Calculating usage

[Tom]

Is there a good estimate for the average number of laundry loads/week you could expect from a typical user of a laundromat?

[Kitty]

Hey Tom I think the average to see a good return is 3.5 TPD, guestimating usauage for a prospective mat will be tough, Mark is building new, not yet opened yet he may be able to give you some tips there.

[Anonymous]

I think you are asking how much laundry does a person generate per week. If that is the question, it will depend a lot on who your customers are- blue collar vs white collar, sudents, kids, singles, elderly....

They all have different usage patterns. That is why it is great to be located in an urban area that has a large population of low class laborers with large young families - they create one hell of a lot of dirty clothing.

[pete f]

I posted a poll to that effect some time ago, seems an average of about $7 to $10 a customer per visit was the most common.

[CharlieS]

We track our daily customer count and can compute this number as a result. According to CLA, the average customer spends $10-$12. This is right on the money for us. We average $12 per customer.

Charlie

[Tom]

Thanks everybody for the feedback. Would you say the average customer is a mother doing laundry for a family or singles doing their own laundry? If it is a mother doing business for a family of 4 and the average is $12 a visit that is significantly different than a single person averaging $12 a visit.

The area I am looking at I have a very good idea of the number of people and the income breakdown and a pretty good idea on the number of them without their own laundry facilities. If I can come to some decent estimate of the amount of laundry the typical person will generate I can probably make a pretty high fidelity prediction as to the revenue/costs I can expect.

[MRH]

Part of the answer is going to depend on what your vend prices are... and yes, you are right about singles versus families. A single person may wash & dry two loads a week while a family may wash twelve! And or course, use different size washers with different vend prices.

You would be better off working on a national average TPD (again taking into consideration the vend pricing) you plan to charge.

[Lar Hylobates]

The answer is 12 loads. plain and simple

[CharlieS]

I based all of my projections on the expectation of $10 per customers per week. I was pleasantly surprised when the average was $12, which balanced out the fact that I didn't achieve the market share I had projected.

Be conservative, use $10. If your numbers still work, you might have a chance at success!

Charlie