Students’ schlep to the laundry room became slightly easier last week after Boston University Auxiliary Services introduced an online system that lets students check the status of washing machines and dryers online, though the service still has to iron out a few wrinkles.
Laundry Web informs students when all machines are in use and allows students to sign up for a text message alert notifying them when a machine becomes free. If there are no machines open, students can sign up to receive a text message to alert them when machines become available. They will also receive a text message when their laundry is finished as part of the service.
‘It is a courtesy to others to not have to wait for a machine,’ Auxiliary Services Operations Director Webb Lancaster said. ‘This service prompts people to go down and remove their laundry.’
School of Hospitality Administration freshman Danielle Clark Cole said she was able to get her laundry done quicker because of Laundry Web.’
‘I took extra laundry down there and managed to get a massive load of laundry done,’ she said. ‘Usually, I have to wait for hours.’
Though the system offers added convenience, some students have complained that malfunctioning technology in either the website or the laundry machines themselves render the service practically useless.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Hannah Letbetter said the website did not allow her to access the service the first time she tried to access it.
‘The second time I used it, it was wrong, and I ended up waiting for a machine to free up for two hours,’ she said.
School of Management freshman Ethan Sales said Laundry Web told him there were 10 available machines in the West Campus laundry room.
‘I checked it two minutes before I went to the laundry room,’ he said. ‘By the time I got downstairs, there were none open, and I live on the fourth floor.’
SAR freshman Samantha Mindlin said Laundry Web reported four free machines in the Towers laundry room, but they were all in use.
‘I think they should put money into making the washers and dryers actually work and accept your Terrier Card rather than such programs,’ she said.
Laundry Web is the latest feature on the CBord Program, which BU already uses on the Student Link website to provide other Terrier Card features, like the ability to check online Dining and Convenience Points balances, Lancaster said. The system did not require much funding, he said, because it already used ‘existing wiring.’
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