Glossary
Uniform Rental Services
A"A" Grade Garment - These are brand new uniforms that have not previously been issued to another customer.Abuse, Damage or Ruin Charges - These are charges for merchandise which was either deliberately ruined or damaged beyond normal wear and tear. Uniform companies will frequently attempt to assess these charges for uniforms that are simply worn out. This is a key revenue driver for uniform companies and a large variable in customer billing.Automatic Replacement Percentage (ARPL) or Inventory Maintenance (IM) - This is a percent of the inventory that will be charged automatically to the customer each delivery for replacement of a specific inventory of merchandise. The intent is to cover merchandise that is regularly lost. The percentage may or may not accurately reflect true loss rates. This can be another revenue driver and large variable to customer billing.
B"B" Grade Garment - These uniforms have been previously issued to another customer. They should be in good and usable condition.Blend - This is a term associated with garments that are a blend of two or more fabrics. Generally, is it used to describe a 65% polyester/35% cotton garment. These are the most common uniforms.Branch, Depot or Satellite - This is a uniform provider location that does not process merchandise. These are typically outposts where clean merchandise is delivered by the processing plant and soiled merchandise is picked up. This enables the uniform provider to extend their service territory. The service provided by a branch is typically not as reliable as service provided directly from a processing plant due to complications related to product availability and turnaround time.
C"C" Garment - These uniforms are damaged beyond industry standards. They may be used in high damage environments to reduce overall cost. For example, a company that works with adhesives that will ruin every garment may elect to use “C” garments to avoid damage charges.Change Rate - Contractual pricing based on a change of garments, not the total inventory. I.E. An employee is assigned 11 shirts, but only billed for 5 changes. This unit rate for a per-change program is higher than the unit rates for a per-piece program.Changes - This is the number of workdays for a given employee that need to be covered by the uniform program. If an employee works 5 days, this employee will be given an inventory providing for 5 “changes” of uniforms for his rental program.Cloth Roll Towel (CRT) or Long Continuous Towel (LCT) - These are cloth towels typically used to dry hands in the restroom of a manufacturing environment.Cotton - This term is generally used to describe a garment that is 100% cotton. These uniforms are used in a heavy manufacturing environment, where 65/35 blend garments will not be safe.Customer Owned Good (COG) or Not Our Goods (NOG) - These are items the customer owns and turn in to the uniform company for cleaning. Charges for cleaning COG or NOG products are assessed on a per-item-cleaned basis.
DDamage - See “Abuse.”Depot - See “Branch.”Direct Sale Products - These are items purchased outright—and not rented—by the customer.District Manager (DM), Route Manager (RM) or Service Manager (SM) - Uniform Rental - This is the direct supervisor of the delivery personnel for the uniform provider.Driver, Route Sales Representative (RSR) or Service Sales Representative (SSR) - This is the person that makes the weekly deliveries to the customer and is generally responsible for servicing the account.
EEmblem - This is the common term for a name tag or a company logo that is sewn on the chest of uniforms.Emblem Charge - These are the fees assessed to purchase and apply name tags (name emblems) or company logo’s (company emblem.Environmental Charge, Fuel Surcharge, Service Charge or Wastewater Charge - Uniform Rental - These are various fees assessed by uniform providers to cover items such as gas, utilities and wastewater fluctuations. This is a key revenue driver for the providers and a potentially large variable to a customer’s overall cost.Evergreen, Auto-renewal, or Rollover clause - This is a clause in the agreement that can automatically extend a contract beyond the initial end date. Beware—standard uniform agreements contain automatic renewal provisions for successive and perpetual renewal periods equal to the initial term, typically 60 months.Exchanges or Size Changes - This is a request from a uniform wearer to change the size, color or style of existing garments. It requires the uniform provider to order a complete new set of garments. This is costly for uniform suppliers, and they typically drag their feet in providing this service that is supposed to be a part of a standard rental program.
FFacilities Services Products (FS) - These are products such as mats, mops, shop towels and other products supplier by uniform vendors which are not garments or linen.Flame-Resistant Clothing (FRC) or Flame-Resistant Garment (FRG) - This is a request from a uniform wearer to change the size, color or style of existing garments. It requires the uniform provider to order a complete new set of garments. This is costly for uniform suppliers, and they typically drag their feet in providing this service that is supposed to be a part of a standard rental program.Flat Rate - Uniform Rental - This is a flat fee assessed for a particular inventory of clothing. If a contract calls for a change rate of $1.00 and an employee has 5 changes, you may see a flat rate of $5.00 on the invoice.Fuel Surcharge - Uniform Rental - See “Environmental Charge.”
GGeneral Manager (GM) - Uniform Rental - This individual is typically the head of the supplier’s processing operation and is the supervisor of the managers who oversee the delivery personnel and the production facility.
IID Tape - This is a tag pressed onto the garment which identifies the route number, the account number and the employee number.Inventory Maintenance (IM) - See “Automatic Replacement Percentage.”Item Code - This is an alpha numeric code that identifies the rental or direct sale item.
LLease Program - This program is designed to provide merchandise to a customer that does not wish to have a cleaning service but also does not wish to manage direct sale inventories. Lease programs typically include include mending, size changes and upgrading. All cleaning of soiled garments is handled by the customer.Liquidated Damages - Uniform Rental - This is a payment of an agreed upon sum of money as damages for breaching a contract. Beware: liquidated damages in standard uniform agreements typically call for a customer to pay the supplier 50% of the average weekly spend times the number of weeks remaining in the contract term.Long Continuous Towel (LCT) - See “Continuous Roll Towel.”Loss Charges - These are charges for merchandise that was lost by the customer. This is another revenue stream for uniform providers and a large variable to customer spend. Merchandise may be “missing,” but it is often very difficult to determine who “lost” the items. Beware: uniform providers will often attempt to assess loss charges for all “missing” items.
NNot Our Goods (NOG) - See “Customer Owned Goods.”
OOversize, Special Size or Undersize Garment Charge - Extra charge for garments that are not standard stock sizes. I.E. a 58×30 pant or a 6XLL shirt.
PPeripheral Charges - Uniform Rental - These are fees outside of standard rental. They include loss, damage, prep, emblem, etc. These create the largest variance and potential increase to a customer invoice. Beware: it is critical that local contacts understand these charges and how they can help control them.Plant or Processing Facility - This is the location where rental merchandise is cleaned and returned to the service representative for delivery.
RRental Program - This most-common program includes full cleaning services, repairs, size changes and upgrading of uniforms throughout a multi-year agreement.Repairs - This is typically associated with mending of garments. I.E. sewing on buttons, patching, repairing belt loops and/or fixing zippers, etc.Replacement - This is a term associated with removal of product that does not meet industry or customer standards and is replaced with a new or like-new item. Beware: uniform suppliers will frequently attempt to impose damage charges even for garments being replaced due to normal wear and tear. Route Manager (RM) - See “District Manager.”Route Sales Representative (RSR) - See “Driver.”Ruin - See “Abuse.”
SSatellite - See “Branch.”Service Charge - See “Environmental Charge.”Service Manager (SM) - See “District Manager.”Service Sales Representative (SSR) - See “Driver.”Shortage - This is a lack of merchandise causing a customer to run out before the next scheduled delivery, i.e., an employee turns in 5 sets of uniforms and only receives 4 sets back from the laundry the following week. This is perhaps the most common service-relate issue in the uniform industry and applies to non-uniform products, too.Size Changes - See “Exchanges.”Special Size Charge - See “Oversize.”
UUndersize Charge - See “Oversize.”
WWastewater Charge - See “Environmental Charge.”
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