Eagle Landing residents grapple with malfunctioning laundry machines
2 min read
The Blue & Gray Press | Alex Sakes
BY ALEC HARMON
Eagle Landing houses roughly 600 students from the University of Mary Washington and complaints have surfaced concerning the functionality of the washing machines. In addition, students noticed that their EagleOne cards are not being read by the laundry appliances.
Like any residence hall, Eagle Landing allows students to transition from the comforts of their homes to complete independence. However, not having essential appliances hinders that independence.
Doing laundry is clearly is a necessity at college when you only have so many pairs of underwear. The problem, to be clear, is not the availability of washers, as there are two washing rooms on each floor of the complex, but the fact that some washers are not communicating with the card readers.
Further, at $1.75 per load, laundry at UMW is not the cheapest chore. Students sometimes have to pay again in change when the card reader stops working.
The machines are said to work properly when paid for in quarters, though it is not entirely true for every machine. In addition, there is no adequate signage to let residents know which machines are malfunctioning. Cards can be and have been refunded but the problem has still not been attended to.
Hannah Kolkmeyer, a sophomore Eagle Landing resident explained some of her frustration after using the washers.
“There were no signs on which washing machines worked and I ended up spending over five dollars before I found one that accepted my card,” Kolkmeyer said.
Another resident, Zach Wohleking said, “It’s really inconvenient and annoying for a lot of students because we don’t keep a lot of change on us, I haven’t had change in my wallet for years now.”
Even though there are machines that allow students to exchange bills into coins, cash has become a thing of the past as most students carry cards.
“The first time I used the machine, I put my card in and nothing happened, it just took my money,” said sophomore resident of Eagle Landing Kathryn Peterson.
Peterson was only able to get her money refunded when her mom contacted the university and now she makes sure to only use quarters.
While the university treats laundry malfunction as a minor issue, students have to constantly get their money refunded. Unless students have debit cards where they can withdraw money from an ATM, finding cash is not the easiest task to accomplish.
Though Eagle Landing staff claims that a solution is well on its way, so far there has been no progress and students are left scrapping their pockets for quarters.
