Laundry By-the-Pound vs. By-the-Bag: Weigh Your Options
Hate doing laundry and wishing you could skip laundry day altogether? If you researched laundry delivery service in Austin, TX, you’d probably find there are two common ways for pricing this service: Laundry By-the-Pound and Laundry By-the-Bag.
But which one is right for you? Which one is predictable, affordable, trustworthy, all-inclusive and fair? Let’s break it down and spill the tea to take a better look at both laundry service options in-depth so you are better informed.
Spoiler alert: Laundry By-the-Bag is disproportionately higher-priced, often even 3 times more expensive than laundry by the pound, and can average over $4.00 per pound!
By-the-Bag Laundry Service
This is a relatively new way of pricing wash-dry-fold laundry delivery service. At first glance, it sounds great to just stuff your laundry bag and know there is a set, “predictable price.” What could be better for your bulk laundry service needs? However, a deeper dive into the numbers will quickly show that By-the-Bag laundry service is not all it’s cracked up to be.
To start, many laundry delivery companies offering By-the-Bag laundry service begin with a standard bag measuring 22”x28”. This is roughly the size of a tall, disposable, 13-gallon kitchen bag and a somewhat small bag for bulky items such as laundry.
A per-bag laundry delivery service in Austin may claim their standard laundry bag holds 30 pounds or 3-plus loads of laundry, but does it really? In fact, it routinely doesn’t, even when stuffed! Additionally, you may have read: “Stuff your bags full; it doesn’t change the price!” So why mention pounds at all when it has no bearing on price?
Reason: By not charging for laundry per pound, a By-the-Bag laundry service can claim their “stuffed bag” holds whatever number of pounds they think you will believe, in this case 30 pounds. This deceptive practice leaves you speculating, “How much does my laundry actually weigh?”
How Much Does Laundry Weigh?
Many first-time customers have never considered the weight of their bulk laundry but weight is an important factor when choosing the best laundry service to meet your wash and fold laundry needs thus leading to the obvious question:
What does 10 Pounds of Laundry Actually Look Like?
To start, a regular home laundry basket will hold approximately 10 pounds of dirty laundry as illustrated in the adjacent photo. We zeroed the scale with an empty laundry basket and then added 10 pounds of laundry.
Individual customers in Austin who do laundry once a week can average between 15-20 pounds of laundry while a family of four can average between 30-40 pounds of laundry a week, depending on how often their linens and towels are changed.
Even so, none of these answer the burning sixty-four-thousand-dollar question you really want to know: “How many pounds will fit into that 22” x 28”standard laundry bag?”
To help visually assess the capacity of your laundry bag, we took the exact 10 pounds of laundry on the scale above and put it in a By-the-Bag laundry service provider’s standard bag.
Think there is enough room left in that already-stuffed bag to put an additional 20 pounds of laundry to match the By-the-Bag capacity claims of up to 30 pounds? Let’s get out our pixie dust and wish upon a star as it looks like you may need up to 2 additional laundry bags!
But don’t take our word for it! To see for yourself at home, grab a 13-gallon, tall disposable bag. This bag is actually slightly larger than their small standard laundry bag. Same height but measuring 2 inches wider as illustrated. Now stuff it full of your dirty laundry. Remember, you must be able to close the top! Place this on your bathroom scale. Astonished by the weight? Your "stuffed" laundry bag probably weighs in the neighborhood of 15 Lbs. (+/-), half what the By-the-Bag companies claim!
A By-the-Bag laundry company will typically also process laundry By-the-Pound, thus having a scale on hand to clearly show you the weight of your “By-the-Bag” bulk laundry. You have the right to know – Just ask.
By-the-Bag Laundry Service Prices
Typical By-the-Bag laundry service companies start their pricing at $50.00 for their smallest and least expensive “standard bag” (a bag we have established doesn’t hold much laundry), then add a disproportionately high mandatory “service fee” for delivery, totaling $56.00, just to start! This does not include the cost of additional items most customers want and need such as bleach, that then boost the cost even higher. That “small,” standard laundry bag can ultimately cost you over $60!
