Laundromat Maintenance and Repair Ticketing System — Transcript

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1. 0:03[music]
2. 0:09>> Hello and welcome to Laundromat
3. 0:12Ownership. I'm your host Ian Gollahon.
4. 0:15Me and my business partner Brian
5. 0:16Henderson own three laundromats in the
6. 0:18Tulsa, Oklahoma area. In 2025, those
7. 0:22three laundromats did about 2.5 million
8. 0:24in revenue top line, but we're also the
9. 0:27founders of WashDryFullPOS, which is the
10. 0:29original point of sale system for
11. 0:32laundromats.
12. 0:33And today we have on a very special
13. 0:35guest, Brian Henderson's brother, Shawn
14. 0:38Henderson. Howdy.
15. 0:40Hey Shawn, thanks for joining us. Um
16. 0:42Thanks.
17. 0:43So the reason I wanted to have Shawn on
18. 0:46today
19. 0:47is because
20. 0:48there is a lot of buzz around a software
21. 0:53that as far as I am aware, Shawn was
22. 0:56the original creator of, certainly this
23. 0:58latest generation of this software.
24. 1:01Um and it is essentially this repair
25. 1:03ticket tracking software. And what I
26. 1:06mean by that is you have a washer or
27. 1:09dryer that has an issue, and so then uh
28. 1:12laundromat attendant could put in a
29. 1:14repair ticket describing the issue.
30. 1:17And then if you have a facilities guy,
31. 1:19he'll get an email about it. If you're
32. 1:21the facilities guy, which is probably
33. 1:22most of our listeners, uh then you get
34. 1:24an email about it, but it really does
35. 1:27kind of solve the problem of oh, this
36. 1:29has been out for weeks and I didn't even
37. 1:31know about it, or where are the parts?
38. 1:33Did we order the parts? It really just
39. 1:35tracks and centralizes all that
40. 1:36information.
41. 1:38And we've had that now for quite some
42. 1:39time, but other people are
43. 1:42you know, kind of catching on and and
44. 1:43making their own versions. And so I
45. 1:45wanted to talk to Shawn a little bit
46. 1:47about the the inception of this, and
47. 1:51Shawn, can you tell me kind of in your
48. 1:53own words, what was the problem you were
49. 1:55trying to solve? Cuz you were managing
50. 1:57Liberty Laundry at the time, right?
51. 1:58Yeah. Yeah, so I was spread across three
52. 2:01stores as operations manager. And part
53. 2:05of my duties there was also for
54. 2:07facilities and equipment maintenance and
55. 2:10all that. So, I was Mr. Fix-It in the
56. 2:12company, three stores. It was a very
57. 2:14frustrating experience walking into the
58. 2:16laundromat one of the laundromats in the
59. 2:18morning.
60. 2:19And there's a machine flagged out of
61. 2:21service. And if I'm lucky, I get a
62. 2:24posted note on the desk.
63. 2:28If I'm even luckier, I get something
64. 2:30more than it no work good or something
65. 2:33like that, you know. That sounds good.
66. 2:36>> and then, you know,
67. 2:38and then if I'm even luckier beyond
68. 2:39that, I recognize their handwriting cuz
69. 2:41they didn't write their name on it, so I
70. 2:42don't even know who to talk to about it.
71. 2:45>> [gasps]
72. 2:45>> Um and it just it it ticked me off cuz
73. 2:47it kept happening and it was just week
74. 2:50after week after week and months. Um
75. 2:54And um
76. 2:56and then also, when I'd know what I
77. 3:00needed to get for a part or for
78. 3:03equipment and all that, um I I needed to
79. 3:07to hunt for all the the info for the
80. 3:09machine itself. You know, sometimes, uh
81. 3:13you know, for newer machines, I'd be
82. 3:14able to check on the inside of the door
83. 3:15and there's the model and serial, or I'd
84. 3:18have to climb to the back of the machine
85. 3:20in like a tiny little crawl space to
86. 3:22look at a sticker for a model and serial
87. 3:24number. Uh
88. 3:26And I was getting sick of that, too. And
89. 3:28it's just like, I need I need all that
90. 3:29right now. So, I just
91. 3:33I needed some sort of communication
92. 3:34tool. That was one of the big things
93. 3:36first and foremost. I need something
94. 3:38better than a posted note. When I came
95. 3:40on board for Wash Dry Fold POS, I was I
96. 3:43was chomping at the bit like, I've got a
97. 3:44first big project. Like, I know how we
98. 3:47can
99. 3:48how we can really expand Wash Dry Fold
100. 3:50POS into more of a laundromat
101. 3:55management tool than just a point of
102. 3:57sale over the counter, you know?
