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laundromat owners ?

I'm not, but I know a couple. They seem to have even more headaches than we do, both on maintenance & idiot customers.
 
mjwalsh is a forum member and I think he owns a wash and a laundromat.
 
We have both. One wash we purchased out of foreclosure had an empty retail building attached and we gutted and installed a laundromat.
 
We have a medium sized laundromat along with our 2 room dog wash & 6 bay self service with 4 outdoor vacuums ... one with ability to air up tires besides just vac.
 
Soonermajic,

Hopefully every person here on this forum knows ... I would not want to ever intentionally mislead anyone. There are such a variety of tiny & up to huge mega self service laundry facilities so it is hard to give an answer to your question that applies to all situations & areas of the USA.

Laundromats are less dependent on the weather but there are so many other variables also.

Suffice to say, we have had our ups & downs with both the car wash & the laundry & more recently with the added 2 room dog wash. The Coin Laundry Association has resources including its open forum but a prospective laundromat operator still has to find what is the best fit for them. Based on posts on the CLA forum a smaller percentage of the almost 40,000 USA laundromats have been much less successful with the credit card - phone activation etc. approach than with those going to dollar coin only. On the CLA forum some have come forward with exasperation of costly charge-backs because of non EMV certified processes on their equipment's interface with their customers. The financial powers that control that processing recently showed their colors as they would not even look at diligently gathered camera evidence of proven usage (false claim) at some laundromats because the incidents happened after the EMV deadline. The Wash Dry Fold (WDF) over the counter laundromat processing portion of laundromats offering WDF is proving to be the same "no brainer" when it comes to adding EMV certified as with most retail stores. The certified EMV reading process on the large number of each individual washers & dryers needed has proven to be far too expensive ... with not enough gain ... according to some Laundromat Industry Leaders based on their actual first hand experience.

Mike
 
I operate a car wash as well as a laundromat, also on the same piece of property like mjwalsh. We have over 100 washers/ dryers in the laundry. Much more predictable and steady business. Still has headaches just like the car wash industry does. Only instead of "the car wash scratched my car", it's "the washer ripped my clothes". Instead of "there's not enough soap", it's "the dryer isn't hot".
 
mjwalsh said:
The financial powers that control that processing recently showed their colors as they would not even look at diligently gathered camera evidence of proven usage (false claim) at some laundromats because the incidents happened after the EMV deadline. T
Mike
Click to expand...

Their needs to be a class action brought by States Attorney Generals like they have don against other big companies. Sadly, they only seem to care about consumers not business. Recently had 2 $30.00 charge backs for counterfeit . Guy gad an unusual name so I called him since I had signed slips. He said company improperly issued a card in his name and sent to some other address. So, the card was not counterfeit. The issuer screwed up in issuing it and is sticking it to the merchants.
 
I got one simple question for the Laundry mat operators at the end of the year which business has more NET profit the self serve carwash or Laundry mat on your bottom line. The reason I ask is I am in a situation of a opportunity of acquiring/buying a 800-900sqft building that used to be a Laundry mat 20 years ago with a 4 bay SS. I know you can't put so many machines in a building that small and would it be worth the time & money or just rent it out as is and collect mailbox rent money. Thanks.

I thought the Laundry mat business there is no chemicals to supply just, power, gas & water vs the carwash business is more expensies and charge less on startup. I dont know anything about Laundrymats.
 
Looking at bizbuysell, the gross multiplier seems about the same ... wide range. 3-10x. What I like about the laundromat is you have X amount of the same (hopefully) machines. Also, if 1,2,3 go down, you aren't hurting. Your IBA or tunnel goes down, well, you're going to lose some money.

I would assume that a newer built laundromat would also be a much less complex operation.
 
Water usage is way more than self service car wash. I wonder if there are any express or tunnel car wash owners who also have a laundromat. I have a hunch that the water usage at a laundromat would still be much more .... not sure ... if someone has first hand comparison experience I don't mind being corrected.
 
I have a 80' tunnel, 6 bays & laundromat. The water bill is on average is always more for the laundry first, tunnel second and then bays.
 
mjwalsh I'm not sure what your equipment setup is like in the laundromat and I guess this is more of a CLA forum post, but we have reduced additional pre wash and rinse cycles in the washers and lowered the water levels as well. This has saved us a ton of water with no effect to how clean the clothes come out. These settings are available on our electrolux and wascomat washers, possibly more but that is my experience
 
I have a very small coin laundry in my apartment building. I bought new Maytag machines and a used Speed Queen. Both types have worked flawlessly so far, but the Speed Queen has a beefier, more commercial look and seems more rugged.
 
Waxman said:
I have a very small coin laundry in my apartment building. I bought new Maytag machines and a used Speed Queen. Both types have worked flawlessly so far, but the Speed Queen has a beefier, more commercial look and seems more rugged.
Click to expand...

I have a Speed Queen washer & Dryer in my house and there right
 
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