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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

Find a laundromat nearby that will wash and fold your clothes. It's actually not a lot more expensive than what the machines charge and that's not accounting for malfunctions, unobtainable refunds, too-small-to-use balances left over on payment cards, your time waiting around while the machines run, detergent, fabric softeners, ruined clothes because you didn't realize that the previous user washed a load of greasy shop towels in the machine, etc.

Drop off a bag of laundry in the morning, pick up clean folded clothes in the evening. You're dealing with local owners most likely, or at least humans not some app or website.

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>Find a laundromat nearby that will wash and fold your clothes. It's actually not a lot more expensive than what the machines charge

Where is this? I admittedly don't use such services but I find it hard to believe that a full service laundromat is anywhere close to a coin laundromat, unless you're in an economy where labor is dirt cheap.

I used a laundromat drop-off wash&fold service a decade or so ago in Cambridge, Mass. (while slammed with marathon late hours on-site, and couldn't get home for a few hours overlapping laundromat being open). Cambridge is a VHCOLA, and the service was kinda expensive.

(I used it for shirts and trousers, and just bought a ton of undergarments, so no stranger would have to fold those.)

Though, I don't know whether that place is still doing drop-off; a lot of laundromats went out of business during Covid. So something about the economics didn't work out, though it might've been real estate rather than the labor of the guy who was there to keep an eye on the coin-op machines anyway.

It is everywhere. Look for a Lavendaria or a standalone, laundromat. without attached dry cleaners.

Laundromats that hire an attendant, want to keep the attendant busy. "wash and fold" is how they do it.

for a family of 4 with towels and such, this would cost a fortune. a single person, it is a bargain. $25 to $30 a week.

in years past when i used to travel and be on customer sites for weeks at a time, i would get my laundry done before i went home. pick up the clean clothes on the way to the airport. eliminated one task when i got home.

Yeah they are everywhere. Some even have drive-thru drop-off/pickup or delivery.

They charge by dry weight of the laundry. I know people with families who still find it a good value for the time savings. Hang your towels and use them again, they don't really need to be washed that often. Also make sure they aren't soaking wet when you take them to be weighed.

This times a 1000. Single greatest thing I have ever done. Although find one that isn't attached to a dry cleaners or it gets expensive. (They randomly decided t-shirts needed to be dry cleaned and only wash-folded my underwear and socks).

They typically charge by weight and if you're doing laundry for a family of four, it will get very expensive very quickly.

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