# On site laundry charges



## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

Hi

What do you think is a fair price to do a good sized load on washing (one load in a machine) and then dry the same? I am referring hopefully to the sites that use the larger capacity industrial sized machines rather than the domestic Hoover etc. 

Would you please vote and also add comments. 

Ta muchly

The reason I ask, I have just paid £3.50 for a wash cycle (one load) and £3 to dry the same. This is on a CCC site and I think it is totally over priced. I have sent a letter advising the same. 

Russell


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

It could be but probably not by much. What costs would they have

Building - whats the building worth?
Maintaining the building, cleaning it etc
Machinery - cost of buying/renting/maintaining
Electricity to operate

etc etc

Just asked Mrs Mrs Artona who has used these in the past and without any hesitation she said a wash load she would expect £3.30, drying £2.50

stew


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## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

I go to a launderette every week just do do my weeks drying. 

A wash in there is £2.40 
and to Dry is either £1 or 20p and you put them in as you need them. 

Drying from their washers cost more than it will from home washing as they do not spin as dry, well why would they when they know most people will use their dryers. 

For me to dry a full weeks washing for the 3 of us costs me around £4 a week and takes an hour of my time. 

Well worth it for me, hardly any ironing and no washing/drying lying around the house. 

Yours does sound a bit OTT

Mandy


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

I do think they are generally overpriced.

I suppose if they are well maintained its not so bad but often I feel the machines used do not clean the laundry very well and they smell funny. Maybe I have been unlucky with the ones I have used.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

I guess it might not be fair to compare a CCC launderette with a commercial one. A Commercial one is going to get a lot more traffic and turnover

stew


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## TR5 (Jun 6, 2007)

What you have to consider is that a campsite has a limited market, so the turnover in their laundry room will be considerably less per machine than a high street launderette.
If they use (not industrial) commercial washing machines, the purchase cost is arond £1500 - £2000 for an all stainless machine, and parts and spares are probably 3 to 4 times that of a domestic machine.

It is usually the drying curiously which appears to be considerably higher than high street prices.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Laundry*

So what is a fair price then?

Russell


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## PAT4NEIL (Jul 21, 2007)

I think a fair price is £3.00- £3.50, and tumble drier £2.00 - £2.50.
As long as they are large machines.

I have been on sites that have charged up to 6 euros for each.

Our local laundry does not let people use the driers alone you have to use their machines as well.

I think a thing is to bear in mind in this country, how much the electric and Gas has gone up in the last couple of years.

I have just received my bills and they are shocking.

I tend to use the twin tub for long trips away in the motorhome and once a week try to use a larger machine for towels and bedding.

Pat


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

*Re: Laundry*



Rapide561 said:


> So what is a fair price then?
> 
> Russell


Without knowing the business/running costs etc I would only be guessing. They have your letter, if they get lots and the machines go unused they will know they are overcharging. They then have to make a business decision about whether they can afford to carry on offering the machines. If they can't its us that loses out.

If you are asking me to make a guess then £6 for a load washed and dried

stew


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

I'm not sure what is a "fair price" Russell but I think what you paid is about the same as most non-commercial laundries charge.

The drying bit always seems the steepest to me too for the reasons that TR5 stated: there is no monetary incentive to provide washing machines that spin as much of the water out as possible if the punter is going to use their tumble dryer. I imagine they are anyway more expensive to buy and tend to break down more easily as more strain is put on them with high speed spinning. There is an incentive for all the David Bellamy Award sites to do a little energy-saving however.

I wish club sites would provide a simple spin dryer ( as Blackmore used to do ?) which would enable those of us who handwash occasionally to dry as much as possible as well as meaning we'd have to spend less if we wanted to tumble dry. It's very seldom that I get a load of washing put-away dry as I'm too mean to keep feeding the machine with more £1 coins.

Two years ago, at the campsite in Llubljana, I sent a huge load of washing to the campsite laundry - 2 machine loads at least- and picked it up that evening, washed, dried, ironed and folded, for 8 euro. It's the only site I've been to with a laundry.

G


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Landry*

I remember reading about the Slovenian laundry!

I think I am annoyed as other CCC sites are only £2 for a wash and 50p for 20 mins in the dryer!

