Metrics That Matter 

Profit, Performance, and Planning in Vended Laundry  The laundromat business is like most businesses in that you need to do a lot of things right to be successful. But how do you know if it’s working? According to successful owners, you just need to look at the...

Startup to Scale

How Western State Design Has Been Helping Laundry Businesses Thrive for More Than 50 Years   For more than five decades, Western State Design has been a leading provider of turnkey laundry solutions across the vended, on-premises, and commercial/industrial markets....

Member Spotlight: Lab-Tested, Laundry-Approved

How Laundry Labs Plans to Change the Industry In today’s business world, efficiency and quality are paramount – and the commercial laundry industry is no exception. Recognizing the need for superior cleaning solutions specifically tailored to laundromat operators,...

Wash-Dry-Fold POS Launches New Feature

Wash-Dry-Fold POS® has announced its new Attendant Checklist Feature. According to Managing Partner Ian Gollahon, it is a simple but integrated tool that is so powerful, it’ll make you wonder how you ever ran your business without it. "You can monitor the checklist...

PlanetLaundry Podcast

America’s #1 Resource for Vended Laundry News & Info

PlanetLaundry is the official publication of CLA and is trusted by thousands of laundry professionals to deliver the latest news and industry-specific topics.

Knowing When the Price is Right

Knowing When the Price is Right

Laundromat Owners Share the Pricing Philosophies They Utilize to Keep Their Self-Service Customers Happy – And Their Bottom Lines Healthy [This is the second of a two-part series on vend price strategies for today’s self-service laundry businesses. Read Part 1 here.]...

Building the Basics

Building the Basics

Growing Your Self-Service Laundry Business in a Full-Service World These days, running the self-service portion of your laundromat business can feel a bit like swimming upstream – with the traditional laundromat model at times appearing, at best, quaint and perhaps...

Pricing for Profit

Pricing for Profit

Industry Experts Discuss Pricing Strategies for Self-Service Success [This is the first of a two-part series on vend price strategies for today’s self-service laundry operations.] It’s an art and a science. It requires an experimental attitude coupled with an...

Headlines

A Fresh Spin on Your Laundromat’s Profits

Marketing Strategies to Boost Business with Ancillary Revenue Streams You know what’s impressive? A laundromat owner with big dreams. I was chatting with one the other day who wasn’t content with just making money from washers and dryers. She wanted to use every inch...

Wash with Wally: The Keys to Cleaning Cloth Restaurant Napkins

I have potential commercial account that would require us to launder cloth napkins for an Italian restaurant. The napkins are red and most certainly will have oil and other food stains. The client wants these napkins laid out flat for delivery. What are the best...

Relatively Speaking

How to Navigate the Minefield of Working with Family Members Years ago, after earning my master’s degree in clinical psychology, I went to work in my father’s foundry business as the company’s director of sales. At the time – and as is likely the case today as well –...

Alliance Distribution Announces Fall Shows

Alliance Laundry Systems Distribution-West Region in California has released its fall show schedule, which kicks off on September 8 in San Diego and wraps up September 16 in San Francisco. The Fall Laundry Festival will feature special rebates on Speed Queen models,...

ACI Unveils Bilingual Laundry Safety Resource

The American Cleaning Institute recently convened with hundreds of top safety experts and partners at the Safe Kids Worldwide Childhood Injury Prevention Convention for four days of conversation focused on preventing unintentional childhood injuries. During the event,...

All the Buzz

An Interview with Katy Chen of Laundrybee Katy Chen is the founder and CEO of Laundrybee, a chain of nine, branded laundromats located within the five boroughs of New York City. Ms. Chen has owned and operated numerous laundromats over that last 20 years. And, in...

At Your Service

Planning for Full-Service Offerings at Your Laundromat A growing number of vended laundries are now offering full-service wash-dry-fold and/or residential/commercial laundry services. And for good reason. After all, through this type of diversification of services,...

Alliance Distribution Expands West Region

Alliance Laundry Systems has acquired the distribution assets of Dynamic Sales and Service, based in Kirkland, Wash. Dynamic has more than three decades of experience providing commercial laundry solutions in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. “We remain committed to...