103. 3:59>> Yeah.
104. 4:00Um No,
105. 4:01that makes a ton of sense and that is
106. 4:02pretty consistent probably with what
107. 4:04most laundromat owners have experienced
108. 4:07with communication with their
109. 4:08attendants. Or lack there of, yeah.
110. 4:10>> Yeah. That one's broke. How long has it
111. 4:12been broke? I don't know, maybe 2 weeks.
112. 4:14What's wrong with it? I don't know, it
113. 4:15doesn't get hot or something.
114. 4:17And it's just like
115. 4:18>> [laughter]
116. 4:18>> Uh-huh. At Liberty Laundry, we had a
117. 4:23paper filled binder that we kept notes
118. 4:27and dates of when we fix stuff and what
119. 4:29we fixed it with.
120. 4:30And that worked
121. 4:32okay, but it was these giant paper
122. 4:35binders and they were at and we had
123. 4:36three stores and each one of them's at
124. 4:39the store itself and then I'm over at HQ
125. 4:42and I have this faint inkling that that
126. 4:45washer did the same thing
127. 4:47a month ago and then again a few months
128. 4:49ago and then again a few months, but I
129. 4:51don't know for sure.
130. 4:53So, now I have to drive half an hour
131. 4:55back over around town to look at that
132. 4:57log
133. 4:58to then confirm so that way I know the
134. 5:00part and then I got to go find the model
135. 5:02and serial.
136. 5:03>> [laughter]
137. 5:03>> Anyway,
138. 5:04You get where I'm going with this. It's
139. 5:05just such a headache. Anyway,
140. 5:07>> Yeah.
141. 5:09>> [laughter]
142. 5:09>> I think
143. 5:10what you're bringing up is actually
144. 5:11something I've been dealing with a lot
145. 5:13recently, which is
146. 5:15the distributor, whoever you bought your
147. 5:17washers and dryers from,
148. 5:18they come over and they charge you the
149. 5:20trip charge, which is like, you know,
150. 5:22200, 300 bucks or whatever. Nowadays,
151. 5:24yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they take a
152. 5:26look at it and they say it's broken and
153. 5:29and then, you know, we're going to order
154. 5:30a part. Okay, well,
155. 5:32did you order that same part last year
156. 5:34for that machine? For me, it's become a
157. 5:36tool that
158. 5:37>> stuff. Yeah.
159. 5:39>> For me, it's become a tool to make sure
160. 5:40they're not overcharging us for like,
161. 5:42you know, are they going to do a trip
162. 5:43charge and then another trip charge when
163. 5:45they, you know, cuz like if if you're
164. 5:47doing a trip charge just to diagnose the
165. 5:48problem,
166. 5:50I don't need that, right? I already know
167. 5:51that I already know it doesn't work. I'm
168. 5:53telling you to fix it, right? And so,
169. 5:55with Liberty Laundry is just making sure
170. 5:57we don't get overcharged for everything.
171. 5:59Nowadays, it's any of the laundromat
172. 6:01attendants can
173. 6:04submit the ticket, which is great
174. 6:05because then that gives all that info to
175. 6:07Trevor, who's our facilities manager.
176. 6:10>> Mhm.
177. 6:11And then he's able to actually keep
178. 6:13track of what parts have been ordered
179. 6:15through the distributor and if it's the
180. 6:17same machine and all that, and he'll
181. 6:18make those notes in the repair uh ticket
182. 6:22tracker. So, when I'm actually
183. 6:23looking at that machine, I can see,
184. 6:25"Actually, this should be covered under
185. 6:27warranty and we've had the same issue
186. 6:28before. Mhm. And do we need to fix
187. 6:30something else so it doesn't, you know,
188. 6:31keep on having the same
189. 6:33the same problem? So, I think I think
190. 6:35yeah, it solves the attendant
191. 6:37communication problem. Yeah, cuz they're
192. 6:39already at the point of sale using the
193. 6:41point of sale, you know? And they're
194. 6:43logged in and they've got their username
195. 6:46there. So, if they just submit a ticket,
196. 6:49um then that automatically slaps their
197. 6:51name on it. Um so, that way we know who
198. 6:53to talk to if uh we need more info.
199. 6:56That's such a good point, yeah. Yeah,
200. 6:58that makes it way easier there.
201. 7:00Um
202. 7:01Because you don't really want to have
203. 7:04have to teach every employee have like
204. 7:06six different softwares. And so,
205. 7:08if this were
206. 7:09>> Centralized. Yeah. Right. If it were its
207. 7:11own standalone software, I'm not sure
208. 7:13that that would work because then
209. 7:14you've got a login that they have to do.
