Crooks are lazy.  The reason I know this is because if the crooks were not lazy they would have jobs.  Thieves are looking for the easy pickings.  They are creatures of opportunity.  The Laundromat owner needs to be well aware that there are people who would survive by robbing and stealing other people's property and money.  Depending upon the neighborhood there may bemany thieves vying for the opportunity to steal your cash & possessions.

So what do you do?  You have to be smarter than the crooks and you have to make it very difficult for the opportunists.  Some experts say that one of the best deterrents is to make robbing your store so much more work,along with the risk of being caught that much greater, that the would be thieves go and rob someone else.  Instead of targeting your Laundromat, make them go down the street and rob the convenience store or another Laundromat, this can best be achieved by making your store the difficult or harder target.  Let every customer and your attendants know that if they are caught stealing in your store, that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  The thieves, along with your customers, will respect you. They may not like you, but they will respect you.

Given enough time, energy and motivation crooks can break into anything, including Fort Knox.  Luckily most crooks don't care where they get the money; they only want to rob the low risk establishments.  If the risk vs. reward ratio is too large; they will go find easier targets.  As Laundromat owners we need to make our businesses hard to rob and significantly higher risk of being caught. Don't be the easy target.

How do we make our Laundromats difficult to rob?  There are 2 main areas that need to be addresses: Behavior and Surveillance systems.  Behavior is how you interact with customers and also how you handle your changers and collections.  Video Surveillance is one of the cheapest ways to protect yourself, your customers and your Laundromat.  For about $1000 you can get a very sophisticated surveillance system.  

Make it hard for crooks to anticipate your behavior patterns. Many of us like to collect our Laundromats before and after the weekends, so Friday and Monday are typically collection days.  By human nature we will fall into routines and behavioral patterns that make it easy for us to be robbed.  Change your behavior patterns and reduce your risk of problems.  If you have several Laundromats to collect, try collecting the store in a different order depending upon the week of the month.  Instead of collecting store A, B then C; mix it up where you collect C then A then B.  By breaking up the collection pattern you make it harder for the crooks to know where you will be.

I also like to collect Laundromats early in the morning and when there are plenty of customers in the store.  I prefer to collect my stores in the mornings because the bad guys are still sleeping (remember they are lazy duds).  The more customers in the Laundromat, the greater the number of eyes and the greater the security.  I much rather collect in a busy Laundromat rather than an empty store.  I am always amused by the Laundromat owner who posts signage saying that the "machines are emptied every night". This Laundromat owner is telling the crooks when and where he will meet them and the owner will even have the day's receipts with him too. (Very convenience [and stupid] of the Laundromat owner...)

Some of my personal security hints are:

• Start collecting with the machines that will take the longest amount of time and have the smallest amount of money (usually the dryers or the vending machines) and collect the last machines should be the largest amount of money.  This way you are limiting your exposed time to the smallest amount of money.
• Place the coins and bills into a knapsack or duffel bag (not canvas bank bags). Do not use "Homer" buckets for collection. Orange buckets with the sound of quarters hitting the plastic pail always attract more interest than needed.
• Once you start collecting, do not get distracted by anyone or anything.  Politely tell the customers that you are busy right now but that you can help them in 5 minutes.
• Once you have collected the store, either lock the collection in the back room or in your vehicle (which should be visible from the Laundromat).
• If you have a card system, invest in an extra set of bill magazines so you can quickly empty the card system and Not flash the cash. 
• Have your head on a swivel and have good situational awareness.  Know who else is in the Laundromat and mentally take a picture of everyone in the Laundromat. Anyone who talks to you, look them straight in the eye.
• I usually take care of any housekeeping chores before collecting.  Once I an done with the collection, then I leave the store as quickly as possible. (Again we want to minimize the cash exposure.)
• To eliminate employee exposure.  Some Laundromat owners have an Armored Car service pick-up their collections. Other Laundromat owners will go directly from the Laundromat to the bank and deposit that store's cash receipts.  In either case, process the collection as quickly as possible and deposit the cash as quickly as possible.  Minimize the cash exposure.
• Make sure that your store surveillance system is operating and you have good coverage of all entrances.  Make sure that you have signs up saying that the store is under video surveillance. (This may be required by law and doesn't hurt to let everyone know that you have "eyes in the sky").
• If your Surveillance system goes down, fix it immediately.  Do not let it be down for any length of time.  Fix the system like it was a broken 60 lbs. washer.  Remember this is the for your security and the security of the Laundromat.


The fear of being robbed is always greater that the actual threat.  With that said you alone can make yourself an easy or a hard target.  Install video surveillance cameras throughout your entire store.  Also have cameras covering the parking lot.  Vary your collection patterns and minimize your cash exposure.  Maintain good situational awareness.  If threatened with bodily harm, give them the cash.  Cash can always be replaced, your health can not.  No heroes.  Be safe, be smart and be the harder, more difficult target.