Become A Social Center For Your Laundry’s Neighborhood

One of the most often overlooked benefits of laundry operations is that they almost always become a social center of their neighborhood or community. This is especially true in rural areas and inner city neighborhoods. Laundries are one of the few places today where local residents have a chance to speak with other people who are also living in the area. At one time this became an active idea in the minds of Urban Renewal personnel. They liked the idea of putting in large laundry operations in an upgraded inner city area to help create a greater sense of community. They reasoned that when people start to communicate, they begin to share talk about local concerns and exchange views over what is going on around them. And coin laundries are the perfect place. There is waiting time while the washers wash and the dryers dry. Then there is the time required for folding, during which eye contact and communication between customers is easy, and likely to take place. All of this allows laundry users plenty of time to look around and begin to talk with others also there doing their wash. There is normally a similarity in the socioeconomic background of those using a particular coin laundry. It helps to create a neighborhood spirit with one laundry user at a time making contact with their neighbors. Most people do their wash with almost clock work regularity. They come in to their laundry of choice at about the same time of the day and on the same days of the week, and they almost always use the same washers and dryers if they are available. Therefore, laundry regulars will begin to see each other on the same day at about the same time. They speak to one another and become acquainted. At first, the easiest communication is about the weather, the world situation and what has happened in their area lately. What is of mutual concern includes complaints about local government and its affairs. Then questions follow about each other’s family and how they are getting on, mutual friends, etc. The creation of long term friendships among coin laundry users is not uncommon. What other general class of business is on a par as far as neighborhood problem solving is concerned? Aside from taverns, barber and beauty shops, none comes to mind. However, bars, taverns and such can create problems in their own right. Noise, fights and rowdiness are often products of drinking establishments. Often arguments by those who over imbibe make enemies of neighbors rather than to solidify friendships. Barber and beauty shops don’t get to see their clientele as frequently as a coin laundry does. And, there are usually fewer people there at any one time, so they don’t have the same impact as does a coin laundry. Those of us who are in the coin and card laundry business should really try to promote the value of having a laundry in an area. We help to create a more cohesive and neighborly living environment. While we are making money, we are helping our clientele make new friends, exchange ideas and build a better neighborhood to live and work in. In our properly run coin or card operated laundry, we also provide the people of our area with a pleasant place to come to do a chore they normally look at as being an unpleasant thing to do. We help them pass their time in a safe and friendly environment. That may just be something they do not have, and do not feel where they live. Those who are involved in the urban renewal process have long recognized the importance of having a coin laundry business in a renewal area to raise up a blighted area. Their thought process has been that a well run coin laundry facility allows people in the area to meet and talk. This process makes the area much stronger socially, and provides necessary economic basis for the neighborhood. The laundry industry makes a number of socially significant impacts on people in an area. The first is the health aspects. Without coin laundries what would public health standards be? We help reduce disease by giving our clientele a means to be clean. We are an important asset for the public health of the neighborhood. Laundries are environmentally friendly as well. We use less water and natural gas than would our customers doing wash at home. Add to that the significant contribution to the social welfare benefit in neighborhoods and you have enterprises that are not only good for the area, but profitable for the owner. We all hear about win-win situations. How many industries can boast as many as our laundry industry. We should brag more about it than we do.