Imagine the laundry machine texting you to let you know that your laundry is done. Just imagine being able to see from your laptop which machines are in use and which ones are not, gaining the ability to reserve a laundry machine without leaving your room. This service can easily be made available by using LaundryView.
Let me start by applauding Res Life for the new laundry machines and their effectiveness. I remember my freshmen year in Livedalen and the old laundry machines which were not as efficient. One had to put clothes through twice in order for the clothes to dry. The other challenge was that you had to pay using Cobber cash, which made laundry more expensive since the machines were inefficient and you had to swipe your card multiple times. Now, not only are the machines faster but they also save laundry soap and we don’t have to keep on adding Cobber cash to our IDs anymore. What a great improvement!
Although the machines are now faster, doing laundry can still be a hassle for a busy college student, and sometimes having to share machines with loads of others delays the process. It seems there is a time when most students want to do their laundry and this overlaps with others who want to use the machines at the same time. Imagine living on the seventh floor of Livedalen and going down to do laundry and realizing that the machines are in use, so you have to leave your stuff and come back later to notice that someone took the machines again! Or how many times has someone left their laundry in the washer and forgotten about it and you have to be the one to unload it for them in order to use the machine? This can be stressful, but there are solutions to this problem.
There are multiple companies that have developed software programs that make it easier for you to know when laundry machines become available. One of them is LaundryView, which was recently put into use by Hamline University. Through LaundryView, a student can select a laundry room and then see a 3D image of washers and dryers and whether they are available, in use or out of order, all from a computer. If a machine is in use, then LaundryView will show how much time is left. You can also reserve a washer or dryer that you want to use and Laundry View will send you a text when your laundry is done.
This software is awesome since it acts as a reminder to those who just dump their laundry and forget about it. It also will definitely help us avoid running back and forth to the laundry room. However, there is always a cost for this kind of service. Hamline University added $1.50 per semester to each student’s laundry fee to cover the service. This excludes installation fee which their Res Life had to pay from its budget. Many other colleges, including the University of Minnesota, are using this service and it seems to have been met with applause by many students.
Others might argue that we don’t need LaundryView, but considering the benefits that it provides for a potential $1.50, I think it’s a great service that Concordia Res Life should consider looking at if they are not in the process already.