PayRange, Turns Announce Exclusive Partnership

PayRange Inc., a provider of mobile payments for unattended retail operations, has announced an exclusive licensing agreement with laundromat and drycleaning software provider Turnsapp Inc. “We are particularly impressed by the scope and caliber of Turn’s offerings,”...

More Than Just Laundry

Store Owners Share Profitable Business Options and Service Offerings They Run in Tandem with Their Laundromat Operations Successful laundromat entrepreneurs have always focused on two things – customer service and efficiency. In other words, best serving the customer...

CLA Promotes Gonzalez

The Coin Laundry Association has named Christina Gonzalez the organization’s new director of finance and human resources. Gonzalez, who joined CLA in April 2012, most recently served as the association’s director of administration and accounting. In her new role, she...

CSC ServiceWorks Announces Leadership Changes

Consumer services platform company CSC ServiceWorks Inc. has announced changes to its executive leadership team. The company’s board of directors has appointed Rod Castellanos as chief executive officer, who has served as co-CEO and been a member of the board since...

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This Month's Issue

 

  • Metrics That Matter: Profit, Performance, and Planning in Vended Laundry
  • Women In Laundry: Haley Gould Finds Perfect Fit
  • Company Close-Up: Company Founded to Help Small Businesses Shines
  • New Member Spotlight: How Robotics Could Change Laundromat Industry
  • And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

Laundroworks, Cents Join Forces

Business management platform Cents and loyalty card payment system provider Laundroworks have joined forces. The companies have teamed up by pairing Laundroworks’ on-machine payment system with Cents’ full-service laundry point-of-sale and business management system....

PayRange Sues CSC ServiceWorks for Patent Infringement

Payment solutions provider PayRange Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against CSC ServiceWorks, the largest U.S. operator of laundry machines in multi-family housing and college dorms. PayRange is seeking damages estimated to be in excess of $108 million...

Laundry Industry Mourns Jerry Schantz

Set-O-Matic founder Jerry Schantz recently passed away at the age of 90. Mr. Schantz had been involved in the commercial laundry business since his teen years, serving the industry in several facets – from the distribution of washers and dryers to the manufacturing of...

Drycleaning Trade Associations Team Up to Strength Industry Events

In an unprecedented move, the sponsors of the four largest regional drycleaning and laundry trade shows in the country are collaborating to strengthen these events. The South Eastern Fabricare Association, the California Cleaners Association, the Southwest Drycleaners...

Eastern Funding Bolsters Commercial Financing Sales Team

Industry financial lender Eastern Funding LLC has announced that Cameron Clark has joined the company as a loan officer. An industry veteran with more than 18 years of experience, Clark previously managed a successful family-owned distributor of commercial laundry...

FROM YOUR FAVORITE INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Columns

The Laundry Doctor

Know Your Place in the Internet Space

Don’t Overlook Online Marketing When Promoting Your Wash-Dry-Fold Business As someone who studied marketing in college and who has always assumed a solid grasp on the art and science of the topic, I now feel myself moving further and further away from truly...

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The Business Mind

The Skills to Pay the Bills

The Skills to Pay the Bills

Master These Six Essential Skills to Take Your Laundry Business to the Next Level I’ve always been a collector of the best words and most valid phrases to describe or define a successful small-business owner – and, more specifically, a highly successful laundromat...

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Wash With Wally

Wash with Wally: Increasing Drying Capacity

Wash with Wally: Increasing Drying Capacity

My laundromat currently has 40 30-pound stack dryers. However, they’re 18 years old, and I’m starting to have some mechanical issues with them – so I think it may be time to replace them. Lately, I’ve been considering possibly purchasing 50-pound stack dryers to...

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Viewpoint

Make 2020 Count

Make 2020 Count

“The more people, the more dirty clothes.” – Ancient laundromat wisdom Time flies, as do the decades. Despite the ongoing pandemic and economic concerns, there’s a headcount to be made in 2020. The original constitutional edict from the framers comes to life in the...

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Digital Marketing

Strategic Corporate Allies Program

Our Strategic Corporate Allies support CLA’s mission through advocacy, education, and innovation to strengthen the industry, advance our members’ businesses, and prepare the next generation of laundry professionals for the future.

Interested in becoming a Strategic Corporate Ally of CLA? Contact President & CEO, Brian Wallace via email at [email protected] or call (630) 491-0499.