New pick-up laundry service caters to greek life

Walk into a college student's room and typically in one corner will be a heaping pile of dirty clothes. Laundry is the last thing on people's minds as they are preoccupied with schoolwork, classes, jobs and other extracurricular activities.\nBut a quick-fix is now available. Valet Today, a new pick-up laundry service, is gaining recognition in Bloomington. A company that initially served residential homes and businesses has expanded into the college circuit after a successful run at Arizona State University. \n"We are currently introducing ourselves to the fraternities and sororities here on campus," said Tony Dentice, joint venture partner of Valet Today, "I must say that the houses we have already visited have been very welcoming. The students do recognize that this is a service sorely needed, and they are welcoming the opportunity." \nMegan Wolf, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority was recently hired to be a student representative of Valet Today. \n"After they made a presentation at the house, some of the girls were ready to sign up while others were a little skeptical about having someone else do their laundry," said Wolf.\nThe weekly laundry service is $260 for the entire 16-week semester time period, which is adjusted based on start date. That covers a full bag of any kind of laundry that is picked up and dropped off at the designated sorority or fraternity house. \nCrosstown Laundry, another pick-up laundry service that serves the campus, caters strictly to the dorms. It charges fees based on how much each laundry bag weighs instead of having a set price. Crosstown picks up each laundry bag at the various dorms on a set time schedule and drops it off no later than two days afterward.\nValet Today sets itself apart from its competitors by offering many other services such as dry cleaning, parcel packaging, leather repair, storage and photo developing, which are also available for pick up and delivery. \n"We are offering these services to students in order to reduce the stress and time constraints of college life," Dentice said. "Our goal at IU is to expand awareness at the fraternities and sororities during this semester and hope to be up and running at the off-campus apartment locations and residence halls as soon as possible."\nRoommates Marcy Siegler and Caroline Goldberg, who live in Foster Quad, said they were very excited at the idea of a pick-up laundry service. \n"I use the machines that are in the dorms now, and I absolutely hate it," Goldberg said. "I think a lot of students living in the residence halls would utilize a service like that."\nSiegler said that she currently uses Crosstown Laundry service but would be open to using a new service if it charged less.\n"It's a great service that I am proud to be a part of," Wolf said. "I'm really excited to get the word out."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Christina Rasmussen at cmrasmus@indiana.edu.