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the three "c's"

The Three "C's", or "Coat Check Challenges" are Cold, Crunch and Cash. We've given a brief description of these factors below, plus a few more areas that are important considerations for any coat check. You'll see, It really is a science planning and operating a coat check. The "Fourth C" is "Cole, he's the Coat Check King!

Frost

COLD

Weather: This is the single factor driving coat check usage. On warmer days, people rush in without their jackets, (We Are Canadian). On the colder days,everyone wears their coat. There is no way to guess at utilization, and on many of the coat checks we have set, last year’s numbers are meaningless.

Watch Close-up

CRUNCH

Arrival & Departure: Yes, your coat check will only need one person for 200 coats spread out evenly throughout the day. With those same 200 people arriving at 7:30am in the morning for a 7:45am seminar at minus 20 degrees, you will need at least three people to handle the “Crunch”, probably four. And, if the coat check is “Hosted”, (event is paying), everyone, and I mean everyone, will use the coat check, and it had better be fast. Do you want your attendees first impression of your event to be a 20 minute line up to check their coats? 

Dollar Bill in Jar

CASH

Price: If the attendee is paying, they keep their coats. If the event is paying, everyone will use the coat check…and if service is slow or poor, you will see it, and most likely hear about it immediately on social media and after the event.

White Ceiling

THE SPACE

A very tight space for any coat check will literally squeeze the effective utilization of our efficient coat check attendants. In a “tight space”, we can’t move the racks forward and then back during arrivals. We have to race to the “fixed position” racks, race back, and get another item while competing with our own team for aisle space. This takes longer and is less efficient, it will be slower, and therefore require more labour, more people to service.

Frost

LABOUR

Coat check is a labour equation. You need about one person for every 200 items checked. Speed = more labour.Efficiency, also means you have one or two experienced people. Experience does equal efficiency in the coat check business

Office Conference

VOLUME

Attendee Volumes: If we know what is coming, we can plan. If the event plans for 400 coats and that is the space we have set, and we get 800….we have been HIT. The old adage of "Plan for the worst" applies well to the coat check business. 

Flexible Payment Planning

Cash vs. Hosted

Cash or "Cash & Carry" presents other challenges:

 

  1. Service Speed - It is slower – now we must make change for each attendee.

  2. Service Cost - It costs us more as we have to add a “trusted” Associate to keep the cash safe, make change, give receipt cards, and maintain speed. (now we have another person to cover).

  3. Attendee Paid vs. “FREE” – depending on the weather, we will only see a much smaller portion or your attendees paying for the coat check…if it costs them money they will not use it.

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