wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

The next time you go to your cleaners ask to see the dry cleaning machine, once you have an eye on it ask to see the tanks that contain the dry cleaning fluid. If the fluid is as clear as tap water you are in a quality cleaning establishment, however if it looks like day old coffee walk, no run to the nearest exit and never go back.

If you have any questions please fell free to call 440 333-2800

Joe DiMauro

No!!! I am not crazy, but you would be if you got into that disgusting water. Most dry cleaners think you are crazy because that is what they are doing to your clothes more often then not.

Then you put those clothes next to your skin, yuk!!!!

3. Now lets look at the simple facts, most men that wear dress shirts on a daily basis have any where from 10 to 30 shirts hanging in their closet. 99% of those shirts can be done professionally on our shirt pressing machines. Making the purchase of such a machine a smart business practice. On the other hand the amount of blouses that a woman has that are machine washable. and can be pressed on a machine... I am sure you realize where I am going with this... On average my store washes and presses 1000 men’s business shirts per week, this being a very small store, and on any given week the number of washable, non dry cleanable ladies blouses does not exceed 15.

4. Tip of the day....The one price cleaner... $1.99 or whatever for any piece... most dry cleaners will not tell you this but here is the terrifying truth...

Go home tonight and fill your bath tub with water, invite your family, friends, neighbors, their friends and family, their dogs and cats and even their pet mice over and have them all take a bath. Do not change the water after each bath is taken. After they are done "Go ahead and now take a bath yourself."

Hi everyone,

My name is Joe, I own DiMauro Cleaners just outside of Cleveland Ohio.

I would like to make a few points here addressing this concern.

1. As I am sure you all accept, different materials, more delicate buttons or appliqués, darts and pleats will prohibit a dry cleaner from utilizing the same machine used for pressing a mans shirt. However the main reason why most ladies blouses can not be done is simply due to the fact of size. I am sure most quality dry cleaners such as myself will take the time to try and put your shirt on our machine, if the top fits with out any problems then the price should be the same as a mans shirt. If the blouse can not be dressed properly onto the machine and causing the pressing to be done by hand then the price needs to be increased accordingly.

2. The $50,000.00 machine this woman has suggested is a wonderful machine and a great addition to any dry cleaners. However, if using this machine as a stand alone shirt unit the price for men’s shirts would greatly increase due to the time needed to dress the unit and in addition the time needed to press the garment thoroughly. Right now it takes me approx. one minute to press one mans shirt, with the machine this woman speaks of the time for dressing and pressing is approx. 4-6 minutes. This would drive this cleaners out of competing with other local cleaners. The only way to stop from having to charge more for the men’s shirt is to have both pieces of equipment.

Zips dry cleaners in D.C. charges 1.99 to dry clean any garment - regardless whether it's a man's shirt, a woman's shirt, cotton, cotton blend, whatever. On a recent trip to D.C. I lugged about 20 items of clothing-- and ended up saving at least forty bucks. Makes me want to pick up and move to D.C.! ;)

http://www.321zips.com/home.php

We have to take a deep breath, and get it through our heads that humanity is a composition of men and women. As much as we would like to be equal and get treated as one, it just doest work like that. you'll just have to find the shoe that is most comfortable for you to walk in. Dr. King must be rolling in his grave to see the subject inequality is being demoted to a dry cleaning issue. After millions have been enslave over that same word. Lady pay your dollar fifty or move to Iran somewhere, and see if you get treated any better. Thank you!

I was thrilled to hear this segment this morning! I was just complaining to my husband about the fact that my shirts cost about 3 times as much as his at the cleaners. I think it's completely unfair, and I really hope Janet Floyd can get our representatives in city government to do something about it.

I'm all for gender equity BUT, when I turned on the radio today I thought I had stepped into Lady Marjorie's drawing room to overhear the upstairs people complaining about the chiseling ways of the laborers below stairs. (Actuallly Lady Marjorie was never so crass.) People who take their shirts out to be pressed are of an entirely different class for those pressing the shirts. If you are having your shirts pressed, the labor compensation problem you might more profitably attend to would be the execs in charge of your stock holdings who may not be willing to work for you for less than $500,000 a year. Unless you are one of those execs.

