经营自助洗衣店不能像潜在的投资者可能认为的那样“容易”

自助洗衣店业务已作为一项近乎ic的投资进行了销售 - 机器从事工作，现金流动，所有者可以坐下来收取利润，几乎没有参与。

Running a laundromat can’t be as “easy” as potential investors may believe it is.

经营自助洗衣店不能像潜在的投资者可能相信的那样“容易”。

(Photo: © Mirrorimages/Depositphotos)

（照片：©MirrorImages/poadephotos）

The laundromat business has been marketed as a nearly passive investment—one where machines do the work, cash flows in, and owners can sit back and collect profits with minimal involvement.

自助洗衣店的业务已被作为一种几乎被动的投资销售 - 一种机器从事工作，现金流入的地方，所有者可以坐下来收集利润，以最少的参与。

First-time investors can be drawn to the promise of being an “absentee owner,” envisioning a steady stream of income without the headaches of daily operations. However, reality often presents a different narrative.

可以将初次投资者吸引到成为“缺席所有者”的承诺，并设想稳定的收入流，而没有日常运营的头痛。但是，现实通常会呈现不同的叙述。

While laundromats are known for their potential profitability and relatively low-maintenance operation, they are far from being “set it and forget it.” There are machine breakdowns, maintenance issues, theft, vandalism and customer complaints to handle. It’s crucial to not underestimate the hands-on effort required of even the most basic, unattended self-service laundry.

尽管自助洗衣服以其潜在的盈利能力和相对较低的维护运营而闻名，但它们远非“设定并忘记它”。有机器故障，维护问题，盗窃，故意破坏和客户投诉。至关重要的是，即使是最基本的，无人看管的自助洗衣服也需要的动手努力。

American Coin-Op asked a small group of current and former store owners about their experiences and if absentee ownership was part of their plan at the outset.

美国的货币 - 询问了一小部分现任和前商店所有者的经验，以及一开始就没有缺席的所有权。

Q: In all the time you’ve been a laundry owner, which aspects of your business turned out to be more time-consuming or to require greater resources than you originally thought?

问：您一直是您是洗衣房的所有者，事实证明，您的业务的哪个方面比您最初想象的要耗时更耗时或需要更多的资源？

“Nothing is really time-consuming if you find you love the laundromat business. It’s certainly not for everyone,” says Californian Larry Larsen, whose 50 years of experience includes owning and operating more than 50 laundromats. “Once the basics of laundromat operation are mastered, the additional time spent is usually in areas of personal choice. My preference was in conversations with customers, promotions, and keeping an eye out for areas that needed attention.

加利福尼亚州拉里·拉尔森（Larry Larsen）说：“如果您发现自己喜欢自助洗衣店的业务，那绝对不是每个人。” 50年的经验包括拥有和经营50多个自助洗衣店。” “一旦掌握了自助洗涤剂操作的基础知识，花费的额外时间通常就在个人选择领域。我的偏爱是与客户对话，促销，并留意需要关注的领域。

“Once you’ve been operating for a while, it’s easy to overlook a few machines being out of order, a soap dish that hasn’t been properly cleaned, entry rugs that need to be washed, and those noisy bathroom fans. Familiarity can cause you to overlook the obvious. Keep in mind that although you have repeat customers, some customers are entering your facility for the first time and you need to make a great first impression.”

一旦您运行了一段时间，很容易忽略一些机器过时的机器，一种尚未正确清洁的肥皂菜，需要清洗的入口地毯，以及那些嘈杂的浴室粉丝。熟悉会使您忽略显而易见的事物。请牢记，尽管如此，尽管您已经重复使用了一些客户，但您需要第一次和第一次顾客来使您的设施成为一场伟大的第一名。”

“One item that cost a lot of time was equipment maintenance,” says James Radovic, who owns the Jupiter (Fla.) Laundry. “You have 100-plus pieces of equipment and something is always out of service. So you spend time figuring out the problem, then trying to fix what you can. Some issues are so difficult to fix, you need competent service techs to do the work.”

