41–50 of 206 posts
TIL there is a Coin Laundry Association, and that they have a biannual conference in Las Vegas.
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…
I think this article is less about the benefits of laundromats vs. in-unit washing machines (most people would choose the latter), and more about the struggles of people who are unable to afford apartments with in-unit hookups and who now have to walk an extra couple of blocks to do their laundry.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a Dutch chauvinist, I beg to differ. We generally take excellent care of public places. This is a combo of culture and government services actually cleaning stuff up every once in a while. Of course, this is HN, so cue some replies about horrible stinky places in the Netherlands, but as a general rule I stand by this. SF is a pile of poo compared to an average Dutch city. And then I haven't even mentioned Luxembou…
SF is a pile of poo compared to an average Dutch city. SF is a pile of poo compared to an average American city, too.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed but this isn't just a USA thing. Many countries have a culture not taking care of public places. All of Europe comes to mind. As does China.
Europe is a broad stroke. UK, sure, Sweden.. not so much.
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.
I did the laundromat thing for four years in grad school, then ten years in various units with in-house washer and dryer, and then back to a laundromat for the last six years. It was undeniably convenient to be able to wash something on a moment's notice or at night or whatever, but I have to say I really like the fact that for a 2-3 hour investment of time every 3-4 weeks, I can get my laundry all done, at once, bec…
We recently purchased a combination washer/dryer unit. We throw the dirty clothes every night before bed, set the timer (electricity prices here are lower over night), and the clothes are all washed, dried, and ready to be folded when we wake up in the morning. The only manual part of the process is folding/putting clothes away - but those tasks aren't really parallelizable anyway - so I fail to see how adding in a t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed but this isn't just a USA thing. Many countries have a culture not taking care of public places. All of Europe comes to mind. As does China.
Europe is a broad stroke. UK, sure, Sweden.. not so much.
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…
I think this article is less about the benefits of laundromats vs. in-unit washing machines (most people would choose the latter), and more about the struggles of people who are unable to afford apartments with in-unit hookups and who now have to walk an extra couple of blocks to do their laundry.
Even the tiniest studio apartment in the UK would come with one. You very rarely see laundromats in the UK (usually in areas with a very high concentration of students, as halls of residence provision can be poor for them).
Why don't they have them in the US? You have water and electricity, so I can't understand why this is a big deal.
