Laundry Lockers - New Feature from Wash-Dry-Fold POS — Transcript

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1. 0:00You feel loosened up, you feel ready to
2. 0:01go?
3. 0:02>> I I guess so, yeah. How does How does
4. 0:04the format work? Do we just Do we just
5. 0:06chit-chat? Are you just going to
6. 0:07directly start asking questions like
7. 0:10questions like how does this work?
8. 0:12>> I just look at you with a perfectly
9. 0:13straight face and I ask you the hardest
10. 0:15questions.
11. 0:17What was the most embarrassing moment of
12. 0:18your life?
13. 0:20>> [laughter]
14. 0:20>> Please don't. Please don't make me tell
15. 0:22this on on live TV.
16. 0:26>> Yeah, that's that's the format. I just
17. 0:28[music] I just torture you with
18. 0:29questions. And if you answer anything
19. 0:31wrong, you're fired instantly. That's
20. 0:33That's the format of this podcast.
21. 0:35>> I'll have to get my sweat towel out.
22. 0:37>> [laughter]
23. 0:38>> Yeah, you just
24. 0:39Just drink and sweat. Or sweat the whole
25. 0:42time.
26. 0:43And then I'll text you after it's over
27. 0:45if you're fired or [music] not. I'll
28. 0:47text
29. 0:47>> Okay. That's a good Yeah, I like that. I
30. 0:49like that rule, yeah. You don't want to
31. 0:50do it over the phone.
32. 0:57>> Hello and welcome to the Laundromat
33. 0:59Ownership podcast. I'm your host, Ian
34. 1:01Gallahan. Me and my business partner,
35. 1:03Brian Henderson, own three laundromats
36. 1:05in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. In 2025,
37. 1:09they did about 2.5 million in gross
38. 1:11revenue, which makes them three of the
39. 1:12top-performing laundromats in the US.
40. 1:15But we're also the founders and owners
41. 1:18of Wash-Dry-Fold POS,
42. 1:21which is the original point of sale
43. 1:23system for laundromats. And today, we
44. 1:25actually have one of the programmers for
45. 1:27Wash-Dry-Fold POS, one of our
46. 1:29developers. Cole, why don't you
47. 1:31introduce yourself a little bit?
48. 1:33>> Hi everyone. Yeah, my name is Cole
49. 1:35Morton. I've been with Wash-Dry-Fold POS
50. 1:37for about a year and a half now, and
51. 1:40I've been loving loving every day of it.
52. 1:42Um
53. 1:43Everything's been going great. I really
54. 1:45like seeing new features get pushed out
55. 1:47and being able to work on those and
56. 1:49getting to talk to
57. 1:51all the subscribers and kind of learn
58. 1:52what laundromat owners need and how we
59. 1:55can help them best.
60. 1:58>> And the reason kind of the the
61. 2:00motivation for having you on the podcast
62. 2:02today is you were the primary developer
63. 2:05behind this new laundry locker system or
64. 2:09at least you you helped push it across
65. 2:11the finish line.
66. 2:12>> That's right. Yeah.
67. 2:14>> How long have you
68. 2:16and the team been working on this?
69. 2:18>> Um it's been a while. I I know this has
70. 2:20been a a project that you know has been
71. 2:23suggested to us for for a while now and
72. 2:26it started getting suggested pretty
73. 2:27heavily last year and um
74. 2:30with the rise of our pick up in in
75. 2:31delivery software as well and and adding
76. 2:34improvements to that, we've really
77. 2:35wanted to focus on um
78. 2:38more than just just pick up and delivery
79. 2:40but other ways to increase revenue and
80. 2:42to increase, you know, customers coming
81. 2:45in and dropping off laundry. That's a
82. 2:47that's a huge thing for that is laundry
83. 2:49lockers.
84. 2:50>> Yeah, helping other laundromat owners
85. 2:52increase their revenue as well and it's
86. 2:55been a really commonly requested feature
87. 2:58for a long time.
88. 2:59>> Mhm.
89. 2:59>> I think part of what's
90. 3:02helped us get this across the finish
91. 3:04line certainly and even given us the
92. 3:07bandwidth to do it is the new AI tools
93. 3:10that um that you've been using and that
94. 3:12the team has been using.
95. 3:14Um
96. 3:15So what type of lockers for the laundry
97. 3:19lockers, do I need to have a specific
98. 3:20brand if I want to
99. 3:22use this in my laundromat?
