The Lonely Load

TagFest: At Home

I can imagine you at one time or another have purchased hot dogs and hot dog buns and encountered the traditional mismatch of quantities in each package: 8 dogs, 6 buns. Oh, those two poor dogs, left without buns.

I run into this same conundrum whenever I do laundry. There are two washers and three dryers in my apartment complex's utility room. Now I could understand there being only two dryers. You'd have to wait for each set of two loads to dry before drying the next set—a nice 1:1 ratio.

But why—if you're going to have more dryers than washers—would you get three? Wouldn't it make much more sense to get four? Drying almost always takes twice as long as washing. Why does the fourth load have to sit around getting ever more lonely and wrinkled by the minute?