So today my fiance let me geek out a bit, and we took a load to one of the oldest coin operated laundries in Cape Town, Joe Soap. Also 1 of the few remaining self service laundries, as many have changed to "drop and go" laundries.
The laundromat has been around for around 33/34 years, and is an institution in Cape Town, and about a year ago when we had the worst drought we have ever seen, they replaced their 14 TL SQ machines with 14 brand new FL SQ, model NF3J )www.lead.co.za/laundry/commercial...), so I have been dying to go and play with them as I have never used a FL SQ, or any large capacity FL for that matter.
However, it was a bit of a let down. The owners set the machines up to only run a 33 min cold wash, no matter what cycle (A, B, or C)or temp (40, 60, 90) you select. So that was a bit disappointing, especially because this model has an onboard heater according to the info on the Lead Laundry website. But what really upset me even more, was that the owners wife (who frantically buzzes around, making sure people are following the rules and breaking notes into coins for people), made me split my load in half. A load that fills my 8kg LG DD FL, was apparently too big for their SQ. They only allow customers to fill the machines halfway. HALFWAY! They even have baskets that they make you decant your laundry into so they can make sure you dont overload the machines, as 1 of their baskets only half fills the machine. The load I had would have probably been 3-quarters of the SQ, and it was a full 9 items I wasnt allowed to put in. I put that back in the car to wash at home. But I have never felt so ripped off in my life. I know what these machines are capable of, and I understand that they need to make money, but only allowing people to half fill the machines is just rude in my opinion. While I was there, a couple arrived with 2 big baskets of laundry, and after the owner showed them how to sort, those 2 baskets ended up being 7 loads... But they could have easily been only 2 or 3 if customers were allowed to use the full capacity of the machines. The basket sizes are basically enough to fill a 5kg household machine. And it just seems a waste to me, to spend that amount of money buying 14 brand new SQ FL machines, and then setting them to just do a cold quick wash and nothing else.
And then the dryers. They have 7 of those massive SQ dryers, presumably the 23kg model and the much older version of these: www.lead.co.za/laundry/industrial..., and they only allow customers to put 1 and a half of their baskets into the dryer at once. So not even 2 wash loads. Drying times are pretty quick, in that the load I washed only took 12 mins to dry, but the dryers run a bit too hot for me, as the fragrance of my detergent was completely burnt off at the end of the cycle, and that never happens at home with my new Bosch condenser.
All in all I was happy to go play, but it was a bit of a let down. With that being said, it is still a lovely shop, and if the owner ever wants to sell, I would be a very eager buyer... But I would change almost all their policies.
Comes to the Rescue!
