Students who out-source their laundry loads have fewer options than they used to.

Soapy Joe’s merged with competitor student laundry service University Mom last semester and is beefing up its operations this semester. Matt Sternberg, co-owner of Soapy Joe’s, now the only major student laundry delivery service, said, “students will benefit from the lack of competition.”

“University Mom customers can now experience what Soapy Joe’s customers have,” Sternberg said, adding that it is more convenient for University Mom customers who formerly had to wait for their bags to be picked up and can now leave their laundry in a common room.

Since its opening in September 2005, University Mom has created a rift between on-campus laundry services, The Hatchet reported. For example, when students visited the site of universitymoms.com, a common misspelling of the name, Web surfers were directed to the Soapy Joe’s Web site.

Soapy Joe’s, which two former students created three years ago, also has some new features this semester. These changes include a satellite navigation system, which will help track laundry bags, and two more trucks for better pick-up services, Sternberg said.

Some current Soapy Joe’s customers said they are wary of the merge.

“I don’t imagine anything good coming from the merger – (Soapy Joe’s) will just have more customers and less time,” said Anthony Abruzzo, a sophomore and Soapy Joe’s customer for more than a year.