American Coin-Op - April 2024

State of the Industry Survey:

More ‘Cycling’ Toward

Greater Profits

OPTIMIZING ROUTES TO BOOST YOUR RESIDENTIAL WDF PICKUP & DELIVERY

INSIDE: APRIL 2024

BRAX LAUNDRY BUILDS ON GAMECHANGING EXPERIENCE

PAULIE B: HOW MY FAVORITE LAUNDROMAT TOOLS MADE MY LIFE EASIER

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202324 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

INSIDE

ROUTE OPTIMIZATION FOR RESIDENTIAL PICKUP & DELIVERY

Success of this WDF service relies on collecting, cleaning and delivering the goods in line with customer expectations. That’s where taking the best paths becomes paramount.

BRAX LAUNDRY BUILDS ON GAMECHANGING EXPERIENCE

It took Brad and Max Sabo three-plus years to open their first Portland area laundromat but both agree it was worth the wait. Their recipe for success has included far more than a dash of technology.

Our annual survey of laundromat owners and operators reveals much about business conditions, sales, utilities cost, and more. Aren’t you curious how your operation measures up to others across the country? This report has all the data for you! 6

COLUMNS

26 POINTERS FROM PAULIE B: HOW MY FAVORITE LAUNDROMAT TOOLS MADE MY LIFE EASIER

Having the right tools can make a world of difference for repairs, maintenance, and any other project you might tackle in your laundromat, says retired multi-store owner Paul Russo. We all know and should have the basic tools: pliers, screwdrivers, drills, etc. But Russo shares a list of some of his favorites beyond those.

DID YOU KNOW...

American Coin-Op has released podcast episodes on a variety of industry-related topics? Give one a listen at AmericanCoinOp. com/podcasts.

(Cover Photo: © vlue/Depositphotos)

WHAT’S IT TAKE TO MEASURE UP?

Bruce Beggs

If you’re a “numbers” person, our April issue is the one you’ve been waiting for.

Our annual State of the Industry survey report is loaded with the kinds of data and statistics that you can use to benchmark your operation, i.e. compare it against certain industry standards, as well as your competitors.

We analyzed survey results received from qualified respondents based around the country, looking at 2023-24 business conditions, equipment purchases, vend pricing, turns per day and much more.

To see how you stack up, compare your responses to questions like:

• Did your total vended laundry business increase or decrease in 2023, and by what percentage?

• What wash and dry vend prices are you charging today?

• If you offer wash-dry-fold service, how much do you charge per pound? Is there an added cost for pickup and delivery?

• What’s the average number of turns per day for a front loader in your store?

• Have you purchased, or are you planning to purchase, any equipment this year?

• How much did your store’s utilities cost you as a percentage of gross last year?

Our report begins on page 6. There’s good to be found there. I hope you agree.

Bruce Beggs Editorial Director

Douglas Pratt Michael Schantz

Tony Regan Matt Simmons

Sharon Sager

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years $100.00. Single copies $10.00 for U.S. Published by American Trade Magazines LLC, 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER, Send changes of address and form 3579 to American Coin-Op, Subscription Dept., 125 Schelter Rd., #350, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-3666. Volume 65, number 4. Editorial, executive and advertising offices are at 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Charles Thompson, President and Publisher. American Coin-Op is distributed selectively to owners, operators and managers of chain and individually owned coin-operated laundry establishments in the United States. The publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising for any reason.

© Copyright AMERICAN TRADE MAGAZINES LLC, 2024. Printed in U.S.A. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher or his representative. American Coin-Op does not endorse, recommend or guarantee any article, product, service or information found within. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of American Coin-Op or its staff. While precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the magazine’s contents at time of publication, neither the editors, publishers nor its agents can accept responsibility for damages or injury which may arise therefrom.

2023-24 State of the Industry Survey: More ‘Cycling’ Toward Greater Profits

74.6% of store owners report boost in their 2023 self-service business

by Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

Further removed from the COVID-19 pandemic and having watched inflation fall over the last two years, many self-service laundry owners and operators had a strong year in 2023.

Based on results from our annual American Coin-Op State of the Industry Survey, nearly three-quarters of owners and operators saw their self-service laundry business improve last year.

The State of the Industry Survey report provides many statistics valuable to store owners and investors who wish to compare their operations to the industry average. This year’s survey focused on 2023-24 business conditions, vend pricing, equipment, turns per day and utilities cost.

When asked about their 2023 business results, respondents were given the opportunity to state whether their results were up, down or ▼

(Photo: © vlue/Depositphotos)

Average business increase, 2023:

unchanged. (Surveys conducted prior to 2012 asked only if business was up or down, so keep this in mind if you’re making comparisons to results from that period.)

The annual survey is an unscientific, online poll of American Coin-Op readers who operate stores. Some percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding or other factors.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

Better than two-thirds of respondents polled this year—70.8%—own just one self-service laundry, while the remaining 29.2% are multistore owners (21.2% own two or three stores, 8.0% own four or more).

For the first time, we asked respondents if they considered their involvement in their laundry business to be full-time or part-time. Nearly 44% say their contributions are full-time, 54.0% see it as part-time, and 2.2% say it’s something else (one owner mentioned only handling money and checks, for example, while another described themselves as being semi-retired, with their adult children running the business).

Regarding store size, 28.5% say their largest covers 3,000 square feet or more, 32.1% say it’s between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet, and the remaining 39.4% say it measures 1,999 square feet or less.

Slightly more than 56% of respondents own their store space, 40.9% rent their store space, and the remaining 3.6% say their arrangement varies by property.

Fully attended stores among the audience polled account for 39.4%. Nearly 23% are partially attended, and 33.6% are unattended. Among the remaining 4.4%, the arrangement varies by store.