210. 7:17Uh they've got to remember how to use
211. 7:19it. And I mean, as silly as it sounds,
212. 7:22with laundromat attendants,
213. 7:24you're putting a higher expectation of
214. 7:27like I guess not not just computer
215. 7:30literacy, but specifically
216. 7:32like
217. 7:33Yeah. All right. It's
218. 7:35Your average Joe it it is wanting
219. 7:38something that's just there. I click a
220. 7:40button and you use it, you know? Um
221. 7:43They're They're They're not going to be
222. 7:44wanting to go to 20 different programs.
223. 7:46They're not a programmer or developer. I
224. 7:48think I think part of that, too, that
225. 7:50people don't even think about, but you
226. 7:52and I think about cuz we meet every week
227. 7:55together on
228. 7:56on uh product meetings and and all that,
229. 7:59but like even just having consistency in
230. 8:02the software, like there's the green
231. 8:03save button, there's the red cancel
232. 8:05button, and it's in the same place, and
233. 8:06this part works like the rest of the
234. 8:08software and all that.
235. 8:10>> So, you try to keep thematically the
236. 8:11same, yeah. That's right. So, if they
237. 8:13know how to use the rest of it, they
238. 8:14know how to do a support ticket. And so,
239. 8:16you're not having to teach them a
240. 8:17separate software with a separate login.
241. 8:21And to your point, they already have to
242. 8:23enter their PIN
243. 8:24Yeah, when they're doing it. Yeah, when
244. 8:26they're doing anything on the software.
245. 8:27So, they're already essentially logged
246. 8:30in. They already have that.
247. 8:31>> Yeah, literally the first thing you have
248. 8:32to do when you go to the repairs section
249. 8:35uh
250. 8:36of Wash-Dry-Fold POS is enter your PIN.
251. 8:39And And there it is. Um
252. 8:41100%. Um
253. 8:43like I And And another thing that's nice
254. 8:46about having a um having this
255. 8:49communication tool beyond just what I
256. 8:51had before, which was nothing, is
257. 8:53requiring them to put in a little bit
258. 8:56more letters. I It's literally I I
259. 8:59forget the number of characters that you
260. 9:00have to put in to be able to hit the
261. 9:02submit. But, it's it's just It's just
262. 9:04enough more to be able to have to write
263. 9:07more than it doesn't work. Like That's
264. 9:09right.
265. 9:10I remember that. I remember that cuz I
266. 9:12think I was going to like fool around
267. 9:13and put in like a sample ticket. I was
268. 9:15like, "It doesn't work." And it's like,
269. 9:17"I need more info. Can you please be
270. 9:18specific about what is not working? Can
271. 9:20you you know, explain the pro- How did
272. 9:23the problem come about? Just Just give
273. 9:25us a sentence, please, about what is not
274. 9:28working so that we're not having to go
275. 9:30do all this work on it, yeah." I I think
276. 9:32I had a um
277. 9:34I I think I used I don't know if it's
278. 9:36still like that. I need to check, but I
279. 9:38think I used to have a
280. 9:39uh
281. 9:40bit of explainer text on there that
282. 9:42says, "Please describe any sights,
283. 9:44sounds, and or smells."
284. 9:46>> [laughter]
285. 9:48>> Just like, we need all the info. I'm not
286. 9:51trying to pick on, you know, someone
287. 9:52who's trying to build this software from
288. 9:54scratch. The uh motivation for this
289. 9:56episode in the first place was, "Okay,
290. 9:59why wouldn't you build it from scratch?"
291. 10:01Well,
292. 10:02one of the the things is, not only do
293. 10:04you have, you know, Liberty Laundry
294. 10:06being one of the top-performing chain of
295. 10:08laundromats in in the world, not only
296. 10:10was it built there for a, you know, an
297. 10:13operation at scale,
298. 10:15but then it was built back in, what,
299. 10:172020? 2021?
300. 10:20I mean, it was built a long time ago,
301. 10:22and we have hundreds and hundreds of
302. 10:25laundromats that use it every day, and
303. 10:26so we've improved it every month or two,
304. 10:30or whatever, you know, however often we
305. 10:32update it. Um we improve it regularly,
306. 10:35and so there's just little things like,
307. 10:37"Well, why would you, you know, require
308. 10:39more than 100 characters?" Or maybe it's
309. 10:41maybe it's 25 characters or something
310. 10:43like that. Well, because if you don't
311. 10:45require
312. 10:46that, people will just say it's broken,
313. 10:48and you need more information. And so
314. 10:49even just having something as simple as
315. 10:53asking them what you want from them, and
316. 10:55then requiring that they actually give
317. 10:56you a decent amount of info.
