Alteration tickets: from drop-off to pickup without losing a garment
By Loomton · Updated
A busy alterations shop can have a hundred garments on the rail. Each one has an owner, a promised day and a balance due. The ticket is what connects them, so it has to be written the same way every time.
What every ticket needs
- A ticket number, also written on the tag pinned to each garment
- The customer's name and phone number
- Each garment, what is being done to it, and its price
- Measurements or pin marks, in inches, with halves and quarters
- The pickup date, and "rush" if it was promised early
- The deposit taken and the balance due
Tag the garment, not just the ticket
Pin a tag with the ticket number to every piece, including the jacket of a suit and the pants. When the work is done, hang finished garments in ticket-number order so pickup takes seconds.
Work from the pickup date
Each morning, look at what is due today and tomorrow, and at anything already late. Do those first. Large jobs, such as a wedding dress, need their fitting dates planned backwards from the event.
Move each ticket along the same steps: received, in progress, fitting if it needs one, ready, picked up. Anyone in the shop can then answer "is it ready?"
Close the ticket at pickup
Take the balance, mark the ticket as picked up, and give a receipt that shows the deposit and the final payment. Garments left for weeks are easier to chase when every ticket has a phone number.
