In nearly six years, less than 1000 Certified Service Providers have been recruited by the CRI/SOA program. But, nearly 700 of them are franchises. ChemDry®, Duraclean®, Guaranteed, Millicare®, Mohawk®, Rainbow®, Sears, ServiceMaster®, Stanley Steemer® and Zero Rez® are some that I recognize. There may be more. Only about 300 independent cleaners out of more than 35,000 in the USA have signed on.
CRI™ is catering to the franchises, no doubt because two of the big mills involved in SOA have franchised cleaning services. CRI has awarded the little Rug Doctor® rental machine its highest "Platinum" rating. Rug Doctor is in the business of taking business from professional cleaners. And now big, bad Home Depot® owns the Chemdry franchise. What a surprise!
As the old accountant says, "Follow the money!" The current crop of associations and trade magazines have sold out the independent carpet cleaner to big business. Maybe it's time for independent carpet cleaners to organize. How about some of you young chargers stepping up and running with this idea before it's too late? Or, at least be like the Tea Party and protest a little.
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