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It's not because women's blouses are smaller. It's because they are usually fitted and have darts. That's why they have to iron them by hand. I don't like the price difference either, but I sort of understand them.
In CA and NJ (1980s/early 1990s) I was charged the same to wash/starch/iron a women's cotton buttondown oxford cloth shirt (size 10) as a men's.
In OR, women's shirts were charged about 3x mens, and the argument was indeed that they had to be done by hand -- didn't fit the big ironing machine. Needless to say, for 12 years I didn't have shirts professionally done.
The place at HH/CPW is good. Interestingly, it is less expensive to have a shirt drycleaned/pressed there than to have it laundered/starched. The same is true of khakis!
I have not taken an oxford cloth buttondown to them yet, but they charged the the standard flat fee for my chamois cloth shirt (which is, come to think of it, a unisex size S).
Another dry cleaning $ tidbit - I brought my white labcoats in for cleaning with my regular stuff. The prices were about the same as in RI for ladies shirts and slacks. On my way home, I looked at my receipt and to my horror, saw that they charged me $11 for each labcoat!!! I used to pay $4.50. When asked about this high price, they told me they require extra attention for the stains!! I had no stains!! I think I'll go to the $1.59 place.
I brought my labcoats to the inexpensive place at HH and CPW yesterday, after refusing to pay $11 each (I used to pay $4.50 in RI). This "inexpensive place" charged $8 each! I really like having them dry cleaned because they have name/dept embroidered on them and dry cleaning saves on the wear and tear. Looks like it's back to washing them at home. Too bad because I HATE ironing....
I won't go to the $1.99 (or similar) cleaners after one of them lost a special occassion linen. I was told by the owner "oh, someone probably walked off with it--it happens." Then I was pointed to the disclaimer on the back of my receipt that read the dry cleaners were only liable for up to 10% of the cost of an item. So--they lose a $100 item b/c "it happens" and I get $10 to replace it?
Hmm. I own a dry cleaner, so I can discuss this from this side of the counter. On a regular day we do approximately 300 to 400 men's shirts (LAUNDERED) and we do about five women's blouses a day. The shirt machine which is made to handle size 16" through 18" neck and body costs about $40K (including install and other equipment to go along with the shirt unit). That $40K can be justfied by the amount of men's shirts done, but to buy a new machine to only do women's shirts (which is non-existent at the moment) is not justifiable when you do five women's shirts a day. I must note that this is for LAUNDERING not dry cleaning. For the five women's shirts we do to launder/starch we have to use a human being who has to be paid for their time and thus creating more cost. By the way despite what everyone believes, it takes more work to launder/starch an item versus dry cleaning an item. Its technical so I don't want to put you to sleep.
Now having said that, if your cleaner charges you extra for having a women's (dry cleaned)shirt vs. a man's (dry cleaned) shirt then that is not fair and unethical. If you want to test them, take in a man's khakis and ladies khakis and see if they charge extra for the female's. If they charge a little more for pleats and folds (a man's shirt does not usually have these things) or designs then the additional cost can be justified because each pleat should be pressed (unlike a discount cleaner who just blow steam or slam-bam press) carefully to give straight lines.
A lot of folks do not know what proper dry cleaning is such as: no seam imprints, no pocket imprints, no double creases, no creases in ladies blouses, and proper stain removal. And to be truthful, we would have to charge at least $10 a pair of pants to go over every single stich, pleats, and creases. Since most folks have accepted low to medium level of quality we reserve the highest level of cleaning to the customers who request it and who are willing to pay for it. I can assure you that we do not handle the $1500 ST. Johns knit jacket the same as some discounters (who may not even know the value of the garment).
Sorry, I rambled Back to pricing (man vs. female). I don't know about others, but we charge extra for a man's shirt that will not fit the machine as well when a neck size is bigger than 18.5" and we charge extra for boy's shirts that are too small to fit the machine.
Seriously though you should test your current cleaner to see if they do indeed charge extra for women's clothes just because they are women's clothes (make sure there are no unusual decoration, pleats, and delicate fabrics). If they do, you should talk with the owner or find another place.
Our local dry cleaner charges $1.49 to wash and iron a man's button down cotton shirt. However, if I take a woman's button down cotton shirt to the same cleaner, the charge is $4.75. I even tried to clarify that I only wanted washing and iron, not dry cleaning and I was told the difference was that the woman's shirt was "smaller and harder to iron" so they charge more for the same service.
What the heck? If I brought them a smaller man's shirt would the price go up? Do all dry cleaners gouge their prices for woman's clothes?
Thanks JohnKim--I've had that explained to me before, but not in that detail.
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