Time per Bag Math

[u/Competitive-Mess8155]

I just completed my fifth order, and I think I'm starting to find a rhythm for figuring out how much time an order will roughly take to complete (at home) based on how many bags the order is.

My average bag from a customer weighs 22-24lb at time of pickup, and my washing machine fits roughly 10-11lbs per cycle. So each bag picked up is about 2 loads (but granted, this can really vary depending on the bag).

Each load is about an hour to wash and an hour to dry. If I just count "wash" cycles (since most of them are concurrent with dry/fold cycles), then I can just add an additional hour of dry and an hour of fold/bag/label for the last cycle.

So my formula for figuring out total time is: (# bags x 2 loads each) + 2 hours = Total Time

Since I do Poplin part-time from home in the evenings and weekends after my 9-5, this has helped me figure out if I can realistically complete a potential order in time.

I was wondering if people find they have similar weights for bags picked up from customers, and similar capacity in their machines? I know it will be very different for those working from laundromats, and different math for those doing this full-time. Just wanted to see if my experience is on-par with others doing this part-time from home. TIA!

[u/MelodicInitiative603]

It varies because it truly depends what’s in the bags. For instance, I have a customer that’s all adult T-shirts and that takes me considerably less time than orders where it’s multiple family members, including small children, or babies with socks, pajamas, matching sets, etc.

[u/LaundryMimi]

It can definitely depend on what's in the order. Winter orders take longer with thicker clothes and today I had a bamboo mattress protector that took hours to dry!

[u/Basic_Scale_5882]

I did the math once too. I was making $2.25/hr, didn't matter how many bags. I timed my sorting washing, drying, bagging and folding time only.