What college student hasn't endured the frustration of lugging a load of dirty clothes to the laundry room, only to find all the machines are taken? The scrounging for quarters, the fruitless trips every 10 minutes to see if their clothes are done? At Carnegie Mellon University, it's all about to become a thing of the past.
Now through May 15, Carnegie Mellon is piloting eSuds, a Web-based laundry system, in three residence halls, and if all goes well, the system will be installed campus-wide come August, just in time for the 2004-05 school year. eSuds, which was developed by USA Technologies, allows students to use the Internet to check whether any machines in a specific laundry room are available, and how much time is remaining on each machine's load. Students can sign-up for an email notification that tells them when their laundry is finished. And no more quarters-students will be able to activate the machines with a simple swipe of their student IDs. "The whole idea is to create convenience for our students," said Tim Michael, director of housing services for Carnegie Mellon.
The system is part of an overhaul of campus laundry services that began last year when the university selected Caldwell & Gregory Inc. to be its laundry service provider. As part of its contract, Caldwell & Gregory agreed to install a Web-based laundry system, and partnered with USA Technologies to bring eSuds to campus.
"Feedback from early tests indicate Carnegie Mellon students overwhelmingly welcome the convenience and simplicity of the online laundry service, and especially its efficiency," said John Gregory, President of Caldwell & Gregory. "The enthusiasm from students assures us that eSuds will be popular with students on campuses across the United States, and already we are in negotiations to allow CGI to quickly expand the program to more campuses in the mid-Atlantic area," he said "We are excited to have the opportunity to work with Carnegie Mellon," said Erika Bender, VP and Channel Manager for USA Technologies. "Carnegie Mellon and Caldwell Gregory recognize and appreciate the convenience eSuds brings to the students' everyday lives."
As part of the laundry overhaul, all campus laundry rooms have new Maytag energy-efficient washers and dryers. Each washer uses significantly less water per cycle than the university's previous machines, for a savings of about 1.5 millions of water each year. Thanks to a modest increase in room rates for students, all students, starting in the fall, will have free, unlimited laundry. During the pilot, about 700 students will be able to use eSuds, which is being tested in laundry rooms in Resnik, West Wing and parts of Morewood Gardens residences.
"The system's great -- very convenient, time-efficient, and easy to use. The best thing? No more hassle with getting quarters," said Stephanie Lo, a sophomore who was the first student to use eSuds.
Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in computer science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions to solve real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.
USA Technologies is a leader in the networking of distributed assets, wireless non-cash and m-commerce transactions, associated financial/network services and interactive media technology and energy management.
Caldwell & Gregory is a leading provider of University student laundry solutions, serving over 130 schools in 11 states.