318. 10:58I mean, that's something that isn't
319. 11:00really a software limitation. That's
320. 11:02really just a design thing that you
321. 11:04won't know unless you've tried to use it
322. 11:06at scale with hundreds of stores
323. 11:09over several years. Mhm. Um so I
324. 11:11actually think that is pretty on on
325. 11:13point for
326. 11:15what we're discussing. I did have a
327. 11:16question that kind of goes along with
328. 11:18this about why is it important to have
329. 11:21it as the same software as the
330. 11:23point-of-sale software? And one of the
331. 11:25things I remember Brian talking about
332. 11:27when we were interviewing with Alliance
333. 11:30on the Laundry Nerd podcast. Uh he was
334. 11:34talking about
335. 11:36Well, what's so cool is we already have
336. 11:38all the washers and the dryers listed
337. 11:40with their serial numbers and the names
338. 11:42and all that in the software. And so,
339. 11:44when we integrated with Alliance,
340. 11:47it was easy cuz you didn't have to
341. 11:48recreate that map. But, I guess my
342. 11:51question is then, what about the reverse
343. 11:52of that? What if you already have a new
344. 11:55store with Quantum machines?
345. 11:58>> Mhm. And then instead of kind of
346. 11:59building that list with serial numbers
347. 12:01like you typically would for like, let's
348. 12:03say it's an old Dexter store and you've
349. 12:04got old Dexter machines. Well, there's
350. 12:06no way for us to just pull that list.
351. 12:08But, with the the new Speed Queen API,
352. 12:12are we able to just create a list of
353. 12:15washers and dryers from just pulling it
354. 12:17from the Alliance Insights program and
355. 12:21then that becomes kind of your starter
356. 12:23list for the machine repair tracker? Is
357. 12:25it Is it a little different?
358. 12:27>> like on the equipment setup side of
359. 12:29things?
360. 12:29>> Yes. Exactly. Um
361. 12:31I I don't see what I mean, yeah. I mean,
362. 12:33the the way that we um the way that we
363. 12:36have the setup for the machine start
364. 12:38integration,
365. 12:40um
366. 12:41it starts by us pulling a list of
367. 12:43washers and dryers from uh Alliance. And
368. 12:46then we're matching that up with the
369. 12:48ones that we've already created in Wash
370. 12:50Dry Fold POS. So, essentially it would
371. 12:52be like um like an Alliance equipment
372. 12:54setup wizard is essentially what it
373. 12:56would be. Uh I think that makes a lot of
374. 12:57sense. And if there are other
375. 12:59manufacturers that wanted to do that as
376. 13:00well, I mean, we would be happy. We work
377. 13:02with everyone. So,
378. 13:04>> Goodness, yeah. I would love that. I
379. 13:05want I want Wash Dry Fold POS to talk to
380. 13:07everyone. Exactly. Exactly. And then
381. 13:09just pull in all that stuff for the
382. 13:11machine repair. I mean, it just saves
383. 13:12time. It's not like it's hard to do now,
384. 13:15but it would be just even faster when it
385. 13:17is actually importing the serial numbers
386. 13:19because
387. 13:20part of what this repair ticket system
388. 13:23is is the ability to go and look at all
389. 13:25the details on which washer is it? What
390. 13:28size is it? All the When did you buy it?
391. 13:31>> Yeah. What's the history of the the
392. 13:33problem with or the history of that
393. 13:35piece of equipment? Has it had any
394. 13:36problems?
395. 13:37Another thing that people don't think
396. 13:39about um
397. 13:40but they tend to get really excited
398. 13:42about when I tell them about this was
399. 13:45um
400. 13:46well, yeah, it also works for your
401. 13:47vending machines cuz I know those are
402. 13:48always breaking, too. And and the
403. 13:50sliding doors, I know those break all
404. 13:52the time, too. And it What about the
405. 13:53bill breakers? And so How did Was that
406. 13:55something you thought of right from the
407. 13:57beginning of like I'm just going to put
408. 13:58everything that breaks in the laundromat
409. 14:00on the repair ticket tracker, not just
410. 14:03the washers and dryers, or did that get
411. 14:05added later?
412. 14:06>> Uh no, it was from the beginning. It was
413. 14:07basically the thought was any installed
414. 14:09equipment that you're wanting to track
415. 14:11that sort of stuff.