Nearly 84% of self-service laundry owners surveyed employ either part-time or full-time workers in their stores. Within this group, 44.9% have four or more employees, 20.6% employ two or three, and 18.4% have only one employee. Roughly 15% of owners don’t employ anyone beyond those involved in ownership.

On average, laundry owners have 1.7 fulltime employees and 3.8 part-time employees (it should be noted that this calculation reflects

13.9%

averages by respondent, not by store).

To compensate their non-management-level attendants, owners pay the following average hourly wages:

• Less than $7.50 — 4.3%

• $7.50 to $7.99 — 1.1%

• $9.00 to $9.49 — 1.1%

• $9.50 to $9.99 — 1.1%

• $10.00 to $10.49 — 4.3%

• $10.50 to $10.99 — 3.3%

• $11.50 to $11.99 — 3.3%

• $12.00 to $14.99 — 25.0%

• $15.00 or more — 50.0%

The remaining 3.3% say all of their employees are at the management level.

We asked laundry owners how their washers and dryers are operated, and they identified every payment type that applied. The vast majority—87.6%—offer payment using quarters. Mobile app is next in popularity, offered by 26.3%, followed closely by credit card (25.5%) and laundry (store) card (21.2%). Payment by dollar coin is offered by 8.0%, and a 3.0% share offer “other” payment options, including tokens.

Roughly 45% of respondents offer customers more than one type of payment, compared to 46% last year.

We asked respondents to name which ancil-

lary services their stores offer from a list of 21 choices, plus they were given the option to identify others. When each checked their service menu, soap vending was a choice of 84.7%, followed by soft drinks and/or snack vending (70.8%), Wi-Fi access (63.5%), laundry bag sales (59.9%) and drop-off wash/dry/fold service (56.2%).

In terms of popularity, those five choices were also the leading choices in last year’s survey, with Wi-Fi access jumping from No. 5 to No. 3 this year.

We also asked respondents how they had advertised their store(s) in the last 12 months. They were provided a list of 15 choices plus given the option to identify others. The top five choices were social media (45.9%), store website (40.7%), digital ads (27.4%), signs/banners (25.2%) and in-store promotions (21.5%). They were also the top five one year ago, albeit in a different order.

Roughly 28% of store owners polled say they did not advertise in the last 12 months.

You must face some challenges in operating your laundry business today. We asked respondents to choose their biggest operational challenges from a list of nine, plus gave them the option to write in “other” choices; operators were directed to select all that apply. Here are the results:

1. High cost: utilities (67.9%)

2. High cost: new equipment (54.5%)

3. High cost: labor (37.3%)

4. Finding/keeping reliable employees, high cost: maintenance, high cost: rent (tie, 29.1%) ▼

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7. Equipment abuse/vandalism (18.7%)

8. Too much competition (5.2%)

9. “Other” (3.7%)

10. Poor industry image (1.5%)

2023 BUSINESS VS. 2022

For 2023, nearly three-quarters of respondents (74.6%) say their overall self-service vended laundry business, in gross dollar volume, increased from that of 2022. By comparison, 71.4% reported increases in the 2022-23 survey.

The average 2023 business increase was 13.9%, up slightly from 13.2% in 2022. Other past average business increases have been 17% (2021), 7.1% (2020), 12.6% (2019), 9.9% (2018) and 9.4% (2017).

Following is a breakdown of 2023 business increases (these figures relate to those reporting increases, not all respondents):

• Operators with a business increase of less than 10%: 25.3%

• Operators with a business increase of 10% to 14%: 27.5%

• Operators with a business increase of 15% or more: 47.3%

Roughly 8% of operators polled faced

a decrease in total business (in gross dollar volume) in 2023, which is identical to last year’s survey. Results from previous years showed the following shares: 4% in 2021, 58% in 2020 (the year the COVID-19 pandemic started), 12% in 2019, 8% in 2018 and 10% in 2017.

The average 2023 business decrease was 9.5%, compared to 8.9% reported for 2022. Other prior average decreases were 20.0% (2021), 20.5% (2020), 7.5% (2019), 5.0% (2018) and 6.7% (2017).

Among respondents who reported experiencing decreased business in 2023, the decline was as low as 2% or as high as 20%.

Roughly 17% of respondents say their 2023 business was unchanged compared to 2022 performance.

WASH/DRY/FOLD BUSINESS AND PRICING

About 46% of operators surveyed reported their wash/dry/fold (WDF) service business, in gross dollar volume for both drop-off and pickup and delivery, increased for them in 2023. This compares to 53% in 2022, 62% in 2021, 34% in 2020, 54% in 2019, 58% in 2018, and 68% in 2017.

Last year’s average business increase was 16.5%, compared to 13.4% in 2022, 30.4% in 2021, 14.2% in 2020, 21.0% in 2019, 29.8% in 2018, and 26.1% in 2017.

Roughly 11% of respondents saw a decrease in 2023 wash/dry/fold business, which is much higher than the 2.6% reported for 2022. In previous years, the shares of laundry owners with declining WDF business were 2.6% in 2021, 51% in 2020, 12% in 2019, 10% in 2018, and 16% in 2017.

Approximately 44% of respondents say their 2023 WDF business was unchanged from the previous year. That compares to 45% for 2022, 36% for 2021, 20% for 2020, 34% for 2019, 32% for 2018, and 16% for 2017.

Current drop-off pricing (in dollars per pound) ranges from 90 cents to $4.63, based on the survey responses.

Following is a breakdown of the most popular drop-off service prices charged per pound, followed by the percentage of operators who charge them:

1. $1.50 (17.9%)

2. $2.00 (15.4%)

3. $1.25 (9.0%)

Overall, prices for drop-off service remain fairly consistent with previous years’ surveys. In total, 24 different drop-off prices were reported in this year’s poll.

