Piles of bagged laundry are sitting in the Lmaries Laundromat office waiting for their owners to claim them. Instead of a laundry-stealing problem, Lmaries owner, Duane King, has a problem with laundry being left behind.

The Laundromat, located at 111 Railroad St., has a five-minute rule for the washers and dryers when his store is busy. If the laundry is sitting in a washer or dryer, someone else cannot be using it and King loses business. So if the laundry has not been claimed in five minutes, it can and will be removed.

When the laundry that was removed has not been claimed hours later, King will put it in storage, unless it needs dried or rewashed.

‘We have to rewash and dry and bag ‘hellip; [all] the time,’ he said.

The washer or dryer number is put on the bag, and King waits for someone to ask for his or her items.

If someone comes in looking for something, King said the items can probably be found.

‘The attendants can check the washer to see who started it and when,’ he said. This can be done because Lmaries uses a card system to pay for the washers and dryers. Customers can register their card and a computer system keeps track of the users of the washers and dryer, which means King can later search for their missing clothes.

‘People are so relaxed, they leave things,’ King said. He believes his customers think their items have been stolen, but wishes they would ask about them.

To inform customers that their items may be still in the store, King has signs up in the Laundromat, and he also has a notice on the store’s Web site.

Lmaries has had a few thefts, but the video surveillance system was used to identify a suspect, the police were notified and the clothes were returned, King said.

‘Clothes come up missing quite frequently,’ said Lt. Tony Hetrick of the Bowling Green Police Department.

The thieves can be caught because most Laundromats are unattended, so they have surveillance cameras, just like Lmaries, Hetrick said.

On campus, police Lt. Dave Weekley said there have only been one or two reported thefts in the past few years.

But Weekley said laundry thefts were occurring more frequently a few years ago. He said there have also been cases of bleach, itching powder, chocolate and beer added into the wash.

Weekley remembered his first police report at the University, 29 years ago, was for laundry theft.

He also waits at the Laundromat for clothing to be washed and dried when he uses one. That way, nothing will be stolen.

‘There’s a simple solution. Don’t leave your clothes here,’ King said.

King said these thefts or loss of goods is not his fault.

‘Nine times out of 10 it’s the customer’s problem. Do you leave your car unlocked? Why is it different at a Laundromat?’ he said.

Eric Hofmeister, sophomore, did not leave his laundry when he washed his clothes on campus last year, but he said he stays this year only when his clothes are in the dryer.

‘I’m not afraid,’ he said.

He believes most people are trusting, but would be more cautious at a public Laundromat.

King tries to get his customers to stay while they wash their laundry. Lmaries has free wireless Internet, tables to sit at and games to play, he said.

‘For the time it takes to leave and come back, you might as well stay,’ he said.