Coin operated laundries a valuable revenue stream
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- Written by Brent Leslie, Industry Reporter
People now expect to be able to do their laundry on-site when they go travelling, so why not provide that service while adding value to your business?
From big new five-star hotels to the average backpacker lodge, large central coin-operated laundries are going in. Such facilities are also well-suited to big holiday parks that have large numbers of camper vans arriving at certain times of the year and need big central laundries to cater for those volumes. For all of these types of accommodation, this part of their business can generate surprisingly good amounts of revenue. People on holiday or business still need to wash their clothes and they are happy to pay.
For those with existing coin- operated laundries, relevant questions to consider are whether the facilities are operating efficiently, whether the equipment is becoming too old and expensive to maintain, or whether more or less equipment could generate additional income or reduce costs.
For accommodation providers that do not yet have a laundry and decide to install one, a successful outcome entails buying quality commercial equipment with efficient, secure coin mechanisms, and matching the most satisfactory amount and size of equipment to cater for the number of guests.
Purchasing good-quality commercial equipment is essential to avoid inconvenient and expensive down time. Trying to operate a laundry on the cheap using domestic equipment and coin boxes bolted on to the wall can only lead to trouble. Domestic machines are not designed to run all day, every day, whereas a commercial machine with an all-metal transmission should give years of reliable service, providing a good return on investment while keeping customers happy and giving them good memories of their stay. For business contemplating setting up a laundry, the first step should be to contact a reputable local company to obtain advice and quotes. As well as installing a quality product, it is wise to make sure that you will also be provided with good follow-up service. Ensure you are dealing with knowledgeable people, who can help design the layout and make sure you are not spending more than you need to. Matching the amount of available space and quantity of equipment to the property rates and other considerations is extremely important for a successful enterprise. Once you have contacted a specialist company, the rest should be straightforward.
However, there are still some decisions the operator will have to make to suit the nature of the business. For instance, there are pros and cons between using tokens and coins.
In one way, coins are the simplest option because people travel with coins anyway. An age-old issue where a business has staff clearing coin boxes and managing money is that there is always the temptation for some employees to skim a bit off the top. There could also be security issues where vandals falsely believe they can break into the machines and get the coins. While they will be unsuccessful, they can do a lot of damage in the attempt.
A token system minimises the risk of vandalism and provides more flexibility in pricing. It also avoids the problem of people deliberately or accidently putting through the wrong denominations or currencies. They might even avoid coins altogether, using 'slugs' such as washers to try to fool the machines, causing jams and other problems. But the downside of tokens is that someone has to be available to issue them over long hours, seven days.
Time will solve these issues. New technology is moving away from the old manual push-pull coin slot towards electronic coin drops, which are far more sophisticated. Electronic coin drops can accurately measure the size, weight and metallic content of a coin. A foreign coin can be almost identical in size to an existing New Zealand coin, but the latest machines will just keep spitting it out. Some equipment becoming available now has the ability to electronically record exactly what has happened in that machine, a major benefit to business owners and operators, who have to delegate to staff.
In development now are new technologies that will include cashless systems and payment by credit card, helping to eliminate theft and vandalism. But it is very early days for these and like most new technological advances, purchase costs are likely to be prohibitive for most business owners in the first few years.