Roughly 61% of operators who took the annual poll offer drop-off service, down from the 65% from last year’s survey.

COMMERCIAL BUSINESS

Among laundry owners who offer commercial laundry services (the share was 47.4% in this survey), 30.8% reported that business (in gross dollar volume) increased for them in ▼

(Photo: © SimpleFoto/Depositphotos)

Have raised wash prices in ’24, or intend to by end of year

58.1%

2023. The average increase was 18.8%.

Roughly 9% of respondents reported a decline in commercial laundry business last year; the average was 12.0%.

Sixty percent of respondents say their 2023 commercial business was unchanged from that of the prior year.

VENDING SALES

The share of respondents reporting their vending sales rose in 2023 was 33.3%, compared to 39.1% the previous year. The average vending sales increase last year was 13.7%.

Roughly 7% reported declines in vending sales in 2023, compared to 13% for 2022. The average decrease in 2023 was 11.3%.

Operators reporting no change for 2023 accounted for 59.8%, compared to 47.8% in the prior year’s survey.

HOW MUCH FOR A WASH?

Respondents were asked to report how much they charge for a variety of base washes.

Roughly 53% of operators surveyed, compared to 46% in last year’s poll, offer top loaders at their store(s). The price range for a top-load wash is $1.00 to $4.50.

Here are the trendy top-load prices, followed by the shares of respondents charging them:

1. $3.00 (16.7%)

2. $2.50 (15.3%)

3. $3.50 (13.9%)

The leading price is identical to last year’s list, but the prior No. 2, $2.00, didn’t crack the top three this year. The other two prices were also on the 2023 list.

The most popular prices for some of the small front loaders are:

• 18 pounds: $2.50

• 20 pounds: $3.50

• 25 pounds: $4.50

The lowest price reported in this group was $1.50 (18 pounds) while the highest price was $7.00 (20 pounds).

The price range for a 30-pound wash is $1.75 to $7.75. Following are the favored 30-pound prices, along with the percentages of operators who charge them:

1. $5.00 (18.2%)

2. $4.00 and $4.50 (tie, 12.5%)

4. $5.50 (9.1%)

Prices for a 35-pound wash currently range from $2.50 to $8.00.

The price range for a 40-pound wash is

$4.00 to $10.00. Following are the trendy 40-pound prices, along with the percentage of operators who charge them:

1. $6.00 (12.8%)

2. $5.50 (11.0%)

3. $6.50 (10.1%)

Prices for a 50-pound wash currently range from $5.50 to $9.50. For the 55-pounder, it’s from $6.00 to $11.00.

The price range for a 60-pound wash is $5.00 to $11.00. Following are the most popular 60-pound prices, along with the percentages of operators who charge them:

1. $8.00 (14.1%)

2. $7.50 (12.1%)

3. $7.00 (11.1%)

Operators who offer 75-pounders are charging between $6.50 and $11.50 per base wash.

The price range for an 80-pound wash is $7.00 to $16.50. Following are the favored 80-pound prices, along with percentages of operators who charge them:

1. $10.00 (17.5%)

2. $11.00 (14.0%)

3. $9.50 (12.3%)

Prices charged by operators for a 90-pound wash today range from $10.25 to $16.29. For a 100-pound wash, the price range is $10.25 to $15.00.

Laundry owners who respond to American Coin-Op’s unscientific survey vary year to year, which could account for the variety of prices reported. Respondents were asked to provide prices for front loaders of 14 traditional capacities, plus were given the option to list others.

Among all the washer capacities, the 60-pounder (27 prices) and the 40-pounder (25 prices) have the broadest pricing among operators surveyed.

TURNS PER DAY

Turns per day refers to the number of cycles (turns) that each of a store’s machines completes daily, a useful metric for illustrating a store’s busyness and efficiency. For each machine class (top loader or front loader), you can calculate this using total cycles for a one-week period divided by the total number of machines in the class, then dividing by seven.

At present, the average turns per day for top loaders among respondents is 3.5, which is a tick higher than the 3.3 average logged in last year’s survey.

For front loaders, the average number is 4.6 turns per day, compared to an average of 4.1 registered in 2023.

(Photo: © mariakray/Depositphotos)

DRYER PRICES

Purchased at least one piece of equipment (washer, dryer, water heater, vending machine or other) in 2023

53.3%

the remaining 17.6% are undecided.

Respondents were asked to list their current prices for their dryers as “25 cents for X minutes.” As in previous years, a variety of responses was reported.

Most popular among this year’s respondents—at 21.3%—is 25 cents for 5 minutes; it was also last year’s trendiest dryer price. Second is 25 cents for 6 minutes, at 16.0%. Coming in third was 25 cents for 7 minutes, at 14.0%.

UTILITIES COST

We asked operators about their 2023 utilities cost (as a percentage of gross). The responses ranged from 5% to 75%. Collectively, respondents paid an average of 21.6%, down slightly from 21.8% in last year’s survey.

The most common individual response—as it has been the last two years—was 20%. Whereas 54.2% reported a utilities cost of 20% or less last year, 60.4% reported the same this year.

CHARGING MORE?

We asked respondents if they have already raised washer and/or dryer prices in 2024, or if they plan to do so before the end of the year.

Regarding washer prices, the majority of respondents (58.1%) say they have already raised prices, or intend to do so, by year’s end. Roughly 24% say they have no such plans, and

As for dryer prices, 29.9% say they have raised, or plan to raise, their prices this year. Roughly 42% say they have not raised their prices and aren’t planning to this year. Roughly 24% are undecided. The question doesn’t apply to the 3.6% of respondents who say they offer free dry.

2023 EQUIPMENT PURCHASES

Nearly 53% of respondents purchased at least one piece of equipment (washer, dryer, water heater, vending machine, or other) in 2023, which is a couple percentage points above our last annual survey.

