In the winter of 2014, the supermarket chain Morrisons stopped routine window cleaning at its stores from the start of December until early February. The story, reported by The Telegraph, came from an email to cleaning contractors that blamed financial pressures during a difficult trading period.
Morrisons said at the time that customers cared less about windows in the darkest months, that water running off the glass could be a slip hazard in winter, and that it would rather spend the money on maintenance its customers noticed. It said the most visible windows weren’t affected, and normal cleaning would return in the spring.
What it means for your business
Cutting window cleaning is one of the easiest savings to make, because the effect isn’t obvious straight away. But it shows sooner than you might think:
- Low winter sun shows up every smear, and on dark afternoons lit windows are on show for longer.
- Road grime builds up faster in wet weather, so the glass is dirtier by spring and takes longer to put right.
- Customers and visitors notice dirty glass at the entrance before almost anything else.
If you need to save money, there are better options than stopping altogether. Keep the entrance and ground-floor glass on its usual schedule and clean the upper floors less often, or move to a less frequent schedule over the winter. A good contractor will also plan around icy weather, so run-off never becomes a slip hazard.
