Laundry price hike putting many Londoners through the wringer
CBC
Inflation is causing everything to go up in price — even the cost of washing your tighty-whities
The price to do a load or two of laundry is going up in many laundromats and apartment buildings and many Londoners say they're feeling the pinch. One resident who uses the washer and dryer at her apartment building said it's become an additional burden on her bank account.
"Every time I go and do laundry I'm spending at least $15 for a couple of loads," said Priscilla Martinez, a resident at 530 Proudfoot Lane. "It would be nice for [the price] to be lowered."
"My boyfriend's been here for about three years so he says it always goes up," said Martinez.
Coinamatic is the third party that runs laundry services at 530 Proudfoot Lane in London and is increasing its prices this spring.
A cold-weather load is going up to $3 and a hot-water load will set people in the building back $3.25. A dryer load will be $3.
Todd Myers, president of Coinamatic confirmed the company previously increased prices about a year ago.
"It's all inflation," said Myers. "Our labour has gone up, cost of equipment has gone up, parts have gone up, hydro has gone up, fuels gone up, everything's gone up. We can't continue to absorb these costs."
Third-party laundry service operators typically have revenue-share contracts with landlords which also impacts the price, unlike laundromats that are independently owned, Myers said.
But laundromats haven't escaped the price hike either.
Rufus Philips visited Belmont Coin Laundry on Belmont Drive for the first time on Wednesday to wash a load for his mother.
Belmont Coin Laundry charges $3.25 per wash and $0.25 for each three minutes in the dryer.
"I was trying to look for a laundry [service] that took credit cards and it was really hard to find one," said Philip. "The [laundromats] that did have credit cards were even more than this. It was $4 or $5. It was crazy."
The last time Philips used a laundromat was before 2020.
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