Following is a breakdown of 2023 purchases by respondent (percentages do not total 100% because some buyers purchased equipment in multiple equipment categories):

• 20.5% purchased at least one top loader, with the average buy being 5.9 machines.

• 75.3% purchased at least one front loader, with the average buy being 12.8 machines.

• 42.5% purchased at least one dryer (single or stack), with the average buy being 13.4 machines.

• 27.4% purchased a water heater.

• 13.7% purchased a vending machine. Credit card readers, washer/dryer combos, ATMs, POS systems, changers, ozone sanitiza-

tion systems and scales were also among the equipment listed as having been purchased.

THIS YEAR’S SHOPPING LIST

We also asked the laundry owners if they have purchased, or plan to purchase, new equipment in 2024.

Roughly 31% of respondents have acquired, or plan to acquire, some type of equipment (washer, dryer, water heater, vending machine, or other) for their mix in 2024. By comparison, last year’s percentage was 45%.

Following is a breakdown of purchases that operators have made in 2024, or plan to make by the end of the year (percentages do not total 100% because some buyers purchased or plan to purchase equipment from multiple categories):

• 20.9% of respondents have purchased, or plan to purchase, a new top loader this year, with the average buy being 4.4 machines.

• 65.1% of respondents have purchased, or plan to purchase, a new front loader this year, with the average buy being 8.9 machines.

• 41.9% of respondents have purchased, or plan to purchase, a new dryer (regular or stack) this year, with the average buy being 13.3 machines. (Editor’s note: This accounting includes a small number of operators who have purchased or will purchase more than 50 machines each.)

• 25.6% of respondents have purchased, or plan to purchase, a new water heater this year.

• 9.3% of respondents have purchased, or plan to purchase, a new vending machine this year.

Operator outlook: 2024

58.8%

36.0%

FORECAST FOR 2024

Roughly 59% of respondents are optimistic that their 2024 total business will be better than 2023’s. Thirty-six percent expect their business to be about the same, while 5.1% say their business won’t perform as well in 2024 as it did in 2023.

expect total business will be about the same as 2023

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Route Optimization for Residential Pickup & Delivery

Charting, following paths to better on-time delivery, customer satisfaction

by Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

For those laundry owners willing to make the investment and travel beyond their store’s four walls, a residential pickup and delivery service expands their reach, boosts turns per day and increases revenue, but its success relies heavily on the laundry’s ability to pick up, clean and deliver the goods in line with each customer’s expectations.

That’s where taking the best paths becomes paramount. Calculating an efficient, cost-effective route is more than finding the shortest path between points, and there are some keys to improving on-time delivery and customer satisfaction.

TO POINT B AND BEYOND

“Pickup and delivery is an important part of our business, and having the proper point-of-sale system has been a key factor in deciding route effectiveness,” says Jan Barlow, whose Jan’s Professional Dry Cleaners in Clio, Michigan, includes an on-site laundromat. “Next up is database management and constantly updating notes to monitor customer concerns. And third is having well-trained drivers and vehicles that represent the image and branding.”

Todd Ofsink’s New York-based Todd Layne Cleaners & Laundromat offers wash-dry-fold pickup and delivery service throughout Manhattan.

“We are always making adjustments to make the most effective use of our delivery routes,” he says. “We use a three-channel strategy. Local deliveries are done on foot within a short distance of our storefronts. We partner with a local courier service to accomplish deliveries that are further away and can be done more efficiently by car, electric bicycles and scooters. The third option is with DoorDash and Uber and customers are able to choose a short window in our delivery area.”

Can route optimization be as simple as implementing the latest delivery management software and letting it do its job?

“No, it cannot,” Ofsink asserts. “There are always logistical challenges, even with the latest software. There are last-minute cancellations, additional orders, vehicle mechanical issues, traffic/road closures and other issues that require employee intervention.”

“Not for us,” Barlow says. “We had to make a lot of route changes during COVID. The routing was not able to accomplish what we wanted easily. Optimizing sometimes has unforeseen consequences, like implementing all right turns or something equally as interesting.”

Aaron and Matt Simmons have a unique perspective of seeing the issue from the operations side within their family’s Super Suds Laundromat and Wash & Fold in Long Beach, California, and from the product development side within their Curbside Laundries laundromat management software company.

“It can be as simple as putting in the right software and clicking a ▼

(Photo: © maxxyustas/Depositphotos)

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button but drivers might have to deal with specified times for serving customers, so they might have to adjust it manually after the optimization,” says Aaron, noting that most laundries don’t have 100% commercial accounts, so the routes are a mix of residential and commercial orders.

“Once you get your list of stops and destinations, then the software is very good at optimizing that,” adds Matt. “You want to make sure you set your starting point and ending point. If you hit optimize but you don’t put in the end point, it might be an optimized route but you might end up at Timbuktu, very far away from the laundromat. You do want to run a nice loop.”

ROUTE INFLUENCES

Vehicle type, storage capacity and range of travel can influence routing choices. The Simmonses advise clients to look at the next larger model vehicle they may need and to make their buying choice based on their service potential.

make good decisions.

“As their route gets busier, they never anticipated filling the van, having to stop, turn around, head back to the laundromat, unload everything, get some more orders, load it back onto the van … and go back out,” says Aaron. “They all say the same thing: ‘If I had known my business was going to grow the way it is, I would’ve bought the bigger van to start off with.’”

“For us, vehicle type and storage capacity are important to understand,” Ofsink says. “Given that some customers have multiple large bags of laundry, this factors into how much can be picked up or delivered in one route. A courier service that we work with uses electric bicycles, some with trailers and some without. This deeply plays a role in the amount that can be transported in a route.”

