At last, there is no more need to navigate through the process of funneling money into URos accounts for laundry, or to worry later about how much is left.
Laundry services at UR have finally been revamped.
We welcome ResLife’s bold steps to improve the efficiency and accessibility of our washing and drying needs. With this new system, which factors laundry fees into residential costs and installs new machines in almost every dorm on campus, doing laundry has been streamlined, and we believe its student-geared benefits outweigh its costs. For the majority of UR students, this new laundry system adds a layer of convenience to an otherwise cumbersome activity.
The new washing machines are more efficient, as they use only around half the water their predecessors required. The dryers, too, have been revamped; new options and features make the laundry experience more efficient.
Paying for laundry at the beginning of the year eliminates the chore of having to keep pumping URos into an account that is, for many, otherwise untouched. While “free” laundry is an illusion—laundry fees are included in room-and-board costs—the relative ease of paying up-front is almost certainly an improvement.
We acknowledge that this one- size-fits-all approach to laundry billing will be inappropriate for some students. All things considered, however, this new system allows some students to do laundry more frequently and easily than they otherwise would have.
Students still swipe their IDs to activate machines (except for in Riverview, where unreplaced machines must be turned on by simply pushing in the coin slots). While students aren’t directly charged for each specific load, a token amount is deducted from an account unaffiliated with the swiper’s URos account. Each transaction is associated with its user, and exorbitant card use can be tracked.
We appreciate ResLife’s efforts to add checks and balances to this seemingly free-range policy; only on-campus residents can dip into this prepaid advantage, and it’s been emphasized by ResLife staff that efforts will be made to curb any abuse. Furthermore, this new system will benefit more students than it hurts, even if just by sparing them the hassle of reloading URos every few weeks.
With its new laundry system, ResLife has ironed the way for improvement to come.
We encourage them to keep students updated about any changes to pricing or the overall system after observing laundry traffic and trends.
