Hand Dryers: No Longer the Hot Wave of the Future?

Hand dryers are seen everywhere: in schools, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, factories, public restrooms, truck stops and more, and are said to offer many advantages over paper and cloth towels.

So does that mean the average jan/san distributor sells a lot of these items? Not really. The distributors SM spoke with say the market for hand dryers is a small one.

In fact, according to Daniel Ellis III, general manager of Camelback Janitor Supply Inc., Phoenix, hand dryer sales are so low that it isn’t even worth his time to figure out the exact percentage.

“Hand dryer sales are not a significant part of my business — they might not even add up to one percent,” he says.

Undeniable Benefits
Although sales of hand dryers are relatively low, many distributors will agree that they do offer many benefits.

In general, many manufacturers and distributors agree that hand dryers help eliminate paper towel waste, labor, vandalism and messes.

“Hand dryers can achieve 90 percent cost savings over paper towels,” according to one hand dryer manufacturer that SM interviewed.

According to those who favor hand dryers, cost savings are just one benefit hand dryers offer. Automatic hand dryers also offer the advantage of conserving energy and water, so both the end users and building owners benefit. To them, paper towels are seen as unnecessary and costly. Environmentally, hand dryers provide an alternative that helps facilties reduce waste and reduce the cost of labor to dispose of it.

SM reported last June about the advantages of hand dryers. In the article, “Touchless Washrooms Offer Many Benefits,” the authors discuss similar benefits to those mentioned above:

“These systems allow for hand drying using a set amount of heat and, thus, energy. Benefits to cleaners are that there is no paper towel waste in the restroom and no dispenser to restock. Also, the dryer needs minimal cleaning, since the user doesn’t touch the fixture to operate it,” Alan S. and Linda B. Bigger wrote.

Another big point that distributors emphasize when selling hand dryers is the cost savings the machines offer. Whereas a building owner might have to buy many cases of paper towels, a hand dryer is a one-time purchase.

A hand dryer’s price might start somewhere around the range of $400, whereas a case of paper towels might be about $25 multiplied by number of cases — 30 cases would cost $675.

“Once a hand dryer is installed, it is virtually free to run,” says Ellis. Hand dryers use very little electricity so operating costs are minimal, he adds.

“On average, it might cost a restaurant about $38 annually to run its hand dryers,” one hand dryer manufacturer says. Therefore, that same building that spent close to $700 on paper towels could have saved $637 by buying a hand dryer.

Repeat Sales with Paper
If hand dryers offer many advantages over paper products, why are distributors selling so few? One main reason: customers are reluctant to switch. That is exactly the case with Cleanway Sanitary Supply’s customers, says Joseph D’Angelo, owner of the Bakersfield, Calif.-based company.

“Most people want towels because they feel they do a better job drying hands,” he says. His customers are not the only ones who feel that way.
“Hand dryers serve a good purpose, but I think most customers don’t like them. They feel that paper towels do a better job,” says Ellis.

However, even though Cleanway’s hand dryer sales have not increased over the years, D’Angelo does not push the sale of them for one reason: repeat sales.

“We could increase our sales, but we don’t push hand dryers because we want repeat business with towels,” says D’Angelo.

Camelback Supply has a similar selling philosophy. He explains they never try to sell a hand dryer to an existing customer.

“We really aren’t marketing these products — we sell them if the customer is interested,” Ellis says.

Hand Dryers Do Sell
Although many established facilities do not buy hand dryers, it is much more common for new facilities to purchase hand dryers, explains D’Angelo.

Hand dryers are sold as a washroom package when buildings are newly constructed, agrees Ellis.

“Also there is no extra cost or labor involved like there is when replacing towels,” he says.

Oftentimes a facility might have both cloth or paper towels and an automatic hand dryer. Some by choice, and some by necessity.

Many institutions put in hand dryers first, then later add a towel dispenser, according to Ellis.

“Although places like movie theaters most likely have both types of hand drying because they get busy all at once during certain times,” he adds.

Other buildings that often install hand dryers are hospitals and schools. Hand dryers offer sanitary health benefits for those facilities as well as other benefits like less mess.

“With dryers there are not vandalism problems in certain places, like schools where kids start paper on fire or clog toilets,” D’Angelo says.

Ellis agrees. “Vandalism is a big issue for places like roadside restrooms, restrooms in fast food restaurants or on golf courses because workers are not able to get there often enough to refill paper and to control the litter.”

When selling hand dryers, Ellis talks to his customers about warranties. Hand dryers offer excellent warranties and usually last a long time. Infrequent replacement cuts down drastically on costs, he says.

Such advantages are brought up when selling to interested customers. Ellis will also discuss labor saving advantages such as not having to empty the trash as much or not having to constantly replace towels.

The Green Solution
Many manufacturers say that hand dryers are a great way to protect the environment. For example, they say that paper mills must use chemicals to cleanse the pulp used to make towels. And although paper towels can be made from recycled materials, they can’t be recycled.

Therefore, use of paper towels creates landfill waste and causes many trees to be cut down.

Hand dryers, on the other hand, will help cut down on paper waste and chemical pollutants.

Even though these are common agruments against paper towels, many distributors are not seeing too many worried end users.

“I haven’t heard of many, if any, environmental concerns regarding paper products,” says D’Angelo.

Drier Hands for All
What is the best advice a distributor can offer a customer? Consider all the advantages for both automatic dryers and towel products before making a purchase, including who the building services, its location and schedules of cleaning staff. That way the end user, the building operator and distributor all come out of a sale having benefited.