New way to pay at Laundromats could take you to the cleaners!

While showman P.T. Barnum is accused of turning the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” it may be the poor fellow has been done the dirt. Barnum’s biographer has tried and tried to track down the truth, and suggests that Barnum, who was respectful of his customers, probably never said it. But one truth is known: If there’s a sucker born every minute, you can bet there are at least two con men waiting outside the delivery room for it to happen. And now it looks like folks who need to come clean at the Laundromat may be taken to the cleaners.

Detergent—and sacks full of quarters?

Most RVers who, by nature, can be away from home long enough to need a clothes wash and dry, frequent Laundromats. You know the routine: First, you have to locate a cleaner, then hope there’s enough room to park your rig. And don’t forget in addition to that basket full of soiled clothing, you’ll also need detergent, and a sack full of quarters. Such was our need when we hit our first wash day on our current road trip. We had a couple of weeks’ worth of dirty socks, and plenty of laundry cleansers, brighteners, and de-wrinklers. We also had a $20 bill, and the figuring that the Laundromat would have a change machine. Bad assumption. The minimarket up the block knew this all too well, and regularly exchanged rolls of quarters for paper money. At no extra charge!

A new spin on being taken to the cleaners

Three weeks later, and decidedly in need of a lineup of front loaders, we struggled in the door of a laundry facility in Lacey, Washington. It was one that we’d patronized a number of times over the years. This time we knew we wouldn’t need quarters; on our last visit we’d discovered the joys of using a credit card to start up washers and driers.

We loaded up several machines with clothes, and dumped the cleaning potions in the appropriate slots. But instead of a credit card slot, the machines had a new wrinkle. “Place your card here” read the legend above a little shelf on each machine. We put the credit card on the shelf and in return, nothing happened. After a few repeats, hubby, the official ambassador to counter people, approached and apologized to the attendant. “Sorry, but I guess age is dulling my technology skills. I can’t seem to figure out how to get my credit card to work with the washers.”

The attendant graciously fired him a pitying look and led him to a wall-mounted video display. Here, with the use of a credit card and touch-screen manipulation, the modern Laundromat customer purchases a “prepaid laundry card.” In other words, here the modern Laundromat customer is taken to the cleaners.

First, pay for the card

First, in this Laundromat, to put money on a laundry card, one must possess the laundry card. In some places, we’ve learned, you’ll pay $5 for this initial transaction. Happily, the charge was “only” a buck. Then you’ll have your choice of how much money you want to transfer from your credit (or debit) card. Will $20 do? Cheapskate, eh? OK, we’ll give you $10. The minimum amount was $3. We started off with an optimistic $20.

Then find out the prices aren’t even

After starting the front loaders, it became clear optimism was dead. The $20 was nearly gone, and there was still the matter of drying mountains of socks and shirts. Another $10 perhaps? But the fun doesn’t stop there. Getting taken to the cleaners means that the machines all have odd monetary increments. Nothing ends in an even dollar. Nothing ends in 25 cents. Of course, this is not a problem, as even if we’d brought pill bottles full of quarters, it wouldn’t matter. The machines ONLY take these confounded, con-man-produced prepaid cards. The end result is, no matter how clever you are with numbers, there’s no way you’ll ever reduce the balance on your prepaid card to exactly ZERO.

You want a refund?!

A couple of hours later, we were ready to book out. We’d charged $43 to fill up our prepaid laundry card. Of course, we hadn’t spent quite that much. So how about a refund of the unused amount? In the Laundromat industry, that unused money is called “float.” And that float is great for the Laundromat owner because, hey! “Sorry, no refunds on your unused balance.” So, take the card and take it to the next Laundromat down the line? Nooo! Remember, you the customer, are to be taken to the cleaners. Not just any cleaner—the one where you bought your card. That builds “customer loyalty”!

Not only does keeping the traveling RVers float money work in the Laundromat owner’s favor, but so does the additional inducement of using the system. Says one Laundromat industry journal, “A multi-pricing feature allows you to show up to six prices on the device screen, giving customers the option to choose between a cold wash and warm wash, for example. When customers use cash or coins, they often come with exact change and are unable to select a more expensive option. Cashless payments make it easier for customers to make spontaneous decisions, to take the better offer, and to increase their average transaction value.” We recall our earlier visit to the “quarters only” washamat. A hot wash cost the same as a cold wash. Just another way the tired, clueless customer can be taken to the cleaners.

A Coin Laundry Association’s recent survey showed 54% of laundromat owners only offer quarter-operated laundry machines. Don’t bet that’ll last. With this new “spin” helping to clean up on customers, we’ll bet this prepaid card scheme will proliferate like slot machines in Vegas.

##RVT1118