The Wishy Wash Laundromat

635 East University Blvd, Silver Spring, Maryland 20901

Your Friendly Neighborhood Laundromat

 

Shopping for pick up and delivery service for your laundry or dry cleaning?

 

Review this page to get a feel for pick up and delivery prices for Wash-Dry-Fold service in the Washington D.C. area.

Also check our recommendations for features you should ask about when shopping for someone to provide pick up and delivery service for your laundry, dry cleaning, or shirt laundry.

 

Information in this price comparison came from the laundromats' own web sites on March 28, 2010. This sampling is intended to provide a glimpse at the range of prices in the area, and isn't meant to include every laundromat in the Washington metro area.

Pick up & Delivery Prices
Basic Price Per Pound
Minimum Order
Volume Discounts?
 25 lb order 50 lb order 100 lb order

Laundromat A - Silver Spring
$1.20
$24.00
No
 $30.00 $60.00 $120.00
The Wishy Wash
$1.35
$19.00
Yes
 $33.75 $62.50 $120.00
Laundromat B - Waldorf
$1.50
$75.00
No
 $75.00 $75.00 $150.00
Laundromat C - Baltimore
$1.50
$30.00
Yes
 $37.50 $70.00 $125.00
Laundromat D - Hyattsville
$1.59
$35.00
No
 $39.75 $79.50 $159.00
Laundromat E - Silver Spring
$1.80
None Listed
No
 $45.00 $90.00 $180.00
Laundromat F - Silver Spring
$2.25
None Listed
No
 $56.25 $112.50 $225.00
Laundromat G - District Heights
$2.50
$37.50
No
 $62.50 $125.00 $250.00

 

Price is important, but quality and integrity are important too. Here are some things to consider as you shop for a laundry service.

 

1. Use Front Loaders.

  • If you're going to pay for a laundry service, you ought to get better cleaning than you can get using your own top loader at home, right? You want your clothes to be cleaned in front-loading washers to get the thorough cleaning that old fashioned top-loading machines just can't match. You can do better, so if a laundromat uses top loaders to do your wash, find another vendor.

2. Use Full Wash/Rinse Cycles.

  • To get your clothes really clean, you need a full 30-minute wash with at least two wash cycles and two rinse cycles (preferably three rinse cycles). A lot of laundromats now use only one wash cycle and two rinses - sometimes only one rinse - and the cycles themselves are each shortened by a minute or two.
  • All of these shorting techniques cut laundromats' utility bills but don't save you a dime. And less washing means less cleaning. It's your money, so don't be afraid to ask how many wash and rinse cycles they use for their wash-and-fold service, and ask how long the whole cycle takes. Full wash cycles take about 25 - 30 minutes, so if a laundromat tells you that its full cycle takes 15 -20 minutes, keep looking for another vendor (or get a cheaper price!).

3. Use Premium Soaps/Softeners.

  • You want good quality detergents and softeners - not the cheap stuff that some laundromats buy in bulk. You're paying for this service, so inquire about the quality of the materials being used. You don't have to worry when a laundromat uses Tide, Gain, Cheer, Downy, Bounce, or other brand names that you recognize as being high quality.
  • If the laundromat buys soap by the bag or bucket and you don't recognize the name of the soap, ask how much they pay for it. If a laundromat pays less than about $40 for a 50 pound bag of soap, the quality probably isn't the greatest. If it's less than $30, it definitely isn't the greatest.

[We know of one laundromat owner who brags that he does wash-and-fold orders with soap that he buys at a big box store in a 32.5 lb bucket for $14.50 ... that's about $0.45 per pound for soap. For purposes of comparison, we pay more than $1.00/lb for our detergent!]

4. Got Laundromat?

  • Be sure your pick up and delivery service provider actually owns a laundromat! It's common now for freelancers to pick up laundry and take it to someone else's laundromat. The laundromat they use today might not be the same one they used last week, or the same one they use next week. Quality control goes down the drain ... so to speak.

5. Most important: Find good people! The single most important factor in all of this is the quality of the people who actually wash, dry, and fold your clothes. The best way to know if a laundromat's employees do a great job is to try the service and see for yourself, but you can get a feel for their quality beforehand by asking a few questions:

  • Are the attendants employees of the laundromat or "sub contractors?" Some laundromats let freelancers use their machines to do wash-dry-fold, and in return, the freelancers keep the laundromats clean. Having full-time employees is better, because the laundromat has better control of the process and the people have more motivation to do well.
  • Is there a training program for the employees? You don't want someone to do your laundry without any training. Washing clothes isn't rocket science, but there definitely are right ways and wrong ways to do it. There needs to be a training process.
  • Are the employees incentivized to do a good job? Some laundromats pay minimum wage (or less) and do nothing to incentivize their employees to do a great job. Other laundromats pay well and add benefits and financial incentives to retain high quality people who take pride in each order they do.
  • How much Wash-Dry-Fold experience do the employees have? You want experienced people handling your clothes, not someone who's just passing through. Is there a lot of turn over at the laundromat or have the employees been there for a long time?
  • Are there any Quality Control procedures in place? Does the laundromat do any kind of regular checks to be sure their employees are following good procedures?

6. Dry Cleaning Too?

  • Ask if the laundromat can also pick up and deliver dry cleaning and shirt laundry. Some laundromats partner with dry cleaners to provide the additional service, and sometimes you can even get delivery of dry cleaning and shirt laundry at the same price you'd pay if you went to the cleaner's store yourself.
  • Prices are all over the map. A business shirt that can be machine-pressed, for example, costs $1.50 at one place, $1.60 at another, and $2.00 and up at others. One company just adds a $20 delivery fee to your dry cleaning delivery. Ouch!
  • All dry cleaners are not created equal, so look beyond the price list. We partnered with three dry cleaners before we found one whose quality is outstanding. Dealing with those three dry cleaners was like living through episodes of Nightmare on Elm Street. Protect yourself - ask the laundromat for the name of their dry cleaning partner, and then check how the dry cleaner rates in Consumer Checkbook and Angie's List.
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