Flagged vs Unflagged Brooms

Episode 5.

Ray

Joel, I understand our topic on this piece is flagged versus unflagged brooms.

 

Joel

Yes, Ray, it is. And one of the things that I did not understand early in my career, and I’ve been doing this for well over 40 years now, are the different types of brooms that are out there. And you would just pick up a broom and you would just use it. And sometimes you would say, wow, it was really, really, efficient. And other times you’d say, wow, doing the same job with the same soils, it just didn’t work as well. I’ve taken a lot of classes over the course of times. And it was never really brought to my attention until probably 25 years into working in this industry that there was two different types of broom, and they were called flagged and unflagged. I’m like, Well, what’s the difference? Well, what the difference in them is huge! And what they’re able to is huge, and that’s why it’s out there. And believe it or not, even salespeople selling brooms weren’t telling people, business owners or people in management or supervisory levels, the difference, because all they wanted to do is sell brooms. And would sell the wrong broom for the wrong job, thus needing to sell more brooms the next time they came.

 

Joel

So, what is a flagged broom?

 

Well, a flagged broom is a splintered look to the end of the broom itself, and it looks bushy. And it’s a single bristle that’s been burst into several different bristles so that you can sweep up fine particles, such as in a bakery. The powder (the flour). When you’re using an unflagged broom, those bristles are completely smooth. And when you go to try to sweep up something fine like powder, you keep sweeping and sweeping and sweeping and sweeping. Well, we’re in the commercial cleaning industry. This is something that people who maybe have been in business for 10 or more years or that upstart a cleaning company or someone who’s thinking of starting a side hustle and starting a cleaning company that they can work in conjunction with a current job, would need to know because time is money. How many times do you want to be able to sweep up powder and actually get it in one or two strokes of a broom? Or do you want to sit there and try to do it for 15, 20 times and you’re still leaving powder behind on the ground?

 

Ray

That faster is better.

 

Joel

And faster is better. So, when you use a flagged broom, you’re doing it to be able to sweep up fine powders. And you’re going to sweep it in dry areas. You don’t want to use it as a wet because it’ll start to mat down all of the bushy ends, as well as smooth surfaces. You’re never going to be able to use a flagged broom on asphalt because it’s just not going to work as well. Unflagged brooms are good for sweeping up large debris. So, if you’re doing a warehouse or you’re doing a loading dock area. There tends to be large pieces of wood from splintered palettes or pieces of packing tape, cardboard.

 

Ray

Really coarse materials.

 

Joel

Really coarse, large materials. That’s what you’re going to want to use the standard unflagged bristle brushes for.

 

And you can do it in wet conditions. So, if you’re in a restaurant and you have around, usually like the dishwashing machines and the pre-rinse and soaked areas of stuff, the floor gets wet. So, in the middle of the day, when you have to sweep a floor, you don’t want to grab a flagged broom. You’re going to an unflagged broom so that you can sweep up the particles that fall on the floor. And it’s also going to be great for sweeping those rough dock areas or asphalt, maybe concrete that’s porous, it hasn’t been sealed. Things like that inside of a facility or even a manufacturing area. So again, time is money, and having the right tool for the right job is key. Particularly when you are a business owner looking to cut costs. Having the wrong material bristles increase costs dramatically. And this is a material because these things will last about a year, a little longer. With use, the bristles are going to wear out. If the flagged broom starts becoming unflagged, then you need to (get) a replacement.

 

Joel

And the other thing about brooms is people store them incorrectly. They need to be up off the ground. They have to be bristles facing out from the wall because the pressure of having them sit on the ground will curl those bristles and make them less effective when you’re trying to sweep. Or if you hang it up and place the bristles against the wall, again, gravity and the weight will start to turn those bristles again, making them a little less effective. So, you want to lift them up off the ground and you want to turn them bristles out so that the bristles don’t get matted and flattened.

 

Ray

Interesting. Okay. So as far as locating the materials, we’re looking at professional grade equipment. It sounds like an unflag broom is relatively easy to find.

 

Joel

Yes. An unflagged broom is relatively easy. Some of the do it yourself type box stores do have variations when you go down their aisles. But it’s always better to maybe work with a “Jan-San” provider as you start to diverse in types of facilities and have the types of materials at one place that specialize in purchases for our industry.

 

Ray

Well, Joel, another pertinent topic. Who would have thought there were so many variations and needs within rooms, but clearly it is. And thank you for sharing the knowledge today.

 

Joel

You’re welcome. And thank you for the opportunity.