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I live in New York and the majority of my friends do not have washing machine in their home. In fact, it’s a luxury to have one. In contrast, I’m originally fro

I live in New York and the majority of my friends do not have washing machine in their home. In fact, it’s a luxury to have one. In contrast, I’m originally from Ukraine where not having a washing machine is weird to say the least. There are many things that would make me call US a 2nd world country, so I’m having a hard time understanding which countries are 1st world countries.

karaterobot 7y ago
After WWII, there were two superpowers splitting the world between them: the first world was the NATO West, and the second world was the Soviet East. Countries who were unaligned, or not considered sufficiently important, made up the so-called third world. If these terms ever meant anything, they don't anymore, and they certainly have nothing (directly) to do with washing machines!
noelsusman 7y ago
This is only a thing in extremely dense, expensive American cities. Most Americans have washing machines in their home.
- poulsbohemian 7y ago
  What is surprising is how many houses don't have a dish washer, in both urban and rural areas.
  - mwfunk 7y ago
    A quick Googling suggested that 25% of them don't have dishwashers. I don't know if that number is accurate, but 25% would be a lot more than I would have expected too.
ARandomerDude 7y ago
Wow. I've lived in the US all my life and I've never heard of a majority of anyone's social group not having a washing machine. Have others experienced this? If so, in what city?
- pikma 7y ago
  It's common in San Francisco, if you rent. Often you'd have a slated washer dryer in the building, but sometimes not.
- jdgiese 7y ago
  I believe this is quite common in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. Most larger buildings have a washer and dryer in the basement of the building. Many people send their laundry out to have it washed and folded by someone else.
- rizzom5000 7y ago
  In major cities you'll find that luxury units or condos have in-unit washer and dryer; but below luxury level apartments and condos do not. Nicer places will have a laundry on each floor. Others will have something in the basement or not at all. It's an optimization that saves the owners significant amounts on up front and maintenance costs. On the other hand, most people in trailer homes in the US will have a washer and dryer in their trailer. They aren't expensive appliances. They just take up space and require additional plumbing and ventilation - which can lead to significant expenses if you are designing buildings with 100's of units.
- red_hare 7y ago
  I live New York. 5/7 years I’ve been here I haven’t had a wash. In my experience, an apartment with in-unit goes for 10% more than one without. My rent is 1850/mo and my local friendly laundromat does wash-and-fold for $0.90/lb. The math works out that an in-unit wash just isn’t worth it to me. Even if you’re lucky enough to afford rent in New York you probably can only afford one or two luxuries. For me I‘ve chosen living alone and windows that get sunlight over things like square footage, location, or a wash.
  - thrower123 7y ago
    The time savings from using a wash and fold service aren't to be denied, either. You just drop off a huge sack of laundry once every week or two before work, and you pick it up on the way home nicely washed and folded, better than I, at least, would have done it. By the time you buy detergent and fabric softener and dryer sheets, and factor in the time derping around waiting for it to do its thing, especially in a sketchy coin-op laundry or a dank shared basement washroom, it's a little silly to do it yourself. Speaking of course as a bachelor. When you are coupled up, or especially when children are involved, dirty laundry production escalates exponentially and wash-and-fold becomes prohibitively expensive and the capital investment in laundry equipment reduces in importance.
woadwarrior01 7y ago
Although the terms first, second and third world are often used to connote standards of living, that’s not the original sense[1] in which these terms were coined. They were Cold War era terms used to classify countries into Western bloc, Soviet bloc and the countries not aligned with either of the aforementioned blocks. And going by measure, the US could never be a 2nd world country :) [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World
kilotaras 7y ago
One thing is the fact that it's expected to have both washing machine and dryer in US. This leads to additional space and ventilation requirements. The solution would of course be ditching the dryer, but not both.

karaterobot 7y ago

After WWII, there were two superpowers splitting the world between them: the first world was the NATO West, and the second world was the Soviet East. Countries who were unaligned, or not considered sufficiently important, made up the so-called third world. If these terms ever meant anything, they don't anymore, and they certainly have nothing (directly) to do with washing machines!

noelsusman 7y ago

This is only a thing in extremely dense, expensive American cities. Most Americans have washing machines in their home.

poulsbohemian 7y ago
What is surprising is how many houses don't have a dish washer, in both urban and rural areas.
- mwfunk 7y ago
  A quick Googling suggested that 25% of them don't have dishwashers. I don't know if that number is accurate, but 25% would be a lot more than I would have expected too.

ARandomerDude 7y ago

Wow. I've lived in the US all my life and I've never heard of a majority of anyone's social group not having a washing machine. Have others experienced this? If so, in what city?

pikma 7y ago
It's common in San Francisco, if you rent. Often you'd have a slated washer dryer in the building, but sometimes not.
jdgiese 7y ago
I believe this is quite common in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. Most larger buildings have a washer and dryer in the basement of the building. Many people send their laundry out to have it washed and folded by someone else.
rizzom5000 7y ago
In major cities you'll find that luxury units or condos have in-unit washer and dryer; but below luxury level apartments and condos do not. Nicer places will have a laundry on each floor. Others will have something in the basement or not at all. It's an optimization that saves the owners significant amounts on up front and maintenance costs. On the other hand, most people in trailer homes in the US will have a washer and dryer in their trailer. They aren't expensive appliances. They just take up space and require additional plumbing and ventilation - which can lead to significant expenses if you are designing buildings with 100's of units.
red_hare 7y ago
I live New York. 5/7 years I’ve been here I haven’t had a wash. In my experience, an apartment with in-unit goes for 10% more than one without. My rent is 1850/mo and my local friendly laundromat does wash-and-fold for $0.90/lb. The math works out that an in-unit wash just isn’t worth it to me. Even if you’re lucky enough to afford rent in New York you probably can only afford one or two luxuries. For me I‘ve chosen living alone and windows that get sunlight over things like square footage, location, or a wash.
- thrower123 7y ago
  The time savings from using a wash and fold service aren't to be denied, either. You just drop off a huge sack of laundry once every week or two before work, and you pick it up on the way home nicely washed and folded, better than I, at least, would have done it. By the time you buy detergent and fabric softener and dryer sheets, and factor in the time derping around waiting for it to do its thing, especially in a sketchy coin-op laundry or a dank shared basement washroom, it's a little silly to do it yourself. Speaking of course as a bachelor. When you are coupled up, or especially when children are involved, dirty laundry production escalates exponentially and wash-and-fold becomes prohibitively expensive and the capital investment in laundry equipment reduces in importance.

woadwarrior01 7y ago

Although the terms first, second and third world are often used to connote standards of living, that’s not the original sense[1] in which these terms were coined. They were Cold War era terms used to classify countries into Western bloc, Soviet bloc and the countries not aligned with either of the aforementioned blocks. And going by measure, the US could never be a 2nd world country :) [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World

kilotaras 7y ago

One thing is the fact that it's expected to have both washing machine and dryer in US. This leads to additional space and ventilation requirements. The solution would of course be ditching the dryer, but not both.