Discover the ease of renting uniforms

Renting uniforms can offer many benefits to your business, including cost-effectiveness, convenience, improved image, and sustainability. Learn more about the benefits of renting vs. buying and how a uniform rental program works.

I WANT TO RENT UNIFORMS

Renting vs. Buying: Which one is right for you?

You have a couple choices when it comes to implementing a uniform program for your business. You can choose to buy uniforms or you can make it easy on yourself, your employees, and your business, by renting uniforms. Having a uniform program, whether you rent or buy, comes along with a lot of responsibilities. The biggest question to ask yourself when deciding between these two options is, “Who’s going to manage all this?” Here is a list of items to consider, and questions to ask, when implementing a uniform program and deciding between buying uniforms or renting uniforms.

  • Sizing and Ordering – Who is going to be responsible for sizing and outfitting all your employees in uniform? Do you have samples for everyone to try on before placing the order? Who’s going to place the order and manage any challenges that come up in the ordering process or if there’s mistakes? If something doesn’t fit, will you be charged to exchange for the proper size and how long will it take?
  • Personalization/Customization – Do you want to use emblems for your uniforms? Where are you going to order the emblems from? Are you going to sew the emblems on yourself or are you going to pay someone to do it? Do you have the time to find someone reputable to take care of this for you?
  • Laundering and Finishing – When the uniforms get dirty, who’s going to wash them? Who’s going to make sure they’re laundered properly? Who’s going to make sure the uniforms aren’t wrinkled when your employees put them on?
  • Garment Repairs – When your employee is missing a button or they get a small tear in their shirt, who’s going to fix it? Who’s going to make sure the repair was done properly?
  • Size Adjustments – When an employee has to increase, or decrease, the size of their uniform who’s going to be responsible for ordering the new uniforms and what happens to the old uniforms that no longer fit?
  • Garment Replacements – When your employee’s uniforms are starting to show signs of excessive wear and fading, who’s going to order new uniforms for them? Will your employee tell you when it’s time for them to get new uniforms or will you have someone inspecting the uniforms to identify when something isn’t meeting your image expectations? Who’s going to pay for these garment upgrades?
  • On-Hand Inventory – When you have employee turnover, are you going to collect the uniforms? Once you collect them, what are you going to do with them? Do you have a place to store them? Who’s going to manage that store inventory? When you hire a new employee, are you going to hire them based on the size of uniform you have available?

This is a small list that represents some of the most important items to consider when deciding between purchasing uniforms and renting uniforms. If you decide to go with renting uniforms, you want to make sure to select a reputable service provider that will take care of all the things in the list above and more. By selecting UniFirst, we make it easy for you. We’ll take care of all the details and work with you throughout the process to ensure everything goes as smooth as possible for you.

How does a uniform rental program work?

This is the best part! A uniform rental program from UniFirst is easy to implement and we take care of everything for you. We’re your one-stop shop to take care of all your uniform needs. We’ll work with you on customizing the image and program process, identify your expectations, and implement a plan to ensure you’re completely satisfied with your decision to select UniFirst as your uniform rental service provider. These steps are a good example of how the program works:

Step 1: You select your garments, colors, and personalization from our catalog offering ranging from standard work uniforms or safety/protective garments all the way to our line of executive wear. Then we’ll schedule a time to come in and measure your employees with sample garments to ensure a proper fit.

Step 2: Once you approve your final selections and we place your order, we’ll schedule a day and time for introducing you to your assigned Route Service Representative (RSR) prior to your initial delivery. Your RSR is part of a Triple-Pro Service Team that is assigned to you from the beginning.

Step 3: On your scheduled initial delivery day, we will bring all the garments to your facility, along with any other items you might have selected from our catalog. We’ll place all the uniforms assigned to your employees in their designated area.
Example: For a 5-day work week, we will assign each employee 11 shirts and 11 pants.

Step 4: Have your employees try on their new uniforms to ensure a proper fit. In the unlikely event that something doesn’t fit, we will take care of making it right at no additional cost to you. If everything fits, your employees can start wearing their new uniforms and representing your company the way you envision.

Step 5: Your assigned RSR will be back the following week to pick up the dirty clothes used during the week. This is a weekly process for pickup and delivery and the reason why your employees are assigned more uniforms than what they would wear in one week.
Example: For a 5-day work week, we should be picking up 5 dirty shirts and 5 dirty pants for each employee.

Step 6: We’ll take the dirty garments back to our ISO-9001 certified laundry facility to clean, finish, and inspect all the garments we picked up. If we find anything that needs attention like a missing button or a small repair, we will take care of this for you prior to your next delivery.

We make the whole process as simple, and easy, as can be.

How much does it cost?

Pricing for a uniform rental program is subjective. Because there are so many options to choose from with fabrics, styles, features, etc., it’s difficult to give an exact price without understanding your program requirements first. The price for a uniform service rental program can range from $4-$15 a week per wearer. On average, it would be less than giving each employee a $0.25 per hour raise. However, you shouldn’t weigh your decision on what it costs per week, per employee, to rent uniforms. At UniFirst, we focus on being the lowest Total Cost of Ownership service provider. This is why we developed our Free VIP Cost Analysis Program® to fully evaluate what you’re doing now and give you the best advice to help save you money on a new program. When factoring in the up-front costs to buy uniforms along with all the labor, time, and energy it takes to manage your own uniform program, you will find it to be more cost-effective by selecting to go with a uniform rental program from UniFirst.

Let us help you with a uniform rental program

Contact us via telephone or by submitting the form. We’ll schedule a time that’s convenient for you to discuss all the benefits of choosing a UniFirst uniform rental program.

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