Sunday 6:00Am Customers

[Tini Bubbles]

I have to be here every Sunday at open, I have the reguler
Customers standing at the door waiting for it to auto open.
I love this Business.!
I make coffee for all, and they talk all morning about funny things that happened to them.
I just need to get #2 Mat in order to feel the same way about the facility as I do this one.
Life is good, enjoy it while you can.
LOL Tini Bubbles:D

[Andy]

I too have customers waiting at 6am on saturdays and sundays (at least that is what my attendant tells me). He asked me if he could open early on those days because people are waiting. I usually sleep in on those days.

[Rondo]

I don't open my mats till 8:00 AM, hell I don't go to bed before 2:00. Tini, John Lennon said "life is what happens to you while you busy doing something else" No words are truer. I've been improving my mats for years and I always have a list that never ends.

[Kitty]

Ditto here, people are waiting to get in at the designated hour. One store opens at 4am. 4AM.............that is dedication for someone to get out of a warm bed and go and open a mat. You couldn't pay me enough to get out of my bed at those unGodly hours. But many people out there don't like their sleep as much as me.........when you work hard and play hard you must get the beauty sleep. Kudos to those that open laundromats around the world!

What do you pay the attendants to open 7 days a week 12 months a year??

[Andy]

I pay attendants $6.50 to $7.50 per hour

[Kitty]

I mean do you pay extra for an attendant or whoever to open at 6am? We are not attended until 8am.

[pete f]

my 3rd mat I bt used to open at 6 am. I got a call a few times from customers when the opening guy I hired did not show up on time. It led me to go 24/7 who wants a phone call at 6 am?? climb out of bed to go open a laundromat?

[Andy]

Kitty I pay them their regular hourly rate starting when they punch in and begin working. I don't give them a bonus for coming in early if that is what you are asking. I don't make it manditory, I do require opening at least on time. Same goes for staying late. If it happens to be really busy at night if they want to stay and keep the door unlocked I'll pay them to stay-but not extra-the only exception to this is if they end up working over 40 hours during a pay period, then you have to pay them 1.5 times the hourly rate.

[Kitty]

So, Andy is opening time the same as the attendants starting time? If so, I agree with what you are saying. However, we open at 6am non attended til 8. Thus we need an opener. Do others do this? How much is this worth?

[CharlieS]

A guy who works in the hardware store next to my 'mat has almost never missed a day of work in his life, and shows up every day at 5:30. After my attendants failed to make it by 7 on many occassions, I now pay this guy $50 a month just to open the doors every day. I hate to pay it, but he gets the job done.

My other mat is electronic. The locks open at 5AM, lights go on, heat or AC is time controlled as well. Closes automatically at 11PM. I paid about $1K for the parts and installed it all myself, which is a fair amount of work, easy for the handy, but don't attempt this if your toolkit consists of 2 screwdrivers and you don't know if they are phillips or straight.

I'd put the first on automatic, but there are four doors and the parts are about 2K. I still might do it.

If anyone is interested in automatic doorlock systems, I'd be glad to write up something on the options.

Charlie

[anonymous]

Charlie I'm interested in those auto locks, I would also like to know the in's and out's of converting a 12 hr. attended operation into 24/7 or with early morning/late night unattended hrs.

I have a counter for attendants to weigh wdf, etc. and don't necessarily want to install walls around it, I like the open mat to see everything from the counter, I have thought of a sort of chain gate thing, which sounds expensive.

I'm pretty handy and would like to do the work myself, any suppliers, brands, etc. would be helpful to know.

Thanks.

[Tom Ala.]

Kitty, before I went 24/7 I used newspaper carriors and paid them $15 per week per location.

When I went 24 I had to build secure areas to store cloth and put in security cameras, 2 years and counting with no problems.
Tom

[kyle mcpeck]

I'd like some pointers on this topic. I've got a small unattended that I need to open and close daily. I pay a girl $40 a week to do this and honestly am tired of paying her.

[David]

I pay a closer to pickup, take the trash out, and lockup for $50 a month. He lives two blocks from the mat.

I open, and clean everyday. Hope this changes soon. I'm looking at another mat, or two.

[pete f]

Kitty, I still have 1 mat that is open by a human. I pay $25 a week for them to go down and unlock the door. They have been so relaible I have not had to consider 24/7, though I may do it anyway in time.

[Kitty]

How much does it cost for the automatic door open and close?

[ajay]

~300 or so before installation cost. like anything else, parts are cheaper than the cost of getting them installed.

ajay

[Andy]

kitty,
Yes the opening time and the attendant start time are the same time. I have manual locks so I need to have a person unlock the doors and I am fully attended, because we do substantial drop off and contract laundry.

[soaps]

We have two stores. One is unattended. We pay a security service to open and close everyday 6am-11pm. We pay them $125 per month. I too hate to pay this but its worth it because I don't have to be there at 6 or wait around for somebody to finish at 11ish. I clean everyday. I have considered electronic locks but haven't really found out enough info...ie what happens at night if a bum lets himself get locked in for a nice warm cozy room for the night?
At the other store I open every morning at 8am; the office opens at 10am. We have an attendant or myself present from 10am until closing (9pm). I used to be open until 10pm but I kept track of how many people we actually served that last hour and it wasn't really worth it. Usually people started at 8pm then left and came back at 9:30 to finish up. Now they have to stay and we all get to go home at 9pm.

[CharlieS]

Reign -

There are several approaches with the automatic locks. Some of this is also dependent upon the way your doors operate, one door, single acting (only opens in or out), double acting (swings both ways), and double doors.

Single acting doors are the easiest, if thats what you have.

You can buy a solenoid operated plunger lock from CJ lock, who advertises in The Journal. I think they are around $275. I also have one, which I will sell for half price, if anyone wants it. This system comes with a mechanical timer control (water heater style control) and activates a plunger which engages into a hole, just like a deadbolt lock. Effective, inexpensive.

However, there are some drawbacks. First, its not high quality, life is unknown. Second, the mechanical timer will lose time with the first power failure, and the lock will open the plunger lock, which needs to be fail-safe (opens in a power loss), not fail-secure (locks in a power loss) A fail secure lock could trap people in an emergency. You could replace the timer with an electronic timer, and use a battery backup system like a computer power backup to get around this problem.

I chose a more professional, but admittedly more expensive approach. I used a maglock, with a 24 volt control system and a 365 day timer controller. The parts were about $1200 at retail. However, this was higher than you may need since I have a double acting door. With a single acting door, a single basic maglock is easy to install and can be external to the frame. In addition, the lock is less expensive. With double acting, I used a magnetic shear lock, which mounts in the frame of the door and the frame above the door. This lock drops into place when the door is closed, preventing it from opening in either direction.

The timer and power supply have a built in battery backup system for both the timer and a lock. It is a fail safe system. I also installed a key controller on the outside of the door, so that I can get in, and a disconnect button on the inside, so that customers can get out. The timer automatically adjusts for daylight savings time, and you can program each day as your please.

I'll be glad to supply more details of the components if anyone wants. The install is not too complicated, but mine took about 6 hours, since I had to do extensive cutting of the plate in the door frame to accomodate the lock.

I haven't done my new store, since I will need 4 locks (2 double acting, double doors.) I now have a wholesale source, but even so the locks alone are $1800. I can use a common power supply and timer, but will need at least one key switch and 2 exit buttons. About $2200 total, plus 2 days labor. Maybe one of these days.

Charlie