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The Decline of the American Laundromat

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#181

Post by jessaustin »

gpvos wrote: post #61
int_19h wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really weird, because this is literally lower quality of life than USSR circa late 70s. Sure, we had really crappy and tiny in-unit washing machines ( http://pics.rbc.ru/img/cnews/2007/09/04/41a.jpg ) - but most people did have one. We didn't have anything like a laundromat.

This may explain why Poland doesn't seem to understand the concept of a laundromat. As a tourist, this can be quite annoying. (Hotel laundry service is usually per-piece and thus way too expensive.)

When I've lived in hotels longer than a week at a time, I've sent just collared shirts and slacks to the laundry. Everything else can be satisfactorily washed in the bathtub. One place I stayed in Tokyo had this really long shoehorn in every room, which was ideal for stirring the tub.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#182

Post by jessaustin »

EADGBE wrote: post #154
arethuza wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

We send 240V to our dryers here, too.

Yes, but it's a "special" circuit that has to be wired specifically for that purpose.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#183

Post by [deleted] »

js2 wrote: post #153
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 main…

[deleted]

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#184

Post by chongli »

ihaveajob wrote: post #102
legulere wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least according to Wikipedia, many European countries have a higher homeless rate than the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_...

The US is a big place, which averages away the extremes. In San Francisco, population 868k, there are about 10-12k homeless folks ( http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-homeless... ), which puts it at over 1% homelessness. That's a tragic number for such a wealthy city.

It's only a tragic reflection on the city if you assume all the homeless are born and raised there. How many of those migrated there from colder climates? How many were given a bus ticket by their home city and sent there?

SF spends an absolute fortune on homeless people. That, coupled with its temperate climate, makes it a magnet for many types of homeless people.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#186

Post by kbutler »

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…

But the washing and drying time at home can be used for other things - parallel processing with asynchronous dispatch of mutually exclusive washing and drying jobs.

Laundromat: Time and hassle to bundle everything in the car, take it to the laundromat, babysit it while there (you can't go anywhere else) and bring it back home. Completed sooner, but with more overhead and focused time.

Home laundry: take it a load at a time. Completed later, but you can do anything else (even leave the house) while loads are running. No transportation overhead.

Both models have advantages, and I've done both. Mostly depends on how much hassle it is to trundle everything to the laundromat, and how soon I need the backup cleared.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#187

Post by LordKano »

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…

I concur with the other commenter, "the cloud" is a laundromat is one of the most apt metaphors I have heard in a long time.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#188

Post by jessaustin »

EADGBE wrote: post #185
jessaustin wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but it's a "special" circuit that has to be wired specifically for that purpose.

That really shouldn't matter, though. 240V input is 240V input.

This thread is about placing clothes dryers in living quarters that weren't built for such equipment. In your own house, out in the countryside, you're welcome to wire the neutral leg of a normal 120V circuit to the other side of a double breaker to create a magical 14-gauge 240V clothes dryer circuit. You'd be well advised to keep a fire extinguisher handy, however. If you try to sell or rent that space (or if your house is located in an incorporated town or city), you'll be breaking some of the more reasonable laws we have in this country.

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#189

Post by justforFranz »

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…

Heeeyyyyy I hope "Laundromat's" aren't how you explain plural nouns to non-technical people.

:P :)

Re: The Decline of the American Laundromat

#190

Post by EADGBE »

jessaustin wrote: post #188
EADGBE wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That really shouldn't matter, though. 240V input is 240V input.

This thread is about placing clothes dryers in living quarters that weren't built for such equipment. In your own house, out in the countryside, you're welcome to wire the neutral leg of a normal 120V circuit to the other side of a double breaker to create a magical 14-gauge 240V clothes dryer circuit. You'd be well advised to keep a fire extinguisher handy, however. If you try to sell or rent that space (or if your…

Our discussion was about possible reasonings behind the supposed wait times introduced by a condenser dryer in said article. One hypothesized it was because of a more efficient heating element, which used more power. Also common wall voltage not in the US. I simply let them know that wall voltage for dryers is the same in the US as it is for them.

I also had no idea what you meant by "special" circuit.

There are plenty of appliances that require more than 120V, and operate safely at these voltages.

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