6 ms·

I think this is one of those ideas that sounds very solid, but might be less so. Who hasn't said, "I wish my laundry were done and folded by someone else?!" T

by dimino 10y ago

I think this is one of those ideas that sounds very solid, but might be less so. Who hasn't said, "I wish my laundry were done and folded by someone else?!" The problem might just be that the problem is so much easier to state than the solution, however. Maybe the solution isn't related to a service that comes to your house, takes your laundry elsewhere, and brings it back to you. Each of the failed startups (I think? going off the top of my head) did this, in one form or another.

zorpner 10y ago
I know of at least three laundromats within a few blocks of my apartment here in SF that offer dropoff wash and fold, at last check at about half the price of the pickup services I looked into (standard pricing, not promotions). I think the market for people willing to pay significantly more for what is honestly not much more convenient (they need access to your building or sometimes apartment, you have less control over the dropoff and pickup times, etc) is quite small. Investors funding "Uber for X"-style startups generally seem to miss the things that make Uber work so well -- on-demand low-trust service that fully replaces the alternative. Cleaning my house or doing my laundry can't effectively be done on-demand, and done in a scheduled manner involves a trust relationship too extreme to rely on reputation/rating systems.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> Who hasn't said, "I wish my laundry were done and folded by someone else?!" The problem might just be that the problem is so much easier to state than the solution, however No, I think the problem is that dry cleaners and wash-and-fold operations already exist. Its basically Uber fighting the taxi services -- if the taxi services weren't artificially limited in supply by medallion system and other special regulations that Uber could simply choose to ignore (accepting legal risk in so doing) while building a market and then lobbying for special regulatory accommodation based on the market it developed proving the need.
et-al 10y ago
Following that, Laundry Locker in San Francisco has been in existence in 2005, so they're doing something right. And they have to deal with the cost of renting a physical location. And businesses have had their uniforms laundered for quite some time, but their orders are more uniform than consumer orders, and damages to items probably are probably a non-issue, whereas consumers will have sentimentality attached to clothing.

by dimino 10y ago

zorpner 10y ago

I know of at least three laundromats within a few blocks of my apartment here in SF that offer dropoff wash and fold, at last check at about half the price of the pickup services I looked into (standard pricing, not promotions). I think the market for people willing to pay significantly more for what is honestly not much more convenient (they need access to your building or sometimes apartment, you have less control over the dropoff and pickup times, etc) is quite small. Investors funding "Uber for X"-style startups generally seem to miss the things that make Uber work so well -- on-demand low-trust service that fully replaces the alternative. Cleaning my house or doing my laundry can't effectively be done on-demand, and done in a scheduled manner involves a trust relationship too extreme to rely on reputation/rating systems.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> Who hasn't said, "I wish my laundry were done and folded by someone else?!" The problem might just be that the problem is so much easier to state than the solution, however No, I think the problem is that dry cleaners and wash-and-fold operations already exist. Its basically Uber fighting the taxi services -- if the taxi services weren't artificially limited in supply by medallion system and other special regulations that Uber could simply choose to ignore (accepting legal risk in so doing) while building a market and then lobbying for special regulatory accommodation based on the market it developed proving the need.

et-al 10y ago

Following that, Laundry Locker in San Francisco has been in existence in 2005, so they're doing something right. And they have to deal with the cost of renting a physical location. And businesses have had their uniforms laundered for quite some time, but their orders are more uniform than consumer orders, and damages to items probably are probably a non-issue, whereas consumers will have sentimentality attached to clothing.