Self-service
- Cost
- From $3.75 plus dryer time
- Time
- About 90 minutes
- Ready
- Same visit
- Best if
- You need it today
- Not for you if
- You do not have 90 minutes here
Five ways to get your laundry done
Do it yourself on serviced machines, drop it off for wash and fold, or have us collect and deliver. Plus the specialists — oversized items and commercial accounts. This page is about which one you actually want.
Self-service, drop-off and collection compared
The three ways to get everyday laundry done here. Oversized items and commercial accounts sit outside this comparison and are further down.
Rates pendingOwner-confirmed per-pound rates and turnaround times still need final values.
| Self-service | Wash & fold | Pickup & delivery | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you do | Load, pay, wait, fold | Drop a bag, collect it | Leave a bag at your door |
| What it costs | From $3.75per machine, plus dryer time | WF rate neededper pound, weighed before we start | PND rate neededper pound plus collection fee |
| Your time | About 90 minutes, all of it here | Two trips of a few minutes | None |
| Ready | Same visit | WF turnaround needed | PND turnaround needed |
| You control | Everything: machine, cycle, detergent | What you tell us at the counter | What you set when booking |
| Best if | You need it today and do not mind the trip | You pass the store anyway | Getting here is the problem |
| Not for you if | Ninety minutes is the thing you do not have | The load is small, so you will pay the minimum | You are outside the six neighbourhoods |
| Next step | Self-service → | Wash & fold → | Pickup & delivery → |
Wash & fold
- Cost
- WF rate needed
- Time
- Two short trips
- Ready
- turnaround needed
- Best if
- You pass the store anyway
- Not for you if
- The load is too small for the minimum
Pickup & delivery
- Cost
- PND rate needed plus fee
- Time
- A minute to book
- Ready
- turnaround needed
- Best if
- Getting here is the problem
- Not for you if
- You are outside the service area
Why laundry is priced four different ways
Five services, four charging models. Knowing which one applies to your load is the difference between good value and a bad surprise.
| Service | Priced by | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service | Per machine | You are renting the machine for a cycle |
| Wash & fold | Per pound | Labour scales with volume, not item count |
| Pickup & delivery | Per pound plus fee | Same labour, plus the journey |
| Oversized | Per item | A comforter and a rug are different jobs at the same weight |
| Commercial | Quoted | Volume and frequency change the economics entirely |
The one that catches people is the minimum on per-pound services. Bring half a bag and you pay the minimum, which makes the service look expensive when the real problem is that a bulk model was used for a small job.
What laundry actually costs, including your time
Most comparisons stop at the per-pound figure. The number that decides it is what each option costs per hour of your own time.
| Option | Cost | Your time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| At home | Roughly $1.00-$1.50/lb | 3-5 hours a week | Detergent, water, power and machine wear. It is not free. |
| Self-service here | From $3.75 plus dryer | About 90 minutes | Several loads at once, which home cannot do |
| Wash & fold here | WF rate needed | Two short trips | Often close to home laundry once time and supplies are counted |
| Collection here | PND rate plus fee needed | A minute to book | The fee buys the journey, not a different standard |
| A national app | $1.70-$2.25/lb plus $3-$6 fee | A minute to book | No premises. Your laundry goes somewhere you cannot visit. |
Two things fall out of that table. Doing it at home costs real money once you count what a load consumes, and the bigger difference is three to five hours of your week. The app range is an external benchmark, kept as a range rather than a competitor claim.
Four ways people pick the wrong laundry service
| The mistake | What happens | Instead |
|---|---|---|
| A small load through wash and fold | You pay the minimum and conclude the service is expensive | Wait for a full bag, or use a machine |
| A comforter in a home washer | It fills the drum, cannot tumble, and comes out soaked instead of clean | Use the 60 or 80 lb machine, or drop it off |
| Collection when you pass the door daily | You pay a fee for a journey you were already making | Drop it off |
| A household on the commercial route | A quote process for something that has a posted price | Use wash and fold |
Oversized items and commercial accounts
These two are not alternatives to the comparison above. They are different jobs, and most people use them alongside one of the three rather than instead of it.
Most households use two or three, not one
These are not exclusive choices and nobody expects you to pick one and stay with it. The common arrangement is that bulky and annoying laundry goes to wash and fold while everyday clothes get done on the machines or at home.
Seasonal use is normal too. You might use collection heavily in a busy month and not at all in a quiet one, or use the machines all year and send comforters twice. There is no account to maintain and no cost to switching.
If you have a working machine at home, a small regular load and an afternoon in the week, there is very little here you need. We would rather say that than sell you something that buys you almost nothing.
Not sure which one you need?
Bring it in and ask, or call (773) 234-8412. Describing what you have and what your week looks like takes about thirty seconds, and the answer is sometimes that you should use a machine yourself rather than pay for a service.