Bigger equipment = better?

[silver56]

I've seen it said on here many times that if you're buying new equipment or upgrading a store, it's best to go with bigger washers as that's where the industry is headed.

I agree with this concept, for sure. But I'm just wondering whether bigger is automatically better after my Latino wife and laundry expert said she'd never use any 60+ lb washer because the quality of the wash goes down. Is there an inverse relationship between the size of the washer and the quality of the wash?

It seems to me that when people say to "go big" they mainly mean skipping 20/25lb capacities in favor of 40-50lb'ers. Is that fair?

[Howard]

I think there is more an inverse relationship between the size of the washer and the quality of the customer. Educated customers generally only use big washers for big things, not for lots of clothing. The mother of four more times than not will use five or six washers rather than mix the entire family's clothing in one big load and then struggle to sort everything later.

Bottom line, you have to know your market.

[CanCanCase]

You have to know your market... agreed.

Part of my marketing strategy is to promote that we have the biggest washers of any laundromat in the county/state/region... It brings in the tourists just to see, it brings in the young folks who don't care or don't know how to take care of their clothing, it brings in anyone with a broken down washer in their home, and it brings in the high-end customers who need an even larger washer to wash larger things.

That said, our stores that were operating with tops regularly suffered overflows due to over loading. Regular customers have come to realize that the smallest washer we have is a double, and they're designed to accommodate about as much wash as an overstuffed top loader that floods the floor. I generally try to replace 2 tops with 1 double when we retool, then about that many triples. From there, it's logical to work in a few 50/60's and either one or two 80/90's.

Of interest: The store with less than half the population and a busy summer camping/ATV season sees an annual average of 3.5 TPD on it's one 80# machine. The stores with more population and higher overall gross see an annual average of 4 TPD on two 80# machines. Store #4 has a larger population AND stronger summer tourist and ATV traffic... it should be interesting to see how my pair of 60's and pair of 90's stack up against the competition's single 55#'er...

-Case

[jh]

Not everyone orders lobsters in Red Lobster, but the image of delicious lobsters is usually what brings people in. Having big machines itself can be a money maker. In my store, the smaller machines always get higher tpd.

[CanCanCase]

Oh, smaller machines getting higher TPD is a given, and really, you can't have a store full of JUST big machines. (That's actually a major flaw of a competitor of mine... smallest washer in his 1000 sf mat is a triple. The smaller-separated-load crowd always complains that it's "so expensive" to do "just a single load" at his place... per pound, I'm a bit higher on the wash price, but I offer doubles at $3.00 compared to his triples at $3.75.)

Large and small machines both have their place and one can't really exist without the other.

Looking at the TPD another way, however, would you rather have 15 TPD on a $2 top, 10 TPD on a $3 double, or 3 TPD on a $15 Mega-Monster? (Which TPD number is realistic?)

-Case

[dalesimpson]

There are plenty of laundromats in the Chicago area that feature 125 pound washers that do very well with those machines.
Really, demographics will determine whether or not they are necessary in your location.