90 CZK for 33 minutes of washing is too much! Petition for the restoration of the original laundries on the area of the Envelopa UPOL university dormitories

If you were a resident of any of our university dormitories on the Envelope campus in the past years and you wanted to do laundry, you could do it easily. You had to go to the reception of your dormitory, give your ISIC to the receptionist and pay 40 CZK. Then at your disposal were 2-3 washing machines for 3 hours. In each of our dormitories, there was a laundry room with 3 functional washing machines and one dryer.

But everything changed last month. The original laundries were closed by the order of the SKM director, and laundry in the dormitories is the responsibility of an external company now. Instead of the original 40 CZK for 3 hours of washing, the cost is 90 CZK for one washing machine for 33 minutes. A really "fair" price for a student, don't you think? Another fair is that the company is subleased, so all profits in excess do not go to the dormitories but to this external company….

The real price of one wash in a common washing machine with the current prices of water and electricity in Olomouc + the price for a dose of washing gel and fabric softener is about 13 CZK (*The whole calculation is in the supplement bellow). The company charges CZK 90 for one washing machine. Decent range, isn't it? Does the dormitory management really come to terms with letting a private entity make money on students like this? Even at a time when the financial situation of many families is very bad through COVID-19 measures and many students have lost jobs and earning opportunities.

But there is more, not just the price… We have summarized all the arguments against the new laundry in the points below.

Arguments against the new student laundry:

Overpriced - one washing machine for 33 minutes for 90 CZK(until September in the original dormitory laundries it was 40 CZK for 3 hours of washing)

- The argument of the dormitory management that students have the opportunity to wash "conveniently" in the "happy hours" between six and nine in the morning for 70 CZK / washing machine is misled. The real price of one wash is about 13 CZK (see the calculations in supplement 1) So even this price is incredibly overpriced. Even in Prague, students in university dormitories do laundry for 60 CZK for washing machine.

- If somebody wants to wash classically separately in several washing machines, for example, black/white/colored/cotton or sports synthetics, he/she must count on monthly expenses of several hundred crowns

- Even though this year dormitory price was increased for all dormitories (despite COVID-19 measures and with it the poor financial situation of some students and their families).

- The vast majority of Czech students in the dormitories are those who do not go home and have little or no financial support from their parents. They must earn money for their studies by themselves. And they are the ones who will be most affected by the rise in prices. And giving 80 CZK or 800 CZK per washing every month is a really big difference. In the long run, it is more advantageous to buy your washing machine in a room for a few thousand, than to sponsor someone's private business during the 5 years of study and give them tens of thousands of crowns for laundry.

- 5 washing machines for 3,000 students accommodated in the Envelopa campus are really few. The washing machines are constantly occupied (see photo no. 2 in the supplement**).

- Until this September, each dormitory had its own laundry room with three, often new functional washing machines and one dryer (managed by SKAM UPOL). So what was the reason for closing the original laundry ?? (!)

- It does not seem very rational for us, especially during the current epidemiological situation, to close all 5 functional laundries throughout the campus and to re-concentrate and accumulate students from all dormitories in one small room. Despite the fact, that most students stay near the washing machines all the time during the wash and waiting for them to finish. The risk of spreading the disease on the tracks is all the greater.

- They have to go outside with their laundry. The new laundry is located behind the garbage cans near Václava dormitory, which is a very popular refreshment place for local often drunk homeless people. If you are a fragile young woman, then you probably will not want to go this way with laundry…

- It is not possible to put your detergent. This is a big problem for allergy sufferers. In the original dormitory washing machines, everyone handled the detergents themselves.

- No instructions or instruction in English for international students on how to run washing machines

- To start the washing machine, you need to have a smartphone with the application, otherwise you are just not able to use it.

We, the undersigned, residents of the Palacký University dormitories, call on the Rector and the dormitory management to restore the original laundries on the campus of university dormitories with prices as in previous years. We don't want to sponsor someone's private business.

(*The whole calculation of the price for one washing machine for 33 minutes)

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Lukáš Mich, Sonya Hlynska, Anna Kašparová    Contact the author of the petition