Dry cleaner endorsements & awards: Does your dry cleaner pay to play?

RAVE FabriCARE is the only dry cleaner in Arizona and one of the very few dry cleaners in the USA recognized as one of the nation’s premier dry cleaners by non-compensated, independent, authoritative third parties.

We earned those endorsements from bespoke tailors, bespoke shirt makers and bloggers who opine on classic garments by serving those clients and delivering, on a consistent basis, extraordinary care for their personal garments.

At RAVE FabriCARE, we don’t pay for these endorsements.

And, unlike other cleaners, we don’t buy our “awards”.

That’s right, a payment of approximately $500 per month to a marketing organization masquerading as a standards organization will buy you the right to claim that you were “voted” or “selected” as “one of America’s best cleaners” for (fill in a number) years running, or as “one of America’s finest cleaners” for (fill in a number) years running, or as “one of America’s (fill in an adjective) cleaners" for (fill in a number) years running.

Membership is available to almost any dry cleaner able to project a little customer service lobby and packaging glitz and willing to write a check – irrespective of the quality and consistency of the product they deliver.

These “awards” are very similar to those advertisements littering every airline magazine, proclaiming those listed in the advertisement as “America’s Leading Spine Surgeons”,  “America’s Best Seafood Restaurants” and “America’s Best Bed & Breakfasts”.

And, if you don’t believe that these organizations are primarily marketing organizations, pay close attention to the composition of their membership – mostly ordinary (middle market) cleaners and wannabe (illusion) cleaners who offer relatively cheap prices and quick turnaround and who are looking for a competitive crutch to differentiate themselves from the competition.