Your machine lines
Your store
Payback treats each line as an addition to a store whose overhead is already paid. Overhead is used in the store result only.
Add your machine lines, then click Calculate.
Result
Payback by machine line
| Line | Machines | Contribution / month | Payback months | Turns / day for target | Vs target |
|---|
Store per month
| Item | Per month |
|---|
What a price raise can cost
| Raise | Extra per month | Cycles you can lose first | Monthly change at your retention |
|---|
How it is calculated
Cycles per month: machines × turns per day × days open. Contribution: cycles × price × (1 − payment fee) − cycles × utility cost per cycle. Payback months: machines × installed cost ÷ contribution. Turns per day for target: installed cost ÷ target months ÷ (price × (1 − fee) − utilities) ÷ days open. Store net: total contribution − monthly overhead; break-even volume is overhead ÷ contribution. Raise break-even: (new contribution − current) ÷ new contribution, where new contribution uses the higher price, less utilities on the cycles that remain.
Not modelled: financing and interest, taxes and depreciation, repairs and downtime, attendant and wash-dry-fold labor, lease terms, and local market prices. Unverified: tested on hand-calculated examples, not on a real store's books. It computes arithmetic; it does not value a laundromat or tell you what to charge.
Common questions
How long does a laundromat washer take to pay back?
Divide what the machines cost installed by their monthly contribution. Contribution is the price of each cycle, less the card fee and the water, gas or electricity and detergent it uses, times the cycles it runs a month. A machine that runs a few turns a day at a modest price can take years; a busy one in a good location can take far less. Enter your own turns and prices and the table shows each line.
What are turns per day and why do they matter most?
A turn is one paid cycle on one machine. Revenue, utilities and wear all scale with turns, while rent, insurance and labor do not. The table also shows the turns per machine per day each line needs to hit your target payback, so you can compare it with what your store really does.
Does overhead count toward payback?
No. Payback treats each machine line as an addition to a store whose rent and labor are already paid, which is how an owner decides whether to add or replace machines. Overhead is used in the store result, where it shows monthly net income and the share of your current volume you need just to break even.
Is a price rise worth the customers I might lose?
The raise table shows the share of cycles you could lose before a price rise leaves you worse off. Utilities fall with the cycles that leave, so the break-even loss is the extra contribution divided by the new contribution. Price sensitivity near a competitor can be far higher than near no one, so check your own numbers.
Which numbers should I use for utilities per cycle?
Add your water and sewer, gas or electric, and any detergent you vend, per cycle, from your own bills divided by cycles run. The tool does not know your local rates and does not assume any.
What does this leave out?
Financing and interest, taxes and depreciation, repairs and downtime, coin and card-system fees beyond the percentage you enter, wash-dry-fold labor, attendant wages, lease terms, and the value of the location. It is arithmetic on your figures, not a valuation of a laundromat.
Is my information uploaded?
No. The calculation runs in your browser from figures you type, nothing is sent to a server, there are no accounts, and it works offline after the page loads.