Pre-moistened towels are an overlooked option in the cleaning industry. The ready-to-use wipes come in many varieties to handle diverse problems such as cleaning glass surfaces or graffiti removal. But many distributors say that the wipes currently are not big sellers and their growth has been extremely slow over the years.

“[Pre-moistened towels] have a following, but it is not a large percentage of the market,” says Douglas Fink, president of Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Co. in Scranton. “They don’t sell themselves and they are not for everybody.”

Despite their sluggish sales, some distributors believe that pre-moistened towels eventually will have an impact.

“Wipes are a product that I think are going to start taking off,” says Kevin Carlson, president and CEO of Mission Janitorial Supplies in San Diego.

To determine whether pre-moistened towels are a good fit, building service contractors can ask their distributors for a trial run and then weigh the pros and cons to see how useful wipes actually can be for them.

The pro-moistened towel
Pre-moistened towels handle similar tasks to aerosols such as graffiti removal, polishing, stain removal and restroom cleaning, but wipes offer some distinct advantages.

“I see [wipes] taking the place of aerosols because of their convenience, being least expensive and because they are handy,” says Carlson.

One advantage the towels have over aerosols is that they are more thorough in their cleaning. When someone sprays an aerosol cleaner, a lot of the chemical can end up missing the surface. A pre-moistened towel just needs to be wiped across it to ensure complete coverage.

Also, the towels can cost less than aerosols.

“Aerosols are expensive packaging,” says Gary Bright, vice president and general manager for Mission Janitorial Supplies in San Diego. “They aren’t cheap.”

The biggest plus to the wipes is their convenience. BSCs simply have to open the container and pull out a towel. All the tools needed for a job are consolidated into one.

“They come with wipes and product together in a container rather than mixing chemicals,” says Bright. “It’s a turn-key package. There is no peripheral product to use it with.”

The towels are not only ready to use, but the labels clearly indicate where to use them. Most pre-moistened towels are manufactured for a specific job, such as graffiti removal or polishing, among others. BSCs can pull out a wipe and quickly fix a problem.

Another plus for wipes is that they are relatively safe for the end user.

“Most of the chemicals used in wipes won’t cause harm,” says Bright. “They are biodegradable products

and in small concentration levels.”
Even though the towels present little danger, it still is a good safety procedure to wear gloves because there are chemicals in the towels, says Carlson.

“People will use them with their hands and they’ll need to watch out for chemicals,” adds Fred Kfoury, Jr., president and CEO of Central Paper Products Co. in Manchester, N.H.

A limited wipe
Pre-moistened towels make it easy for building service contractors to clean specific areas because they are designed for exact surfaces and tasks, but some people find this pro to actually be a con. Some distributors see the wipes as being too targeted in their cleaning approach.

George Abi-Aad, president of the Royal Paper Corp. in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., says that the pre-moistened towels have limitations which can be problematic for end users because they can prevent multi-tasking.

“They’re part of another system which makes cleaning fragmented,” he says. “You want to make the system easy for the user without redundancy.”

A cleaning system with pre-moistened towels can be redundant in two areas — product stock and training.

Most BSCs already use a multi-purpose cleaner or disinfectant that can be used for a number of tasks and on a number of surfaces. If contractors decide also to use pre-moistened towels for a specific task instead of the multi-purpose solution, they will be doubling up on the same item and doubling the cost of chemicals.

“Somewhere the duplicity of items will have to end,” says Kfoury. “Customers don’t want to duplicate.”

The wipes will also create redundancy when training employees. BSCs will have to train employees how to do wipe tasks and then train them again on how to do other tasks, says Abi-Aad.

Another option is to purchase towels to which users add their own chemicals. The user chooses which chemical to use depending on the task. This may help to reduce duplicate supplies, but it also eliminates the towel’s ability to be ready-to-use.

More general-purpose pre-moistened towels are being introduced into the market; that may help increase their attractiveness. BSCs will be able to use the towels for more than one task and reduce redundancy.

As with most cleaning supplies, a building service contractor will have to watch out for a few precautions when dealing with wipes. First, be careful not to spill the container. There is some chemical in them and it will run out if the container is knocked over, something that won’t happen with an aerosol, adds Fink.

It is important to remember to seal the container when the towels are not being used. If a BSC forgets to put the cap on, the towels can dry up quickly and the solution will crystallize, says Fink.

Finally, the towels are prone to theft. Their small size makes them convenient to carry, but unfortunately, it also makes them easy to steal.

One thing is for certain
While contractors may be uncertain whether or not they want to purchase pre-moistened towels, they can be sure on where to get them. Even though wipes are available in consumer stores, BSCs would get a more suitable product from a distributor.

“Residential versions are much more mild,” says Fink. “Cleaners and wipes are not heavy-duty. They’re one-use and throw away.”

“Retail tends to be more diluted and at a higher cost,” adds Carlson. “It is not as aggressive of a formula.”

The best way to find out if a product works is simply to try it out. If BSCs are curious about adding pre-moistened towels to their supplies, then they should pick up a container or possibly ask their distributor for a sample test. Then they can weigh the pros and cons for themselves.




POSTED ON: 6/1/2003