The Boston Globe reports that there is a new company out there described as "Uber for laundry."
Washio, the story says, is an app that "allows users to signal for their dirty laundry to be picked up, washed or dry cleaned, and brought back home within 24 hours, all nice and folded. Users pay automatically through the app, the rate depending on just what is getting cleaned. It is, truly, a sort of Uber for your dirty clothes."
The story notes that "Boston joins Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago as Washio cities. Judging by its website, the app also appears likely to launch in Seattle and San Diego at some point."
The Globe concedes that "laundry pick-up and delivery services already exist. For this service and for all the others, the thinking seems to be that cabs do, too, and that didn’t stop Uber. And Washio follows the Uber playbook to a T. Its drivers/laundry haulers aren’t employees of the company. Instead, they’re contractors, plucked from the Internet and put on the road to handle strangers’ laundry."
The story concludes: "Disruption is a term that becomes riper for mockery by the day, and that’s in part because efforts to disrupt have become so predictable. But if it’s a familiar script—put it on a smartphone, throw it out to contractors, and you can change an industry—it’s one that performs well at the box office. Washio has raised $14 million so far from a slew of high-profile investors."
I'm not sure I'd actually use this app - I've had the same dry cleaner for a quarter-century, and I think it is important to have a personal relationship with the person responsible for your clothes. But I'm also pretty sure that young folks don;t necessarily share these concerns, and so there's no reason that Washio can't work.
It's an Eye-Opener.
Washio, the story says, is an app that "allows users to signal for their dirty laundry to be picked up, washed or dry cleaned, and brought back home within 24 hours, all nice and folded. Users pay automatically through the app, the rate depending on just what is getting cleaned. It is, truly, a sort of Uber for your dirty clothes."
The story notes that "Boston joins Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago as Washio cities. Judging by its website, the app also appears likely to launch in Seattle and San Diego at some point."
The Globe concedes that "laundry pick-up and delivery services already exist. For this service and for all the others, the thinking seems to be that cabs do, too, and that didn’t stop Uber. And Washio follows the Uber playbook to a T. Its drivers/laundry haulers aren’t employees of the company. Instead, they’re contractors, plucked from the Internet and put on the road to handle strangers’ laundry."
The story concludes: "Disruption is a term that becomes riper for mockery by the day, and that’s in part because efforts to disrupt have become so predictable. But if it’s a familiar script—put it on a smartphone, throw it out to contractors, and you can change an industry—it’s one that performs well at the box office. Washio has raised $14 million so far from a slew of high-profile investors."
I'm not sure I'd actually use this app - I've had the same dry cleaner for a quarter-century, and I think it is important to have a personal relationship with the person responsible for your clothes. But I'm also pretty sure that young folks don;t necessarily share these concerns, and so there's no reason that Washio can't work.
It's an Eye-Opener.
- KC's View:
