Dynamic pricing for laundromats: fill Tuesday mornings without touching your prices
An idle machine earns nothing. How to lower the price automatically during dead hours, what you gain from it and how to fill those hours with business customers.
PAYMMIO TeamPublished on Updated on 4 min read
Key points
- An idle machine earns nothing. Selling a cheaper cycle at 10:00 on a Tuesday is extra revenue, not a discount.
- Apply the discount only in low-occupancy slots and with a floor price that covers your costs.
- In this article's example, a 20 % discount on Tuesday mornings adds about € 1,000 a year with a single slot.
- B2B cards for hotels, holiday rentals or gyms fill off-peak hours with predictable volume.
- Change one thing at a time and measure for four weeks.
The problem: an empty store when you have the most room
Evenings and weekends have queues. On Tuesday at 10:00 nobody is there. In a 10-machine store it's common to see 10–15 % occupancy on weekday mornings.
Your fixed costs don't drop at that hour: rent, insurance, store lighting, maintenance fees. Every hour with idle machines is money that never comes back.
What dynamic pricing is (and what it isn't)
Dynamic pricing in a laundromat is a price that changes automatically by hour, day or customer type, without you going to the store to reprogram the machines.
It's not about raising prices when there's a queue. Your peak price stays as it is. What you do is create cheaper slots where you currently earn nothing.
The calculation: Tuesday from 9:00 to 13:00
A store with 10 washers, a € 4.50 cycle and about 40 wash slots in those four hours.
| Scenario | Occupancy | Cycles | Price | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No discount | 12 % | 5 | € 4.50 | € 22.50 |
| Off-peak (−20 %) | 30 % | 12 | € 3.60 | € 43.20 |
| Difference | +7 | +€ 20.70 |
That's € 20.70 more every Tuesday. Over a year, about € 1,076 with a single slot. And a machine that was already switched on costs no more to run at that hour.
What if some customers who came on Saturday at full price move to Tuesday? Even if three did so every week, you would lose € 2.70 per morning and still earn € 18 more. You also free up machines on Saturday for people who can't come another day.
B2B loyalty cards: volume that doesn't depend on the weather
A private customer comes when it suits them. A business customer comes when you agree it. These fit a self-service laundromat best:
- Guesthouses and small hotels without their own laundry.
- Holiday rental managers, who wash bed linen and towels every day.
- Gyms and sports centres, for towels.
- Hair and beauty salons.
- Sports clubs, for kits.
The mechanics are simple. Each business gets a card with an agreed price, valid only during off-peak hours or with a monthly quota. At the end of the month you send one invoice with all their washes. That invoice must come from a compliant system: we explain it in the VeriFactu guide for laundromats.
Five rules to protect your margin
- Never discount at peak time. If there's a queue, the price is right.
- Set a floor price. Add water, energy, detergent if included and depreciation per cycle. Never go below that figure.
- Promote the slot. On the kiosk, on the door and on your Google Business Profile.
- Change one thing at a time. Leave each adjustment for four weeks before touching the next one.
- Limit B2B cards. Off-peak only or with a quota, so they don't take your Saturday.
For the discount, start between 15 and 20 %. Below 10 % hardly anyone changes their routine. Above 30 % you give away margin.
How to set it up in PAYMMIO
From the dashboard you define slots by day and hour, per machine or for the whole store. The kiosk applies the price at the moment of payment, so no machine needs reprogramming. B2B cards are created in the same dashboard, with their price, schedule and quota. You can see a scheduling example in the PAYMMIO OS section.
And if you want fewer coins to count, read how to move to cashless payments. And if your store still takes payments with an old system, see what it costs you in the hidden cost of an outdated payment system.
Frequently asked questions
Does dynamic pricing annoy regular customers?
Not if your base price doesn't go up. Your customers see a discount at certain hours, not an increase at the others.
Do I have to reprogram each washer to change the price?
Not with a connected system. The payment kiosk applies the price at the moment of payment, according to the slot set in the dashboard.
Which off-peak discount works best?
A good starting point is 15 to 20 %. Below 10 % almost nobody changes their schedule and above 30 % you lose margin without gaining much more occupancy.
How do I invoice a business customer with a B2B card?
With a monthly invoice grouping their washes, issued from a VeriFactu-compliant invoicing system and, once the obligation reaches you, in a structured electronic format.