How do people afford dry cleaning here?

[PhilipDT]

In the vein of the how do people afford Mcdonalds/burger king thread.

I just went to pick up 3 slacks and 3 shirts from the cleaners. 205 pesos! HOLY POO. That seems like a lot for all the poor schmucks I know who have to wear suits to work and earn like 5 or 6k a month.

I figure I can get 2 days (3 max) of wear out of a pair of slacks and clean jackets about once every 1 or 2 months if they're in regular rotation. That seems like it would take a rather large bite out of the young professional's budget here.

Is this why the subway smells so bad, do people just not wash their clothes?

 

[chris]

Suits seldom need such frequent dry cleaning. In fact dry cleaning will take the life our of your clothes if it is too frequent. If your suits are dark colored, why don't you iron the trousers every couple of days? Shirts? What kind? Why can't they be washed in water?

 

[PhilipDT]

Suits seldom need such frequent dry cleaning. In fact dry cleaning will take the life our of your clothes if it is too frequent. If your suits are dark colored, why don't you iron the trousers every couple of days? Shirts? What kind? Why can't they be washed in water?

In this heat 2 days is definitely pushing it with pants at least for me. Its not about the press, its about the cleanliness.

As for shirts....that was the price with normal washing... NUTS, I know!

 

[chris]

Then why don't you use trousers that can be washed in the machine? Get an iron.

 

[dani28]

I dont think dry cleaning in Argentina is very common. My partner was flabbergasted that I was used to taking my nice dress shirts to the cleaners as opposed to washing them in the machine and then hanging them out to dry.

Compare and contrast recent dry cleaning experiences in a 2 week time frame, 1 in Argentina the other in the US

5aeco Dry Cleaners in Flores:

5 dress shirts and 1 pair of khakis

210 pesos

(No extras, left stain on one of my shirts)

Dry Cleaner in Chicago:

13 dress shirts

2 pairs of pants

$35 USD (all of the extras and perfectly clean, folded, etc)

 

[steveinbsas]

Five years ago didn't 5aseco mean five pesos for each item?

Talk about inflation!

But Argentina isn't alone.

I wonder how many expats from the USA know how "Motel 6" got it's name?

 

[CarverFan]

They scam people to afford it. So many people cheating others for extra money. It's happening to me now as we speak.
To get back to the dry cleaning, the senora who took my duvet and charged me 70 pesos agreed that it has double over the last year. 2 or 3 years ago it was highly affordable...5 years ago it was very cheap, like everything else. Laughably cheap, but now someone else is having the last laugh.

 

[bebero]

i don't understand why you dry clean items every week... can't they be washed with water?

 

[steveinbsas]

5 years ago it was very cheap, like everything else. Laughably cheap, but now someone else is having the last laugh.

I wonder who that might be.

And what political office they hold.

It's difficult to imagine anyone in the private sector laughing.