Coinless laundry makes quarters obsolete; Smartrac Card System really makes a change in laundry industry.

been there; those weekly (or more frequent) trips to the coin laundry are always preceded by a mad dash through the house, searching pocketbooks, kid's piggy banks and pants pockets.

You can't do laundry without those good old American quarters. And what if you don't have any quarters? You go to the coin laundry's automatic change machine. It's broken. You go next door to the convenience store. "We don't make change," says the surly attendant. You visit the nearest bank - "Do you have an account here?" asks the teller. Or, just try to get quarters out of an ATM machine. It won't happen.

WHEN IS A COIN LAUNDRY NOT A COIN LAUNDRY?

It's time you met Richard and Mary Futter...Laundry Pioneers. The Maytag Laundry at 282 South Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach is the first coin laundry in the United States to eliminate the use of quarters, because the Futters' store uses "smart card" technology.

The smart card is a debit card which utilizes a computer chip rather than a magnetic strip. The card holds cash value and can be replenished hundreds of times with additional cash value. A specially designed unit installed in the coin receptacle area of the washer or dryer accepts the Smartrac(r) smart card. Instead of a change machine, the laundry has a VTM, or Value Transfer Machine, a new machine that allows people to purchase or add value to smart cards with $1, $5, $10 or $20 bills. New value can be added to the card using the VTM thousands of times.

Created by ESD Inc., a national manufacturer of payment devices, and distributed by Amerivend, a Miami-based laundry management company, the Smartrac(r) system replaces the coin boxes in washers and dryers with a card slot just like an ATM machine. Gerald E. Pulver, founder of Amerivend, experienced the new technology during a European business trip, where telephones, parking meters and nearly everything else accepted only a smart card. He believed that by adapting this technology to laundry services, he could revolutionize the industry. In 1993, the idea became a reality as Amerivend unveiled the Smartrac(r) system in select condominiums and apartment buildings in Florida and Georgia.

The Deerfield Beach Coinless Maytag Laundry is the first public facility of its kind. Open just a month, it is attracting business from all over Broward and Palm Beach counties. In addition to the Smartrac(r) system, the air-conditioned store has a full time attendant and also provides drop-off laundry service, state-of-the-art Maytag equipment and commercial laundry services, which includes free pick up and delivery.

"Richard and Mary Futter truly are pioneers," said Amerivend's Pulver. "We think even George Washington would like the idea...because it's revolutionary."

CONTACT: Robert Holtzman & Associates Inc., Coral Gables, Fla.

Robert Holtzman or Nicole Friedland

305/667-3570, fax [phone]