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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?

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.
  - thraxil 7y ago
    Yeah, I had to use a service for a few years (no laundramats within walking distance) and while it was definitely more expensive than doing it myself, it was pretty great. I was always amused by getting my clothes back in this perfectly rectilinear package. My main complaint was that the service insisted on a pick up/drop off time that was like 7am and I lived on a 4th floor walk up, so I have a lot of memories of getting jolted out of a sound sleep and having to schlep a heavy bag up or down a bunch of stairs.
  - unblocker 7y ago
    > '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.' By the time you factor in all of the insanities of living in a city, there's a lot of things that are a lot silly about it. Seriously. You pay people to do your damn laundry, and brag about it? And I bet there's a social aspect to it also--those people are considered to be lesser than your type, in your eyes, right? I'm guessing I shouldn't bother asking if you can change oil or unclog a toilet? [EDIT: Let me just take this opportunity to shout out a warm, heartfelt "FUCK YOU" to whatever faggot Nazi mod who of course will see this post and get his panties in a twist about it, because he is a pathetic beta loser living in a toxic commie shithole, taking it up the ass daily from his communist boyfriend. All of you and your fellow faggot mods can eat a dick, or a bullet; I don't care which.]
thraxil 7y ago
Definitely the default in NYC. Lived there 15 years and only had a washer/dryer in one apartment (which was a condo that I was subletting. Any friends I had over were amazed and jealous when they saw it). If you're lucky, your building has a laundry room in the basement. Less lucky and you use a nearby laundramat. One place I lived basically didn't even have a laundramat within a 10 minute walk, so I had to pay for a laundry service that would pick up/drop off.

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.
- thraxil 7y ago
  Yeah, I had to use a service for a few years (no laundramats within walking distance) and while it was definitely more expensive than doing it myself, it was pretty great. I was always amused by getting my clothes back in this perfectly rectilinear package. My main complaint was that the service insisted on a pick up/drop off time that was like 7am and I lived on a 4th floor walk up, so I have a lot of memories of getting jolted out of a sound sleep and having to schlep a heavy bag up or down a bunch of stairs.
- unblocker 7y ago
  > '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.' By the time you factor in all of the insanities of living in a city, there's a lot of things that are a lot silly about it. Seriously. You pay people to do your damn laundry, and brag about it? And I bet there's a social aspect to it also--those people are considered to be lesser than your type, in your eyes, right? I'm guessing I shouldn't bother asking if you can change oil or unclog a toilet? [EDIT: Let me just take this opportunity to shout out a warm, heartfelt "FUCK YOU" to whatever faggot Nazi mod who of course will see this post and get his panties in a twist about it, because he is a pathetic beta loser living in a toxic commie shithole, taking it up the ass daily from his communist boyfriend. All of you and your fellow faggot mods can eat a dick, or a bullet; I don't care which.]

thraxil 7y ago

Definitely the default in NYC. Lived there 15 years and only had a washer/dryer in one apartment (which was a condo that I was subletting. Any friends I had over were amazed and jealous when they saw it). If you're lucky, your building has a laundry room in the basement. Less lucky and you use a nearby laundramat. One place I lived basically didn't even have a laundramat within a 10 minute walk, so I had to pay for a laundry service that would pick up/drop off.