By AMANDA ARNOLD
UNK Communications
KEARNEY – Doing laundry at the University of Nebraska at Kearney is as easy as checking a computer or smart phone.
A mobile app in use at UNK lets students check on their laundry and monitor washers and dryers in residence halls.
Using a mobile application called Laundry Alert, students can select a particular laundry room on campus and see which washers and dryers are in use, as well as how much time remains in the cycle.
Alie Brabec, graduate hall director for Martin Hall, said a phone number can also be entered onto the website along with a residence hall’s machine number, and the site will send text messages when that machine is available.
The technology came with the installment of new washers and dryers three years ago. Laundry Alert was implemented to reduce the risk of theft and vandalism when clothes just sit in the machines, as well as to keep laundry rooms running as efficiently as possible.
“A lot of students utilize it, and we really push for its use in our residence halls because it makes things easier on everyone,” Brabac said.
“It’s really good to have to keep you on track,” said Jordan Duff, resident assistant for Mantor Hall. “You can save all of your settings to your phone and use it all year.”
Laundry Alert also provides information about how many people are waiting for machines to become available, and it provides a history of when a laundry room is the busiest so students can plan when the best time is to do their laundry.
The website can also be used to report malfunctioning or broken machines.
“The students really enjoy it because they don’t have to walk all the way down to the laundry room only to find out that all of the machines are in use and it was a wasted trip,” Brabec said. “Students also forget to set their own timers, so having it text them really helps.”
To track and set up notifications for a laundry room on campus, go to LaundryAlert.com and use the code UNK6173 to bring up a list of residence halls and machines.
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Source: Alie Brabec, 308.865.4807, brabecaa@lopers.unk.edu
Writer: Amanda Arnold, unknews3@unk.edu
