For some University of Memphis students living on campus, the hassle of doing laundry without mom just got a little easier.
The University is implementing a new electronic card system called e-Suds at the Carpenter Complex laundry room.
Under the new system, residents can go online to check if washers and dryers are available.
Danny Armitage, associate dean of Resident Life and Dining, said e-Suds should add convenience for irritated students.
"Before if all the machines were full, frustrated students would have to walk back with their clothes," Armitage said.
Kevin Thomason, a junior history major, said he wishes they had the system last fall when the walk from his room at Carpenter to the laundry room was "a stretch."
"That's just money," Thomason said when he heard about the new system. "I'd be pissed if I had lugged my loads down there and the washers were all full. I'm a busy college student who doesn't have time to keep gathering my clothes together and walking back and forth."
The new controlled access system, which goes into full effect this fall, allows only card-carrying residents to activate the laundry machines.
"We had some problems with people using the laundry machines who weren't residents," Armitage said.
Another feature of e-Suds is the ability to notify students that their wash and dry cycles are complete via email, cell phone or PDA.
Once again, Thomason thinks it is "money."
"You don't want to jump the gun and get there too early," he said.
And, Thomason said that it could also help those who sometimes don't remember they left a load in the wash.
"It could be like the cookie you put in the milk and forget about, and it got all soggy," he said.
Although e-Suds will only be available for the close to 500 students living in Carpenter Complex. Armitage said if everything goes smoothly, "we may look into doing it in other laundry rooms."
But he said e-suds probably won't be used at Richardson Towers.
"We don't have the same access problems at Richardson Towers," he said.
While students can wash their own clothes as often as they like, Armitage said e-Suds could spot those who abuse the system to wash all of their friends' clothes.
"If a student is doing 150 loads a week, we will know something is going on that's not normal," Armitage said.
Thomason had a message for people trying to cheat the system.
"Dude, you don't want to ruin a good thing," he said. "People abusing it by doing other people's laundry could cause the machines to break faster. Carpenter Complex is nice, and I want it to stay that way."