416. 14:13Like at vending machines was the big one
417. 14:15for me. Like we had we operated our own
418. 14:17vending machines in the laundromat. And
419. 14:20then just
420. 14:22coming in and then having to diagnose um
421. 14:25was I'm
422. 14:27I'm more of a washer and dryer guy than
423. 14:29I am a vending machine guy. Let's put it
424. 14:31that way.
425. 14:31>> Right.
426. 14:31Um
427. 14:33>> [laughter]
428. 14:34>> Uh so so having that so even on the
429. 14:37equipment setup page, having that those
430. 14:39just like a washer or dryer just as
431. 14:40another piece of equipment. Um it won't
432. 14:43show up on like machine starts or
433. 14:45anything like that. But um it The only
434. 14:48place that those kind of other uh
435. 14:51equipment uh pieces show up is the
436. 14:53repairs uh
437. 14:55page to be able to select it for a a
438. 14:57history. Um
439. 15:00It's to give it a history of it in the
440. 15:01system. Um also beyond that um I know
441. 15:05that there's just there's always weird
442. 15:07stuff. You can't account for anything.
443. 15:09And it seems kind of silly to
444. 15:12enter in a piece of equipment in Wash
445. 15:14Dry Fold POS for like say the toilet so
446. 15:17that way you can put in a repair ticket
447. 15:19when the toilet is clogged or some weird
448. 15:21like that. Um so I also have like a
449. 15:24miscellaneous catchall at the very end
450. 15:27of it. It's like, "Okay, if if the if
451. 15:30the
452. 15:32if the issue is too weird, you know, it
453. 15:34falls outside of any of the equipment we
454. 15:35have listed,
455. 15:37it's like that. And that's what it is.
456. 15:38>> a one-time use. Like if you only want to
457. 15:40have the toilet in the repair tracker
458. 15:42once, you can use it once. I I didn't
459. 15:44even know we had that. Okay. Yeah,
460. 15:45unlisted {slash} miscellaneous, I think
461. 15:47is what it's um is what the uh the
462. 15:50option is. It makes a lot of sense for
463. 15:51it to live in the place where the
464. 15:53equipment already lives, especially for
465. 15:55other reasons. And as we get deeper into
466. 15:57the integrations, you already need those
467. 16:00that list of washers and dryers anyway.
468. 16:02Like even if you have like a fast card
469. 16:03or laundry card system and you're going
470. 16:05to start them from the the point of sale
471. 16:07system, it's like that's already where
472. 16:09that list lives. And so, why not just
473. 16:13then extend that functionality into
474. 16:17the order tracker system? And it's not
475. 16:18like something, you know, I've even had
476. 16:19And this is a credit to you, um just to
477. 16:21give you your your flowers here. Um but
478. 16:24I have had people buy our system
479. 16:27and then I'll talk to them a month or
480. 16:28two later and just be like,
481. 16:30"How are things going with the system?
482. 16:31How are you liking it?" And they're
483. 16:33like, "You didn't even tell me about
484. 16:34this machine repairs functionality. Like
485. 16:37I would have bought that.
486. 16:39I would have paid, you know, the
487. 16:40subscription cost just for that feature.
488. 16:44I wouldn't have even, you know, you
489. 16:45could have sold me just that. Like all
490. 16:47the point of sale and all Which is funny
491. 16:48cuz we're definitely like a point of
492. 16:50sale. It's Wash Dry Fold POS, right? And
493. 16:52so it's
494. 16:53you know, we're not uh the machine
495. 16:56uh repair tracker software, but
496. 16:59I mean, we kind of are because that we
497. 17:00were the first kind of come out with it
498. 17:02and then um I think we've we've
499. 17:05improved it the most. And in fact, the
500. 17:07second motivation I had um for this
501. 17:10podcast episode was Trevor sent Brian
502. 17:13and I a video
503. 17:16that was him just talking about how
504. 17:17excited he was about the new There's
505. 17:20like a column that is essentially
506. 17:24in service or out of service. And so it
507. 17:27might have a problem, but it's still in
508. 17:28service.
509. 17:29But if it's has a problem and it's out
510. 17:31of service
511. 17:33then you can kind of sort it by the top
512. 17:34of the list. And I think that was Did
513. 17:36Hope recommend that? Who Who Who thought
514. 17:38of that? Uh it was it was Hope and a few
515. 17:41other people as well. I'm off the top of
516. 17:44my head. Yeah.
517. 17:46Yeah. Hope Doolan down in in Florida.
518. 17:49She's She's awesome.
519. 17:50>> [laughter]
520. 17:51>> Well, she really is. And it makes the
521. 17:52most sense cuz she's got 30 laundromats.