100. 3:24>> No and and one thing that we were very
101. 3:26intentional about when when building
102. 3:28this feature out was that, you know,
103. 3:30some laundromats may not want, you know,
104. 3:32smart lockers and some laundromats may
105. 3:34not want just a drop box. So we wanted
106. 3:36to make this as open and kind of free
107. 3:38flowing as possible and so really any
108. 3:41kind of storage setup um you want can
109. 3:44work with our uh laundry locker
110. 3:46features. So whether you have really
111. 3:49smart lockers with, you know, high-tech
112. 3:52uh smart apps or codes or anything like
113. 3:54that, or you have just, you know, maybe
114. 3:56a crude box with a lock on it that
115. 3:58people can come in and just throw bags
116. 4:00into, you know, it's work with any kind
117. 4:02of setup you have.
118. 4:04>> [snorts]
119. 4:04>> That makes sense. We've got a lot of
120. 4:06customers with the latter and, uh,
121. 4:08probably fewer customers with the, uh,
122. 4:10high-tech [laughter] solutions.
123. 4:11>> Right, yeah.
124. 4:12>> Yeah, I've got a box that I put a master
125. 4:14lock on. Do I have lockers now? Yes, you
126. 4:16do.
127. 4:17>> There it is, yeah. So.
128. 4:19>> Um, no, that's that's good. So,
129. 4:23well, and I guess that brings me to the
130. 4:24next question. So, when the customers
131. 4:27are dropping off the laundry,
132. 4:30can they drop it in their own individual
133. 4:32lockers? Or what if I just have like one
134. 4:34big drop-off like box where it just like
135. 4:37goes into a locked office and like once
136. 4:39you put it in the bag and put it through
137. 4:41the drop box, like it's it's dropped
138. 4:44off. Like so,
139. 4:45>> how does that piece of it work?
140. 4:48>> So, yeah, in the in the software, um,
141. 4:50uh, laundromat owners will be able to
142. 4:52decide whether they have, you know, a
143. 4:54drop box in their a drop box setup, you
144. 4:56know, outside or inside, like you said,
145. 4:58um, in like an office area, or they
146. 5:00have, you know, individually numbered
147. 5:02lockers 1 through 10 or whatever that
148. 5:04might be. Um, and so they can set up
149. 5:06those different setups inside the, uh,
150. 5:09the settings of the software and, you
151. 5:11know, the customers can either drop it
152. 5:13off in a uh, drop box and notify the,
153. 5:17um, attendants or the workers that it's
154. 5:19been dropped off in the drop box, or
155. 5:20they can put it in individual lockers.
156. 5:22It's totally up to the store and how
157. 5:24they have their setup, um, created.
158. 5:27>> That makes sense. So, we've kind of
159. 5:28built it to
160. 5:30cuz I've heard of either model of like,
161. 5:32"Hey, you know, when we give them back
162. 5:34to you, it's in an individual locker,
163. 5:35but when you drop it off, it's in one
164. 5:37drop [clears throat] site." But then
165. 5:38other people will do both the drop-off
166. 5:40and the pickup in the individual locker.
167. 5:43So, that that makes sense. And
168. 5:46I know another thing, and
169. 5:48you know, for those of you who
170. 5:51watch the podcast, you may uh
171. 5:54you may be surprised at this or maybe
172. 5:56not surprised, but I often tell people,
173. 6:00you know, nothing good happens in your
174. 6:02laundromat at 2:00 a.m. There's just
175. 6:04like you're not going to get revenue.
176. 6:07Uh you will get
177. 6:09drugs, you will get craziness. But let's
178. 6:12just say I'm just a glutton for
179. 6:13punishment and uh even though I've
180. 6:16listened to the laundromat ownership
181. 6:17podcast and I've listened to all the top
182. 6:20laundromat owners in the US come on here
183. 6:22and say, do not have an unattended
184. 6:24laundromat.
185. 6:25I'm still convinced that my laundromat
186. 6:27should be unattended for 4 hours a night
187. 6:29and maybe there's some cities in the US
188. 6:31where this would work. Um will it work
189. 6:34for an unattended laundromat or do you
190. 6:36need an attendant there?
