Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Anna Cororaton New laundry machines in Mayer Hall have real-time status updates available online. Residents can check at any time to see what washing machines and dryers are free, or how much time remains for a particular load. [Click to enlarge]

For the lucky residents of Mayer Hall, laundry troubles may be a thing of the past.

Penn officials and representatives from Mac-Gray Corporation, the company that manages Penn's laundry services, officially opened the newly renovated laundry room in Stouffer House's Mayer Hall last night.

Mac-Gray officials installed 16 new washers and dryers, added seating and counter areas and installed new flooring and lighting units.

The price - $1.25 per cycle per machine - will not change.

Officials also repainted and hooked up the laundry room to a system named LaundryView that allows students to check the status of their clothes and availability of machines electronically after logging on to a Web site.

"LaundryView is relatively new technology," Brian Dougherty, a representative from Mac-Gray corporation, wrote in an e-mail. "It is currently installed on more than 100 other college and university campuses and has been hailed by virtually all students using it as a real time-saver."

Dougherty added that the new machines are more energy efficient, saving 50 percent more water and holding 32 percent more laundry than the older machines because they "are more effective at extracting water in the spin cycle, which reduces dry time and saves energy."

Although officials would not say how much the renovations cost Mac-Gray, Dougherty called the project "substantial."

Other campus laundry rooms could end up getting similar renovations in the future, pending contractual changes, officials say.

Mac-Gray offered to renovate a laundry room to demonstrate the technological features and services they could provide if the University renews their contract with the company in July 2008, Housing and Conference Services spokeswoman Dana Matkevich wrote in an e-mail.

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