Poplin — Start a Laundry Pickup & Delivery Business From Home
Website: www.poplin.com
Home-based service business
Poplin (formerly SudShare) is a nationwide platform that lets you run a wash-and-fold laundry service out of your own home, using your own washer and dryer. Customers book pickup online through Poplin's app; you collect their laundry, wash, dry, and fold it, and return it — Poplin handles the customer acquisition, scheduling, and payment processing so you can focus on the work itself.
How it works: You apply through Poplin, pass a background check, and complete an initial trial order to get approved. From there, orders appear in the app based on your location and availability. A tier system rewards reliable, well-rated Pros with the ability to take on more simultaneous orders and get priority access to new jobs.
Earning potential: Pros keep 75% of the order price plus 100% of tips. Poplin advertises that top-performing Pros average around $2,500/month, with high-volume Pros reporting $5,000+/month; many people use it as flexible part-time or supplemental income rather than a full-time replacement. You're paid as an independent contractor (1099), typically within a couple of days of completing an order.
What you'll need: A reliable washer and dryer, a vehicle for pickup and delivery, basic supplies (detergent, bags, a scale), and a Social Security number for the background check and tax reporting. No storefront or special licensing is typically required, which keeps startup costs low compared to opening a commercial laundromat.
Why it's worth a look: Low upfront investment, flexible hours, and a built-in customer base are attractive if you already have laundry equipment and some open time — it's a way to test a service-business idea without committing to a lease or heavy equipment financing.
Things to evaluate before you commit:
Order volume varies a lot by market. In areas with many Pros already signed up, new Pros report trouble getting their first bookings — do some local research (Poplin's app will show pickup availability in your ZIP code) before counting on steady income.
Real take-home pay is lower than the headline numbers. Gas, machine wear-and-tear, utilities, and supplies come out of your share, and several Pros estimate their true net is closer to two-thirds of gross earnings.
You're an independent contractor, not an employee. No benefits, no guaranteed hours, and you're responsible for your own tax withholding and quarterly payments — budget accordingly.
Ratings and tips drive your growth on the platform. Advancing to higher order-volume tiers depends partly on customer ratings and tipping behavior, which isn't always within your control, so read Poplin's tier/ranking rules closely before relying on this as a primary income source.
Customer-side complaints exist (items lost, damaged, or billing disputes, per BBB records) — worth understanding Poplin's dispute and insurance process from the Pro side, since a dissatisfied customer can affect your rating even when the issue is out of your hands.
Bottom line: A low-cost, flexible way to build a home-based laundry service business using an existing platform's customer base — best suited to someone who wants supplemental income and already has the equipment, rather than someone seeking guaranteed full-time earnings.