“Because of our demographics, small transit vans don’t work for us,” Barlow says. “We tried it but we need a full-size van to accommodate what our routes are.”

TRUST BUT VERIFY

Route selection is important but so is maintaining oversight of the activity and choices made while on the road.

“In order to make sure that everything is completed and done on-time, we have someone dedicated to overseeing the process,” Ofsink says.

“You can tell if a driver is using an optimized route or not,” says Matt Simmons, who supports spot-checking, especially the work of newer drivers. “Speaking generically, you need to make sure that you have a visualization (tool) such as a map inside the software and it has all route numbers listed right on there.”

“The software should provide the owners enough reassurance that their employees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing without having to micromanage them,” adds Aaron Simmons. “You can check in at a glance and not spend a lot of time overthinking what your drivers are doing.”

“Oversight is totally a necessity!” Barlow exclaims. “You must have communication for all aspects of routes to work. This is one piece of the larger puzzle. You have to have all the elements in place or your business does not flourish.”

While shown a path designed for efficiency and expediency, drivers often need to be given some leeway to divert from the prescribed route when circumstances dictate.

It could be meeting a specified time for a certain customer, avoiding road construction, or following a special instruction such as entering a property from the rear rather than the front, Aaron Simmons says. A good laundry service needs trusted drivers who are able to think on the fly and

“There’s things where the driver needs to have the ability to override the software. And then it depends on the driver. Some drivers, you say, ‘Don’t deviate from what the software tells you,’ because you can’t trust them doing more than that. Then there are other drivers who are experienced and able to make decisions based on what the software recommends, to make adjustments.”

“Our drivers and partners are always given leeway in route choices,” Ofsink says. “Manhattan is full of street closures, heavy traffic and other impediments that require quick thinking of our staff to find a better route.”

“Certainly, route drivers have some leeway to make decisions,” says Barlow. “But the flip side to that is if you do not continually monitor them with some additional tracking, they may make decisions that aren’t in the best interest of your business.”

STRIKING A BALANCE

Successful route optimization can come down to striking a balance between customer satisfaction and achieving some measure of cost savings.

“A combination, for sure,” Aaron Simmons says. “You want to make sure that the wear and tear on the vans, the fuel, the hours for the driver stay within check. At the same time, if you don’t have the customers, (or) your customers aren’t happy, none of that matters. It’s a customer-centric business. Customers come first.”

“We keep things the same for customer satisfaction and predictability of the route,” Barlow says. “When we decide to optimize, it’s to find efficiency and cost savings.”

“We weigh how successful we are mainly based on customer satisfaction and return business,” says Ofsink. “Cost is secondary because our pricing strategy incorporates a partial cost reimbursement for most of the deliveries that we do.”

In many ways, the work of optimizing a laundry’s residential pickup and delivery routes is unending.

“You can plan for every conceivable option, but the work is never done to truly optimize a route,” Ofsink says. “We recently added a sustainability eco-friendly window option for customers to choose, mainly those that live in a doorman building. Because New Yorkers are always on the go, we still have to make last-minute changes to our routes.”

“It’s a daily maintenance routine,” Barlow says. “It could take 15 minutes to a couple hours. It all depends on the day, routes, weather, and your drivers.”

“This is a continuous thing,” Matt Simmons says. “This is something that people should always reevaluate. ‘Am I meeting my customers’ needs and am I being efficient at the same time?’”

Brax Laundry Builds on Game-Changing Experience

The Sabo recipe for success includes far more than a dash of technology

by Randy Radtke

Each day, the laundromat business brings pretty predictable outcomes. Self-service customers come in with dirty laundry and leave with fresh, clean items — effectively and efficiently washed and dried. Wash-dry-fold clients get a premium experience, including the completion of that dreaded task of folding.

Owners see that flow play out in real time on their smartphones and computers, translating the everyday scenes into numbers, turns per day, cycle modifier percentages, and effectiveness of time-of-day pricing.

And then there’s Brax Laundry in Oregon City, Ore.

Brad and Max Sabo (thus the name “Brax” Laundry) opened the Portland area laundromat in 2022 and nothing has been as predicted. However, when you blow your projections out of the water pretty much since day one, unpredictable is just fine for these owners.

Brax Laundry’s Oregon City location covers a spacious 3,750 square feet.

It took Max Sabo (left) and Brad Sabo threeplus years to open their first Brax Laundry in Oregon City, Ore., but it was worth the wait.

(Photos: Alliance Laundry Systems)

GAMECHANGING EXPERIENCE

This duo was intent on making their laundromat truly different. So, the fact that offering customers an experience like no other in the market equates to amazing bottom-line numbers shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“Brad and I are all about customer service,” Max says. That focus starts the second you walk in the door; clean is just the beginning. This laundry brings a fresh smell that customers appreciate.

“We hear a lot that it smells clean in here… that it doesn’t smell like a laundromat.”

The game-changing recipe for success obviously included far more than a dash of technology. Speed Queen’s Quantum Touch control is helping wow customers with an intuitive touchscreen that takes the user experience next level, according to the Sabos.

But they drove things further in their spacious 3,750-square-foot laundry, adding Speed Queen Insights. While it’s easy to look at the system as more of an owner’s management tool, the pair say they saw that and much more.

“We’re able to fix problems immediately,” Max says of the customer-service benefits of remote monitoring and access to operations. “Just the ability to solve problems from home,” he adds of the huge time savings value Speed Queen Insights offers versus needing to drive to the store, should there be an equipment or customer issue that needs attention.

They also opted for clean machine fronts — no bulky, bolt-on card readers or coin drops here, which means no coin jams or payment snafus.

“This system allows us to get past all of that,” Max says of the Speed Queen mobile app and payment center.