191. 6:37>> No, absolutely. It will work completely
192. 6:40unattended. Um and I agree, you know,
193. 6:42you probably don't want a lot of people
194. 6:44just walking into the store where you
195. 6:45have your POS set up and you know,
196. 6:48everything behind the desk. But if you
197. 6:50can have maybe like a locked entryway or
198. 6:52even an outdoor um dropbox or lockers
199. 6:55for people to put in, uh customers can
200. 6:57totally come, drop off their laundry,
201. 6:59notify you that they've dropped it off
202. 7:01and then it's there for you to process
203. 7:03uh whenever the store's open and then
204. 7:05you can notify the customers that it's,
205. 7:07you know, been processed, it's ready to
206. 7:08pick up. You can give them the code, uh
207. 7:11whatever you want to do from that that
208. 7:13point, yeah.
209. 7:14>> I hadn't really thought about that, but
210. 7:15that is an interesting idea of you know,
211. 7:17and I I I've had other customers ask for
212. 7:20this, so I guess that makes sense, but
213. 7:21like, yeah, what if, you know, what if
214. 7:24only part of the laundromat is opened or
215. 7:26what if you just have um an entry space
216. 7:30or what if it's just beside the
217. 7:31building, you know, and they can drop
218. 7:32off anytime, but the but the actual
219. 7:34building remains closed when it's
220. 7:36unattended. So, it does kind of open up
221. 7:38some new possibilities there. So, let's
222. 7:41let's then walk through let's say I
223. 7:45I want to go to Cole's five-star
224. 7:47laundromat
225. 7:48in Ardmore. I want to drop off my
226. 7:50laundry.
227. 7:52Uh
228. 7:53what does that look like for me as the
229. 7:54laundromat customer?
230. 7:56>> Mhm. So, there's a couple different ways
231. 7:58that you can do that. Um we have our
232. 8:00online um pick up and delivery
233. 8:02scheduling app, My Laundry Order, which
234. 8:04is built into the software and you know,
235. 8:06a lot a lot of our subscribers are will
236. 8:08be familiar with that. Um so, attached
237. 8:10to that now is a new feature that allows
238. 8:13customers to go on that website, My
239. 8:14Laundry Order, and they can schedule a
240. 8:17locker. So, they'll be kind of shown a
241. 8:19list of all the available lockers that
242. 8:21are in the store or if it's a drop box,
243. 8:23they'll be able to choose that drop box.
244. 8:25Then they get to specify, you know, how
245. 8:26many bags they're dropping off, the
246. 8:28specific laundry instructions they want.
247. 8:31Um they'll be able to leave a payment
248. 8:32method so that you can collect payment
249. 8:34from them. You don't have anyone, you
250. 8:35know, dropping stuff off to get uh to
251. 8:38get processed and not paying for it or
252. 8:39anything.
253. 8:40Um and so, they can do that online or
254. 8:43if, you know, they come in during the
255. 8:45day, maybe, you know, they
256. 8:47they work until midnight so they can't
257. 8:49pick it back up until midnight or
258. 8:50whatever. They can come in during the
259. 8:51day, drop it off, completely
260. 8:54disregard the online ordering. It can
261. 8:56work completely without the uh the
262. 8:58online scheduling app. Um so, they can
263. 9:00drop it off and then come back and get
264. 9:01it later.
265. 9:02Totally perfect.
266. 9:03>> And then in that in that second
267. 9:05situation, the app is really just
268. 9:08helping you and your team manage like,
269. 9:11okay, they left their name on the bag or
270. 9:13whatever and so, I can see it's in the
271. 9:15drop off.
272. 9:17I can process it through the wash, dry,
273. 9:18fold and then I can put it in a locker
274. 9:21for them to pick it up. So, it's just
275. 9:23providing some internal infrastructure
276. 9:26if you don't want to use the online
277. 9:28part, but
278. 9:30I think most people are going to use the
279. 9:32online, but then how do they how do they
280. 9:34get to that? How do they know
281. 9:37to go like is that on your laundromat's
282. 9:38website or is that a QR code? What's the
283. 9:41deal?
284. 9:42>> Yeah, so so a lot of our subscribers
285. 9:44right now have some pretty nice looking
286. 9:46sites that have a link to schedule
287. 9:48online pickup and delivery. And since
288. 9:50it's built into that same platform,
289. 9:52yeah, you can put a link to it on your
290. 9:54site or you can like print out a QR code
291. 9:57and put it on whatever storage device
292. 9:59you have whether it's a drop box or
293. 10:00lockers. You'd have a QR code right
294. 10:02there that they can scan and then it
295. 10:04takes them directly to the site. They
296. 10:06sign up. It's a super quick and easy
297. 10:07process and then they're off to dropping
298. 10:09off their laundry.
