“little roommates”! Haha :)
This was in university housing, so it might be a little different, but it was within the past few years. One year we used separate cards like HJ mentioned, and would pay a block amount upfront via debit cards. Then the university switched so we just used our debit cards in the machines and paid per use. I’d assume many laundromats use card payments of some sort now?
At first, our costs were $1/wash and $0.75/dry. In the last year they added a quarter to the cost, but I can’t remember whether it was on the washer or the dryer. (I didn’t have space to hang dry a load of clothes anyway, so it didn’t wind up mattering much for the final cost.) But the final cost was $2/load to wash and dry.
I’m not sure how the university’s price compares to a laundromat—whether they marked it up or down or kept it the same—but that’s the figure I have. The pricing was also stupid, in that it was $1.75/load when we had to purchase blocks of $5, $10, or $20 to load on a card… Couldn’t ever get all the money off the card. And then it was an even $2/load when we could just pay the amount straight-up.
I believe laundromats typically have heavy duty machines and large-load machines. It may not be every machine, but they should have them. [Just noticed Jake’s second post!]