522. 17:54So if you've got 30 laundromats worth of
523. 17:56machinery
524. 17:58like there's going to be a lot of broken
525. 17:59machines, but you want to be able to
526. 18:01focus on the ones that are actually out
527. 18:04of order and not in service.
528. 18:05>> another Yeah. So that's another thing
529. 18:07that we discovered from actually having
530. 18:09it implemented and then and then getting
531. 18:11that feedback is that having that just
532. 18:14little bit of extra detail is super
533. 18:16valuable for technicians to be able to
534. 18:18triage for like the urgency of an issue.
535. 18:21It's like, "Well, if it's still in
536. 18:22service
537. 18:23I'll get to it next time I'm there. But
538. 18:24if it's like a big problem and then
539. 18:26you're at the attendant is able to
540. 18:28communicate like I had to flag it out of
541. 18:30service and it's one of our two big
542. 18:3380-lb washers on a Sunday, our busiest
543. 18:36day.
544. 18:37I got to go in now." Um so No, that's
545. 18:41it's super cool.
546. 18:41>> so different from like a
547. 18:43There's a small machine that squeaks
548. 18:45when you run it. That's a support You
549. 18:46know, that's a machine repair ticket.
550. 18:47And you do need to fix that squeaking,
551. 18:49but it's not your 80-pounder being out
552. 18:51of service, which actually impacts your
553. 18:53revenue. And so
554. 18:54the ability to Yeah, to triage that I
555. 18:56think
556. 18:57I mean it makes sense now that we've
557. 19:00already built it and people have
558. 19:01requested it at. But at the time it was
559. 19:03like, "Why would you Why would you even
560. 19:04need that?" Um so I think
561. 19:07I think that kind of goes back to it.
562. 19:09Yeah. Go ahead. At At time it didn't
563. 19:11make sense to do that because the the
564. 19:15idea was just like, "Well, I can
565. 19:17I can see that it's out of service.
566. 19:19Like, there's a ticket on it. I need to
567. 19:21know what's wrong with it." So, it just
568. 19:22wasn't a priority for me in the first
569. 19:24version that was built for it. But then
570. 19:26Right. after that, what we noticed and
571. 19:28and what some of these folks um had were
572. 19:31were were telling us um is that that the
573. 19:34problem was is that their attendants
574. 19:36were just writing for the description,
575. 19:38"I put it out of service." And it's
576. 19:40like, "Okay, so we need to have some way
577. 19:42to be able to communicate that that
578. 19:43isn't communicating the problem." It or
579. 19:46Yeah, you know what I mean?
580. 19:47>> Yeah, because if that's already a
581. 19:48toggle, then like, "Okay, it's out of
582. 19:50service." But then But then describe
583. 19:52what is actually wrong with the machine,
584. 19:54please.
585. 19:55>> [laughter]
586. 19:56>> Depending on what role you are uh in the
587. 19:58software. So, like for technicians and
588. 20:01admins and managers, like, you don't
589. 20:03need to go to the submit a new repair
590. 20:05ticket form every single time. You're
591. 20:07the one actually fixing it. So, it just
592. 20:08automatically takes you to the list.
593. 20:10Whereas, if you're an attendant or or a
594. 20:12lower, then it's going to take you to
595. 20:14the submission first. You can go to
596. 20:15either, but
597. 20:17it's just it's just more convenient.
598. 20:20Well, I think that is probably one of
599. 20:22the last things to cover is the
600. 20:23permission levels of it where
601. 20:25>> role. Yeah.
602. 20:26>> Yeah, the technician role. That's what I
603. 20:27was going to That was another thing that
604. 20:28we added on um because I mean, for the
605. 20:31guy that's actually fixing it, it's not
606. 20:33convenient to have to traipse over to
607. 20:35the point of sale computer and shove the
608. 20:38attendant out of the way to be able to
609. 20:39log in you know, what you did to fix it,
610. 20:41right?
611. 20:42>> Yes. Um we made a uh technician role for
612. 20:46the employees uh to be able to get it
613. 20:48for just the tech, right? So,
614. 20:51um you enter in the tech info, you set
615. 20:54them up with some login credentials uh
616. 20:56like an email and password, okay?
617. 20:59Uh and also, you probably want to toggle
618. 21:01on the receive repair ticket emails
619. 21:03option. Um
620. 21:06And then uh
621. 21:07that allows them to be able to log in to
622. 21:10the software from their mobile device.
