Business idea of the week: Laundry Lockers for students

Our business idea this week focuses on students living in res or apartment dwellers everywhere. We all know what a pain it is or use to be when you have no clean clothes and just to much to do to spend an afternoon at the laundromat.


Laundry Locker offers on-site convenience and 24-hour service through a fleet of lockers located in apartment buildings throughout the city.

Customers begin by creating an account on line, then they place their dirty clothes in any available locker and pocket the key. (In addition to servicing lockers in 355 apartment buildings, Laundry Locker also operates several kiosks throughout the city, and home delivery is available as well.) Laundry Locker personnel check all locations each day and send an email confirming and requesting payment for each order received. Dry cleaning is cleaned and packaged, including minor repairs at no extra charge, for prices beginning at R20.25 per shirt. Regular washing, meanwhile, is separated into white and colored loads and washed separately from that of other customers, then neatly folded for pick-up. Wash-and-fold pricing begins at R10.35 per pound, and users can specify on line exactly how they want their laundry done. Clean garments are then returned to the same locker by 5 p.m. the following day, Monday through Saturday, with notification to the customer via SMS and email. Users simply unlock the locker they originally used and take out their clean clothes—packaged in a personal laundry bag Laundry Locker provides—leaving the locker available for the next customer.

The great thing about this idea is that once it is set up, your overhead costs are really low and you really only have to focus on marketing

So if you have a bit of capital, and want to start something that will grow quickly and is easily franchisable then who not be the first in South Africa to launch this unique idea?


Upside: Minimum start-up cost once the laundry is set up and you have provided your potential clients with secure lockers.

Downside: Its fairly easy to start-up and once you make a success out of it you can be assured that competitors will follow. Secure locker facilities is key to this idea especially considering the crime in SA.



Verdict: A great idea for entrepreneurs with a bit
of cash and the drive to make it work. Initial set-up costs may be relatively
low but a solid marketing plan and budget to support it is a must. My
research has shown nothing similar in South Africa yet, so the early
bird is likely to grab market share.

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