We are coming up on our one year anniversary and I have to say owning a laundromat is kind of fun. But the first year was hard. The first week a client called the help line and said his clothes were stuck in the washing machine. I was about an hour away and really could not help. But I was alarmed and thought I should run over to the store right away. Turns out the machines time out and open automatically I guess it gives them time to drain out. By the time I would have gotten there the machine would have been unlocked.
The drains backed up and there was water everywhere one day I had no idea from where turns out not even close to where I thought. It took a week to get it done, only to have someone back up the toilet which is on a different drain line on Christmas eve.
We struggled with drains, broken machines, the vending machine continually vexes us with a new problem about every three weeks. We put in new dryers that are really good yet clients believe because they do not get raging hot they are not as effective, not how drying works I have discovered. Then the coin machine is done taking $5 dollar bills.
And even the new machines have broke down after a few weeks.
But overall we have learned a lot and are starting to like it.
One lesson that is the take away for us is, we need to go to the store often even if for just a few minutes. We have not had one time where we did not have something to fix or connect with a long time customer and chat about concerns or what they like about our management. And more and more people have expressed they are happy with our changes. And we are too.