623. 21:12Uh and a technician role is able to
624. 21:15really only, when they're logged in with
625. 21:16their own credentials, really only able
626. 21:18to go to a couple places, which is the
627. 21:20equipment setup page to be able to get
628. 21:22all that machine info and the repairs
629. 21:24page. I mean, that's that's it. And
630. 21:26that's what they need. And you they're
631. 21:27able to go in and uh keep their history,
632. 21:31get their info that they need, you know,
633. 21:33uh update the ticket status, all that
634. 21:36stuff. And anytime a uh repair ticket
635. 21:38status is updated, that gives another
636. 21:40email. So, if you're an admin that's set
637. 21:42up for repair ticket emails, that's a
638. 21:43communication tool for the tech to tell
639. 21:45you that they fixed it.
640. 21:47And that's what we do with Trevor is
641. 21:49he's just fixing stuff, ordering parts,
642. 21:51talking to the distributor and all that.
643. 21:53And he just takes all that off our plate
644. 21:54and we just get the emails of And as the
645. 21:56owner, you you don't need you don't need
646. 21:59to be, you know,
647. 22:00called constantly to be told that you
648. 22:02fixed it. It's like, I'll see it at the
649. 22:03end of the day. There it is in my emails
650. 22:05that, "Hey, you fixed that. Hey, you
651. 22:06fixed that. Awesome. Way to go, Trevor."
652. 22:09Exactly. Exactly.
653. 22:11Um Trevor gets the most shout-outs of
654. 22:12anyone on on the
655. 22:14>> He's great. I love him.
656. 22:15>> [laughter]
657. 22:15>> He's my guy. So, it's so funny that he
658. 22:18he recorded a little video just
659. 22:19basically just showering
660. 22:22me and Cole with praise. He's so sweet.
661. 22:24Um because he loves it cuz he's he's a
662. 22:27facilities manager, you know,
663. 22:30and maintenance. And he that kind
664. 22:34message echoed what I actually get a lot
665. 22:36at like
666. 22:37at previous Clean Shows and stuff like
667. 22:39that, where I'll have the people that
668. 22:40actually fix the machines. Like, once
669. 22:42they hear that I made the repairs page,
670. 22:44they're like,
671. 22:46"You get it." Um and that feels so good.
672. 22:48They're They like They're like, "Yeah,
673. 22:50the technicians are the real ones, you
674. 22:52know?" It was like,
675. 22:52>> [laughter]
676. 22:53>> "They get it."
677. 22:55It was so funny how people are like,
678. 22:56"Well, it's simple software, right? It
679. 22:57just You just like you accept You need
680. 23:00need be able to sell some soap over the
681. 23:01counter and and wash dry fold and it's
682. 23:04like Yeah. that is that is like 1% of
683. 23:07what the software is and like when we
684. 23:09were talking about like well why would
685. 23:11you need a technician role? Well,
686. 23:14if every employee were able to log in
687. 23:16from their phone,
688. 23:17they would also be able to clock in from
689. 23:20their phone and so you wouldn't be able
690. 23:22to yeah, so you wouldn't be able to
691. 23:23necessarily tell if they were there in
692. 23:25the building or not and so just the
693. 23:26regular
694. 23:28staff member doesn't have their own log
695. 23:30into the software cuz you don't
696. 23:31necessarily want them on their phones
697. 23:34with your software. No. They just have
698. 23:36the four-digit PIN,
699. 23:38but then for the technician, he actually
700. 23:40does need to log into the software, but
701. 23:42then what he doesn't need is the ability
702. 23:44to do
703. 23:46um, you know, wash dry fold orders or I
704. 23:49just thought of a very a very strange
705. 23:51analog. Okay, if I can put it into a
706. 23:53metaphor, here we go. So, the admin and
707. 23:56manager login credentials are like the
708. 23:59keys to the store itself. It unlocks the
709. 24:01front door, it allows the attendants
710. 24:03inside the store.
711. 24:05The attendant PIN is like their
712. 24:07signature, right? They're signing their
713. 24:09work. That's how we know who's doing
714. 24:11what.
715. 24:12Mhm. So, if we were to follow that
716. 24:14metaphor,
717. 24:16simile,
718. 24:17um, the
719. 24:19then the technician login credentials is
720. 24:22like a key, but only to the mechanical
721. 24:26room.
722. 24:27>> [laughter]
723. 24:27>> That's right. It's like they've got
724. 24:28their own little entrance into the yep.
