News

Company hopes dirty laundry will bring kiosk business

October 2, 2002

PHILADELPHIA -- USA Technologies Inc. hopes airing its dirty laundry in the national press will bring the company attention from kiosk and point-of-sale terminal operators, according to CEO George Jansen.

The company's e-Suds.net program -- a cashless payment and wireless networking system for commercial washers and dryers -- has been featured in The New York Times and USA Today.

American Sales Inc. (ASI), which operates 9,000 washers and dryers on Midwest college campuses, has agreed to pay USA Technologies $3.5 million to retrofit its machines with e-Suds terminals.

Students using the machines can go online to see if there are unused washers and dryers in their laundry room and swipe their student ID cards through the machines to pay for their laundry. Detergent and fabric softener can be added automatically, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. Students receive an e-mail at their computers or pagers when the wash is done.

ASI can go online to check its machines and perform some maintenance, including checking filter clogs, water temperature and usage patterns. IBM is hosting the e-Suds transaction data and Web sites along with installing the computer systems that handle inventory, payment authorization and reports.