Review and choose your setup
Understand the business model, locker types, software options. Decide your locker quantity, service level, and first-year goals.
For new entrepreneurs entering the laundry industry
Start a laundry locker business. Under $7,000. No staff.
A practical guide for founders who want to launch a recession-resistant, automated business quickly. No laundromat to buy. No lease to sign. No employees to manage. Hardware, software, sales materials, and the operating playbook included.
Already have a location that said yes? The button on the right opens the locker order form. Prefer to talk first? Book a 15 minute call.
Founders typically start with10lockers, about $5.5 to 6kShipping included. 2 locations. $4 to 10k/mo target.
Ships globally🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇩🇪 🇦🇪 🇸🇬 🇯🇵plus 11 more countries
The Founder's Guide, 21 pages, about 12 minute read
Want to read first? Download the Founder's Guide.
The full playbook for new founders: eight steps from order to revenue, finding a cleaning partner, picking your first three locations, ROI scenarios, and the sales support packs that ship with every order. Read it in 12 minutes.
Download the guidePDF, 1.9 MB
The boring, recession-proof business nobody talks about.
The US laundromat industry grew during COVID. It held through the 2008 crisis. It operated through the Great Depression.
The barrier was always entry cost: buying a laundromat means $300 to 500K and a 5 to 10 year lease. The locker-first model removes that. You partner with an existing laundromat, place the lockers in apartments and offices, and earn revenue from every completed pickup.
No store. No lease. No staff. Operates 24/7. Manageable in 2 to 4 hours per week once running.
Industry fundamentals
$7.2B / yearUS market size, 2026
Industry grewCOVID outcome
Counter-cyclicalRecession correlation
$300K+ vs $7KLaundromat purchase vs locker start
Locker business vs buying a laundromat
Same industry. Very different entry profile.
| Buy a laundromat | Locker-first business | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry cost | $300K to $500K+ | $6,500 to $7,000 |
| Lease commitment | 5 to 10 years | None |
| Staff required | 3 to 8 people | Zero |
| Weekly management | 40+ hours | 2 to 4 hours |
| Geographic reach | One location | Multi-location network |
| Resale value | High (asset + cash flow) | Moderate (cash flow + relocatable hardware) |
Laundromat purchase costs are the typical asking range on US business-for-sale listings in 2026 and vary widely by market. Locker figures are Laundry Wise list prices with US freight included.
What a start looks like
The three setups most founders begin with, priced as they are on the quote page today.
| Scenario | Starter | Builder | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockers | 10 | 25 | 50 |
| Locations | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Investment (incl. freight) | $5,500 to $6,000 | $10,000 to $11,250 | About $15,000 |
| Setup | $937 one-time | $937 one-time | $937 one-time |
| Monthly software fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Investment figures are current list prices with US freight included; your Letter of Engagement confirms them for your address. Revenue depends on location, service mix and pricing, and the methodology page shows the ranges we model and every assumption behind them. Nothing on this page is a guarantee of results.
Our service, eight steps
Complete the order form
Tell us your locker choices, software needs, and support requirements. We use this to prepare your Letter of Engagement.
Sign your Letter of Engagement
Confirmed pricing, services, shipping, and rollout plan. 50% deposit kicks off production.
Sales, marketing and software setup
We build your website, decals, pitch deck, proposal letter, legal agreement, and lead list. Software setup and training included.
Secure a cleaning partner
Use our pitch deck and templates to contract a partner laundromat or plant. Most founders outsource cleaning entirely.
Win your first building locations
Use the Sales Pack to contact apartments, offices, gyms. Send proposals, book meetings, secure approvals.
Install and launch
Lockers arrive branded and ready to bolt together. Indoor preferred; outdoor possible under cover. Live as soon as cleaning is connected.
Grow and scale your network
Use your Sales Pack and marketing assets to add locations as approvals come in and to lift usage at the ones you have.
The locker model has scaled, and exited.
Proof from industry leaders.
Pressbox, Chicago
Pioneered the locker-drop laundry and dry-cleaning model in 2013. Scaled to 100,000+ customers, then acquired by P&G in 2018 for integration into Tide Cleaners.
