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Commitments and Contingencies | 6 Months Ended
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Feb. 28, 2026
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | 9. Commitments and Contingencies The Company and its operations are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations governing, among other things, air emissions, wastewater discharges, and the generation, handling, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes and other substances. In particular, industrial laundries currently use and must properly dispose of detergent wastewater and other residues, and, in the past, used perchloroethylene and other dry-cleaning solvents. The Company is attentive to the environmental concerns surrounding the disposal of these materials and has, through the years, taken measures to avoid their improper disposal. The Company has settled, or contributed to the settlement of, past actions or claims brought against the Company relating to the disposal of hazardous materials at several sites and there can be no assurance that the Company will not have to expend material amounts to remediate the consequences of any such disposal in the future. U.S. GAAP requires that a liability for contingencies be recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine the existence of a liability, as well as the amount to be recorded. The Company regularly consults with attorneys and outside consultants in its consideration of the relevant facts and circumstances before recording a contingent liability. Changes in enacted laws, regulatory orders or decrees, management’s estimates of costs, risk-free interest rates, insurance proceeds, participation by other parties, the timing of payments, the input of the Company’s attorneys and outside consultants or other factual circumstances could have a material impact on the amounts recorded for environmental and other contingent liabilities. There is usually a range of reasonable estimates of the costs associated with each site. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company’s accruals reflect the amount within the range that it believes is the best estimate or the low end of a range of estimates if no point within the range is a better estimate. Where it believes that both the amount of a particular liability and the timing of the payments are reliably determinable, the Company adjusts the cost in current dollars using a rate of 3% for inflation until the time of expected payment and discounts the cost to present value using current risk-free interest rates. As of February 28, 2026, the risk-free interest rates utilized by the Company ranged from 4.57% to 4.64%. For environmental liabilities that have been discounted, the Company includes interest accretion, based on the effective interest method, in selling and administrative expenses on the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income. The changes to the Company’s environmental liabilities for the twenty-six weeks ended February 28, 2026 were as follows (in thousands):
Balance as of August 30, 2025 |  | $ | 30,652 |
Costs incurred for which reserves have been provided |  |  | (746 | )
Insurance proceeds |  |  | (195 | )
Interest accretion |  |  | 702 |
Changes in discount rates |  |  | 530 |
Revisions in estimates |  |  | 9 |
Balance as of February 28, 2026 |  | $ | 30,952 |
Anticipated payments and insurance proceeds of currently identified environmental remediation liabilities as of February 28, 2026, for the next five fiscal years and thereafter, as measured in current dollars, are reflected below (in thousands):
|  | 2026 |  |  | 2027 |  |  | 2028 |  |  | 2029 |  |  | 2030 |  |  | Thereafter |  |  | Total |
Estimated costs – current dollars |  | $ | 15,493 |  |  | $ | 2,067 |  |  | $ | 1,344 |  |  | $ | 1,150 |  |  | $ | 915 |  |  | $ | 14,654 |  |  | $ | 35,623 |
Estimated insurance proceeds |  |  | (181 | ) |  |  | (150 | ) |  |  | (150 | ) |  |  | (150 | ) |  |  | (150 | ) |  |  | — |  |  |  | (781 | )
Net anticipated costs |  | $ | 15,312 |  |  | $ | 1,917 |  |  | $ | 1,194 |  |  | $ | 1,000 |  |  | $ | 765 |  |  | $ | 14,654 |  |  | $ | 34,842 |
Effect of inflation |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 10,041 |
Effect of discounting |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | (13,931 | )
Balance as of February 28, 2026 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | $ | 30,952 |
Estimated insurance proceeds are primarily obtained from an annuity received as part of a legal settlement with an insurance company. Annual proceeds of approximately $0.3 million are deposited into an escrow account which funds remediation and monitoring costs for two sites related to former operations. Annual proceeds received but not expended in the current year accumulate in this account and may be used in future years for costs related to this site through the year 2027. As of February 28, 2026, the balance in this escrow account, which is held in a trust and is not recorded in the Company’s accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, was approximately $5.8 million. Also included in estimated insurance proceeds are amounts the Company is entitled to receive pursuant to legal settlements as reimbursements from three insurance companies for estimated costs at one of its sites. The Company’s nuclear garment decontamination facilities are licensed by respective state agencies, as delegated authority by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the “NRC”) pursuant to the NRC’s Agreement State program and are subject to applicable federal and state radioactive material regulations. In addition, the Company’s international locations (Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union) are regulated by equivalent respective jurisdictional authorities. There can be no assurance that such regulation will not lead to material disruptions in the Company’s garment decontamination business. From time to time, the Company is also subject to legal and regulatory proceedings and claims arising from the conduct of its business operations, including but not limited to, personal injury claims, customer contract matters, employment claims and environmental matters as described above. In addition, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, the Mexican federal tax authority issued a tax assessment on the Company’s subsidiary in Mexico for fiscal 2016 import taxes, value added taxes and custom processing fees of over $17.0 million, plus surcharges, fines and penalties of over $67.7 million for a total assessment of over $84.7 million. The Company challenged the validity of the tax assessment through an appeal process. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the Federal Tax Court in Mexico made a determination partially in the Company's favor. Following the Federal Tax Court’s determination, the Company filed a constitutional action before the Federal Administrative Court. In addition, the federal tax authority appealed the determination of the Federal Tax Court. While the Company is unable to ascertain the ultimate outcome of this matter, based on the information currently available, the Company believes that a loss with respect to this matter is neither probable nor remote. Given the uncertainty associated with the ultimate resolution of this matter, the Company is unable to reasonably assess an estimate or range of estimates of any potential losses. While it is impossible for the Company to ascertain the ultimate legal and financial liability with respect to contingent liabilities, including lawsuits and environmental contingencies, the Company believes that the aggregate amount of such liabilities, if any, in excess of amounts covered by insurance have been properly accrued in accordance with U.S. GAAP. It is possible, however, that the future financial position and/or results of operations for any particular future period could be materially affected by changes in the Company’s assumptions or strategies related to these contingencies or changes out of the Company’s control.

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