Katie Kennedy - look at a woman's dress shirt. Yes, at first glance it generally "looks the same" but if you actually look at it more closely you'll undoubtedly notice darting around the bust, either on the sides or underneath. These are absolute facts, that if you or the guest took any time to research, would be easily apparent. I thought this was common knowledge (evidenced by the fact that half the posts here - by both men and women - are acknowledging this), but apparently not. And, yes, if you happen to be wearing a true "boy cut" shirt, then the difference is unreasonable, but the fact is that that is the exception to the rule that the difference is attributable to a real difference between a wo/man's shirt.

Some years ago, I heard an interview with the founder of Ebony e said that he was able to sell magazines because magazines owned by White people didn't publish stories and articles Black people were interested in reading. Where the was discrimination, there is opportunity, to paraphrase him. He was a millionaire many times over.

If women are being overcharged by dry cleaners, perhaps there is a business opportunity here. Open a dry cleaning business catering to womens clothing and charge mens prices. You'll clean up. No?

The entire issue was settled by economist Steven Landsburg in this 1998 Slate column:

http://www.slate.com/id/2050/

One very enlightening excerpt:

"...There are over half a dozen dry cleaners within easy walking distance of my house. If they're all earning higher profits on women's blouses than on men's shirts, why hasn't any of them decided to specialize in women's blouses?

Let me make that more concrete. Suppose the going prices are $1.65 for a man's shirt and $5.25 for a woman's blouse, even though (under the theory we're currently entertaining) they are equally expensive for the cleaner to handle. Then if I were a dry cleaner, I would announce a uniform price of $5 for all shirts and blouses--thereby attracting all the women's business and none of the men's. Because nobody has adopted that obvious strategy, we should suspect that despite appearances, the profit margin on women's clothing can't be much higher than on men's...".

Fees should be assessed by the level of labor required to complete the job.

All of my dress shirts are fitted and are undeniably more difficult to press than my husband's.

To atom...I think we're talking about "man-tailored" shirts for women. I don't expect to pay the same as my husband for a frilly blouse, but for a shirt that looks just like his, bought at the same store, no less, no.

I thought this had been dealt with back in the '90s too. I'm glad to get the story--yeah, that sounds like Giuliani. I guess I hadn't been aware it was still happening because I mostly don't wear clothes that need dry cleaning.

And yes, it does matter that women pay more. First, we get paid less but charged more, & second, once again the default is geared to males. (Ever notice how "unisex" clothing sizes are the same as men's sizes? If you wear a women's small, you can't even get your size in some items.)

Regarding the woman who just called in about the darts and all in women's shirt, have you ever looked at a Ted Baker Men's shirt - way more complicated! I suppose if you can afford to buy those shirts it probably isn't an issue anyway how much your wife's shirts cost to clean.

Wow. Its amazing how little hard information she was able to come up with and still be given a spot on the air. It sounds like she did 10 minutes of calling around and that's about it.

Dan

I iron my own shirts and my wife's -- it takes me nearly twice as long to do hers (no crease in sleeve, multiple pleats, ridiculus materials).

anonymous[5]: But it also happens with health insurance even though women consume more health care (doctors visits, etc).

Back to Dry-cleaning:

When the press machines crack the buttons on men's shirts and destroy them, men are told, "them's the breaks" and the dry cleaner does not reimburse the man for the shirt. Are you willing to accept this? Women's shirts require more care because women demand more care. Maybe if you're successful, men will also get reimbursed, but I'd rather suffer with the occasional broken button.

Hair cuts: My hair is cut by a woman at a styling place where most customers are women. I'm charged much less. The hair stylist spends 10 to 15 minutes cutting my hair. She can usually knock my haircut out while all the different women are between the coloring, cutting and drying. If it's a little uneven, I don't really care. Again, women are more particular and require more time.

This woman is a PILL.

why not simply start a dry cleaners that doesn't charge more for women and see if it's a good business?

or fund special dry cleaner machines under tarp?

Ms. Floyd is proving the "women are fussier and more demanding" theory just by publicizing this issue.

