Another diaper service dissapears...

[signsing]

I am in trasition moving and am currently staying at my mom's until I find a new apt. My mother wanted to get a diaper service for this transiton time and we called around to find that there is one but doesn't deliver to our area and is going out of business. We treked down to their office to purchase some covers though. My mother was disappointed that there were no colors, just proraps basics.
This has sparked such emotions in me. How sad! I read somewhere that 90% of the pop uses sposies, well 10% is still a large pop in some areas. Why isn't there better marketing and supplies available? I know that when some people see my cloth pockets they are amazed and have no idea that they exist. Why can't diaper services carry fitteds and covers, or all in ones? I mean how easy would that be, all in ones and a service? I think you would have no excuses for using sposies then. I think there could be a major come back if the products were more readily available. I had a need for dipes immediately (major rash problems and a broken washing machine)the other week and couldn't find anything anywhere. All I could find was gerber prefolds and no pins! It took us days to find some pins. Meanwhile I went to the fabric store and bought some fleece and diaper flannel and made up some myself.
I am wondering anyone elses comments on the lack of info and availability of cloth. I am feeling a huge burden to try and make my own dipes to sell locally. I just don't know what venue to use, and I've never been really taught how to sew, I'm pretty self taught. I just feel like I should really be doing something to help promote cloth in my community.

Thanks for listening.
Betsey
Buddy's Mamma 6-10-2003

[daisymommy]

You are so sweet, and such a good Mama! I hear you on the whole issue of there not being CD's or even service available for people to know about it. There isn't a service close enough to me either (not that I need to use one, but a freind did, and it just wasn't an option for her). Even my DH has commented how sad it is that you cannot buy soft cute diapers in baby stores like Babies-R-Us, because if you could get ahold of the good stuff, even good prefolds and nicer covers, Snappis maybe, many more people might think twice about throwing away their money on sposies! But as it is now, what choice do people have unless they know someone who can teach them about cloth (I never had that), or find out about these online message boards (most people never will).

I took some Fuzzi-Bunz to a kids clothing store the other day to find some cute matching shirts to go with them. The sales lady asked me what they were, and when I told her they were cloth diapers, her jaw hit the floor. She was so excited, touching them, running her hands over the soft fleece, and trying out the snaps. She commented how totally different they were than her kids pins and plastic pants, and why wouldn't somebody want to put cloth on their kids? Then she spent the next 20 minutes having fun help pick out shirts to go with my Fuzzi Bunz :)

[kitmama]

I am so with you on this. I simply can't believe that if more people saw the wonderful, easy products there are available for cloth diapering, they wouldn't drop sposies in a heartbeat. Snappis alone are enough to drop jaws around here! People get so excited about that little innovation- if I carried my fitteds around with me, imagine how amazed they'd be! (Maybe I should put the Elbee or a Sugarpeas in my diaper bag to really show off!) :) It really makes me sad that people are so resistant to cloth diapering, when it's so simple and fun- and so much better for the environment!

Wouldn't it be nice if a national baby/children's products chain started carrying good cloth diaper supplies? It would raise awareness that this is a very viable option! Even boutique stores could help. . .

[papal]

I agree! I do wish there was more awareness.. like Amy said, everytime someone sees our dipes, they are amazed at how cute they are! And the Snappi always starts a conversation...everyone says they dislike pins... snappi,.applix and snaps make them oooh and aahh! :)
Even in our childbirth preparation class the teacher just showed us some gerber prefolds and plasticy pull-up pants and kind of glossed over them. I wanted to raise my hand and tell the class about all the other options out there.. but i was too shy.

Anyway, i think the disposable diaper lobby is a VERY strong one, i doubt they would let something like IPFs enter into a BrU... but boutique stores should definitely carry them.. i do wish there were places IRL that we could go buy dipes.. that would be so cool!

[nitaghei]

>
>I took some Fuzzi-Bunz to a kids clothing store the other day
>to find some cute matching shirts to go with them. The sales
>lady asked me what they were, and when I told her they were
>cloth diapers, her jaw hit the floor. She was so excited,
>touching them, running her hands over the soft fleece, and
>trying out the snaps. She commented how totally different
>they were than her kids pins and plastic pants, and why
>wouldn't somebody want to put cloth on their kids?
>

Isn't that the truth? I showed a parent a Daisy-Doodle the other day - and got a similar reaction - "WOW - *that's* a cloth diaper?!"