299. 10:11>> What if
300. 10:13>> [snorts]
301. 10:13>> I want to cuz I know one of the
302. 10:15criticisms I've heard from other
303. 10:19offerings like this is you go to the
304. 10:21site, right? The point of sale company
305. 10:23is like, "Oh, we do pick up and
306. 10:25delivery. We do laundry lockers." But
307. 10:27then when you
308. 10:30from the end user's point of view, so
309. 10:32from the laundromat customers,
310. 10:34they go and it's like, you know, it's
311. 10:36branded with that site stuff and then
312. 10:39they have to find your laundromat on the
313. 10:41marketplace.
314. 10:43If you had a QR code and you scanned it,
315. 10:46would they even know that you're using
316. 10:48Wash-Dry-Fold POS? Would there be any
317. 10:50other laundromats available there? What
318. 10:52what does that look like for them when
319. 10:54they actually go on the website?
320. 10:56>> Yeah, that's a great question. No, with
321. 10:58My Laundry Order, it's completely
322. 11:01completely separate from Wash-Dry-Fold
323. 11:02POS. They wouldn't see us at all. They
324. 11:05would see the
325. 11:06that store's branded page. It would have
326. 11:09their logo if they wanted it. They can
327. 11:10customize their branded colors.
328. 11:13It would take them directly to that
329. 11:15laundromat's link as well. So they're
330. 11:17not trying to fight over, you know, what
331. 11:19what store they're looking for or
332. 11:21anything like that. It would just take
333. 11:22them directly to that laundromat
334. 11:24with all of its branding right in front
335. 11:26of them. It would be very hard to miss.
336. 11:28>> Got it. Got it. Now, that's good. That's
337. 11:30good cuz it a lot of people don't think
338. 11:32to "Hey, it includes pickup and
339. 11:33delivery." That just means like it'll
340. 11:35it'll go straight to my own branded
341. 11:37thing, right? And it's like, "Well,
342. 11:38actually, for some for some of our
343. 11:41competitors or for some of the other
344. 11:42point-of-sale companies, it's like, "No,
345. 11:44you get listed on our marketplace." And
346. 11:46then they send you the marketplace, and
347. 11:47then you've got to find the laundromat.
348. 11:49And
349. 11:51I think and obviously I've seen the demo
350. 11:53and and helped with the development, but
351. 11:56I think the the object here is that this
352. 12:00is all about the laundromat and the
353. 12:02laundromat's customer.
354. 12:04>> Mhm.
355. 12:04>> And that there's no other brands
356. 12:07involved. In fact, they won't even see
357. 12:09my laundry order except for that's just
358. 12:11in the URL. As far as they're concerned,
359. 12:13they're going to feel like they're on
360. 12:14that laundromat
361. 12:16they're on that laundromat's website,
362. 12:18and they're just dropping off. Um
363. 12:20And they see the logo, and they see
364. 12:21that. So, the only the only kind of
365. 12:24uh
366. 12:25evidence that it's even our
367. 12:26point-of-sale system or that you're even
368. 12:28using a third-party platform is just in
369. 12:30the URL, which, you know, no one's
370. 12:32looking at that anyway. But, um
371. 12:34>> Yep, you're absolutely right.
372. 12:36>> Thank you. Yeah, okay, good. Thanks.
373. 12:38Make it sure.
374. 12:39Um
375. 12:40Is there
376. 12:41Do we have like a limit on how many
377. 12:43lockers they can add, or how does that
378. 12:45all that work?
379. 12:47>> We don't necessarily have a have a
380. 12:48practical limit. I mean, you know, I'm
381. 12:50sure there's a lot of larger stores that
382. 12:52could accommodate maybe even like 30, 40
383. 12:54lockers, you know.
384. 12:56But, that would have to be quite a large
385. 12:57store, and the lockers, you know, would
386. 12:59probably have to be on the smaller side.
387. 13:00But, there's not necessarily a practical
388. 13:02limit, but you know, we will probably
389. 13:04put a limit on it to like 100 or
390. 13:06something like that.
