Laundromats Editing and Proofreading Services

Somebody puts a duvet in a twelve-kilo washer, adds a scoop of powder meant for a domestic machine, and sets it to the hottest programme. The duvet comes out soaked and clumped, the machine is out of balance, and they are standing in front of a sign that says the management accepts no responsibility for damage to items. They have also lost two hours and £14.

We edit what launderettes and self-service laundries produce — machine operating instructions and their placement, load size and programme guidance, detergent and additive information, price and payment instructions, liability and lost property notices, service wash and collection terms, item record and claim procedures, opening, security and lone-customer information, commercial and trade account terms, and website and window information about what a visit involves. Our editors work on the instruction beside the machine.

The machine instruction is the only staff member most launderettes have on duty, and its failure is a laminated card describing the controls. A customer standing with a duvet and a bag of coins does not need to know what the buttons are called; they need to know which machine, which programme, how much powder and how long. We write these so the instruction begins with what to put in which machine, by item rather than by weight — since nobody knows what nine kilos of washing looks like and everybody knows what a double duvet is; so the programme is named for the load rather than described, with the actual duration and the actual cost, because a customer who does not know a programme takes ninety minutes will leave and come back to a stopped machine; so the detergent quantity is stated for these machines, given that a domestic scoop in a commercial drum is the commonest cause of a poor wash and of a complaint about the machine; so the things that must not go in are listed with the reason, covering the items that damage the machine and the items the machine damages; so the dryer is treated as a separate set of instructions with the load size halved, as overloaded dryers are why customers think the dryers are broken; so what to do when a machine stops mid-cycle is stated with a number that somebody answers; and so the liability position is stated as what the business will actually do rather than as a denial. Instructions written this way produce fewer complaints and more repeat visits.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including terms, pricing and customer correspondence. We are editors rather than laundry or equipment specialists, and we offer no view on machines, programmes or liability. What we can do is write the instruction the absent staff member would have given.