Check Your Pockets!

Last week we found a Uni-ball Vision Elite pen scraping around in one of the dryers. Unfortunately it was found in a load of clothing had been drying. The clothes and the inside of the dryer were covered with ink from this pen. This is not the first time this has happened.
When you are doing your laundry, please make sure that you check the pockets of your clothing, jeans and shirts for pens, pencils, lipstick, candies, change and any foreign objects that could melt, explode in, jam or abrade the inside of the washing machine, or dryer drum.
Besides ruining your clothes, and the clothes of anyone who uses the machines after you, these foreign objects could damage the machines and lead to costly repairs.
A little extra care goes a long way. Thank you.

Dryer Jam

The jammed coin mechanism on the middle dryer in the laundry room was fixed today. The culprit, a damaged quarter.

We have had issues with jams caused by Canadian (or other non-U.S. coins), but this one was the result of someone not only using a damaged quarter, but jamming it into the mechanism in an effort to get it to work.
It is unlikely that you will be visually checking all of your quarters every time you do laundry, but if in handling them you happen to notice that a quarter is warped, or knicked on the edge, do not put it into the slot, and more importantly, if the coin slider mechanism is proving difficult to push it, don't force it, check your quarters and try another quarter.
This particular jam was caused by someone really forcing it. Luckily this didn't damage the mechanism permanently, but it did render the dryer inoperable for almost two weeks. With only 3 washers and 3 dryers for 39 units, that makes for a lot of inconvenience. Please be more mindful in the future. Thank you.

LAUNDRY ISSUES: Dryer ist kaputt

The Maytag dryer that is closest to the back of the laundry has broken and is beyond repair. A new dryer has been ordered but it is going to take about 3 weeks to get delivery and installation done. This means that we are down to only (2) working dryers for 39 units. It doesn't take a genius to see that this might lead to some potential problems.

I bring this up because yesterday I was doing laundry when a young couple came in and expressed dismay that their load of laundry had been removed from one of the dryers and placed on the sorting table. Apparently it had also been mixed in with someone else's load of laundry. Although I could relate (I don't like it when people remove my clothes from either a washing machine or dryer in my absence) there is little point in getting upset if other tenants remove your clothes, especially if you do a load and then leave it sitting for several hours.
Since I had been down there earlier in the day to empty the machines of quarters, I knew that this particular couple had left their laundry sitting in the dryer for several hours. However, I would also be upset if I found my laundry mixed in with someone else's.
As much as possible you need to be "present" when you do your laundry. Do not leave the building to run errands, or take a trip. You need to be around. If for some unavoidable reason you have to leave and are delayed in getting back to the laundry, do not be surprised if your clothes have been moved. No one likes it when this happens to them, but with so many people in the building and only 3 washers and 2 working dryers, you're going to need to have some patience and consideration for other people. Everyone has to use these machines, and the longer you tie one up, the less chance there is for someone else to use it.

That being said, here is some basic laundry etiquette.
Here is a scale of acceptable to less-acceptable practices.

ACCEPTABLE
If a dryer has completed it's cycle and the clothes are completely dry, and have been sitting for more than half an hour, go ahead and remove them. Please place them as neatly as you can on the sorting table at the back of the laundry. Make sure not to drop them behind the dryers or on the floor. Do not fold them, (that is just creepy). If there are multiple dryers being used, do not assume that the clothes all belong to the same person, and do not mix or pile two loads on top of each other. Make sure you clean the lint filter before you put your clothes in.

LESS ACCEPTABLE
If the dryer has finished it's cycle and the laundry is still damp, allow some extra time for the person to
come and restart the cycle. If you wait an hour or more and they still haven't come, then remove them and place on the sorting table.

REALLY DISCOURAGED
Removing wet clothes from the washing machines is really not OK unless they have been sitting in a machine for more than 2-3 hours. It just makes a mess. If you are feeling particularly generous and are in a hurry to do a load of wash, you could place them in a dryer (if empty) and start the cycle for them.

Try to balance your need to get laundry done with imagining how you would feel if they were your clothes. Hopefully things can go back to normal once the new dryer is in place. Thanks!