Yesterday I had the displeasure of spending some time at Bubble Beach Laundromat in Santa Monica. Mind you that there isn’t anything specifically wrong with this laundromat, other than the non-functional change machines and broken machines. But why do laundromats suck so much? It seems like there is such potential for Tom’s Laundromat of the Future™  I imagine a laundromat that has three parts: laundromat coffee shop (not a crappy one) / bar NFC/RFID based payment & preference saving appliances It’s a community center instead of a drab and depressing place where you go to sanitize your clothing / get rid of those pesky santorum stains. Naturally, there are some places where this type of thing would work (san francisco) and others where it wouldn’t (irvine). Rather than using coins or those super annoying stored value ‘smart cards’ you would be encouraged to use NFC capable phones or place a RFID sticker on the back of their phone. Online, you set up a payment method & customize washing & drying preferences (maybe even automatic detergent dispensing). So, when you go to place your clothing in the washer, you simply hold your phone to the machine to pay & activate with your preferred settings. With this type of networking, you could even have the system automatically text when it’s time to switch items to the dryer, or offer to have your clothing moved from the washer to dryer for a couple dollars. Naturally, you could use your phone/tag to order your favorite drink as well.  I don’t think any of this is that far off… it just needs to be designed to benefit the user. These ‘solutions’ produced by the giant machine manufacturers seem to benefit everyone but the person washing their clothing.
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Yesterday I had the displeasure of spending some time at Bubble Beach Laundromat in Santa Monica. Mind you that there isn’t anything specifically wrong with this laundromat, other than the non-functional change machines and broken machines.

But why do laundromats suck so much? It seems like there is such potential for Tom’s Laundromat of the Future™ 

I imagine a laundromat that has three parts:

  1. laundromat
  2. coffee shop (not a crappy one) / bar
  3. NFC/RFID based payment & preference saving appliances

It’s a community center instead of a drab and depressing place where you go to sanitize your clothing / get rid of those pesky santorum stains. Naturally, there are some places where this type of thing would work (san francisco) and others where it wouldn’t (irvine).

Rather than using coins or those super annoying stored value ‘smart cards’ you would be encouraged to use NFC capable phones or place a RFID sticker on the back of their phone. Online, you set up a payment method & customize washing & drying preferences (maybe even automatic detergent dispensing). So, when you go to place your clothing in the washer, you simply hold your phone to the machine to pay & activate with your preferred settings.

With this type of networking, you could even have the system automatically text when it’s time to switch items to the dryer, or offer to have your clothing moved from the washer to dryer for a couple dollars. Naturally, you could use your phone/tag to order your favorite drink as well. 

I don’t think any of this is that far off… it just needs to be designed to benefit the user. These ‘solutions’ produced by the giant machine manufacturers seem to benefit everyone but the person washing their clothing.

7 Notes/ Hide

  1. tomarthur posted this