The Decline of the American Laundromat • Hacker News Board

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#151

Post by XaspR8d » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:41 PM UTC

Veratyr wrote: post #26

justinjlynn wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds quite nice. I wonder why public baths never really took off in the States. In the records I can find, they seem to have a less than savoury perception.

I don't mean to offend but I suspect it's because people in the USA, at least in cities, just can't take care of public places. There's urine in the train stations (either visible or smellable), elevators shut down by faeces, people shouting, yelling and preaching in the streets, also, toilets, often even in private restaurants, are disgusting. I don't mean to say that things are always like this, all the time or in…

> There's urine in the train stations (either visible or smellable), elevators shut down by faeces, people shouting, yelling and preaching in the streets

I'm not reacting to any offense, as I agree the US has these problems. However this also describes very well my time spent in metropolitan Spain, France, and Italy.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#152

Post by nfriedly » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:42 PM UTC

EADGBE wrote: post #112

nfriedly wrote: post #72

There's a laundromat in my town, and once a month a local church (the First Brotheren Church, I think) provides free laundry service for anyone who wants it. They provide the soap and the quarters and then while your laundry is getting washed they provide food to eat. It's a really great community outreach service.

That's a church I could get behind. Unfortunately, most good deeds go unnoticed. I hope they're advertising well to the kind of people who could really use a service like that. Helped with a pantry service for a church, so often a week would go by that no one would show up. Infuriating. Food had to be thrown out.

Its advertised a few places around town. There's only about 1,200 people in my town, and they've been providing the service for a while, so I'm petty sure everyone in town knows about it.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#153

Post by js2 » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:43 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #88

I live in a house with a washer and dryer. After we had our first child there was a stretch where my wife and I were both sick for about 2 weeks and the laundry ended up building up significantly. We had probably 10 loads worth to catch up on and it was going to take all of at least one day, maybe two. Threw it all in the car, went to the laundromat and had it done in 2 hours. Laundromat's are now how I explain "the…

> Laundromat's are now how I explain "the cloud" to non-technical people.

A guy I know who used to manage cloud development at RedHat mentioned to me that one of his developers quit, bought a laundromat which eventually became several laundromats, and now makes more money running his laundromats than he ever did developing cloud software at RedHat.

I believe the laundromats are in Raleigh, NC and he does his own maintenance. Those factors may help quite a bit compared to the businesses described in the article.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#154

Post by EADGBE » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:46 PM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #145

EADGBE wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you live in a humid climate? I wonder if that impedes on the dry time at all (having to dry out the air before drying out the clothes drying in the air).

Scotland - I wouldn't say "humid" - just miserably damp. :-| Maybe it's the 240V mains supply?

We send 240V to our dryers here, too.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#155

Post by peter303 » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:47 PM UTC

Plus with most laundermats still cash, many under report revenues for taxes. I presume thats where the cliche "money laundering" may have come from.

Do any places accept digital pay? Perhaps for a token machine. I notice may of the two buck car washes now accept electronic money.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#156

Post by peter303 » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:48 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #88

I live in a house with a washer and dryer. After we had our first child there was a stretch where my wife and I were both sick for about 2 weeks and the laundry ended up building up significantly. We had probably 10 loads worth to catch up on and it was going to take all of at least one day, maybe two. Threw it all in the car, went to the laundromat and had it done in 2 hours. Laundromat's are now how I explain "the…

Ditto. Lazy me does a months worth in 75 minutes.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#157

Post by brightball » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:50 PM UTC

fuzzybeard wrote: post #146

brightball wrote: post #88

I live in a house with a washer and dryer. After we had our first child there was a stretch where my wife and I were both sick for about 2 weeks and the laundry ended up building up significantly. We had probably 10 loads worth to catch up on and it was going to take all of at least one day, maybe two. Threw it all in the car, went to the laundromat and had it done in 2 hours. Laundromat's are now how I explain "the…

Does this only make sense for small machines? I bought a gigantic washer/dryer and have no problem working through a large buildup that results from some disruption in life. Borrowing from your analogy, I have large on-prem servers so I don't need the scalability of the cloud.

Just assuming you have a giant washer/dryer at home and it would handle say, 3 of the loads at one time.

10 loads total.

1. Put 3 loads in washer. Wait for cycle. 7 loads waiting to start.

2. Move 3 loads to dryer. Put 3 new loads in washer. 4 loads waiting to start.

3. Move 3 loads out of dryer and fold, move 3 loads from washer into dryer, put 3 new loads in washer. 1 load waiting to start.

4. Move 3 loads out of dryer and fold, move 3 loads from washer into dryer, put 1 remaining load in washer. 0 loads waiting to start.

5. Move 3 loads out of dryer and fold, move 1 load from washer to dryer.

6. Move 1 load out of dryer and fold.

Total run time, 5 cycles.

10 loads at laundromat

1. Put 10 loads in 10 washers.

2. Move 10 loads from 10 washers to 10 dryers.

3. Move 10 loads out of dryers and fold.

Total run time, 2 cycles.

Compounding variables are overfilled dryers that may result in clothes not getting entirely dry or a very busy laundromat with limited available capacity. At the laundromat, you begin folding while adding time to any load that needs it. At the home dryer, the entire line cycle is blocked for the additional time needed by each blocking dryer.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not advocating for letting laundry build up just so you can go do it at a laundromat. The convenience of having it in your home is well worth it - but if for some reason you do have a huge build up it's a great way to buy back your day / weekend if you want to be able to leave the house.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#158

Post by peter303 » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:53 PM UTC

justinjlynn wrote: post #24

minikomi wrote: post #5

I live in Japan where Laundromats are often attached to Public Baths. I love going to my local, taking a soak while the load runs, and then coming out and having a coffee while my clothes go through the drier. Not much to add.. just felt like professing my love for that Sunday arvo ritual.

That sounds quite nice. I wonder why public baths never really took off in the States. In the records I can find, they seem to have a less than savoury perception.

The USA passed the 50% indoor plumbing threshhold between the 1920 and 1930 census, so earlier people must have done something. I believe the question is no longer on the census long form as indoor plumbing is well over 90%.

I personally do 80% of bathing at the gym after exercise.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#159

Post by jamesblonde » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:54 PM UTC

In rental accommodation in Sweden, a communal laundromat is the norm. You typically have between 2 and 10 machines, and you book your times. We also have tumble driers and drying closets and even manglers. As a database person, I batch my laundry just like operations in my transaction. Actually, the analogy I use when explaining batching is the dishwasher. Imagine picking up 1 plate at a time and putting it in the cupboard.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#160

Post by peter303 » Tue, Aug 01, 2017, 3:56 PM UTC

nfriedly wrote: post #72

There's a laundromat in my town, and once a month a local church (the First Brotheren Church, I think) provides free laundry service for anyone who wants it. They provide the soap and the quarters and then while your laundry is getting washed they provide food to eat. It's a really great community outreach service.

Denver has a portable laundry truck with three washers and driers. It runs off of fire hydrants. It goes to homeless camps, providing a needed free service. Some private charity funds it.