A major pricing flaw with laundry By-the-Bag concerns the true maximum weight of laundry you can fit into that “standard bag.” The By-the-Bag companies claim that magical, theoretical number to be 30 pounds, even though we have established, “This does not compute.” However, using their “fuzzy math" of 30 pounds, a 31-pound laundry order, for example, would require a second bag for that 31st pound which would alone add an additional $50 to the total price. Hope that extra pound was worth it!
Only Pay For What You Need
If you have 2 ½ bags of laundry, you shouldn’t be charged for 3. If a By-the-Bag laundry service where truly fair, they would not charge you the full bag price for half a bag of laundry!
By-the-Bag’s pricing per pound varies across a wide range of typical laundry orders from 10 – 40 pounds, but still averages an exorbitant $4.41 per pound! The only “flat-rate” constant with By-the-Bag is the one item you don’t even wear, the laundry bag! How does that compare to SpinZone Laundry’s true, flat-rate $1.65 per pound recurring laundry service? Can you say, “Sticker Shock?” or (insert your superlative here). It’s no wonder By-the-Bag laundries are not upfront about the weight of your laundry!
When you compare SpinZone Laundry’s fair, comprehensive and transparent By-the-Pound laundry delivery service to the loopy laundry world of By-the-Bag laundry service, there is no comparison…Not even close! In fact, “The margin would make your jaw drop!”
Side-by-Side Cost Comparison: Laundry By-the-Bag vs By-the-Pound
You may be wondering about delivery, hangers, bleach, softener…Where did these items come from? Something called “surprise extra fees.” Oh yeah, extra fees! Didn’t they tell you? Surprise!
Extra Fees with By-the-Bag Laundry Service
Now, with a clearer idea about the weight and cost of your laundry bags, you get thrown a curve ball with more “predictable charges” but, hey, isn’t upfront “predetermined pricing” why you selected a By-the-Bag laundry service in the first place?
- Pickup and delivery fee? - $6.00 Extra
- Clothes on hangers? - $3.00 Extra
- Whites bleached? - $1.00 Extra
- Softener added to clothes? - $0.50 Extra
- Both soap and water? – LOL JK
These senseless nickel-and-diming additional fees on top of their other “predetermined prices” can often cost you over $10 per bag or 20% more! But it’s all predictable, right?
By-the-Pound Laundry Cost
The uncertainty about laundry weight creates concern for many first-time laundry customers, and sadly, an opportunity for the “By-the-Bag” laundry companies to misinform them. However, SpinZone Laundry knows that lifelong customers are created once our By-the-Pound weighing process is understood and implemented. As you use one of our free laundry bags regularly, you come to know how much laundry will fit into your bag and discover it is easily more affordable than the laundry By-the-Bag alternative.
SpinZone Laundry only uses NTEP-approved legal-for-trade, certified scales for accurate laundry weight, the type used by other leading organizations such as FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL and many others.
The best part is: If your laundry bag isn’t full, you don’t pay the weight of a full bag! What can be fairer?
Don’t worry if your towels are wet or your jeans are slightly damp. In fact, most laundry weighs more naturally before cleaning. SpinZone Laundry charges you by the dry weight of your clothes after processing and thus weighs the least, so you are charged the least. What could be fairer?
Bulk Laundry By-the-Pound Delivery Service Fees
Our pricing remains constant for laundry delivery service 7 days a week, starting at $1.65 per pound for recurring service and $1.75 per pound on an as-needed basis. Thus, you can be assured of predictable pricing whenever you schedule your laundry delivery service – Fair enough?
Some potential customers may have lingering questions about the cost of By-the-Pound laundry delivery service for their particular situation and want to know up front: Exactly how much is it going to cost to do my bulk laundry By-the-Pound?”
We’ve established that a “standard bag” used by the By-the-Bag laundry companies and a larger 13-gallon, tall kitchen trash bag both hold approximately the same amount of laundry: 15 pounds (+/-). This amount of laundry would cost roughly $29* per bag with FREE delivery using SpinZone Laundry’s By-the-Pound laundry delivery service, dare we say…predictable!
Do You Require Laundry Contracts?
