Non 24 hour Unattended Mat

[dirty-laundry]

I am looking for suggestions, tips or recommendations. I am trying to get my mat where I can go in and clean whatever time of the night I want and not have to be there from 8-10pm to clean and get everyone out. here is a run down of what I've got.

I bought a mat in April 2005 the hours had been 7am-10pm 7 days a week - last wash @9:00pm. I changed the hours to 9am-10pm M-F 7-10 SAT&SUN. Lastwash is now 8:45 and last dry time for dry only customers is 9:20. I made these time changes because I could never get out of there before eleven because of people that would show up 5 minutes till 9 and wash a load in a 50lb wascomat that runs for approx 40 minutes, then dry, then want to fold.

I have a automatic door lock system with a exit button. the doors open at 9am M-F & 7am S-S and lock @ 8:45pm everyday (people can not sneak in to put a load in a washer unless someone lets them in). That takes care of the doors being locked or does it? I have a 8 camera video system (web Accessable). Security system on the office with motion and glass break sensors. Everything is on UPS battery backup

What I have done to try to get this place truly unattended (i'll still clean it everyday but on my schedule).
I have timers on everything
The doors unlock and lock and specified time
At 9:30 the water heater shutsoff
At 9:45 half of the lights go out ( all the light around the folding table are still lit)
At 9:50pm the dryers shutoff
At 10:00pm ALL except 2 lights go off.
At 10:30 PM the AC shuts off.

I figured if there is very little light, No dryers, No AC or Heat and the doors lock behind you when you leave this might work.
I would rather go by when no one is there so I can clean in half the time in normally takes. I figure I can take the laptop with me A look around the mat at closing time. If people are still in there I can talk to them through the audio/video system and tell them to get out.
Any Ideas. How are others doing this?

-Eloy @dirty laundry

[Chase13]

I have to say going to fewer hours in an unattended mat is a bad idea. I believe there is a good market for after hour laundry that attended mats can not provide because of labor costs. Telling a paying customer to hurry up and get out over a intercom is a bad idea, and to avoid your customers so you can clean faster is nice to save a half hour. People still like to see someone cleaning up, also for women having that presence of someone there with them at closing.

Also having a (automatic door lock system with a exit button) use this to you advantage put up a sign telling customers how to use the system and save your self the head ache of telling people to leave. I ran a store like this for 3yrs from 5am to 11pm and people learn fast. I also started cleaning a 9pm and always went home by 11pm if there were people washing or drying cloths just tell them about the doors locking and some of the lights going off at 12pm and keep the business.


Chase
But what do I know(:

[Anonymous]

My mat is unattended, door on a timed lock, locks sometime around 11:45 or so. As far as I'm concerned if someone comes in before the door locks, they're welcome to stay as long as they want; what do I care?? I've been in there late when a family was doing a ton of laundry, so I changed the light timer to give them light until they finished, probably at 12:30 or so.

They appreciate the consideration and will probably use my mat next time. Contrast this with a "Hurry up, get outta here" attitude and imagine how your customers will feel about your mat next time they are about to go do their laundry.

I Guess I just don't understand the hurry to get people out of the store and get it closed - These are your paying customers, if you have to clean around a couple of people, is that really a big deal?

Now if I had to wait to manually lock the door, I might feel otherwise, but that is the whole point of an unattended store with a time lock.

- John

[David]

I have unattended, open 6-11 daily. But I actually open (with timed locks) at 5 for the cleaning lady.

I'll have to agree with the comments so far. As long as there's no vandelism, or theft, just go with the flow.

You sound like you have the time to spend on your store. Just be a presence, get to know customers, find out what their needs are. Do they have other friends who WOULD come to you store IF you stayed open later?

Just think of all the money you're making having to spend a extra hour cleaning around people. :)

On your large machine, I'd suggest installing large 3/4" hoses. I had a W184 that would take 40 minutes to wash. I installed large diameter hoses and cut six (6) minutes off the cycle.

David

[DuboisLaundry]

I would shut off the AC earlier, maybe right after the water heater

[Maywood2]

If you have the timed locks, I'm not sure why you'd make your opening hours LATER... I'd probably roll them back to 5 or 6AM. It might not work for many people, but for those who are trying to get their day started early, why not let them?

[Anonymous]

My door opens at 4 a.m, and the other day I had a note from someone that they were there at 4 and the door didn't open until 4:20. I reset the lock timer, next week I get another note thanking me for the change.

4 a.m. laundry, now that's getting an early start on the day!

[DaveLevenson]

I bought an un-attended mat several months ago. It came with timers that locked the doors, and turned off the lights, air, water-heaters, and such at 11:00pm. The nearest competitor is attended until about 8:00pm, but stays open all night.

I have switched to 24-hour operation. I did this by disabling the timers on the lights, door locks, and water heaters (I still shut off the A/C at night), and advertising 24-hour operation on the front window. I also installed a video surveillance system, remotely accessible from home.

Revenue increased a few percent almost immediately. Only a few customers actually arrive and do laundry at 2:00am or 3:00am. But many now arrive at 10:30 or so and finish their laundry by midnight. They tell me they like the convenience of not having a "deadline" when they're waiting for that last couple of dryer turns, or one more pile of stuff to be folded.

One lady asked me: "are you really open all night?" I told her I was. She replied: "I can do laundry at 2:00am ... that's spooky...and I like it spooky!"

I have now hired attendants, but I plan to continue staying open, unattended, through the night.

[dirty-laundry]

Thanks for all the feedback. My mat is located in between 2 subdivisions. NO apartments around. These are section 8 primarily black neighborhoods. In the 5 months I have been there I had my money machine strung 2 times between 7-8am (a little lunch money- about a $500.00 loss between both hits). My soda machine was ripped off the hinges and destroyed for the .80 cents it had at 2:00pm in the afternoon(Approx 1k loss. I had a laundry cart walk out the door 3 weeks ago that was at 4:00pm while many people are washing. The police have not been able to locate the vandalz (big surprise). When I've asked other people in the shopping strip if they saw anything or can identify the vandalz from video or pictures it's the same response. "I wish i could help you but we have to live in this hood."
If I really believed the place wouldn't become a teen hangout to drink and smoke dope at I would consider leaving it open later. But when I've walked in and can still smell the aroma of some freshly smoked pot I tend to think someone would wedge the door open with a stick or brick so they could hang around after hours.
I'll trade my customers for yours in a minute, No.. really since I changed hours caged my money machine, soda machine, soap vending, bolted down video games and added 3 more camera's things have gotten better, also letting people know that all audio and video is recorded.

Thanks for all the feedback

Eloy

[Anonymous]

Have to give you credit for having the kahunas to take on such an environment; how you operate your store might be a lot different than someone in my environment, where you can basically leave the place open all the time w/o problems. So take any of my comments with a grain of salt :)

Best of luck,

John

[pete f]

I would be inclined to open early, say 6am and close at midnight. 6 am to 12 pm appear to be the most productive hours. If you got kids smoking grass, than you got more hours of work. I will venture to say not all mat are great, maybe 1/2 are really worth owning. You may have a mat on the bottom side. All you can do is protect. Cams, changer security, KYA.
The bonus is if the mat gets busy the crime goes down.