391. 13:07>> [laughter]
392. 13:07>> Right, right, right. Yeah, so no, that
393. 13:10that makes sense. So, practically there
394. 13:11is no limit. We may eventually put a
395. 13:13hard cap just to keep
396. 13:16keep someone from doing a thousand
397. 13:17lockers or something crazy. But, but
398. 13:20for practical purpose, just however many
399. 13:22lockers you have. And is this
400. 13:25something that you cuz I know when you
401. 13:28go through like a checkout page for some
402. 13:31of our for some of the other point of
403. 13:33sale systems and not just for
404. 13:36laundromats. I think other other um
405. 13:38you know
406. 13:39uh verticals have this as well. There's
407. 13:42usually like tiers like there's like a
408. 13:43bronze and a silver and a gold and so
409. 13:46what
410. 13:47do you have to pay extra to get this on
411. 13:49your plan or how does that work?
412. 13:52>> Mhm. Nope, not at all. So it's
413. 13:53completely included in Wash-Dry-Fold POS
414. 13:56uh for all existing subscribers once the
415. 13:58update is pushed, they'll get instant
416. 14:00access. They can immediately start uh
417. 14:02playing with it and getting things
418. 14:03connected and setting up their lockers.
419. 14:05And so it happens very quickly and
420. 14:07seamlessly and they don't have to pay
421. 14:09anything extra.
422. 14:10>> Well, and I saw the video that you did
423. 14:12and I think that's Is that your first
424. 14:13video that that you've done?
425. 14:15>> That's it.
426. 14:16>> website?
427. 14:17>> Yep, that's it.
428. 14:18>> Well, you're going to be introduced to a
429. 14:19lot of our customers through that video
430. 14:21though. I think a lot of our customers
431. 14:23probably know you from tech support,
432. 14:25right?
433. 14:25>> Mhm. Yep.
434. 14:26>> Yeah.
435. 14:26>> And that's Yeah, that's that's been one
436. 14:28of my favorite parts of of working here
437. 14:30is getting to interact with the
438. 14:31customers and and meet everyone cuz
439. 14:33everyone's I mean it's it's great.
440. 14:35Everyone's great and that's the whole
441. 14:36point of what we're doing here is trying
442. 14:38to help laundromat owners and
443. 14:40uh laundromats, you know, all across the
444. 14:42US. So getting to talk to everyone's
445. 14:43been been awesome. They they give us,
446. 14:46you know, a lot of great ideas and
447. 14:47feedback on how we can improve our our
448. 14:49products. So it's you know, it works for
449. 14:51us, too, you know, that's where a lot of
450. 14:53the good ideas for these lockers came
451. 14:54from is from people who want this system
452. 14:57in their store and you know, are asking
453. 14:59what the best way to to do it would be,
454. 15:00you know, so it's it's awesome.
455. 15:02>> I'm pumped that that it's finally done.
456. 15:04It's tested. It's ready to
457. 15:07launch. Uh I think Tuesday's when this
458. 15:09podcast will go out, too. So it should
459. 15:11it should go out the same day
460. 15:13>> Yep.
461. 15:13>> um that the actual update goes out. How
462. 15:16How long do you think
463. 15:17How many hours do you think went into
464. 15:19this laundry locker
465. 15:21system total from start to finish.
466. 15:24>> Start to finish that's tough to even
467. 15:26say. I mean
468. 15:26>> Yeah, development hours between you and
469. 15:28Shawn and Brian and
470. 15:29>> Mhm. I mean between all of us, you know,
471. 15:32probably in the hundreds, you know, I
472. 15:33mean it's it's been it's been quite some
473. 15:36time before this idea was formulated and
474. 15:39now it's, you know, it got put on put on
475. 15:41paper to where we we decided what we
476. 15:43wanted and what were the essentials for
477. 15:45at least the first version going out um
478. 15:48and then to finally doing all the
479. 15:49testing and the programming for it and
480. 15:52now releasing it. It's been at least
481. 15:54hundreds between all of us, but
482. 15:56>> And that's with all the AI tools. I I
483. 15:57think it would have been
484. 15:58>> Exactly.
485. 15:59>> double or triple without them, so yeah.
486. 16:01So
487. 16:02>> Easily, yeah.
488. 16:03>> we're super pumped. I'm super pumped to
489. 16:05to see our customers use it and and to
490. 16:07get feedback on it and to
491. 16:09keep improving it. I know the sales team
492. 16:11will be
493. 16:12pumped as well, so man, thanks again for
494. 16:14for coming on the podcast and for all
495. 16:16your hard work on the software. Yeah,
496. 16:18yeah, you know, anytime, man. [music]
497. 16:20>> It's been awesome.
498. 16:21>> See you around.
499. 16:22>> Thanks, guys. Yep, bye.