Can we talk laundry?

D

DSANN

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Feb 29, 2020
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What are the laundry options for Mids? Are there levels (with an additional cost-obviously) that are above the current basic laundry service provided? Any tips from current/past Mids and their parents? Thanks!
 
Mids are charged $74/month for laundry whether or not they use it. This includes a service that picks up, washes and dries, and delivers clothes once a week. (Mids do not dare put their nice civilian clothes in here. Just underwear, socks, t shirts, shorts, towels, etc). Dry cleaning is included but they have to pay $2 extra per shirt to have it pressed and creased (and this service is not available to Plebes). In addition there are two self service laundromats that are available 24/7.

The system works reasonably well with the exception of a few horror stories of entire bags of laundry being lost. I think there’s some process for getting reimbursed in that scenario which involves jumping through several flaming hoops.
 
Kieregaard, where the self service laundromats these days? 5 wing basement was our only option. Glad to hear there is a second one.

Plebe year... I think I did most of my laundry at my sponsors house! Thank you to them and their washing machines, dryers and patience!
 
Kierkegaard said:
Mids are charged $74/month for laundry whether or not they use it. This includes a service that picks up, washes and dries, and delivers clothes once a week. (Mids do not dare put their nice civilian clothes in here. Just underwear, socks, t shirts, shorts, towels, etc). Dry cleaning is included but they have to pay $2 extra per shirt to have it pressed and creased (and this service is not available to Plebes). In addition there are two self service laundromats that are available 24/7.

The system works reasonably well with the exception of a few horror stories of entire bags of laundry being lost. I think there’s some process for getting reimbursed in that scenario which involves jumping through several flaming hoops.
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Is the $2 extra per shirt for Civvies? I presume that uniforms are covered for dry cleaning at no extra cost.
 
I think the extra $2 is for the military creases? They always came back pressed and we had to put the creases in. Could be wrong!!!
 
Yep it’s for the creases! I’m not sure if the dry cleaning service center does civilian clothing, I’d imagine they do but I’ve never seen somebody use it. They added another laundry room to 4th wing. Rarely are there issues with getting a machine. Plebes can even use it on the weekends!
 
Sponsor families I hear are a lifeline for laundry, another BC (before covid) program dismantled for a while. So for the whole plebe year no dry cleaning? or just the summer portion?
 
Laundry will be interesting with all the Mids stuck on the Yard.....no sponsor trips means more demand for DIY machines I would think.
 
DSANN said:
Sponsor families I hear are a lifeline for laundry, another BC (before covid) program dismantled for a while. So for the whole plebe year no dry cleaning? or just the summer portion?
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Dry Cleaning is well provided for within Bancroft Hall for Uniforms.
 
DD had a lot lost over the years. Boiled in one bag and a lot came back uniform grey. I had my military creases sown in. Don't know if you can get a tailor or laundry near a base or the Yard to do it now but it made ironing a lot easier.
 
justdoit19 said:
Laundry will be interesting with all the Mids stuck on the Yard.....no sponsor trips means more demand for DIY machines I would think
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If the Midshipman are stuck in the Yard, there is little need for Civilian clothes.... The boil in the bag system is fun for PE gear , sweats, etc.
 
The “coming back grey” is good training for what happens in the ship’s laundry with boiling desalinated water, industrial detergent and no gentle cycle. Every time DH returned from deployment, his dresser drawer was stocked with new skivvies. He knew to throw the grey stuff in the old fabric recycle bag to go to the county recycling center.
 
All uniforms, regardless of year (even Plebes), can be handled by USNA laundry services including dry cleaning. They just give them nice extra creases for $2 more if they want them. Plebes will be taught how to iron them in. All their stuff is being washed by this group during Plebe Summer and the plebes are being taught how to baggage it, fill out the forms, how it goes/back, etc. Probably hasn't changed in decades. It seems they still do a very solid job of shrinking blue rims. Even all the uniforms like summer whites, will be tailored to them, sent off to dry cleaning to be pressed and then delivered back to company area in the coming weeks. Its actually a rather spectacular logistics feat.
 
Capt MJ said:
The “coming back grey” is good training for what happens in the ship’s laundry with boiling desalinated water, industrial detergent and no gentle cycle. Every time DH returned from deployment, his dresser drawer was stocked with new skivvies. He knew to throw the grey stuff in the old fabric recycle bag to go to the county recycling center.
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The duty seaman button cracker was alive and well when pressing our khaki shirts in our ship’s laundry. I learned to sew and replace buttons on that cruise.
 
When DS comes back from three or four months Merchant Marine on USNS or civilian he sorts the grey from the good. Even sometimes the boots from the engine room. If you don't know how to sew a button, iron a shirt or what a gig line is you were not there.
 
I still check my gig line when I wear a shirt tucked in. I also still get frustrated when my dry cleaner crushes the buttons on my shirt, but I can replace them in my sleep. And when not being lazy, I can iron everything, but because I am lazy, I pay my local dry cleaner.
 
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I used to like to break starch. Those uniforms could stand at attention by themselves even off the hanger. They must have dipped them in a vat of pure solution before pressing. Old habits die hard. I still catch myself checking shirt and belt buckle every once in a while.
 
AF6872 said:
. If you don't know how to sew a button, iron a shirt or what a gig line is you were not there.
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I saw so many ingenious tailor jobs at USNA -- sewing buttons on the reefer with dental floss (and of course, coloring the "thread" with a sharpie; stapling hems on pants , etc.


AF6872 said:
I used to like to break starch.
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Oh yeah ! Dress Whites used to be pure cotton, and come back starched like cardboard. Had to pry them apart to put them on. They looked really cool....for about an hour !
 
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