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“The artists live their life, and I live my laundry life.”
- jmvoodoo 8y agoThanks for sharing. I run a doorstep laundry service that uses software to make the process more efficient, cost effective, and reliable, so this struck a chord with me.
- Olasson 8y agoTo me, the takeaway is the strategy he used to start the business: "In the early 2000s, Topf began appearing outside German venues with a van, offering to pick up, wash and return the production’s clothes." Then after seeing the quality, artists/managers invited him to join tours. It's genius, simple but original and effective. Also not surprised at the dirtiest crap ever being Slipknot's clothes. Their concerts were quite an experience. Not only is the show impressive (levitating drummers and all), but also the sheer synchronization and speed at which they play.
- lebanon_tn 8y agoDo things that don't scale. Make 100 people love you. Go out of your way to delight your users. The best ideas won't sound like they're stealing. Granted this didn't become a billion dollar company but this guy intuitively did a lot of what YC preaches.
- bytematic 8y agoWow some days he works 20 hours, I imagine he handles all the staffs laundry as well? These kinds of people need to be featured more often, they are great role models for kids.
- lostctown 8y agoIt is not possible for a human being to work 20 hours a day. No exceptions.
- nicoburns 8y agoI don't see why not. I mean, I can't imagine many if any people woild be able to do this every day. But some days it seems very possible.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- NikolaeVarius 8y agoHave you ever worked in the service industry? I know from personal experience its very possible. I did not always have the luxury that a software dev allows me to have.
- felipemnoa 8y agoYou can do it, but not very often. Maybe a few times a month. If you over do it, you'll crash, and crash hard.
- hate 8y agoIt's possible but it's not a life worth living.
- ken 8y agoI guarantee you that someone says this about every job in the world, including yours.
- puranjay 8y agoI never even thought about this part of the industry. I just assumed that the hotel did the artists' laundry
- jmts 8y agoI'd love to see that bill! Most hotel laundry services I've encountered seem to be priced for one or two critical items. Cleaning a week's worth of items would be prohibitively expensive for most people, and I would be surprised if big productions would be interested in burning several hundred, if not thousands of dollars a week per person just for laundry. On the flip side, it would be rather amusing to see the entire support cast for Madonna or U2 huddled about grumpily in a coin laundry waiting for other people to finish.
- puranjay 8y agoThat's what I underestimated. I didn't realize a tour could have 150 full-time employees.
- vonseel 8y agoThose are big big big tours. U2 is #1 by revenue in the 2010s - although that is over a two year period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_concert_tours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_conce... Ed Sheeran pulled in $432M in concert revenue last year alone. That is supposedly the highest for single year. I’d love to see the numbers for a “regular” band, or even broken out examples by category of “stardom” - say, The Strokes level, Bon Iver level, newer up-and-coming artists like Phoebe Bridgers, and then finally your local touring bands and last but not least the guy busking at Whole Foods. As I understand it there is decent money to be made at most of those levels above local bar bands. But it ain’t easy. There’s a lot of people who go for it that frankly don’t have “it”, though. And some of them make it for a while. Hardly anyone makes it a lifetime career, like Willie Nelson or Elton John.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
- Scoundreller 8y agoKinda wanted to know what the machines manufacturer was, but then he said they make money renting them out, so I guess that's a sorta trade-secret.
- kalleboo 8y agoThe picture in the article features Electrolux machines, but those might be the property of the arena
- byproxy 8y agoI imagine something like Speed Queen, as they seem to be what's stocked in laundromats.
- hycaria 8y agoI wonder about the detergent and such. And do they dry clean ? So many questions...
- m-s 8y agoIndustrial Electrolux machines in custom-made rolling cases. http://www.mylaundry.de/mobile-laundry-service/ http://www.mylaundry.de/mobile-laundry-service/
- hn_throwaway_99 8y agoI'm so happy for what seems to be a resurgence in respect and love for the more "mundane" jobs in life. As a somewhat recent convert (along with half the internet it seems at times) to the inspiring "cult" of Marie Kondo, I think it's pretty fantastic that one of the most popular personalities today is someone teaching us the joy of folding socks.
- vonseel 8y agoAnd third time I’ve heard about this show and first I’ve seen it mentioned on HN in a few days span... that show is blowing up fast. (I have not had Netflix the past few months, Netflix sabbatical but failed experiment since I got hooked on Hulu).
- noir_lord 8y agoKonmari has been around a while, my partner loves it which is why I can never find my stuff when she's 'konmari'd' a room.
- miluge 8y agoI wish my girlfriend who became addicted to Kondo who stop doing this in the kitchen. I worked in kitchen since I was a kid and always had my mis en place ( the kitchen is sacred for me ), whenever she does it you can hear me swearing because I cant find coffee, my knife sharpener or because she rearranged my knives setting causing me to try to cut bread with a chinese cleaver! Altho' the bedroom is a bliss to find stuff in now.
- ptbello 8y agoMandatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF1p29_MZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF1p29_MZM ("Laundry Man" by australian comedy collective The Peloton)