I sent one of my women's shirts to the laundry and it came back looking awful because it was pressed on a mens'-shirt machine. The machine couldn't handle the curves nor the styled collar.

I press my shirs and my wife's shirts at home. It is a lot easier to press my shirts because it is flatter. Women's shirts are more "shaped".
(I use a regular iron).

Men's and Women's shirts [maybe pants] are handed differently- the buttons are on the opposite side- question is haven't the machines cost been the same?

Many years ago I was working in a restaurant and my uniform was a blue or white man's button down shirt with a tie. My male coworker and I went to the same dry cleaners and I found out that I was being charged more for my shirts than he was. When I brought it up to my dry cleaner, he claimed mine were women's shirts and they were more expensive (I bought them in the men's department). Needless to say, I took my business elsewhere. BTW, this was in Maryland not NYC.

Give me a break. It's about the kind of shirt. Men pay more for auto insurance. How about that?

I just had this situation come up with my drycleaner when i brought my size 6 white cotton shirt and asked her to launder it with my husbands shirts. She said they could not put it on the press machine and it would have to be DRY Cleaned instead of laundered!

How about the fact that men have to check their "bags" at museums and stores, while women can take their "purses" - no matter what size - in with them?

silk should never be dry cleaned.

Take your business elsewhere if you feel you're being ripped off. If you can't find anywhere that charges the same prices, perhaps it really is an inherent cost.

Footnote: Giuliani did what?

this is absolutely ridiculous. men's shirts lay flat and can be put in press machines, whereas women's shirts are shaped to fit their breasts and often due not lay flat, requiring hand-ironing. it's that simple. how can you say it is discriminatory that these machines cannot account for the fact that women are not flat?

there are so many real forms of discrimination occuring that are not easily explained by logistical concerns that deserve airtime instead of this.

I had a white dress shirt done for weeks at my dry cleaner for the same price as my husband's dress shirts. One week I brought it in with make-up on the collar--the dry cleaner charged me for a woman's shirt. Now if I get make-up on the shirt, I wash the collar before taking it in for cleaning.
PS--to No. 1. I already pay $15 more for my haircut than my husband--same salon, same hairdresser. Go figure.

It's not just a matter of material that causes the price differentiation. The varying cuts (styles) and range of sizes of women's shirt require hand pressing.

Hand pressing is more labor intensive and requires more time.

If women were willing to wear more standardized tops in line with the standardization of men's shirt, press machines for women's tops wouldn't be so cost prohibitive for small cleaners.

For the most part mens shirts tend to be 100% cotton. However womens shirts more often contain lycra and other synthetic fibers that shrink or melt when pressed with a press machine.
Also, dry cleaning is a convenience, not a necessity. If price is the issue, handwash your clothing and press it yourself

Well then isn't it about time the pressing machine was redesigned to iron both!! You know, you set it to men's shirts or women's shirts.

Yes this was also and haircut issue about 20 years ago.

Give me a break! I am a woman, and I have no problem with paying an extra $1.75 (or whatever amount) for my clothes over my guy's. If every dry cleaner over the past 20 years has said the press machines for women are made for men's shirts, uh - maybe they're actually telling the truth?? Come on!

Why is limo rental for a wedding is more expensive than than for any other occasion? Is that discrimination?

I used to have very short hair, yet my haircut cost a lot more than those for men with longer hair.

The Times ran this story? Isn't that already too much? Why is this on the radio. I'm turning on my ipod...

we've been talking about this for years

Perhaps women tend to be fussier about dry cleaning results, and therefore a surcharge is necessary to offset rebates for unhappy customers.

Don't worry, the same thing happens to us Y chromosomers when we buy car insurance, albeit for a different reason.

Why does it cost $1.50 to wash a man's shirt? My dry cleaner charges me $6 for my shirts.

Really? Really? What's wrong with everybody?

I've noticed this whenever I bring my girlfriend and my dry cleaning to our cleaner. She and I both have Banana Republic dress shirts (same material) and taking the exact same white shirt costs me a fraction of what hers does because hers is often counted as a blouse, unless I correct it.

I'm not convinced it's deliberate, we have a nice relationship with our cleaner just an assumption on his part.

What's next, haircuts?