POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

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The Sassagoula Sentinel
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POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by The Sassagoula Sentinel »

The washing machines and dryers in the Port Orleans French Quarter Laundry Room (located near to the Doubloon Lagoon swimming pool) are now cashless and you will only be able to pay using a credit or debit card. This is initially a six-month trial and there are no immediate plans to extend it to any of the Riverside laundry rooms (as yet, anyway).

Strangely though, there is no facility to pay using your Key-to-the-World card (room charge) which given the current major push towards contactless payment using room keycards everywhere at Walt Disney World, and the upcoming personalised Magic Band system, does seem a little odd. Perhaps the new RFID payment technology isn't yet ready to be left on its own as a stand-alone unit without CM supervision?

I assume this is primarily an effort to cut down on maintenance costs and provide a more consistent service for guests, but it will also help to reduce the risk of vandalism and theft which has been an issue with cash boxes in the past.


Update on 29 March 2015:

Apparently the Riverside laundries are going cashless too now, and will soon be only accepting credit or debit card payments.

The laundry room near building 18 is already done, and the room near building 25 is closed at the moment so presumably they are currently updating that one. I'll post a further update when I know more details.
Amanda2470
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Amanda2470 »

Not so great for us Brits then? Having to use a card for each transaction 2xmachine then2xdryers so we are going to end up paying fees on each transaction, it would be better if you could buy a pre paid card at reception or use your room card can see this is going to work out expensive we are there for 3 weeks so will have to wash several times :?
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Admin »

Only if you use the wrong sort of credit card. If you use a zero-fee card (such as the Post Office's credit card) you'll get the clean interbank rate on the day of the transaction, with no commission or weighted rates. There's no better way to spend abroad in terms of dollars per pound.

I use my Santander Zero card for everything over in the US, it saves me about 2.75% on the rate of everything that I pay for (including hotel, food, etc - so it makes quite a saving over the whole holiday).

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Amanda2470
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Amanda2470 »

Thanks Andre,

We don't have a credit card, but could you use a pre loaded fairfax card? It looks like it has no fees etc
Not used one before but thought we may this year
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

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You probably could, but I still doubt you'd get a better exchange rate than a zero-rated credit card. As I said, you can get them from the Post Office.

Andre
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Admin »

Apparently the Riverside laundries are going cashless too now, and will soon be only accepting credit or debit card payments.

The laundry room near building 18 is already done, and the room near building 25 is closed at the moment so presumably they are currently updating that one. I'll post a further update when I know more details.

Andre
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Coz
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Coz »

Hi we are comming july and wanted to know if you can use the free Disney gift card to pay for laundry. Dont want to use dibit/credit card as get charged.
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Admin »

No, you can't use Disney Gift Cards (or magic bands) in the laundry, it needs to be a regular credit or debit card.

You can buy prepaid cards in the lobby though if your card doesn't work for some reason.

Andre
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Coz
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Coz »

Thanks for that will buy one in the lobby save getting charged on mine.
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Admin »

Using a credit or debit card in the laundry room doesn't act like a cash withdrawal, it's just a payment like buying anything else in a store.

I'm from the UK for example and I use a zero-commission credit card while I'm in the USA, and it's always better value for me than buying cash before I go (as the card uses the clean interbank rate rather than the loaded rate they use when you buy cash).

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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Thorpy »

Do you have any difficulty in using it, in terms of wide acceptance ? I'm thinking principally outside restaurants, Walmart, Winn- Dixie, and the front desk.
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Admin »

Thorpy wrote:Do you have any difficulty in using it, in terms of wide acceptance ? I'm thinking principally outside restaurants, Walmart, Winn- Dixie, and the front desk.
Any Mastercard or Visa card should be accepted globally. Occasionally I've been asked for confirmation ID by an odd shop or two (mostly 5+ years back thinking about it, nothing more recent) but I think they would have been asking any card user rather than it being specific to my UK-issued card.

The only place I've ever had problems has been when using the automated pumps at gas stations, which prior to the roll-out of chip & PIN that is (finally!) starting to happen in the US, would ask for the user's five-digit ZIP code. Talk about badly thought-out interfaces, especially in a high-tourist area like Orlando. You could still pay inside though. I suppose it's only like our own petrol station pumps only accepting chip & PIN validated cards rather than mag-strip swipe cards though.

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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by john21wall »

That does seem odd! No more hoarding quarters then.

What if you don't want to use a card because it will incur charges?
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Re: POFQ Laundry goes cashless - credit cards only

Unread post by Admin »

john21wall wrote:That does seem odd! No more hoarding quarters then.

What if you don't want to use a card because it will incur charges?
Nope, no more quarters. Sadly if you don't want to use a card, you can't use the washing machines. You can buy a prepaid card at the front desk if you don't have one.

Andre
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