And lest you think it’s too soon for our industry to be app-driven, that customers of varying ages and backgrounds will be turned off by app-based payment, Brax, again, is presenting amazing numbers. Since opening, Brax is regularly at 90% app adoption, the owners say.

“I wasn’t sure how people would react to the app,” Max says, adding that its ease of use — from downloading to its usage — has been even more exciting.

“People who don’t speak English download it and use it every time,” he says. To encourage app adoption, Brax adds the first $20 on new accounts.

A LONG TIME COMING

It’s an understatement to say that Brax Laundry’s 2022 opening was a long process. Three and a half years long, to be exact. Brad and Max had a plan, and it included an escape from the corporate world and owning their own business.

In 2018, they decided the vended laundry business was just the venture to check all the business ownership boxes. That was the easy part. The hard part was finding a location.

That search dragged on for the better part of a year. At last, they found one and over the next 15 months did much of the construction work themselves, even building their own bulkheads, which are creatively topped with artificial grass.

However, when it came to the equipment, they went with Portland-based Speed Queen distributor Coin Meter Company. Their ▼

read of the company was solid from the start, the Sabos say.

“They weren’t in it just to sell equipment,” Max says of feeling like they had a true partner invested in their success, unlike other firms they met with. The fact that they were also a fullservice distributor made a huge difference as well.

OFFERING MORE

With COVID-19 top of mind for many then, and most customers short on time, Brax Laundry took its offerings to the next level.

First, in addressing the time savings element and the fact that the pandemic had created more laundry than normal, the owners worked with their distributor to add extra capacity. Best was besting almost all competitors in its market with four 80-pound-capacity washer-extractors and two 100-pound-capacity units.

“They are spinning all the time,” Max says, adding that customers are consistently wowed by the capacity the laundromat has, which greets them immediately upon entering.

Brad and Max also took full advantage of the cycle programming ease (and profit-generating potential) of Quantum Touch. To address the increased interest in a higher-level clean that the pandemic brought, the duo added a “Brax Premium” cycle for customers seeking greater peace of mind. The cycle offered a longer wash as well as a pre-wash step and extra rinse.

“It took all of three minutes to add that to all of the machines,” Max jokes of the ease and speed of programming the washer-extractors. “That was actually really impressive.”

And while many owners might be content to offer just a premium cycle and a few cycle modifiers, not Brad and Max. When they say next level, they mean it. Brax leveraged the power of ozone injection for superior cleaning results in cold water, and even offered it for free. The fresh ozone smell was a nice byproduct that’s been noted by customers (remember the “it doesn’t smell like a laundromat” comment earlier?)

MORE THAN A BUSINESS

Brad and Max are every bit proud business

owners. They love chatting about the process to open, how opening day was the culmination of so much work, and how pleased they were to receive great feedback from customers. But they are just as quick to point out that the business is an equally great opportunity to give back.

“We didn’t want to own a business just to make money … we want to make a difference in the community,” Max says.

That’s why they partnered with LoveOne Community, a non-profit community-based organization committed to serving Clackamas County, Oregon, neighbors in need on a regular basis, providing clean laundry, showers, meals, personal care resources, and community connections.

Brax has hosted free laundry events, where those in need also had access to food and showers. They know that clean clothes are essential for life.

The pair has been excited by the difference their business has made in the community, as well as the tremendous bottom-line results (they later opened a second location in Molalla, Ore.).

While it took a bit longer than normal to get to the opening of their first location, it was definitely worth the wait. Max even says the multi-year process taught him great patience.

“It was a great experience for me … it brought new peace to my life.”

Randy Radtke is content and media relations manager for Alliance Laundry Systems.

Max and Brad say they were amazed by how easy it was to create a special cycle and add it to all washers in the store. Brax Laundry has also leveraged the power of ozone injection for superior cleaning results in cold water.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sabos added a “Brax Premium” cycle for customers seeking greater peace of mind. The cycle offered a longer wash as well as a pre-wash step and extra rinse.

APRIL

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POINTERS FROM PAULIE B

HOW MY FAVORITE LAUNDROMAT TOOLS MADE MY LIFE EASIER

Having the right tools can make a world of difference for repairs, maintenance and any other project you might tackle in your laundromat. Using the wrong tools will not only make your job longer and harder, in some cases it can lead to damage, failure or even personal injury.

We all know and should have the basic tools: pliers, screwdrivers, drills, etc. But there are many other tools that will make your life a lot easier.

I accumulated and used many tools over my career. In this column, I’ll be writing about the ones that stand out in my mind. I hope you’ll see that they can make your life a lot easier. Let’s start with diagnostics.

Multimeters — The No. 1 tool to help you diagnose your equipment is the multimeter, also known as a VOM or volt ohm meter.

Once you know how to use one, it will help you greatly to diagnose an electrical issue.

You can use it to trace broken circuits, test batteries or fuses, or find out if a certain part like a drain valve is getting power. You can use the ohmmeter to measure resistance in a circuit to check if a part like a solenoid is faulty.

When you buy a VOM, it comes with an instruction book so you can learn how to use it. Or just Google “how to use a multimeter.” There are plenty of tutorial videos online.

The better meters have capacitance settings that can tell you if a capacitor is good or not. (To avoid an accidental shock, safely discharge any capacitor before testing.)

Voltage Pen — This is a handy pen-shaped tool that’s easy to carry. It saved me from quite a few shocks over the years.

If you want to know if a wire is “hot” (live with electricity), just place the tip of the pen next to the wire. If it’s hot, the pen will flash and beep.

Laser Thermometer — Point its laser at your sink faucets to read the water temperature, your air conditioning ducts to read the air temps, and inside your dryers after hearing those famous words, “My dryer’s not hot enough.”

Keep in mind that laser thermometers aren’t accurate when pointed at shiny surfaces.

