Coventry Laundromat

It’s been awhile since I’ve had to go to a laundromat to do my laundry. I came here on a Wednesday morning just before 10 am. That seemed to be the right time because 10 minutes later 4 people showed up to do their laundry.
The place is small and pretty bare. I don’t expect much from a laundromat, just that the machines work and don’t destroy my clothes and that is what I got. I used one of the super washing machines that can handle 5 lbs of laundry. It costs $ 4, which is just double the price of a normal load there. Considering I haven’t had to pay for laundry in 3 years, I found this a reasonable price. The last place I went to charged $ 1.75/load, so this was only $ 0.25 more.
The drying definitely is a bit of a rip off. It costs $ 0.25 per 4 minutes. But, since the place was sparse enough I was able to throw my laundry into 4 dryers and had everything dried in like 16 – 20 minutes.
Overall, two loads of laundry took only an hour to complete for about $ 9.

There are many necessary evils in this life. Posted speed limits, drink minimums, etc. But few feel like a kick to the nads more than this laundromat.
Maybe I wouldn’t have such a problem with this place if a vastly superior laundromat didn’t exist five miles down the road in Willimantic. In fact, I had made a vow once before to never darken Coventry Laundromat’s doorstep again. But on Saturday evening all of the Mansfield area was in the Washing Well, so I had to lug my clothes over to this hole.
It’s small. It’s hot. It’s kind of creepy – in that all of the other businesses around it close at, like, 5 pm at the latest. There’s no TV. The few chairs available sit practically one atop the other. But by far the two biggest strikes against it are 1) A quarter buys you 4 minutes on the dryer. Four. Minutes. This is the very definition of B.S. The almost universal amount of time for a quarter is 8 minutes, with conservative places giving you 6. This place gives you half the normal amount. Not to mention it also has half the number of machines as most places, and of the old, rickety machines they do have, at least one is always out of order. Which brings me to 2) there is almost never an attendant on site. This is evidenced by a sign I saw on my last trip (I failed to look for it this time) that said something to the effect of «If you lose a quarter in one of the machines, do NOT try to retrieve it. Leave a S.A.S.E and indicate the amount lost, and a refund will be sent to you.» Are you flippin’ kidding me? You’re going to MAIL me my quarter, Coventry Laundromat?
All in all, this place is a great venue for self-​punishment if you feel the need for that kind of thing. Or, in a pinch, you can in fact do laundry there. But I wouldn’t recommend it.