Students living on campus will be able to monitor laundry rooms from their computers in two weeks, a Northwestern housing official said Saturday.
When the system is fully implemented, students will be able to view available machines and the amount of time remaining on occupied machines using Mac-Gray’s LaundryView Monitoring System, said Joe Simonetti, associate director for housing operations.
According to Mac-Gray’s website, students can use the technology to view the laundry room on their computer, find information on machines and receive e-mail and text notifications when a machine is free or their laundry is done.
The system can also display the past two weeks of activity to help students avoid peak usage times, according to the website.
“That’s pretty awesome,” said Alice Jeon, a Weinberg freshman, when she heard about the new system. “I live on the fifth floor of (1835) Hinman, so coming down with a huge load of laundry and seeing that it’s full is probably the worst experience ever.”
The new system uses CBORD electronic machines, which consist of the same technology used in University dining halls. Because of this, students must now use either Munch Money or quarters to pay for laundry, Simonetti said.
“It’s going live probably the week after next,” he said. “We’re still going to work out some of the bugs and the boxes while still keeping the machines running free.”
Another 1835 Hinman resident, Alexandra Zaretsky, said she questioned the switch to Munch Money.
“I don’t like (that) part,” the Weinberg freshman said. “I don’t understand how Munch Money works.”
Because of issues with the switch, students have received free laundry since April 13, according to an e-mail to residents from Ryan Reinhart, assistant director for Residential Life. Free laundry will continue until the updates are finished, Simonetti said.
The switch to the new system took longer than expected and was initially supposed to be completed in January, he said.
“As time went on, we thought over Spring Break we’d be able to get the word out and say, ‘You have to use your Munch Money,'” Simonetti said.
Instead, students were not immediately informed when some laundry rooms began accepting only Munch Money instead of Cash-to-Card money as payment, and the system is not yet ready, he said.
As part of the improvements, new washers will likely be installed in the laundry rooms over the summer, Simonetti said.
The initial idea came to Simonetti when a group of students wanted to have dry erase boards installed in the laundry rooms two years ago to create a “pecking order” for the machines, he said. LaundryView seemed like a good solution and a good use of technology, he said.
“Is it kind of overkill? Maybe. I don’t know,” he said. “Back in my day, I had a watch.”