In an industry marked by laundry contracts full of extra fees, here is the fine small print – SpinZone Laundry DOES NOT REQUIRE CONTRACTS, PERIOD! Never have, never will. We believe in earning your business with each and every order – Fair enough?
What is included with By-the-Pound Laundry Service?
Finally, to review, what is included with SpinZone Laundry’s By-the-Pound laundry delivery service in the Austin area?
The simple answer is…EVERYTHING! SpinZone Laundry’s fair, comprehensive approach to laundry delivery service in Austin has free pickup and delivery straight to your doorstep or business. But wait, it gets better. Want your clothes on hangers? No problem. Bleach and/or softener? You got it. Soap and special request are all included in the price as well! And unlike other delivery services that nickel-and-dime you or advertise free delivery but then say “other fees may still apply,” “Free Delivery” with SpinZone Laundry really means, FREE! How refreshing!
Stuff Your Laundry Bag Challenge
We triple-dog-dare you (it’s the highest form of dare, so you’re required to do it!) to stuff your laundry provider’s By-the-Bag standard bag (22” x 28”) with as much dirty laundry as you can, provided the bag will still close. Don’t have one of their bags? Feel free to use the equivalent in a tall, 13-gallon disposable kitchen bag.
We are so confident that you will not be able to "stuff" 30 pounds of laundry into their bag we will wash-dry-fold your bulk laundry for FREE if you can!*
- Bag must be able to fully close and have no rips or holes for laundry to escape
- Weighted blankets or other weighted items are excluded
- Wet laundry will be weighed when dry (As we always do)
- Please identify and label the outside of your bag clearly with “Bag Dare”
Just for trying, we will give you $20 off your next order by using Promo Code BAGDARE – Fair enough?
Conclusion
While By-the-Bag laundry service providers unquestionably offer “predictable pricing,” it comes at a heavy price and sticker shock when compared to By-the-Pound laundry service from SpinZone Laundry. This is made all the worse by added nickel-and-dime charges that, while predictable, must be figured into the bag’s overall laundering cost.
In addition to being significantly overpriced (even with a “stuffed bag”), By-the-Bag companies’ only option is to overcharge you per bag and cannot (or will not) charge you for a partial bag of laundry. With per-bag laundry companies, no matter how they “spin” it, it’s an “all-or-nothing” approach. Is this “take-it-or-leave-it” high-priced attitude what you really want in a laundry partner?
Predictable Pricing – Yes, predictably higher using a By-the-Bag laundry service provider!
Affordable – No, when compared to SpinZone Laundry’s By-the-Pound professional laundry service.
Even if you could stuff your laundry bag with the arbitrary weight they claim, the price would still be considerably higher compared to By-the-Pound laundry service, easily exceeding triple the cost at times and averaging well over $4 per pound! Avoid the By-the-Bag laundry pitfalls. Going with a By-the-Pound, flat-rate laundry service provider like SpinZone Laundry is always your best bet.
Note: Don’t forget to ask for the weight of your laundry if you are currently using a By-the-Bag laundry service provider. This is a fair question that needs answering as you have the right to know.
As an added bonus, SpinZone Laundry is proud to be the only laundry in Austin offering the power of Ozone with an Ozone Laundry System. Ozone is a revolutionary green technology that is Eco-friendly. Ozone sanitizes, deodorizes, brightens, whitens and softens your laundry…naturally. We know you will love it so ask us about it!
SpinZone Laundry continues to have a loyal, growing customer base because of our fair, transparent, predictable, flat-rate, By-the-Pound approach to laundry delivery service where all of the extras are included in one fair price. We’ll leave the fuzzy math to others.
We love Austin, call Austin home and in good conscience, cannot drastically overcharge our fellow citizens who share our communities with us. We work hard every day, just like our customers, and are proud to have serviced the greater Austin area for 18 years and counting!
We would love your support, as well as your recurring business, and are happy to earn it, again and again, with every new order for both residential and commercial laundry customers!
Fair, affordable, comprehensive and predictable pricing for your wash and fold laundry delivery service in Austin, TX from SpinZone Laundry, the #1 Trusted Leader in Laundry and 6-Time Winner: “Best of Austin” – Thank you!
“It’s all in the Bag”