I think the tariff should be the same at all sites. I know pitch fees vary, but the service pitch/hook up charge at £3.50 per night is a constant.

R


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## mikeyv (May 23, 2007)

Couple of points.

Firstly, as a business, they will be wanting to make a profit on everything they sell, even if only to be able to replace and/or repair the machinery when necessary.

Secondly, I would imagine that the machines suffer regular abuse and overloading with consequently higher running costs than our machines at home, so your quoted figures are probably about right imo.


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## gromett (May 9, 2005)

Both laundrettes I use regularly charge £3.50 for small machines (enough for a weeks clothes for one person) and £6.00 for a really large on.

I use the really large one once a fortnight or 3 weeks @ £6.00 then spend another £6 on drying. It doesn't matter whether it is 2 weeks or 3 weeks worth of clothes it costs the same. It takes me an hour and a half each visit.

It works out at £6 a week if I go after a fortnight or £4.00 if I go every 3 weeks. I have enough clothes to last me 4 weeks but that lot wouldn't fit in a single machine so I try to avoid waiting that long between visits.

In the bus I will be having a washing machine/spin dryer and the shower area is a lot bigger to allow me to have a clothes horse in it for drying.
The washing machine will only take 4 months to pay me back for the intial cost 

Karl


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Well I've done a few calcs and the electrical costs of washing a load at home is around 10p that is in an energy efficient cold fill on a 40 degree wash in winter.

We don't have a tumble drier


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

From what I have seen there is a tendency to overcharge, this is mostly due to buying the wrong machines in the first place and suffering from constant breakdowns due to incorrect use and over use. Camp site owners buy a cheap machine thinking they will save money, that is usually not the case as they only last a short time, due to the high cost of a wash/dry people overload them. 

There is an upper limit on price above which people will not use the facility, regardless of the machines on offer. The initial outlay on industrial machines is higher but so are the return. 

We are currently staying on a site where the charge is 4 euro for a wash and 4 euro for a dry. The prices are high because the site owner says she has to replace the machines every two or three years. She will not buy quality machines because of the cost. She was faced with buying a new washing machine last week and asked what we thought we should buy, I said Miele, you should have seen the look on her face, Alan.


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## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

sallytrafic said:


> Well I've done a few calcs and the electrical costs of washing a load at home is around 10p that is in an energy efficient cold fill on a 40 degree wash in winter.
> 
> We don't have a tumble drier


We do have a tumble dryer and it costs about 36p-40p per hour.
It does depend on how good the spin dryer is.

Dont forget in the washing machine calculation is the cost of heating the water. 
I know that the machine uses the hot water from the hot water system but it has to accounted for.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Washing*

Well at £6.50 for a full load/dry, I am opting out, so no ancilliary revenue will be had.

Back in Italy a couple of years ago, I used a bucket and a potato masher. The potato masher was used to agitate the water etc. My nan used to have a "posser" - like an unturned plant pot with handle on for this purpose. I wonder where I could get one from.

Russell


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## spartacus (Jul 10, 2008)

Is there any such thing as a "fair" price for anything in rip off Britain??

What baffles me is this attitude that the C&CC is "a business" so has to make a profit. Well is it? My understanding of a CLUB is that it is run for the benefit of the members rather than exploiting them as a captive means to a profit. Remember we've already paid a membership fee!

We have paid £3 for a wash and dry combined at a lovely Caravan Club CL which we thought was a fair and reasonable price. We have also paid the same amount for a wash and dry at a commercial (£15 a night) site. We are currently staying on a farm for winter, using their laundry facilities and we are struggling to get them to accept any money for it!!

So I'd say you were getting fleeced Russel


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi Russell.

At Canterbury C&CC site it is £ 2 for a wash and we spend about £ 1.20 to dry it. Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather.

steve & ann. ---------- teensvan


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## LisaB (Apr 24, 2009)

Standard launderette machine start in this area from £3 per wash this is a 16lb load - appx 1 and a half times bigger than a domestic machine.

Dryers start at 20p and £1 time according to money.

The launderette machines sometimes do not have the efficiency faster spin of a domestic but some are better - depends on age, energy rating etc 

That said you would hope that CC or CCC would give a concessionary rate on these.

PS I am not a geek on launderettes I own one! :wink:


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Laundry*

Lisa - thanks for the input.

I had a reply and it seems that I was charged correctly and that the previous tariff of £2 for a wash is being replaced with the £3.50.

I replied expressing my disgust. The CCC replied again and it was the usual "decisions are made by a panel that has members on it"

I am looking at a Candy machine to install in the motorhome, so the Club will then lose my ancilliary revenue.

Russell


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Laundry*

You can buy a cheap Domestic washing machine for around £170. However, it will usualy be on the tip in 18months. A decent Miele will cost from around £450-£500 upwards to £1800 or so.

A commercial Washing machine will cost at least £2,200, even an american style one comes in at around £850.

Add the cost of the building as mentioned, electricity, maintenance and so on.

I think £4-£5 is fair for a wash and at that would not expect to be much profit for the supplier.

TM


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Re: Laundry*



Rapide561 said:


> Lisa - thanks for the input.
> 
> I had a reply and it seems that I was charged correctly and that the previous tariff of £2 for a wash is being replaced with the £3.50.
> 
> ...


I have not had time to look to sort the Candy for you Russel. Where are you based these days?

The model has changed since we last discussed it and it is now a Candy Aqua 100f. I don't think this one has variable temperature so you would be better off trying to source the previous model, aqua 1000t from memory. This one has it.

I can give you some advice but may not have the time to install it for you.

TM


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Rapide561 said:


> Hi
> 
> What do you think is a fair price to do a good sized load on washing (one load in a machine) and then dry the same? I am referring hopefully to the sites that use the larger capacity industrial sized machines rather than the domestic Hoover etc.
> 
> ...


Hi Russell

We have just been away, for the first week we were on a CCC site and my Son and Daughter in Law and two kids were with us, on their last day and before we moved on to another site and they had to come home, my DIL said she was going to go over and pop a wash on (she had done the same last Autumn at a CC site) anyway I gave her some wash liquid and off she went. five minutes later she was back and exclaimed that 'she wasn't paying those prices' and 'Would wait until she got home' I can't say exactly what the price was but I think she mentioned £3 something.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Laundry*

Hi Nette

That is sort of good to hear - if they outprice it, no one will use it.

I am however getting a domestic machine fitted in the rear locker. This should be done in the next week or two. Imagine that on a rally - laundry - £1 a go!

Russell


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Re: Laundry*



Rapide561 said:


> Hi Nette
> 
> That is sort of good to hear - if they outprice it, no one will use it.
> 
> ...


Do not forget to add the WAT!

TM


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Washer*

Trevor

I could not find the Candy model but found a Zanussi that should fit inside the motorhome, under the sink. 3kg capacity. I am looking at one tomorrow.

Failing that, I am going to get a Hoovermatic Twintub and put that in the boot - no plumbing required!

The Dutch will love this when I am in Italy soon. £1 per wash!

Russell


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Re: Washer*



Rapide561 said:


> Trevor
> 
> I could not find the Candy model but found a Zanussi that should fit inside the motorhome, under the sink. 3kg capacity. I am looking at one tomorrow.
> 
> ...


WAT = With a Tip!

The Zanussi is just as good an appliance, maybe easier to obtain spares for throughout Europe.

There are only three of that size and the third is Rubbish, it is often Branded as Haier or Baylay. Steer Clear.

If you get stuck with the insyallation, send me a PM.

TM


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

*Re: Laundry*



Rapide561 said:


> Hi Nette
> 
> That is sort of good to hear - if they outprice it, no one will use it.
> 
> ...


Will that be called a laundering money rally :wink: I think you will know the site we were on, the one with the lovely loos :wink:


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

The good thing about the twin tub is there is no plumbing needed - just rubber matting underneath! I grew up with a twin tub and can remember the proceedure!

Russell

Thanks for the offer with assistance etc.


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## charlieivan (Apr 25, 2006)

Always wary of using campsite driers, having worked on campsites and seen the abuse some of these machines get. There have been cases when soiled bedding has been dried without being washed, wet shoes from walkers put in driers. Caught a group of youths gathered in the laundry area sitting with their feet in the driers and even climbing in and out of the top-loading washers. All this in spite of notices asking that only garments that have been washed are put into the driers. One lady used to wash her large dogs bedding in the washers and then tell people she would never wash her clothes in it. You never know what was in there before you use them!!!!


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