In the original submission, I specified a brand-new front-load washer sitting next to an old dryer, but maybe the cartoonist didn't feel the two looked different enough.
An alternate version of the gag would have shown an older character holding a basket of laundry and staring at a modern front-loading washer and dryer pair in bewilderment while a younger relative (perhaps a grandchild) is poking into the laundry room doorway and saying "The washer is the one on the left."
CAPTION: "You're a plugger if you had to ask."