Laundry app adds pay later feature

PayRange Inc., a payment network for everyday purchases, launched a mobile app pay-later program designed to support the company’s mobile app users during the COVID-19 virus outbreak. The solution enables participating consumers whose payment methods are declined at self-attended venues on the PayRange network to repay at a later date, the company stated.

Paresh Patel, founder and CEO of PayRange, acknowledged the coronavirus pandemic is keeping people from their jobs, which may impact their ability to cover day-to-day expenses. The company wants to support customers during this difficult time, he stated.

“Imagine how frustrating it would be to take a basket of clothes to the common area laundry room, only to have your card declined,” Patel said. “In these trying times, we want to save people from yet another inconvenience.”

High debit usage

Citing recent studies, Patel observed that laundry venues account for 70 percent of mobile payment usage, which skews more toward debit than other types of payment schemes. U.S. consumers who live paycheck to paycheck can ill afford to be without essential laundry services, he stated, especially during a health crisis.

Patel commended PayRange developers for designing, building and deploying the newly enhanced application in under 24 hours. He also mentioned that PayRange fully funded the project and will be reimbursing PayRange merchants upfront for delayed payments.

The updated PayRange vending app is live across the entire PayRange network, which Patel indicated is the largest population of mobile-enabled laundry machines in the United States. PayRange currently serves 33,000 operators and 4 million machines in all 50 states, he added.

Secure, user friendly

Early in his career in the self-attended market, Patel studied individual business models and observed that consumers tend to be afterthoughts in vending and laundry. He designed an app with security in mind, enabling vending machine owners to manage software updates remotely.

“Different technologies in the unattended segment typically address economically underprivileged consumers without considering people in workplaces, dormitories, apartment buildings and unattended retail locations,” Patel said. “I felt that payments were a barrier to the transaction, because people didn’t have the right combination of coins and bills. I wanted to bring mobile payment capabilities with zero cost to upgrade legacy machines.”

Today’s global pandemic affects all demographic groups and this is not the time to skip laundry day, Patel observed. We brainstormed about what we can do and came up with this solution. For most people, it’s a timing issue, he stated.

“Someone’s paycheck may come on Friday, but they need to do wash today,” Patel said. “We have already helped thousands of families and 60 percent have already paid us back.”

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