Helping Interstate Moving and Storage Cut Apparel Program Costs and Reduce Administration Effort

When Arthur E. Morrissette started Interstate way back in 1943, he began with one truck, a single dolly, a few furniture pads, and a burning dedication to quality service – which he later trademarked as Top Hat® service. He believed that treating people with respect, working at the highest standard of professionalism, and providing as much value as possible was the only way to do business. At Interstate Moving & Storage, that commitment to their customers still exists today.

For more than 75 years, the company Mr. Morrissette built is dedicated to the notion of old-fashioned courtesy, respect, integrity, professionalism, value, and, of course, their exclusive Top Hat® service. Whether the project is big or small, they come to the table with honesty, kindness, and the desire to make anybody’s move as smooth, seamless, easy, and efficient as possible.

Providing uniforms for those who interact face-to-face with customers is very important to Interstate Moving & Storage. Branded apparel makes uniformity easy for employees, and it gives customers a way to identify Interstate Moving & Storage staff. Beyond that, the uniforms have become an extension of the company’s brand, giving their employees a professional appearance and helping customers associate the incredible service they received with the company providing it.

The company was renting its uniforms from a uniform provider and faced 2 key problems. The first was the amount of time it took for internal staff to manage the program. With more than 100 employees needing uniforms, the individual facilitating the program was spending far too much time managing it day-to-day.

One person was spending 16 hours a week managing the program. They were making sure employees had the right uniforms at the right size and then spent even more time making sure new employees were getting their uniforms. — Ed Mattern, Director of Training, Interstate Moving & Storage 

The second problem for Interstate Moving & Storage was the cost of the program. They were renting the uniforms from their provider and that arrangement came at a high price. There were the monthly rental and cleaning costs, and if uniforms needed to be replaced, there was an upcharge for each new garment. All in all, the company was spending more than $58,000 a year on uniforms and that cost was negatively affecting the bottom line.

Once they had identified the costs and the time involved in renting uniforms, Interstate started looking at the possibility of managing its own uniform program and owning the uniforms outright. That’s when the company contacted ProLine.

ProLine offered the means for Interstate Moving & Storage to own its own program. A big part of that included the ability to order uniforms online, review the history of the uniforms that had been ordered, and use a local provider with very short lead times. In addition, the time and cost savings were significant.

When we compared the two programs, we discovered we could save an estimated 43% of our uniform costs by actually owning the uniforms outright. So naturally, we went with ProLine. — Ed Mattern, Director of Training, Interstate Moving & Storage

Interstate experienced a remarkable improvement almost immediately. ProLine understood the expectations and delivered superior customer service with high-quality uniforms.

Apparelink, the online store, was also a real advantage to Interstate. Now the company could order uniforms in minutes and ProLine would ship them directly to the employee. Interstate could also go back and look at the order history and audit invoices and receive all invoices digitally. Not only did that save time in the office, it also supported the company’s desire to go paperless, and fed right into Interstate’s ISO certification. In less than a year, ProLine and AppareLink helped reduce the 16 hours a week spent managing the uniform program to around 5.

The cost savings were better than the client had estimated. With ProLine’s help, the company was able to save more than $22,000 on their uniform program. That was on top of the time saved administering the program.

We found out that ProLine does a very good job of meeting customer expectations. As far as the quality of the garments, the quality of the service, they provide excellent delivery times. I think delivery times are 98.7% on time. Which is phenomenal. – Ed Mattern, Director of Training, Interstate Moving & Storage

Currently, Interstate Moving & Storage has more than 100 employees in their uniform program. The company continues to rely on ProLine for top-quality uniforms and promotional products. They continue to save time and cost, and receive impeccable customer service from ProLine.