As the laundry industry began, just at the end of World War II, times were different. There was less vandalism, and crime was not really the kind of worry it seems to be for most Americans today. Automatic or Service laundries were staffed with attendants to do customer’s wash. For the most part, they did the wash and dry for customers.

Even in those days, the cost for having employees was considered too high and a cost that needed to be reduced.

Unattended coin laundries started to be widely sold as a business investment, because that took little personal time or labor. This marketing idea brought investor owners into the business. During that period of time, the word in the industry was: Keep it clean, keep it well lit at night and keep your machines in good working order and if you do those things you can not fail.

We learned over the years that while this axiom may be basically true, there are lots of other factors involved as well. Perhaps the most important factor is the location.

With the passing of time, many owners of unattended laundries began to feel the need to offer additional services, and added personnel, hoping to raise income and to reduce vandalism.

The trend continues, and today one of the most accepted wisdoms in the laundry industry is that having attendants on duty is safer and better.

Newer, larger coin laundries can support having employees. The population has grown used to receiving services while at the laundry. Rising costs have forced owners to add other services in order to stay competitive.

Why is it that some laundries do so well without having attendants?

Just as one shoe can’t fit all people, one style of laundry won’t work everywhere it is tried. In certain locations there may be too little need for drop off laundry or dry cleaning service. The owners of such laundries, when they add employees, have to pay their wages out of the coin boxes alone. In most small operations, there’s not enough coin box cash flow to allow paying wages plus any additional expenses that are incurred by offering services.

In rural areas and in less affluent, perhaps blighted, urban areas, many older types of laundries are too small, too restricted in space, or too close together to be able to offer -services such as drop off cleaning or fluff & fold and still have any real prospects for success

In some cases there just isn’t enough room in the laundry to have an employee station, and if there is, there could be too much competition nearby to make offering those services profitable for a laundry.

Even in cases where a laundry location could support offering services and paying wages, some owners don’t want to be bothered with the costs, paperwork, hassles and the worries of having employees at all.

 

Successful unattended coin or card operated laundries all seem to have certain things in common. They are in areas that need a coin laundry. They are clean and well kept. The equipment is reliable and, while not attended, they all seem to be well managed.

Someone is there frequently enough so customers learn who they are and know they can be relied on. When machines fail, and no one is there, customers know they can leave a note or fill out an out of order card and know they will get their refund.

In other words, the laundry’s clientele can have confidence that they are safe, the machines work, and even if they occasionally malfunction and don’t work, a prompt refund will be forthcoming.

Cleanliness, lighting and atmosphere are vital for unattended laundries. In order to draw in enough customers to make money, they have to look nicer, be better equipped and feel safer than competitive establishments in the area. Contributing to the feeling of safety and personal security is the laundry having good lighting at night and being busy enough where customers do not feel too alone.

Over the years a feeling of security by customers has become ever more important to a laundry’s success. So much so that laundry owners have found that having on site security cameras in the laundry, with back up tapes, helps keep their clientele feeling secure. When customers don’t feel safe, they won’t come, they will go elsewhere.

Cameras also help prevent theft of clothing, and they help deter false insurance claims. Being watched keeps people on their best behavior, because no one wants to be seen and recognized trashing the premises or damaging machines.

Proper instruction signs are also a must for unattended laundry owners who plan to be successful. The signs should offer instructions on how to load machines, and how to get them started. These instructions help prevent customer frustration when a washer or dryer fails to perform as the user thinks it should. Otherwise they will put an out of order tag on it and make a claim for a refund. The machine then sits idle until someone comes in to check it out. If there are proper instructions posted then there will be fewer out of order tags put on the machines, there will be fewer refund requests, and the machines won’t be unnecessarily put out of order.

Customers also need to know what the laundry’s obligations to them are, when and if something goes wrong. Until they are familiar with a laundry, customers will worry about machine failure and losing their money.

Instructions tell customers what to do when a machine fails. They need to know how machines run safely and effectively. They also need to know that a refund will be forthcoming when and if something does go wrong. Customers want to know how they can tell you about the problem they had. That is where good instruction signs are so valuable. Spell out the refund and notice process step by step.

All of us in the Laundromat industry know certain things are true. Attended laundries are nicer to own and easier to operate. Running a laundry without personnel creates potential problems, but many in the laundry business continue to solve those problems and make money.

This is why we say don’t overlook unattended laundries if you have an opportunity that comes your way to get into a good one. Sure there may be negatives, but there are also many positives as well.