Wesleyan Comes to LaundryView

When we posted the brand new WesPoints app a few weeks ago, commenters were quick to posit other potential apps to make life on campus easier. As one “Weeeeeeewobwobwob” smartly commented: “an app for laundry machine availability, ESPECIALLY for hi/lowrise would be great since its like, 5 washers for maybe 500 people or something and its a painnnn.” Our own Sneakergaze compared it to the ITS toolbar that shows how many computers are free in each lab.

I was skeptical that the laundry machine availability service could soon be implemented at Wesleyan. I was wrong.

I also didn’t know about LaundryView, an “internet application that allows you to monitor the status of washers and dryers in connected laundry rooms through a Web browser.” The stupidly useful site is run by Mac-Gray Corporation, a most prestigious laundry facilities contractor based in Waltham, MA.

Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of the WSA’s Information Technology Committee (and the general magic of the internet), Wesleyan is included in its database. Follow this link, find your laundry room under the “switch laundry rooms” pull-down bar, watch the Sims-style laundry room animation pop up, and breathe. The red ones are taken. The whites are available. Even better, the site indicates how many minutes are remaining on each machine.

Can this put an end to debates over laundry politics for good? It’s always been controversial to put someone’s wet laundry on top of the machine when all the others are taken. Now you don’t need to time your return perfectly—you can just check LaundryView. Game changer, eh?

Here’s the link.

[Thanks to AD ’13 for the tip.]