People at daycare couldn't imagine anything like FBs or AIOs when I wanted to use CDs there. There was a stream of caregivers coming in to check out DS's CDs when we first started. And now his caregiver is comfortable even with the snaps of the FBs (though she still prefers the Babyblankets).

I also pointed out to the parent it was a lot cheaper to CD than use disposables (well - as long as you stay out of this forum! :) ).

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[new_mommy25]

It would be awesome if national services started carrying diaper supplies. They could carry Mass produced items like Motherease, Fuzzibunz, Kissaluvs etc.

There are lots of boutiques that sell cloth. However they are always Under the Nile and Kooshies. In Seattle there was a great consignment store that I used to buy/sell diapers. I've actually been thnking a lot of opening up a childrens consignment store where I live now because there is a serious lack.

[kijip]

I keep my eyes open now for cloth diapers at the local resale shops. Since we are new to cloth diapering on our own (1st Diaper service plus prowraps and then paper and now washing our own cloth) I have not figured out the best places yet. Any tips for a fellow Seattle parent on best resale shops? Thanks in advance!

[kijip]

Originally ,we stopped cloth diapering after about 4 months since we were using a diaper service ($68 per month) and pretty sorry covers (at least they were not the right fit for our son) obtained from the diaper service company. Had we known that there were other diapers available that were good but not $25 each set we would have likely stayed with cloth. We just started back with cloth (washing at home) and I love the selection I have found on-line. It occurs to me that if the local diaper service would offer the choice of contours or fitted in addition to prefolds they would make sweet $$$. The prefolds just are not what everyone likes, especially early on.

[kitmama]

"It occures to me that if the local diaper service would offer the choice of contours or fitted in addition to prefolds they would make sweet $$$."

You're probably right, but (at least around here) the diaper services are struggling to keep their heads above water. Almost NOBODY uses them. I imagine they are unable to invest in a good supply of contours or fitteds- and even then, may be wary of people stealing or seriously damaging them. There is only one diaper service left in all of Atlanta, and the company I'm using is actually a general laundry service based out of Athens (a college town about an hour outside of Atlanta). They have a diaper service, but most of their business is with other linens.

I don't know if diaper services in other parts of the country would be in a better position to experiment- if they are, and they tried it, then maybe word would start to spread. Otherwise, I guess the best bet is probably word-of-mouth.

[kijip]

Cloth diaper services (yes there are more than one!) in my city seem fairly well used. 5 or 6 out of 7 families in my parent group used cloth from a service to start. The place I work deals with a lot of parents and a lot are cloth diaper service clients at least for a few months...

The best way for them to expand market share and make more money would be to appeal to non-cloth users or those that get discouraged by prefolds earlier on. At the VERY least they could sell nicer covers and supplies to be used with their service diapers. I was offered 1 kind of cover (that did not work for us) and when I called to look for others was told that the ones they sold were the very best they were. No help looking for covers that work. At nearly $70 a month for rented prefolds plus the investment in not so great covers, using the service did not seem like a great choice $wise or leakage wise. I am much happier washing my own at home now (so far!), but the 7-8 months we were in disposibles were cheaper and neater than the 4 diaper service months.

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

ya know granitesmith on Ebay use to have a service, she said that folks didn't pay the bill etc... it was sad when she told me how difficult it was...
Neve
http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan
AKA "mama2be"-forgot password
and Baby Boy Tristan born @UNC
Feb 25, 2003
Brother to 3 pups "gees" and 2 kitties

[kitmama]

$70 per month?? OUCH. No wonder the services around here aren't making money- mine costs me $30 per month. It doesn't include covers, but STILL . . .

I'm glad to hear there are regions where diaper services are more commonly used. And you're absolutely right- if a service wants to expand business, probably the best way to go about doing so would be to woo new customers (and hold on to the ones they already have). I was just pointing out a possible reason why services haven't jumped on this possibility before- being a small business owner myself, I can understand being in a pinch and being wary of investing money where you may or may not get a return.

[kijip]

I totally agree. It runs a huge risk of loss. But it would be great if it worked...the bigger the possible returns, the bigger the risk.

I only wish the service had sold better covers or had more options for sale. There is diaper service competition in Seattle so maybe we will see some changes. With disposibles having such a huge portion of the market any diaper service is going to have a limited market and likely not generate huge returns. Like the original poster said..it is sad!