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Toggles, is that a card system or a slot for money?   It does look clean and neat.  alr
 
Malcolm, if that's the case, the owner could name it the vey's mir (woe is me) laundry.

Toggle, are coin op laundry operators required by any kind of regulation to provide a minimum hot water temperature to the machines when they are set for a hot fill?
 
Hell on earth!

Yep!

Looking at it I am experiencing aesthetic overload. It's too stylish for me. I'd never be able to go in there wearing my pink dressing gown and fluffy rabbit slippers at 2 am in the morning. No way!
 
too stylish?

Only if your laundry is located in a bathroom.  Looks sterile and cold to me.  And the folding tables are anemic.  The article Joe posted also doesn't sound too complimentary, especially reading the follow-up comments after the main body.
 
Stylish is not how I would describe it

Cold, clinical, and sterile are words coming to my mind.  For me, a laundry lounge conjures up visions of comfy sofas, mood music and a fireplace.  I can see that certain types of people would find such a place as this attractive.  Those who appreciate spartan simplicity and the "look" of technology would like the atmosphere of a science lab,  but that laundromat looks to me like one might be expected to don scrubs and a face mask before entering.   Maybe because I have never needed to use a laundromat my perspective is slightly skewed.
 
Confession time!

I don't own a pink dressing gown or fluffy rabbit slippers (yet). Nor would I go to any laundromat in NYC or anywhere else, to do my laundry at 2 in the morning. Unless, of course, I was on the prowl for crack or non-consensual sex (which I think might be fun when I am an octogenarian).

To the above I'd wear a white jump suit, surgical mask and latex gloves.
 
24-Hour Laundromats

Are common enough here in NYC indeed there are several in Manhattan including two in our area and one somewhere in Harlem.

Most laundromats are open only from say 7AM to 9PM M-F and shorter hours on the weekends. Well those hours may suit someone who is home all day but others have things to do. Most set their last wash times for around 1-1/2 to two hours before closing so the last in will most certainly be out by closing.

Both of the 24/7 laundromats in our area use card systems rather than coins. One pays at a central (and very heavy/bolted) "ATM" with one's debit or credit card to put money onto a card. This card in turn is used to pay for washing machines and dryers. One can either refill said cards or purchase another.

Self serve laundromats of any kind are becoming a dying breed in many parts of NYC for several reasons. First of course is the high cost of real estate and operating costs versus what one can make back in revenue. The other is most persons often prefer "wash and fold" service. However this causes a problem for a laundromat. If customers take up too many washers/dryers that means there are that many less for doing fluff and fold.

Here in NY laundromat owners pay for water twice, once as fresh water then again for sewage, so there is another cost. Considering NY's high rates for electric and gas you kind of get the picture. Most every laundromat one has seen is either fully staffed by "immigrants" and if not owned by them and the family works it's last daily breath to make a go of things.

When Maytag launched their 'Neptune' line of washers and dryers they also franchised out coin-op laundries with all their equipment. There was one in East Harlem but do not know if it is still here and or has the original equipment.

More and more apartment, condo and co-op dwellers are insisting on their own laundry appliance hook-ups, and developers are listening. It is really the older housing stock (of which NYC has much of) there washers in particular pose problems as the plumbing wasn't designed to handle such things. Even in fancy older co-op buildings there can be wars about installing machines. Many buildings of all manner and sort have laundry rooms and would prefer persons use those (and we all know why), but some people just have a "thing" about using any public laundry equipment and or having to leave the comfort of their own home.
 
Washaterias (what coin ops are called in this part of the country) are becoming scarce. There is only 1 within 10 miles of my house. The Chinese people who operate it keep it pretty clean and offer CNN or Oprah on the 3 flat screens but seating is limited. There are only 4 chairs in the entire place. Most people put their wash in and then hang out by their cars until it's time to move it all to the dryers.

If I want hot water it's best to get there when they first open. After noon it seems like "hot" is only about 110F.
 
Ever Since The Days Of Laundry Being "Sent Out"

Either to a launderess or later various sorts of commercial laundries the public has had a love hate realtionship with public "wash houses".

In the days when wash day involved major upheaval of the household and much effort on Her Indoors (and or any other female in the house)many were quite happy to get the thing out of their houses. Later as modern laundry equipment evolved but wasn't affordable or accessible by the general population at large, many were happy for laundromats and or still used laundry services.

However as the nature of how germs and disease were spread more housewives and others became concerned about the promiscuous mixing of all manner and sort of laundry at public services. For instance many laundresses and or such services would either refuse to take washing from a home where an infectious disease (scarlett fever, diptheria, flue, etc) was or recently present. OTHO some would and not tell their other customers or the household itself would not disclose the information for fear of their order being turned down.

If one examines early advertisments for laundry equipment they make much use of two claims; one they would dispense with the need to send wash out and thus preserve the health of Madame's household. The other was saving either Madame or whomever was going to do the wash (maid or laundress) undue effort or strain.

Unless one has inexpensive water, fuel and real estate costs running a laundromat can be a money draining business. All that equipment must be paid for even if it's sitting idle. OTOH one can only charge rates that customers are willing to pay.
 
Don't look that good to me, if you ask me plastic paddles isn't very good for a professional washing machines, a heavy used machine, that will probably end up washing a lot of coins that people forget to take out there clothes, I don't see them lasting, compared to the other laundrette machines, here in uk to be honest!
 

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