Breezy, Melbourne
Launched 2012. Became the largest locker-based laundry network in the Southern Hemisphere, 150+ banks across apartments, offices, and universities. Now Laundry Wise.
Laundry Locker, San Francisco
Built a 24/7 kiosk and locker network from 2005 onwards across the Bay Area. Hit 350+ locations and was acquired by Mulberrys in 2018.
"Expanding our dry cleaning and pickup service was a big goal, especially in reaching people in apartments and offices. Laundry lockers seemed like the best way to do that, and the team delivered exactly what we needed. The lockers are durable, easy to manage, and they've helped us offer 24/7 service without hiring more staff."
Common questions from founders
Do I need laundry industry experience to start?
No. The locker operator manages hardware and software. Cleaning is handled by a partner laundromat under a revenue-share agreement. We provide the templates and playbook for finding and contracting a cleaning partner.
Do I need to sign a commercial lease?
No. Lockers are placed inside partner laundromats, apartment buildings, offices, gyms, and universities, under access agreements, not leases. This is the key cost advantage of the locker-first model.
How quickly can I start?
Most orders ship within 2 to 4 weeks of the Letter of Engagement being signed. Revenue starts when your first location is live and its first customer orders, which depends on how quickly you sign a building; the sales pack exists to shorten that.
What's included in the Letter of Engagement?
Exact locker and shipping pricing for your address, software recommendation, breakdown of selected sales and marketing services, timelines for installation, and a personalised rollout plan.
Is geographic exclusivity available?
Yes. We include 12 months of geographic exclusivity with every purchase, protecting operators from competing Laundry Wise deployments in their territory.
Can I scale to multiple locations?
Yes, and most operators do. Lockers are modular and bolt together, so you can start with 5 to 10 lockers in 1 to 2 buildings and add new locations as you secure approvals. The unit economics improve as you scale.
Inside your Letter of Engagement
After you submit, our team builds your custom startup package and sends it within 2 business days. Here's what's in it.
Personalised startup quote
Hardware mix sized to your launch budget, freight to your address, and software setup for your locations. Total project cost on a single line.
Local market analysis
A quick scan of laundromat partners and target buildings in your area. Where to start, who to talk to first, what to charge.
The 30-60-90 day operating plan
Specific actions for week 1 (set up POS, contact partner laundromats), week 4 (first locker live), week 12 (3 to 5 locations active).
Geographic exclusivity reservation
12 months of exclusivity in your launch market, included with every purchase. Reserved when your LOE is signed.
Form takes about 10 minutes. Reviewed by an operator who's launched their own locker network. No commitment.
How founders start
Most operators do it in this order. Each step is optional on its own, and nothing locks you in.
Get started, $1,399 $937
Laundry Wise software set up in your brand, the twenty sales and marketing assets, your business website and an onboarding call. This is what you pitch buildings with.
What is includedGo and win locations
Apartment buildings, offices, gyms, gas stations, universities. The pitch deck, landing page and proposal letter are written for that meeting; the playbooks tell you who says yes and why.
Where lockers goOrder lockers on a Letter of Engagement
When a location says yes, order the bank for it. The LOE confirms locker mix, exact freight to the address and the timeline, with a 50% deposit. Lockers ship in about 60 to 90 days.
Locker pricing and the order formYou do not need a location to get started; you need the setup to win one. Founders who pitch with branded software, a website and a deck sign buildings that founders with an idea do not.
Ready to start?
Step one is the $937 setup: your brand on the software, the website and every sales asset, plus the onboarding call. Go and win your first building with it. When a location says yes, order the lockers for it and the Letter of Engagement comes back within 2 business days with exact freight and your launch timeline.
Order your founder kit. 10 lockers, 2 locations, under $7,000.
The full launch package: 10 lockers (about $5.5 to 6k including shipping), software access, branded sales materials for landing locations, and the operator playbook. Submit your order and we'll confirm exact freight, software path, and your launch timeline in the LOE within 2 business days.
Why we build lockers, in the founder's own words
An open letter from Daniel Ezekiel Paul on how the company got here, what has been rebuilt, and the operator playbooks every customer now gets, including two free downloadable PDFs.