High-Tech Laundry Does Everything but Fold.

By Bob Keefe, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 31--Here's one more reason for college students to quit lugging their laundry home on weekends.

Two companies rolled out new technology Friday that lets college students use their cell phone or a debit card tied to their student ID to pay for their laundry.

Even better, students can visit a Web site to find out when Internet-wired washers in their dorm's laundry room are available, and receive a cell phone call or an e-mail when their loads are done.

"Doing laundry is always one of those real nuisances for anybody," said Dean Douglas, a vice president at IBM Corp., which teamed up with USA Technologies Inc. on the new systems. Along with making dorm life easier, Douglas said jokingly, "this is going to help mother-child relations."

Universities in four states -- Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan -- will wire a total of 9,000 machines to the new system, said IBM and USA Technologies. The rollout comes after a test at Boston College this year that Douglas said got rave reviews.

For washer-weary students tired of saving up quarters and waiting for open machines, the technology could create a convenience comparable to CliffsNotes.

"It's kind of annoying because you'll have some people who have stuff sitting down in a washer or dryer for six hours," said Craig Sastic, who shares 10 washers with nearly 200 other students in a dormitory at Cedarville University east of Dayton, Ohio. Cedarville dorms are expected to get the wired washers in the next few months.

"You don't want to be rude and take their stuff out," said Sastic, a junior, "but it sure would be nice if they got a message and they'd know when it was done."

The technology could be as beneficial to laundromat operators as it is to students. By going cashless, vendors can reduce vandalism and quit collecting and counting quarters. And with Web-connected washers, they can better maintain and monitor machines.

The idea of paying for services with cards or even devices such as cell phones that automatically link to Internet accounts is nothing new.

Credit and debit card devices for vending machines were introduced nearly 20 years ago. Companies such as Atlanta-based Marconi Online Systems Inc. have been building Web-enabled vending machines, including Coke machines that let users order and pay using their cell phones, for several years.

Smart card supplier SchlumbergerSema, meanwhile, has outfitted laundromats with its systems for seven years. It has supplied 4 million smart cards at laundromats around the world, including 1 million at 40 different universities, said Vice President Jack Mapes.

The unique thing about the IBM-USA Technologies system, dubbed "e-suds," is that it combines smart card and mobile phone payment systems with the Internet monitoring capability.

"The ability to use the Web provides an extraordinary amount of flexibility," Douglas said. "Suddenly you can use your cell phone, or PC or your laptop" to help do laundry.

Now if only cell phones and computers could fold shirts.

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(c) 2002, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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