self-service laundryor some might call it a self-service laundry, locals in Malaysia refer to it as “dobi layan diriIt’s an upcoming trend in the country with more and more people visiting local laundromats to have their clothes washed. It’s quite apparent that people are shifting their preference towards this line of service for various reasons.
Self-service laundry is a laundry service that typically operates in a retail store within residential areas. These retail businesses typically operate with token currencies as currency and standard industrial machines as key operating vehicles.
Space, time and comfort have become an increasingly important resource in urban areas such as Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The problem of space arises for people who live in council flats, condominiums and apartments where space is limited. Most of the time, the residents of the apartments only have the balcony to dry their weekly clothes, while the higher level areas do not allow the residents to hang or dry their clothes, restricting them to going indoors.
With the urban population gradually becoming more ambitious and educated, the workforce is increasing in size, making time an important resource for employees. The trend seen in Malaysia is largely due to the fact that the working class prefers clothes to be washed and dried within 1 hour, skipping the process of hanging, cutting, pinning, etc. Typically, the standard home washing machine requires 45 minutes of washing time and about 4 hours of sunlight for proper drying.
The cost of living is an issue for recent graduates and college students. In addition to the working class in Malaysia, college and university students alike are seen to have a biased preference towards self-service laundry. Self-service laundry providers employ industry standard washers and dryers that are significantly more cost effective compared to standard home washers, providing a more cost effective alternative for the lower income group with high quality laundry cleaning services.
Although coin-operated laundry services have existed in Western countries such as the US and the UK, it is still a relatively new development for the Malaysian population. In a span of 3 years, Malaysia has seen a large number of self-service laundry services emerge with a particular focus on the Klang Valley region with an estimated 400 outlets currently operating within the region.
