laundry payment question

down home wrote:

mockturtle wrote:

down home wrote:
resorts that don't charge to launder clothes.

Is there such a thing?

Yes. I hesitate to mention the one I can think of because I'm unsure about it but we have stayed at one or two.

Many of the military campgrounds have free laundry. I also know of a few commercial campgrounds that offer that service.

bukhrn wrote:

AprilWhine wrote:
Better idea is to do what Canada did, eliminate the penny and the paper dollar. It was so much easier to use two dollar coins to do the wash, instead of ten pounds of quarters!

Better idea, is to make machines that take dollar bills, like vending machines do & get rid of the heavy $2 coins & ten pounds of quarters.
Isn't that why we did away with Silver dollars & 50 cent pieces in the first place? :h

Making paper dollars that wear out in just a few years adds to the budget woes. Far better to make dollar coins. ;) Also, I've never had to stand in front of a coin machine, trying to feed the same coin over and over as it gets rejected because of wear.

The card system is not a problem, they work well for the intended purpose, and seemed reliable… you shouldn’t not go there simply because they use the card system… the failures I experienced were human and intentional… this was not in a CG but a was Laundromat surrounded by many CG’s...



The one I had a problem with had a twofold intended purpose… one honorable and one not…

one was to do away with the troublesome coin system…

The second since this was a high transient area to profit from the cards themselves and cheat the people of the few dollars knowing most won’t be back or would put a lot of effort into collecting a small refund…

If it weren’t intended to rip-off transient customers they would simply prominently post their no refund policy and post the refundable deposit on the card would not be on its return but by follow-up mail…
If the policy is posted and not read, it not a rip-off, but as a hidden restrictive policy it is clearly meant to be a rip-off… these cards are returned when the users are leaving the area and don’t have time to file official complaints…

In this attended facility at the very least these policies could be told to the customer when the card is acquired… the one girl even said she was instructed to no mention this and if anyone asked she was instructed to just get a number where the boss could reach them…

There's another way it can be done and we found a city CG in Florence Oregon that does it.

On the outside wall of the laundry building was a change machine that would give quarters in exchange for dollar bills (ones, fives, etc., up to $20). Then you used the coins for the washers and driers. If you got more change than you needed, it was still legal tender for other things, or for your next laundry adventure.

Thanks for the rv park point of view!
Donna

philandterri wrote:
One reason campgrounds are going to cards instead of cash is due to the fact thier cash boxes have been broken into too many times.

While true, a bigger reason we would consider cards (we are coins) is we spend an inordinate amount of time un-jamming the machines. They are for QUARTERS!!! Not nickels, slugs, gum, Canadian coins, cardboard, hair pins or any of the countless objects we have found jammed into the coin slots. That being said, retrofitting any kind of card system is extremely expensive and would have a cost prohibitive payback period for small laundry operations.

wa8yxm wrote:
When it's a "In house" special "Wash card" if they don;'t refund I'd contact the state attorney general.

As to why use the card...

Well. many CG's are not long on security, I can see "Kids" of assorted ages breaking into the coin boxes and taking all the quarters.. Does not happen with the card.

But if they don't refund the balance.. at the end of your trip., It is a rip off.

here in Michigan I still use Quarters. Same in South Carolina.

For goodness sakes, is there anything you and few others don't suggest you contact the attorney general for? It is no different than a gift card from any retailer, you don't use all the money on it, you don't get cash back. I have three gift cards in my wallet right now and they all say the same thing, "NO Cash back, not redeemable for cash except where required by law." So unless you know the laws where every laundry is located, your advice is probably wrong, since most businesses do not knowingly violate laws for a couple of bucks.
Just because things don't work like you want, doesn't make it a "ripoff". Try being pro-active. Buy only the amount that you need, if they don't sell it in that quantity, go elsewhere. Same as you would if you needed a bag of topsoil and the local materials company only sold it by the truckload. Go find a place that sells it in the units you require. It is not the laundry's fault you don't want to buy what they are selling.

One reason campgrounds are going to cards instead of cash is due to the fact thier cash boxes have been broken into too many times.

When it's a "In house" special "Wash card" if they don;'t refund I'd contact the state attorney general.

As to why use the card...

Well. many CG's are not long on security, I can see "Kids" of assorted ages breaking into the coin boxes and taking all the quarters.. Does not happen with the card.

But if they don't refund the balance.. at the end of your trip., It is a rip off.

here in Michigan I still use Quarters. Same in South Carolina.

I always heard the nice thing about coin laundries was the cash nature of the business. I worked with a guy that brought a Laundromat, the seller wanted extra for the coin counting machine. Fellow said he didn't think he'd need it, after the first night counting dimes and quaters he called back and said he'd take it.