Why some people still choose the laundromat over a home machine

A taxi conversation in Las Vegas last weekend turned into a debate about why anyone would choose a laundromat over a washer and dryer at home.

The columnist, who owns a washer and dryer in a suburban tract house, described being grateful never to have to enter a laundromat again. Her friend in the back seat, described as wealthier than Croesus, confessed a fondness for them and could afford to buy a few dozen. The taxi driver said he also liked them.

A friend in another state has a washer and dryer at home but still goes to the laundromat. Her dryer short-circuited years ago and caused a small fire; rather than call an electrician, she stopped using it, though she could afford the repair. She prefers the room full of students, fast-food workers, apartment dwellers and others who cannot afford their own machines. Her preferred laundromat is also a bar, where she can have a margarita while waiting.

The columnist recalled a 1994 episode of the sitcom "Friends" in which Ross takes Rachel to a Manhattan laundromat to teach her to separate whites from colors and to handle New Yorkers who take machines other people have set aside. She also described her own college years, when she disliked laundromats enough to buy new underwear rather than wash the 87 pairs she owned, accumulating 60 pounds of unwashed underwear by the end of her college-going years.

Travel has shifted her habits. She washes her own underwear in a sink while traveling and drops the rest at a local laundry service, which returns clothes clean, folded and bagged for a low price. She stayed in an apartment hotel in Madrid last year with a washer-dryer combo in the kitchen; her friend figured out the washer but neither could operate the dryer, so they hung clothes on the balcony. She brings only enough clothing for five days, knowing she can find a place to wash them. On safari in Kenya, Masai women washed her clothes in the Sand River; the garments came out stiff from being pounded on a rock and dried in the sun, but clean.

She writes that laundromats were part of her college experience, alongside red Solo cups at fraternity parties. Readers can email ending suggestions to mfisher@scng.com.