Everyday Justice

So for my birthday my buddy got me a great book, Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson. In the book, Ms. Clawson walks us down the paths of how we can make choices everyday to life a life that is mindful of Justice. In the first chapter, she starts off saying that the problem with justice is so big sometime it overwhelms us, so we give up. Making choices about clothes, water, coffee and other items that may or may not be involved in slave labor. We are so unsure of how to change this we choose to do nothing out of being ovewhelmed. So far it is a good read and is great at giving small ways and choices to live for Justice everyday.

So while reading this book at the laundromat a week after my birthday, I ran into one of those small problems that drive me crazy about businesses. While I was reading a middle age male came over and ask to borrow a quarter because the dryer had taken his last quarter. So I gave him one...and minutes later he was back. I guess he heard my deep pockets full of the quarters I had, but he came back over and asked for another quarter. Because another dryer had done the same thing.

After the man left I checked for the return policy the laundromat had. To get a refund, you had to fill out a paper with your name, address and phone number then slide it under the door. And no one was working that night. So what happens if you were like this guy? This was his last money and he's not just washing his own clothes, he's washing clothes for his family. Do you go home with wet clothes? In this case he had to borrow money from a total stranger. I did some research in prices, and it costs about 22 cents to wash a load of clothes and it costs 14 cents just to dry them. Making the total price somewhere around 1.50 for a load at this laundromat. the mark up is almost 4 times per load. Not to mention the horrible customer service (which is typical at Laundromats).

Harold Shank pointed out to me once that you never see any naked people in the inner city. But every time a church has a clothing give away people line up at the door for more clothes. Why? because a lot of times they stock pile clothes because they cant afford to wash clothes for the whole family because of the huge mark up per load.

So WHAT IF churches built low cost laundromat in their neighborhood. What would be the benefits of it? First the church could provide jobs for church members and community members and the customer service would be better immediately. That is, after all, the business that the church is in. How much would it save the customer in the community? If you could have the loads cost half (only 75 cents). Let see how much that would save a family of 4 that uses the laundromat.

Example:

Say a family does 6 loads a week. That adds up to about 312 loads of laundry a year. That means we would be saving families $234 a year.

Which might not seem like much...unless you are that family. Say you have 40 loyal families that come to your laundromat. You are developing relationship with 40 families, not to mention you've saved them a total of $9,360.

And that is a great start for living justice everyday.