Uniform Allotment vs. Uniform Allowance
Budgeting for Company Uniforms 
Whether you are a government entity or a private concern one thing all uniform programs have in common is a budget. Allotment and allowance features are great budget tools for the employees, but not always for you, if you are the manager assigned to oversee the program logistics. Our job as a uniform supplier is to make your job easier. Uniform programs can be simple or complex…every customer has a unique set of requirements. At Image Connection, we are customer focused, working hard to make our system fit your requirements, not the reverse. We are technology driven, creating solutions where none exist. Our company is large enough to meet your needs and small enough to implement changes.
While many programs have common features, no two programs have identical needs. Below I have outlined some of the budgeting tools included in our Image365™ software we have developed to help manage programs. All our software is built from the ground up specifically for program management. We haven’t tried to manipulate the coupon feature or some other tool in random shopping cart software and sell it as an allotment tool…as some companies may do. Here are explanations of our most common tools, so you can decide which may work best for you.
Uniform Allotment
This refers to a program where employees are given a specific number of uniform pieces over a given time frame. Commonly employees are assigned a specific number of each type of uniform piece. For example 5 shirts, 5 pants, 1 jacket. Depending on the program these may have to be ordered all at once or over the course of a specific time frame. This type of program accounts for differences in prices for different sizes, and often different job classifications may get more or less uniforms depending on the demands of the position. It may also change with time. New employees may get 5 shirts and 5 pants, but after a year maybe only 3 of each are issued.
This is usually a set dollar amount for a specific time period, generally 1 year. Some programs renew at a specific time every year based on a budget (usually Jan. 1 or the beginning of a fiscal year), and some renew every year based on an employee’s hiring anniversary. Programs may have a “use it or lose it” feature where the amounts are re-set to a specific amount annually, or additional money may be “added on”, where any unused allowance money remains in the account and more money is added at the renewal date.
You can image that from a program management standpoint some of these requirements are easier to manage than others. One of our newest program customers had some pretty interesting requirements:
This company has over 500 employees in 8 different job categories. Each category gets a different allotment for new employees. Allotments may be for 2-4 garment types depending on the job. After 1 year of employment any unused allotment pieces are eliminated and replaced with a set dollar allowance, which is different for each job classification. In subsequent years on the employees’ anniversary, a lesser amount is added to the uniform allowance. Again, the amounts are different for each job category. We inherited this program mid-stream, where most of the allotment and allowance amounts were partially used. Quite an achievement from our programmer to flawlessly import the data for us to take over servicing this program. I offer this as an example of making our system fit the customer needs.
While we had many of the needed features in our software already, we undertook the additional programming needed to exactly service this program, as we felt many of these features could be common to others. Whatever your program requirements contact us to discuss your need at 866-250-3676 or by email at programs@imageconnection.net .