If you need to measure the temperature of a brand-new exhaust duct, for instance, just place a piece of black electrical tape on the shiny surface, wait about five minutes for the tape to get hot, then point the laser dot at the tape.

Electrical Receptacle Tester with GCFI Diagnosis — Make your mat safer. I discovered quite a few incorrectly wired outlets over the years using this inexpensive device. You just plug it into an outlet to see if it’s wired right.

Soldering Gun — My soldering gun, along with my desoldering tool, allowed me to change motor relays that were mounted on a computer board. It was cheaper than sending the whole board out to be rebuilt. You just buy and stock a couple relays.

How does one repair broken plastic parts? Here’s another valuable use for a soldering iron. A good soldering kit will come with interchangeable tips you can use for plastic welding.

Again, look for videos on how to perform such welding. It’s not hard to do, and if done correctly, it’s much stronger than any of the plastic glues out there. The “welding rods” for this are actually cable ties.

Glues — I generally like epoxies because you can store them a long time without them going bad. They also make really strong bonds. Of course, Gorilla Glue, wood clue, contact cement and silicone glue all have their place as well.

There are some great uses for cyanoacrylate glue, which you may know better as Krazy Glue. It’s not just for perfectly matched bonds like a broken cup handle. When you combine it with things that can give it a matrix, or structure, you can bond almost anything.

For instance, you can make an incredibly strong paste from Krazy Glue mixed with baking soda. The result is rock-hard. You can even use a cotton ball as a matrix material. Again, there are plenty of how-to videos to be found out there.

Paul Russo

Using a multimeter to check electrical connection continuity. (Photo: © Yunava1/Depositphotos)

Long Reach (11-inch) Needle Nose Pliers or Long Medical Forceps

— Either of these was always one of my favorites. Have a lint ball stuck in a washer drain hose? Long reach needle nose pliers make for an easy extraction. A forceps works even better.

Socket Set, and Metric and SAE Allen Wrench Sets — Every mat owner needs a good socket set and Allen wrenches in both metric and SAE measurements. A good set should also have Torx and Star bits,

because those screw types are becoming more and more popular.

Adjustable Groove Joint Pliers — I suggest buying a product carrying a good name brand, and to get two sizes. These are very handy to have. They’re useful for all sorts of laundromat jobs, the most common one being as a substitute pipe wrench.

Ratcheting Automobile Radiator Hose Pinch-off Pliers — If you’ve ever had to drain a washer tub of water, you’ll appreciate how this ▼

Checking the output of a mini-split AC unit with a laser thermometer. (Photo: © Romaset/ Depositphotos)

The author says his voltage pen can even detect current from a 5-volt charging cord. (Photo courtesy Paul Russo)

POINTERS FROM PAULIE B

simple automobile tool can pinch off a drain hose until you’re ready to release the water.

Telescoping Pickup Tool — You’ll thank me every time you drop something behind a washer. Get one claw type and one magnetic. You may be able to find a pickup tool that has both magnets and a claw combined in one unit.

Heat Gun — It’s hotter than a hair dryer but cooler than a torch. Heat guns come in handy for everything from loosening VCT tiles to heating up a pulley on a motor shaft to make it easy to slide off the shaft.

Heating frozen locks is a breeze. Try heat-shrinking tubing, softening up those 21/8-inch plastic drain hoses, or other tasks.

Grease Gun — Aside from water getting inside a bearing in a washer, bearings mostly fail due to the grease drying out.

If the grease dries out of a dryer bearing (it’s usually the one closest to the heat), the bearing will seize up while the drum keeps turning. This will quickly grind a groove in the trunnion shaft and the basket will get progressively looser and looser.

If you have equipment that has bearings with “zerk” grease nipples, you can keep the bearings greased almost indefinitely by shooting in a couple shots of grease once a year.

Note: Some bearing housings will not have the zerk fitting, but if you’re lucky, they may have the screw hole for you to install your own.

Magnetic Flashlight with Flexible Shaft — It will stick to a machine, and you can shine the flexible light where you need it. I also kept a pair of 4.0 reading glasses for doing close-up work.

Repairing equipment safely and more easily requires good illumination and visualization of your work.

Fishhook and Fishing Line or String — If customers are overloading your top loaders to the point that socks and other small items go over the basket and down into the tub, this tool provides an easy solution. No

need to pull the tub out.

Tie a nice, strong 3-inch line to a small treble fishhook with a weight. Drop the fishhook over the side and just swirl it around the tub to hook and pull out the “overboard” item.

Wire Nuts — A set of wire nuts in various sizes is always handy to have. There are newer ways to splice wires but wire nuts are the old standby.

Spade Wire Crimp Terminal Assortment Kit — Just like the wire nuts, you’ll be looking for these a few times a year. Make sure you also get a good crimper for them.

Gear Pullers — Used for more advanced repairs such as tub bearing jobs, they can also be indispensable for pulling a dryer basket, or even just to remove a pulley.

A good gear puller can make it easier to change motor bearings, which is one of the most cost-effective repairs you can do. So, $40 for two bearings or $400 for a rebuilt washer motor?

I kept both 2-jaw and 3-jaw versions, and in two sizes: big and small. If you want to push out a dryer basket, you’ll need a big puller with a long reach.

Tweezers Set, Mini File Set, or a Hook and Pick Set — Any of these will be useful in clearing lint-stuffed keyholes. Think “dental pick” for your locks.

Sanders and Grinders — You may already have some nice hand files and rasps, but every now and then, you’ll need to do some aggressive grinding or cutting. This is where a belt sander or an angle sander/cutter can really help you make quick work of hard projects.

Workbench — If you have enough room at your location, install a sturdy workbench. Add a good vise, lighting and a power outlet. Such a setup makes for good ergonomics, which will make things easier on you.