725. 24:32No, I I I mean it it you know, how would
726. 24:34you do that if you were making your own
727. 24:36stand-alone software A, but then also B,
728. 24:39it's not as simple as people think it is
729. 24:42and then
730. 24:43it sounds really simple until you
731. 24:44actually start using it and you realize
732. 24:46that the needs for every role and the
733. 24:49needs for every feature within the you
734. 24:52know, the laundromat management software
735. 24:54that we have kind of become, you know,
736. 24:56beyond just the point of sale piece of
737. 24:58it. Um
738. 25:00actually it all does get pretty
739. 25:03sophisticated as far as um
740. 25:05you know, not just functionality, but
741. 25:07permission levels and then UI and and
742. 25:10user interface for for those who don't
743. 25:13talk about UI all the time.
744. 25:14>> Yeah. Um it it has been um
745. 25:18an interesting maturation process for
746. 25:20the for the software. So let's get into
747. 25:22a how we're going to vibe code a version
748. 25:24of it
749. 25:25>> Yeah, right. in 3 days and and how it's
750. 25:27going to work just perfectly. Yeah.
751. 25:29Well, awesome, man. I really appreciate
752. 25:31you coming and and getting on the show
753. 25:33and telling us all about this
754. 25:35feature that you built that not only has
755. 25:37been so good that it's added a lot of
756. 25:39value to our company, but there have
757. 25:41been multiple copycats now and there's
758. 25:44other companies that now have some
759. 25:47version, some vastly inferior version of
760. 25:50this
761. 25:52uh software. There I mean
762. 25:54I'm I'm
763. 25:56I'm kidding, but maybe not. I mean, if
764. 25:58they haven't had it as long as we have
765. 26:00and they haven't made as many
766. 26:00improvements as we have, obviously it's
767. 26:02not going to be quite as good. And that
768. 26:04is the problem when when you try and do
769. 26:06something that someone else has been
770. 26:07doing for quite some time. It's hard to
771. 26:09catch up to them sometimes. Um but
772. 26:12anything else that you think we should
773. 26:14cover or talk about about the repair
774. 26:16ticket system? I mean The repair tickets
775. 26:18page, I don't know. Um
776. 26:19it's just
777. 26:22I think that it is important for Wash
778. 26:25full POS
779. 26:26that we
780. 26:29are people that actually
781. 26:32have industry experience, you know? I've
782. 26:35been
783. 26:36in the trenches, so to speak. Um the the
784. 26:40washer and dryer the washer trenches,
785. 26:42you know, the drainage [laughter]
786. 26:43trenches. That's what I mean. You've
787. 26:45been in the actual trenches.
788. 26:46>> in the trenches. Yeah. Under the
789. 26:48bulkheads, yeah. It's You're right. And
790. 26:49so and so I get it. And so a lot of the
791. 26:51stuff that we've built initially and
792. 26:53continued build um
793. 26:55is because of Liberty Laundry, stuff
794. 26:56that we actually need. It's practical,
795. 26:58you know? We
796. 27:00and being able to expand that based on
797. 27:03what other people are using it for and
798. 27:06their suggestions, adding to it as well.
799. 27:08It's just it's so cool. It's so much fun
800. 27:10to be a developer in that way.
801. 27:13Well, and that really is I mean, I
802. 27:15listen to a lot of business podcasts
803. 27:17where they're always talking about your
804. 27:18moat, you know, how's your business
805. 27:20defensible and and it's like, yeah, with
806. 27:22live coding, maybe the software becomes
807. 27:25easier to
808. 27:27clone or easier to mimic, but what is
809. 27:30the real moat? Well, the moat is we've
810. 27:32got many years and thousands of users
811. 27:36that then give us feedback and help us
812. 27:39improve, you know, week over week. And
813. 27:42of course, we have multiple
814. 27:44developers on staff now that are that
815. 27:46are doing that and that are improving
816. 27:48and it's based on the living, breathing
817. 27:51organism that is the Wash Ryfl POS
818. 27:53customer user base, all the stores that
819. 27:56use our
820. 27:57um
821. 27:58equipment and our software. It's all now
822. 28:01kind of working together as a as a
823. 28:02larger picture and just kind of gets
824. 28:05better over time based on real feedback
825. 28:07from for real laundromat owners. And
826. 28:09that's that's a hard thing to clone
827. 28:11because how do you just go and get, you
828. 28:13know, 20% of the the total addressable
829. 28:16market for um
830. 28:18you know, for laundromat point of sale.
831. 28:20That's that's a hard thing to do. And
832. 28:22so, uh that kind of becomes the moat of
833. 28:25the software to defend it. But anyway,
834. 28:27Sean, thank you for joining us and for
835. 28:30joining me and for
836. 28:32>> uh
837. 28:32>> [music]
838. 28:32>> sharing your your wisdom
839. 28:35uh with the listeners today.
840. 28:37You're welcome. It's been my pleasure.
841. 28:40>> [music]