From Coin Laundry News, June, 2009
In the late 1930s, shortly before the beginning of World War II, two large, well known manufacturing companies, Westinghouse and Bendix, each patented designs for a single load household washing machine that was loaded from the front.
Both companies saw that it would be an advantage to use portions of the other’s design as well, and so they cross -patented one another. Both began manufacturing small front loading automatic washers designed to sell for home and later adapted for laundry use.
These two patents kept other appliance manufacturers from competing to build an equivalent small front load washer, and that was important, because it was a true time and labor saver for women.
As the war came to an end, pent up desire for labor saving products such as automatic washers, created a huge market and sales were booming. Women who normally did the weekly wash were accustomed to working outside of the home, a la Rosie the riveter.
Those who manufactured wringer washers were losing sales big time, and so they began to try to convert their products to compete with automatic washers of their own. But, because of the patents, they could not compete by using a front loading automatic washer. They had to build something entirely new.
So they started with the agitator from the basic wringer washer design and a water tight box with a circular wash pocket that loaded from the top. They then made the circular pocket spin in an extract cycle to replace clothes wringers. That is how the basic automatic top loader was born.
To augment their efforts to introduce automatic washers successfully, most of these companies put sales personnel on the road to sell the new machines. Most of these companies had national advertising campaigns and each appointed lots of appliance dealers and laundry equipment distributors to reach the market. As there were dozens and dozens of brands competing, they collectively drowned out just the two front load patented manufacturers.
It took them just a few years until, unlike the rest of the world, America became a nation that used top loaders for doing home laundry and also in coin laundries, even though the design was admittedly less efficient than front load washers. Soon the overwhelming amounts of advertising, big number of appliance dealers and companies competing won America and Canada over to top load washers.
Also, because of a huge production advantage, it was actually less expensive to build top load washers than the small front load variety. Those who made top loaders, such as Whirlpool, Maytag, General Electric, Speed Queen, Blackstone, Hot Point, Frigidaire, Apex and others, had such an advantage in production volume that most of the laundries then being built were equipped with top load washers. At that time, it just made a lot more economic sense.
Front loads were also included in new laundries, but only in a very limited way. Seen at first as “Rug Washers”, there were only one or two of them installed in a typical coin laundry design.
These front load washers used far less water per pound of laundry done, but water was cheap back then. Despite a water use edge, it took front load washers many years to catch on, and even then it happened so gradually that hardly anybody in our industry even noticed.
Rising water and sewer rates caused more and more operators to reconsider washer styles and the laundering public was getting used to seeing front load washers in better coin laundries. As the use of front load washers began to increase, the number of them installed in coin laundries began to accelerate too.
Today it is not unusual to find all front load washer laundries. It is less usual to find all top load coin laundries, as most over the years have put some front loaders in operation.
There still remains a basic argument over which style of washer is better accepted by coin laundry customers. Most people were raised on home washers that loaded from the top. Some were loyal to the old brand name their mother used. Some operators felt that it’s hard for customers to change their laundering habits.
Coin laundry owners were familiar with, and mostly satisfied with the top load washers that they owned, and so were reluctant to make any change that might rock the boat with their clientele. The design was so simple that individual owners could make there own repairs, and so why change?
As usual, it boils down to money. The all front load washer laundry is more expensive to build. It thus requires a greater capital investment to install an all front load washer laundry or to do it when remodeling a laundry.
Plumbing and wiring costs are higher, plus there is a substantial difference in the cost for installation of bases, etc. The machines usually have to be bolted down.
The arguments for the front load washer are that they enjoy a longer useful life and have a lower cost of operation per pound washed. The per pound cost for both electricity and water and natural gas required to heat the water is much lower.
Lower cost per cycle may be one of the really good reasons, but the best argument for choosing to install new front load washers is the ability for a laundry operator to charge a higher wash vend price per load. As a result of that ability for attaining higher pricing, there should be more income per square foot of floor space. Really, more bang for the rent buck.
In recent years some major brand names of washing machines have introduced smaller, more energy efficient front loading washers that are not quite the same style and design of typical coin or card operated front load units. These units are basically designed for the home market, but some have already developed a strong position in the coin and card operated laundry market also.
They don’t require being bolted down, which saves on costs of installation. Most do not require special wiring, which also saves.
European based manufacturers are countering by bringing in some smaller units as well. These are basically European home washers. They have a heavier frame, but they have smaller doors and so give an impression that they don’t take as large a load of clothes as do the newer models made in America.
Some of these new models from overseas do not require bolting down either, which does make them competitive price-wise with the more energy efficient models being made in America.
Regardless of the benefits gained by installing either traditional style front loads, or the newer models made in America, we won’t likely see a shift of titanic proportion to the new models for years to come.
The typical laundry operator will continue to use top loading washers as long as they have economic life and can be kept looking decent. That is for as long as savings gained from water conservation and energy are roughly the same as is the interest expense of buying new machines will be.
For marginal laundry locations, that may be forever, or until their lease runs out, whichever comes first. Almost all future coin or card-operated laundries will be installed with the most energy efficient units that are available. That probably means front load washers. It just makes economic sense.
One often over looked consideration is the size and type of the dryers required to accompany the installation of larger capacity front loading washers. Dryers too will have to become part of the economic decisions made to add front loads to a laundry’s equipment mix.
What is the point of adding more washing capability unless it’s accompanied by higher clothes drying capacity too? Why create bottlenecks at the dryers?
There have also been changes offered in dryers in recent years. Coin and card operated units are being offered in sizes ranging from traditional sized 30s up to 100 pound units. They are more efficient, faster and again offer operators the chance to considerably increase a coin or card operated laundry’s income per square foot.
However, anyone making the decision to change washer styles from traditional tops to front loaders will find it more difficult because of the overall investment required. Even though we are in an economic down turn, everything about changing still costs a lot of money,
On the one hand, a laundry owner wants more capacity to earn. On the other, it requires a considerable outlay of cash to go from top loading washers to larger capacity front load washers.
In marginal laundries, making this change will be very hard to justify, and in some cases impossible, unless it is done a unit or two at a time. | 