Commercial laundry services are washing, drying and folding done for businesses on a recurring account. The business owns the laundry. You pick it up or take it in, process it on a set schedule, and return it clean. For a laundromat or wash and fold shop, commercial accounts can turn idle machine hours into steady weekly volume.
- Most operators already do it. About 64% of laundry owners in American Coin-Op’s 2026 reader poll offer commercial laundry. Of those, 43.9% grew that business in 2025.
- You compete on service, not scale. Big route companies rent textiles to their clients. Your edge is washing what the client already owns, on a schedule that fits them.
- Price for labor and handling, not just pounds. Commercial pricing is negotiated per account. Build it from your real wash, fold and route costs.
- Make the handoff easy. Many business clients need drop-off and pickup outside your hours. Lockers give them a 24/7 handoff point without extra staff.
What commercial laundry services include
Commercial laundry comes in two main models. Linen and uniform supply companies own the textiles and rent them to clients. Customer-owned goods (often called COG) is the other model: the client owns the laundry and pays you to clean it. The Textile Rental Services Association describes both models on its consumer site (TRSA, laundryservices.org).
| Model | Who owns the laundry | Who usually runs it | Fit for a laundromat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linen or uniform rental | The service company | Large route companies | Low. It needs a textile inventory and a fleet. |
| Customer-owned goods | The client | Laundromats, wash and fold shops, local launderers | High. It uses the machines and staff you already have. |
The rental side is large. US industrial launderers earned $12.4 billion in 2022, up from $10.0 billion in 2018 (U.S. Census Bureau via FRED). Linen supply firms earned another $5.2 billion in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau via FRED). Coin laundries and drycleaners with paid staff earned $5.4 billion that year (U.S. Census Bureau via FRED). These figures cover employer firms only, and Census does not break out commercial accounts. Still, they show that businesses pay billions a year to have laundry cleaned outside.
Why laundromat owners add commercial accounts
Commercial work is common, and for many operators it is growing. In American Coin-Op’s 2026 survey of laundry owners, about 64% said they offer commercial laundry service (American Coin-Op, April 2026). Among them, 43.9% saw that business grow in 2025, with an average gain of 21.6%. Just under 10% saw a decline, and about 46% were flat. The magazine runs this as an online reader poll, so treat it as a signal, not a census.
The draw is steady volume. A commercial account can send the same load on the same day each week. That makes it easier to plan staff and fill slow hours on your machines. Accounts also tend to stay once the service works, because switching vendors is a hassle for the client.
How to price commercial laundry accounts
Start from your walk-in drop-off price, then adjust for the account. In the same 2026 survey, wash and fold drop-off prices ran from $1.00 to $3.50 per pound. The most common price was $2.00, charged by 21.9% of respondents (American Coin-Op, April 2026). Those are walk-in prices, not commercial contract rates. Commercial pricing is usually negotiated per account.
Build each quote from five inputs:
- Volume. Higher weekly pounds can earn a lower per-pound rate.
- Turnaround. Same-day or next-morning return costs more to staff.
- Pickup and delivery. Price the route time, mileage and stops.
- Special handling. Separate loads, stain work or specific fold specs take extra labor.
- Labor. The median US wage for laundry and dry cleaning workers was $16.78 an hour in 2025 (O*NET OnLine, BLS wage data). Use your own wage, but price every minute of handling.
Say a small inn sends about 150 pounds a week and wants next-day return with one pickup. Price the wash and fold time from your own labor rate, add the route time for one stop, and set a weekly minimum. Then compare the result to your walk-in per-pound price. If the account fills a slow shift, a rate a little under walk-in can still raise your weekly profit.
Put the rate, the minimum order and the pickup schedule in a short written agreement. Clear terms prevent most billing disputes.
How to win commercial accounts
Finding clients is the hard part. In an older American Coin-Op survey, 62% of owners doing commercial work named “soliciting the business” as their biggest problem (American Coin-Op, 2009). The data is from 2009, so treat it as background.
A simple plan works better than broad advertising:
- Start close to your store. Short routes keep pickup costs low.
- Lead with turnaround and reliability. Business clients care most that clean laundry shows up on time.
- Offer a trial load. Let a prospect see your wash and fold quality before they sign.
- Hand over a one-page rate sheet. Show the per-pound rate, the minimum and the schedule.
- Check in after the first month. Small fixes early keep an account for years.
Hospitality clients, such as small hotels and inns, are a common fit for customer-owned goods. See how laundry lockers work for hotels. Healthcare linen is a separate, specialized segment, and TRSA lists it as its own market type (TRSA). Most small operators leave it to specialists.
Running commercial accounts day to day
Commercial work only pays if every order is right. Build these habits from the first account:
- Keep each account separate. Tag bags at intake and never mix loads between clients.
- Weigh in and weigh out. Record the weight at pickup and at return, so billing matches the work.
- Set fixed pickup days. Routes are cheaper when stops repeat on the same day each week.
- Track every order. Use laundry management software to log and track each account’s orders.
Use lockers for after-hours drop-off and pickup
Many commercial clients close after you do, or open before your counter is staffed. A locker handoff solves that. The client drops a tagged bag in a locker at any hour. Your team collects it, processes it, and returns the clean order to the locker. The client picks it up on their own schedule.
- Your clientDrops off a tagged bagAt any hour, in a locker at your store or a partner site.
- Your teamCollects it on the routeOn fixed pickup days, so stops repeat each week.
- Your teamWashes, dries and foldsWeighed in and out, never mixed with other accounts.
- Your clientPicks up from the lockerOn their own schedule, with no counter wait.
With Laundry Lockers, you control the lockers from the app and set your own pricing and rules, with no revenue sharing. Systems start with a 3-door tower, and you can add towers as volume grows (laundry pickup and delivery lockers). You can place lockers at your store, or at a partner site closer to a group of accounts.
If you already run wash and fold lockers, commercial accounts can share them, and one route can serve both (see pickup and delivery margins). New to the service? Start with our wash and fold business guide. For the bigger picture on store economics, see how much laundromats make.
Get a quote and we’ll help you size a locker setup for your store.
Commercial laundry services FAQs
What are commercial laundry services?
Commercial laundry services wash, dry and fold laundry for businesses on a recurring account. Laundromats that take commercial work usually offer the customer-owned goods model. Rental linen service is a separate business run by route companies.
Should commercial accounts sign a contract?
A short written agreement is enough to start. List the rate, the weekly minimum, the pickup days and the notice either side needs to end it. A 30-day trial lets both sides test the fit first.
Can lockers work for commercial laundry accounts?
Yes. Lockers give business clients a secure place to drop off and pick up laundry at any hour, so you don’t need staff at the counter for every handoff.
Sources (5)
How we sourced this: we used government data, trade association pages and trade press, and checked each figure on its source page in October 2026. Reader polls are labeled as polls.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Service Annual Survey, via FRED: Industrial launderers revenue (REVEF812332TAXABL), Linen supply revenue (REVEF812331ALLEST), Coin-operated laundries and drycleaners revenue (REVEF81231ALLEST). Employer firms, 2022.
- American Coin-Op, Performance under pressure: operators post another strong year (part 2), April 2, 2026. Online reader poll.
- American Coin-Op, Survey: three-quarters of laundry owners who offer commercial work find good profit, September 15, 2009.
- O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor), National wages for laundry and dry-cleaning workers, 51-6011.00, BLS 2025 data.
- Textile Rental Services Association, Types of commercial laundry services.
