There is a long-held debate that crosses many different industries: should your business go for direct sale or enroll in a rental program?
On the one hand, you have a very straightforward, one-time transaction; on the other, you have the opportunity to build a lasting partnership that offers you a myriad of product and service options that direct sale can’t offer you. Which option should you utilize for your business?
If you’re one of the many company owners that can’t make a definite decision on this, we’ve put together a concise comparison of direct sale vs. rental.
Direct Sale Advantages
Interested in direct sale purchases? These reasons might want to make you pursue it!
- Full ownership of items. With direct sale, you get to own all the items that you buy which means you have the full liberty to decide whatever you want to do with your items.
- One-time payment = long-term savings. Items purchased in bulk via direct sale means that you are in no way burdened by regularly recurring costs for rental and maintenance. Though the costs of direct sale purchases may seem a little steep, this is a one-time occurrence and will likely be a smaller amount than you would have paid for rentals for the same usage period.
- No contract lock-ins. Direct sale purchases mean that you are in no way hampered by any contractual obligations and your relationship with your vendor starts and ends with every delivery of goods. If you’re happy with your service/goods provider, you can always sign up for the service again; and if you’re not happy, you can easily move on to another vendor without having to worry about fees, fines, and other issues commonly associated with contract breaches.
Rental Advantages
Renting offers you options and advantages that are a little hard to resist!
- No upfront costs. Renting saves you from the enormous costs that come with bulk direct purchases. You get the freedom of only ever having to pay for goods and services that you need in a given period without buying a large volume of items that you may or may not use. With lower capital requirements, renting is easily the more accessible option especially for smaller and starting businesses.
- Includes maintenance and repairs. Renting gives you the advantage of having someone to run to for proper maintenance and repairs. And because these companies are experts in the textile rental industry, you are guaranteed professional results if you choose a quality provider.
- Fewer storage requirements. When you rent your linens and uniforms, you will get a regularly scheduled delivery of goods, in the amount that matches your predicted need for said period. This means that you will not have to find (or build) space to store a large volume of items that you may or may not use.
Should you rent or buy?
If there’s one thing that we’ve learned in all our years in the business, it is this: different business needs require different solutions – and this principle holds true in the question of buying direct sales vs. renting. There is not an exact, universal, one-size-fits-all solution for businesses.
What matters most in these things is this: that you work with a service provider that has expertise, excellence in product selection, and consistency in delivery of goods and services whether it’s through direct sale or rental programs. What you need is a company like Superior Linen Service!
Explore our direct sale and rental options for your business today by calling 855-372-2869!