拥有木星（佛罗里达州）洗衣店的詹姆斯·拉迪维奇（James Radovic）说：“花费很多时间的一件是设备维护。” “您拥有100多件设备，并且总是无法使用。因此，您花时间弄清楚问题，然后尝试解决您的能力。有些问题很难解决，您需要有能力的服务技术来完成这项工作。”

“My laundry manager went from doing everything at seven laundries to stocking vending machines, and keeping the locations attended,” says Joe Jepsen, who owns several O-Town Coin Laundries in and around Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah. “Finding, keeping, and continually training laundry attendants is, by far, the biggest job.”

乔·杰普森（Joe Jepsen）说：“我的洗衣经理从做七个洗衣店的所有事情变成了库存的自动售货机，并保留了参加地点。” “迄今为止，发现，保留和不断培训洗衣服是最大的工作。”

Q: What adjustments did you make once you realized the business was different than what you expected?

问：一旦您意识到业务与您预期的不同，您进行了什么调整？

“Eventually, we realized it was a mistake to not be attended stores. So, we attended them 8 to 12 hours a day,” Jepsen says.

杰普森说：“最终，我们意识到不参加商店是一个错误。因此，我们每天8至12个小时参加。”

“The first surprise I overcame is that repair folks were making much more on the parts they used in repairing machines if they came off their truck,” says Larsen. “Much better to shop for the half-dozen parts that are frequently replaced on your models and buy them online at the lowest possible prices. Have these in your stock so you’re not paying a premium.

“我克服的第一个惊喜是维修人员在卡车上使用的机器中使用的零件正在做更多的事情，”拉尔森说。 “更好地购买经常在模型上替换的六个零件并以最低的价格在线购买。

“Also, I realized the difference between your store being ‘super clean’ and ‘relatively clean’ depended on the marketplace of your customer base. You can chase away customers by your staff being too aggressive in their cleaning in certain neighborhoods. This was a surprise to me.

“此外，我意识到您的商店“超级清洁”和“相对干净”之间的区别取决于客户群的市场。您可以通过员工在某些社区的清洁工作中过于侵略性来追逐客户。这对我来说是一个惊喜。

“Finally, I marketed to the children of my customers by always having a basket of Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Roll Pops available for them (and their moms).”

“最后，我总是为他们（及其妈妈）提供一篮子的Tootsie卷和Tootsie Rolls Pop，向客户的孩子们销售。”

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to a new laundromat investor who assumes the business is “easy” and “low-maintenance,” what would it be?

问：如果您可以向认为业务“容易”和“低维护”的新自助洗衣店投资者提供一条建议，那会是什么？

“Laundromats are a wonderful business, but they are no different than tying an anchor to your leg,” Jepsen warns. “They are incredibly high-maintenance and highly involved. I have upper management who are quite capable, which allows me to not be as involved. But it took a while and a lot of stores to make that happen … and it’s still an anchor.”

杰普森警告说：“自洗衣服是一项很棒的生意，但它们与将锚定在腿上并没有什么不同。” “他们的维护高度高，高度参与。我拥有非常有能力的高层管理人员，这使我不参与其中。但是花了一段时间，而且很多商店才能实现这一目标……这仍然是一个锚点。”

“If you expect to have an easy job as owner, get the best people you can afford and make sure they have the training needed to operate your business the way you want,” Radovic says.

Radovic说：“如果您期望作为所有者有一份轻松的工作，请获得您能负担得起的最好的人，并确保他们接受按照自己想要的方式经营业务所需的培训。”

“Always pay attention to the fact you are operating a business. If you are handling and making a lot of money running a successful laundromat, you need to be careful,” adds Larsen. “The mistake abut 10% of new owners make is not following the simple

Larsen补充说：“始终要注意您正在经营业务的事实。如果您正在处理并赚很多钱经营成功的自助洗衣店，则需要小心。” “符合10％的新所有者犯的错误并不遵循简单