many of us that perform our due diligence during the application and hiring processes. I have seen personality tests, trial periods and conditional hirings.  Certain things like “Let’s see you press shirts for an hour.  If your quality is good, you will get the job.”

It is month three of my Clean Show coverage.  As always, you can see movies and photos of the new equipment and the new products at www.tailwindsystems.com.

This month, we will discuss the new products that are available for shirt launderers.  This does limit the field of focus considerably, but this column is about shirts, so I do try to stay within those parameters.  Still, most of the new products have more universal appeal, that is, applicable to more than just shirt laundering and pressing.  All, save one, has use for any drycleaner, even those not in the shirt business.