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The Decline of the American Laundromat

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#161

Post by yonran »

freetime2 wrote: post #7

From the article: Laundromats’ margins are further thinning as the price of water and sewage services have risen across the country. Utilities make up by far the heftiest of Lavanderia’s expenses, costing over $100,000 each year. Add to that the roughly $30,000 Tillman spends fixing his aging washers and dryers, and the laundromat is left with about $140,000 of profit each year, a number that continues to dwindle. Fo…

The laundromat owner in the article recently explained (https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sfbarentersfed/u898cgma8jE/7...) that the duration of the lease is a big determinant of whether it’s sustainable. It could very well be that a laundromat in the Mission district cannot afford today’s rents.

In the case of Lavanderia, since he is lucky to own the land, he is also mindful of the highest and best use of the land.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#162

Post by rayvd »

lr4444lr wrote: post #79
Veratyr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This U.S. resident agrees with you. It's a definite downside to our individualist priorities and inability of law enforcement to do much about public nuisances.

Of all things to spend tax dollars on, public baths seems pretty far down the priority list.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#163

Post by badwolf »

_jal wrote: post #89
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.

Not the same thing at all, but my local laundromat is also a restaurant/bar, and hosts really terrible standup. I'll frequently grab a bite while doing my laundry, and the "comedy" is a useful inspiration to get it done earlier in the day, so I don't have to listen to it. (It is really, truly awful.)

I love the laundromat/bar concept. I was recently in Brooklyn for work and visited the Sunshine Laundromat. Do laundry, then open up the "secret" dryer door to the bar and pinball arcade!

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#164

Post by et-al »

acabal wrote: post #6

I'm happy to say good riddance. When I was young I had to carry the family's laundry to the laundrymat, wash and fold it there, and carry it back, every other week at least. It takes hours, and at the time you couldn't do much while sitting there and waiting (nowadays I suppose you have smartphones and laptops). The whole thing was just an exhausting, dreaded hassle. Now I can put laundry in, it's OK if I don't atten…

Sounds like you have more of an issue with your upbringing than the existence of laundromats.

For most people, going to a laundromat is a necessity, not a choice to make their children build character. One "chooses" to go to a laundromat as much as one has chosen there place to live; which, in San Francisco and New York, can be limiting.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#165

Post by dajohnson89 »

peter303 wrote: post #155

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.

Stay tuned for my new ICO -- LaundryCoin

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#166

Post by api_or_ipa »

fuzzybeard wrote: post #149
al2o3cr wrote: post #77

One thing I didn't see mentioned in the article or here: a good laundromat typically has machines you wouldn't want to squeeze into your house. For instance, the one close to me has washers that accept 70+ pounds of laundry at once - great for washing blankets & other large items. Having that machine at home wouldn't make any sense, given that it's really only needed a couple times a year for an individual person.

The cost difference between a moderately sized washing machine and one that's a few cubic feet larger isn't that much. Over the lifetime of the machine it pays off. And if you have the extra capacity, you'll use it more often than you would if you had to go to the laundromat for the annual duvet cleaning.

Unfortunately initial cost isn't the only constraint. Apartment style top/bottom washer/dryer combos can only get so big. In addition, larger equipment requires greater amounts of electricity to run and maintenance can be a bit more expensive (larger parts).

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#167

Post by marcosdumay »

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…

As long as you wash the clothes faster than you use them, what is the problem with letting they pile up for a long time while you wash them in a more normal rate (like once a day, or once a week)?

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#168

Post by jws »

peter303 wrote: post #155

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.

Do any places accept digital pay?

I stopped in Klamath Falls, Oregon to do three weeks worth of filthy clothes while out traveling this summer and found a spectacular new laundromat which accepted Apple Pay! That's now my first line discriminator when looking for a laundromat on the road, if you take Apple Pay I'm picking you. That will weed out the low end mildew, lint, and mold holes that you sometimes find.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#169

Post by ABCLAW »

pbarnes_1 wrote: post #59
skrebbel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah right, thanks. I didn't know that :)

It's not true, though. SF is pretty much average in this regard. Americans in general just don't seem to care about public spaces, pretty much anywhere in the country. I've travelled to many US cities and the only reason other cities some how feel "cleaner" is because there's literally nobody walking in them. The cities made for walking (like NYC and maybe Boston) are on par with SF. Maybe less dog poo everywhere tho…

SF has an extreme homelessness problem, smells like urine in upscale pedestrian magnet areas (not just back-alleys) and the residential buildings are poorly maintained to the point it being visually distracting because the land underneath them is so much more valuable than the edifices themselves.

NYC is better, but still fairly grungy. Boston is substantially better along these metrics. Montreal and Quebec city, two of the oldest and, by dint of age, pedestrian-friendly cities on the continent, are leagues ahead of SF as well in this respect.

SF is great. Love the vibe. But lets not kid ourselves into thinking it is clean.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#170

Post by tomc1985 »

brightball wrote: post #157
fuzzybeard wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 d…

You'll bottleneck at the clothes-folding stage, too
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