Originally posted – Feb 14, 2014
Written By: Cathy Johnson
The multi-family laundry room may not be the first place you think of as being “high-tech.” However, new technology applications are transforming the laundry room experience for both residents and property owners.
Coinless payment systems, remote access to the laundry room and smartphone applications represent just a few of the ways in which technology has emerged within the multi-family laundry setting. And, as these technologies become more widely adopted, doing laundry and managing laundry facilities is becoming less of a chore.
Coinless Technology
The progression of technology and how we pay for things is changing, and we see this shift happening in the multi-family laundry room. Today, we live in a “cashless society,” where situations in which people cannot purchase an item due to not having cash at hand are becoming obsolete.
In keeping with this trend, multi-family property owners are increasingly adopting electronic card systems for their laundry rooms to eliminate the need for residents to use coins in machines. For most coinless laundry rooms, residents receive a laundry payment card onto which they can add value at any time using a credit card or bank ATM card. These coinless systems not only offer convenience to residents, but also greater security over traditional coin-operated washers and dryers. With card payments, property owners can restrict the use of laundry rooms to only residents and remove all cash from the property to prevent theft.
In addition to laundry card payment systems, some service providers offer the option for residents to use their existing debit or credit card and pay right at the machine. With these versatile payment systems, residents can simply swipe the card of their choice and be instantly approved, without the need to carry an extra card just to do their laundry.
Another way that some multi-family laundry rooms have made the leap to coinless technology is through smartphone payment apps. Using a smartphone application, residents can add value from their phone and scan a QR code from the machine to do their laundry. Once the code is scanned, the machine starts and payment is deducted from the available funds purchased using the app.
Doing Laundry Remotely
Remote access technology and applications have infiltrated all aspects of our lives, so it’s not surprising that they are finding their way into laundry rooms. Using systems provided by laundry service providers, residents can monitor the status of their common area laundry rooms through any device that offers internet access or via phone. This provides them with the ability to access real-time information about the availability of washers and dryers before making the trip to the washer or dryer. When their laundry is finished or a machine becomes available, they can receive phone, email and text alerts.
In addition to the convenience this brings to residents, remote access services reduce crowding in the laundry room especially during high peak laundry times, making the task of doing laundry a more user-friendly experience for everyone.
Virtual Laundry Room Maintenance
Residents aren’t the only ones gaining the benefits of remote access technology in the laundry room. Remote monitoring and diagnostics monitoring systems also allow property owners and managers to access up-to-the-minute information about their property’s laundry machines.
Through these systems, property managers and owners can receive alerts when laundry machines go offline or need service, which simultaneously are sent to service technicians. Before residents may even know there is a problem, help can be on the way. By minimizing the downtime of laundry machines, property owners also can maximize laundry room revenue and save time they might have spent inspecting machines or calling service staff.
In addition, a free mobile app created by one laundry service provider allows residents or property managers to make service requests straight from the laundry room using their smartphone in just seconds. Users can request laundry machine service by simply using the camera on their smartphone to scan the barcode on the machine. By using the barcode technology, service technicians will know exactly which machine is in need of repair once they are onsite.
Technology also is being used to expedite service requests. Some laundry service companies use sophisticated GPS software to ensure that service technicians are routed efficiently and quickly for all service needs. Using this software, every service vehicle has GPS technology on board to track its location and whereabouts. All service calls are fed into an enterprise-wide system where they are efficiently routed so that the closest technician can get to service calls as quickly as possible.
There’s no question that technology is changing our everyday lives. We can see this trend unfolding in the multi-family laundry room with new technology applications that bring greater convenience to property owners and their residents. Leading laundry service providers are staying on the forefront of new and emerging technology to ensure that the laundry experience is the best it can possibly be – making needless trips to the laundry room and counting coins on laundry day a thing of the past.
[Editor’s Note: Although we typically confine our content to
laundromat-related topics, we thought it would be enlightening for
today’s store owners to see how far laundry room operations have
progressed in terms of technology.]
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