if you split your loads in half, do you let the first half just sit in a dryer until the second half is ready then run them together? or do you use multiple dryers offset by 30 min? if so do you remove the first one promptly or wait until both finish to come back? you are adding at least one trip and possibly paying for a second dryer with this plan.

yes. if I have four loads then it is a complete disaster for someone with 6 loads to do a 3/3 split in a 6 washer system.

leaving one open is almost useless

It just seems more of an allocation issue to me. I have 40 units who all use 6 washers and dryers. If I'm using all 6 at once that seems to be more than I'm due in regards to unwritten apartment laundry room etiquette.

If I go in with 2 loads and 2 machines are open and 4 taken, I have no problem taking the last 2 machines. I feel I am entitled to 2 machines at once. If I go in with 6 loads and all 6 are open, I will do 3 loads first leaving 3 open to reduce the chance of ruining someone else in my shared living arrangement's day. I feel 3 machines is fine, but 6 leaving none open is more than I am entitled to.

I tend to recognize the people's baskets who do laundry the same time as I (Sat and Sun morning). Maybe a third of the time I can recognize whose stuff it is.

In my apartment the splitting loads doesn't seem to be an issue to me. No one sits in the laundry room waiting on their clothes. They put in loads, go do other things, and return when needed. Doing laundry is basically a planned event. I have x hours to do laundry this day, and Ill do this this and this between loads.

you should change that thinking imo. you are just as likely to inconvenience someone later than immediately that way. if someone else does 3 loads while you are doing your second half of 3 loads and then I come in, the machines are all occupied now but they wouldnt have been if you just did all 6 at the start.

Like I said, I wasn't sure if I was right to be mad. I'm leaning toward thinking I shouldn't be. Having said that, I don't think I'd ever use more than 4 myself, just b/c I wouldn't want someone to come do a couple loads and not be able to.

Dale,

But then you're just increasing the chances that someone will be unable to do a load later. And given that we KNOW nobody is waiting right now, but somebody MIGHT be waiting later, it's better to get yours out of the way ASAP.

To add to this, if the next person has 4 loads you have now ensured they will be there for two cycles instead of one, as will you. If you got all of your done in one cycle they could do the same leaving both of you done in half the time.

This reminds me of the zipper merge debate. The fact is using the most machines/lane possible creates the most efficient flow of traffic/laundry. Having empty lane or empty machines because of perceived politeness vs selfishness that may not be helpful at all in reality is hard to let go of, though.

That is a good point but assumes I didn't inconvenience anyone during my 6 loads. During my 6 loads someone could have come in with 3 loads, and had to come back when mine were done. You would be spared inconvenience, but the first person wouldn't.

What is less likely to produce inconvenience, all 6 washers and then dryers taken for about an hour and a half, or 3 washers and dryers taken for 3 hours?

it is least likely to produce inconvenience by using the washer as its available. given that people usually have multiple loads, using and then freeing up all 6 units at the same time when you are done is a big win for the system. leaving a washer or two unused which isn't enough for someone to do all their loads is a waste of capacity

All you can go on is are the machines in use now. Letting them sit empty because someone might come in only guarantees that at some point (now) machines are sitting idle. Pushing your use into a longer time frame increases the chances that you will be inconveniencing someone later.

Get in. Get it done. Get out.

This is 100% situational. If the large majority of users have no more than three loads at a time, the second makes sense. If people are just as likely to have 4 as three, the first makes more sense. It would also depend on how busy the place gets overall. Another variable is the potential for forgotten/sitting load issues goes down the fewer times each user needs to remember their laundry, not to mention less confusion if that needs to be addressed by removing in their absence.

If there were rules for peak time usage (no more than two loads at a time for evenings and weekends) it would make people adjust their behavior accordingly and make the most sense for everyone. Plus at that point you would really find out if that user was rude because there would be zero excuse for breaking the rules and you could be angry with justifiable abandon.

Side,


We'd need to know laundry room usage stats to know the answer to that question. For example, answer will be different depending on when you're starting.

If nobody does laundry for another two hours, but in two hours people with six loads come to do laundry, it would be better for them if you did all six loads now.

If we knew that the total laundry capacity of all the other people was three total loads, then only taking three at a time would be nicer because it would guarantee no waiting for them ever.

Can come up with many scenarios where one or the other option inconveniences others less or more.

However, all we know is that 0 people are waiting now, and any number of people might be waiting later. Given that, it's better to use all six now.

Laundry room usage of the other residents is definitely key. Thinking about it, most other people do 1-2 loads at a time so my 5 loads every 2 weeks is the exception. Thinking about this I would say my optimal play is to do all my loads at the same time, but change my normal start time from 7am(when theres usually 1-2 other people wanting to throw in a load or 2) to 5am, when theres prob a 95% chance no one else will want to do a load between 5 and 6:30am.

This ftw. The main reason people choose less than all 6 machines seems to be bc of the perceived politeness vs selfishness thing, regardless of it usually being less considerate in reality. People just don't want to be perceived as a-holes, even if they and others are wrong about which behavior is more inconveniencing or not.

you are a better man than me if you do laundry at 5 am to not interfere with others

The real nits would try to model this scenario with something like a Poisson distribution (same could also be said for lots of driving/traffic phenomena). Indeed, sometimes your 3-and-3 approach will be the most convenient for the next tenant to arrive, but in the long-run, over many (1000+) samples/instances, all 6 at once is the most "polite" approach.

The benefit to doing laundry first thing is that you can shower/etc while your stuff is in there, so in a sense you get that time for free. I do mine at 5:30am and never run into this issue (2 sets of machines for 13 apts).

Its probably less about being a good person and more about avoiding unwanted human interaction if I am being honest.

Before we got the machines installed in our apartments in my building, I used to try to do laundry Sunday mornings to have the laundry room virtually to myself.

If you literally need to use every machine the place has, better do similar, because I would think you run the risk of inconveniencing yourself otherwise.

And if it's not a posted rule, then OP should print one and post it. Maybe take it down when he's done with his laundry.

laundry room is empty now because of the hurricane, think I'll throw a few loads in

I have made the same conversion. I went from "that's selfish" to "get done and get the hell out of the way entirely, and first come first served."

One of the happiest days of my life was the day I bought my first washer and dryer.