The Cost of Using a Public/ Commerical Washer.

[launderess]

Think the problem for many laundromats is the cost of energy saving devices, such as those being used more and more in commercial laundry settings, is just too expensive for retro-fitting.

From using heat exchangers to recoup heat from AC units, to water reclaim devices that capture heat from drain water and or also filter and recirculate such water, are all VERY expensive to install.

 

[7080swashertalk]

"steve
.......if that leather apron clad portable DW position is open count on my application!!!!!"

I want to apply for that position too. but,
leather makes me break out.

Do I have to wear the apron? ....

 

[appnut]

Taking applications

However, I won't accept applications from slimline portable models. They won't even be allowed to drop off the application. I prefer the rugged, burly, linebacker mdels that have plenty of scrubbing power for the most challenging of occassions, events, cooking marathons!! The std. 24" width models are ehh, possibly passable, but I wonder if there can be resurrected the wider 30" built-in models. Will have to convert to portable. lol

 

[appnut]

Better watch it with those "spank"s.

 

[sudsmaster]

Tropical Y Connectors

Fun fact: on warm summer days the water that initially comes out of the cold water tap in the kitchen is warmer than that coming out of the hot water tap! Reason: The hot water lines are insulated in the crawl and stay cooler as the day warms up. The cold water lines are not insulated and therefore absorb heat during the day.

Of course, once the cold water line starts delivering water from piping underground, it cools down, and of course once hot water from the water heater starts coming out of the tap, it's much hotter than the cold. But every once in a while I have to check the position of the single level kitchen sink faucet to make sure that it's set to 100% cold - it feels so warm.

 

[launderess]

True. True.

Now that summer has arrived in force, it takes running the cold water tap for awhile before nice cold water comes out for making coffee in the morning. Do hate wasting all that water, but fresh "cold" tap water is required for good coffee.

L.

 

[frigilux]

Brita pitcher = fresh, filtered, refrigerated water for coffee, iced tea, waterboarding.

Hi, Launderess! How did the Satina work out?

 

[launderess]

Satina

Have been using it for quite awhile now, and it works a treat. Made a separate post about it.

Won't use it too often as am not sure if it builds up and or leaves residue which will not shift easily during the wash.

L.

 

[launderess]

Filtered Water

Actually is not good for making coffee unless it is fresh.

Water that has been left standing, be it in a pitcher in the fridge or left on the counter,looses oxygen. Oxygen is required for brewing good coffee and tea.

 

[sudsmaster]

Shake it, girl, shake it

Seriously, you can "rejuvenate" stored filtered water by a few good shakes in a half-filled tightly sealed container.

 

[appnut]

"Shake Shake Shake!!! ..... Shake Shake Shake!!!!.... Shake your Brita... Shake your Briiittaa!!!!!"

 

[launderess]

Speaking For Myself, And I Am Unaimous

On this!

It is more than flesh and blood can cope with first thing in the morning to set up the Sunbeam, grind beans, and so forth. Shaking a vessel half full of water, filtered or not just isn't going to happen! *LOL*

L.

 

[peterh770]

"It seems the prices have jumped from $1.25 to $2.00 (a 60% increase) for the smallest sized washer. This is being blamed on the rising cost of energy."

More likely the owner hasn't been bothered keeping up with the industry and thought if he raised his prices on a regular basis, he would loose customers. Now the cost of doing business has surpassed him and he has given his customers sticker shock. My topload washers have been at $2.00 for about a year now. According to the CLA, the average price for a toploader is $1.68 and a double-load FL is $2.00.

 

[launderess]

Common Error

Made by laundrymat and laundry owners is not basing their prices on their own costs and margins, but rather what others are doing.

Better to keep prices in line to ensure healthy margins, and use other methods to keep customers from going to the competition and or attract new ones.

There are small and almost "free" things one can do that will attract and keep customers. Things such as keeping the laundromat clean and well run, providing excellent customer service, offering special deals and promotions, and so forth. How many times have we all heard or even said we go to a certian shop, vendor or use a service even though they are slighly more expensive than the competition, because of things other than price.

Of course with energy prices rising almost daily, it is hard to get a handle on costs as one cannot change prices daily like air-lines, but one needs to know where one's money is going. If you have to take your prices up, just go up and let the other mat owners fend for themselves. Chances are if you have competition that close to your mat, customers already know where you and THEY are, so if they are sticking with your business, that means something is being done right. Bottom feeding customers, always looking for lowest prices are rarely loyal anyway, so you can afford to loose a few of them. Same with customers always looking to nickel and dime you to death (claiming coins didn't register in a machine, arguing over how much a item should cost to launder or weight of an order).

L.

 

[toggleswitch2]

There are small and almost "free" things one can do that will attract and keep customers.

Some not so free, but the penny pinchers will RUN (not walk but RUN) when offered "FREE" detergent and softener or the first coin free for the dryers.

You'd be shocked when you see how many in my area drag home heavy wet just-washed laundry to avoid the dryers.

 

[launderess]

IIRC, laundromats make their money on dryers, thus it quite usual to find one spending more to dry a load of laundry versus washing the same.

Again taking our local as an example; the most expensive front loader is the 40lb or so SQ, however there isn't a corresponding 50lb dryer, so one has to spilt large loads amoung several dryers. Given heating has been turned down and cost increased, it can take anywhere from .75 to 2.00 or above to dry a load, depending upon weight and load size. Multliply that out by either one large washing machine load, and or several smaller loads, and you see where I'm going with this.

Since one does not know the mat owner's costs, cannot know his costs. However the owner of the laundrymat owns the apartment building where the laundry resides. Hot water comes from the same boiler that supplies the apartments. Don't know if cold water comes from the apartment building's main or if there is a separate line.

 

[maytagbear]

"make their money on dryers"

Which is an ADDITIONAL reason for the dwindled number of extractors. Liability IS certainly a valid reason, but so is the customer money an extractor saves!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[peterh770]

No, the money is made on the washers. It cost much less to run a washer than it does a dryer that must maintain 160 to 180 degrees of heat for the duration that the customer uses (except for 2-3 mins of cooldown at the end). And the bigger the washer, the more they make.

 

[toggleswitch2]

I recently passed Cost-Accounting I & II with flying colors.

It's all about profit margins.

The variable costs such as electricity (mostly variable except for lights), gas and water are presuamably easy to price.

It's the applicataion of fixed overhead costs (that DO NOT vary with usage of "product"), such as rent, taxes, telephone service, cleaning, salaries etc. that are where one has to be creative and precise.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Here's an advert. in a neighborhhod in Brooklyn. (Part of NYC, but not "downtown").

In very fine print: "Ater first 8 pounds". (3.6 kg)

Dry-cleanning for a buck (same word as quid: UK) ($1) is a great price. LAUNDERED and pressed mens' shirts are at least $1.25 elsewhere.