Should You Buy Top Load Washers for Your Laundromat?
A very common opinion frequently expressed by existing factory representatives and some laundromat owners is that there is no place in laundromats for any top load washers. Often cited are the higher water use, lack of extended economic life and sometimes the agitator action.
Consumer reports that top load washers are the most popular washing machines being sold in the USA for a variety of reasons. Certainly, if this is true, why would anyone building a laundry facility not include at least some of the most popular type of washing machine available? “Give the customer what they want” has been a business axiom for generations.
Speed Queen and Huebsch sell top load washers that are well rated washers by Consumers Report. Continental GIRBAU also sells an Alliance manufactured top load washer which would have similar characteristics (same assembly line). In addition, for all newbies that only hear how bad top load washers are in laundromats, let me give you some additional perspective.
The amount of additional water used in a top load washer is minimally different than a front load washer set to the water levels necessary to avoid customer complaints. The actual cost of water is not significant enough to avoid the using the most popular type of washer produced. An owner mistake that can easily be corrected is to price the front load high enough to make up for any increase you might perceive in higher water use. Raise the price 25 cents above what you think it should be vended. There is no way that the slightly higher water use can be 25 cents more than what you pay for water in a front load.
For extremely dirty clothes, the action of the agitator will provide a cleaning action that may well exceed anything achieved in a front load washer. Consumer Reports notes that the agitator action can be so aggressive that it may well lead to eventual fabric destruction. So what? If people want their clothes really clean, and momma only washed in top load washers why would you find it necessary to persuade them to wash their clothes your way?
In my actual experience of building 135 laundromats, I have always included four to eight top load washers. Some people really love top loads. They make money. As a professional facility why would you not provide a few machines of a popular design of a washer? Top loads are still sold for our homes and our “rich uncles,” the apartment route operators, still primarily use top load washers.
Give your customers options and you generate more business. Coca-Cola sells their syrup in dozens of sizes and dozens of different containers. Why? Because they sell more soda! The “no top load” advocates are primarily driven by limited experienced single store owners and factory representatives that don’t sell a top load washer. Yes, they don’t hold up to heavy duty laundromat use as well as an industrial quality front load, and need to be replaced every five to seven years, but are the cheapest washers you can buy, allowing owners to replace them three times for every front load washer purchased.
Putting too much confidence in distributor sales people and limited knowledge owners can sometimes cause you to make a mistake. If the factories you are considering to help you design and build a new or remodel laundromat doesn’t manufacture or sell a top load washer, maybe they’re going to persuade you to buy only what they sell. Now you have another opinion to consider. Hope it helps someone.