Now, I used a lot of other tools over the years I owned laundromats, including reciprocating saws, hammer drills, and ratcheting box wrenches, but the listed tools were the most handy. (But let’s not forget gloves, goggles and masks to protect yourself.)

And finally, my No. 1 laundromat tool was …

Bill Counter — Assuming your store receives paper money, a nice bill counter can be quite useful if/when you have too many bills to count by hand. Many models now cost less than $100. They can do batch counts and automatically detect counterfeit bills.

Paul Russo owned and operated multiple laundromats in New York City for more than 40 years before retiring in 2018. You’re welcome to direct any questions or comments for Russo to Editor Bruce Beggs at bbeggs@atmags.com.

Groove joint pliers are useful for all sorts of laundromat jobs, Russo says, the most common one being as a substitute pipe wrench. (Photo: © ianlangley/Depositphotos)

A fishhook with weight for snagging small items that escape the washer basket and fall into the tub. (Photo: © ssb111/Depositphotos)

Long-reach forceps for pulling lint balls or socks out of drain valves and hoses. (Photo: © ksena32/Depositphotos)

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IN MEMORIAM: JERRY SCHANTZ, SETOMATIC SYSTEMS

Jerry Schantz, the founder of laundry payment technology provider Setomatic Systems, died Feb. 18 at the age of 90.

Since his teenage years, Schantz had been in the commercial laundry business, from distribution of washers and dryers to manufacturing coin boxes and being master distributors for many of the top manufacturers, Setomatic says.

He led the charge into the electronic/digital age in the commercial laundry industry in the 1980s, introducing the first electronic drop coin meters when the industry was using only coin slides and mechanical timers.

With his son Michael, the elder Schantz continued to innovate and bring new payment technologies to the coin laundry industry, introducing credit card acceptance in 1993. It was the industry’s first hybrid system that would allow any form of payment. That set the stage for payments in the vended laundry industry for the next 30 years, Setomatic says.

Schantz retired from Setomatic in 2007 and moved with wife Muriel to Florida to enjoy the weather.

Today, Setomatic is in its third generation of family management and thriving on the culture that Jerry Schantz built. Late last year, grandson Gregg Schantz was promoted to company president and Michael Schantz transitioned into the role of CEO.

“He was a loving father, grandfather, leader, mentor, friend, and he will be deeply missed by everyone who knew him and by the industry he loved and helped develop,” Michael and Gregg say in a joint statement. “His legacy will surely live on.”

LG ELECTRONICS EXPANDS RELATIONSHIP WITH WASH

Commercial laundry technology provider LG Electronics reports it has expanded its relationship with WASH, one of the largest laundry route businesses in North America.

The new agreement enables LG to increase its position in the market for commercial laundry solutions for multi-family housing and university dormitories while bringing end-users the convenience and performance of LG’s energy-efficient washers and dryers.

WASH supplies and manages laundry solutions for multi-family prop-

erties across the United States and Canada. Through the new agreement, LG will supply WASH with advanced commercial washing machines and dryers offering ease of use, short cycle times and enhanced fabric care.

“This collaboration will deliver more value to our commercial laundry customers, and ultimately to American consumers, by coupling LG’s powerful cleaning capabilities and enhanced efficiency with the convenient services offered by WASH,” says Guy Minnix, head of sales for the LG Pro Builder division of LG Electronics USA.

RISTAINO, CLARK JOIN EASTERN FUNDING STAFF AS LOAN OFFICERS

Eastern Funding LLC recently hired Brendan Ristaino and Cameron Clark as loan officers, the company reports.

Ristaino brings several decades of experience in the laundry industry to the lender. He started early working in his family’s laundromats and most recently was general manager of a leading laundry equipment distributor in the Northeast, Eastern Funding says.

He graduated from the Master’s Program at the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business, Hartford, Connecticut, and is an active volunteer in his community.

Clark, an experienced industry veteran with over 18 years of experience, previously managed a successful family-owned distributorship of commercial laundry equipment, Eastern Funding says. Besides distribution, the family also owned and operated an extensive portfolio of laundromats.

“The combination of (Brendan’s) knowledge, background in business, and his commitment to helping business owners reach their goals will prove tremendously valuable to Eastern Funding and our customers,” says Tony Regan, executive vice president of sales. “(Cameron’s) grasp of the laundry business, his focus on helping customers, combined with the financing power of Eastern Funding will be a tremendous resource for the industry.”

WASHDRYFOLD POS REFRESHES ITS BRAND

Since its inception in 2016, the Wash-Dry-Fold POS® logo has been characterized by a simple icon of a desktop computer on top of a washer icon in navy blue and off-white. Celebrating the move to the modern hardware and cloud-based software it sells now, the brand is undergoing a comprehensive branding refresh that includes a dynamic new logo and favicon with refreshed colors and style.

Always building its products and services on customer feedback, the company says its new logo embraces the popularization of the acronym “WDF POS” used in Facebook Groups when referring to the company. In the absence of the full logo or company name, “WDF POS” will appear in its new, clean, blue font.

As part of the initiative to modernize its marketing efforts, the publicfacing website—www.washdryfoldpos.com—has also been rebuilt to improve user experience and offer a more current look and feel to prospective customers, the company reports.

The brand’s refreshed identity, according to Wash-Dry-Fold POS, reaffirms its commitment to deliver top-tier point-of-sale and operational management tools while integrating customer feedback, as well as its dedication to continual improvement and modernization.

Ristaino

Jim Gimeson (left), CEO of B2B laundry service provider WASH, and Sam Kim, president of Home Appliances for LG Electronics USA, sign an agreement to expand their companies’ relationship in North America, bringing new laundry solutions to multi-family housing and student residences. (Photo: LG Electronics)

Clark

Jerry Schantz