I found a receipt from 2009 for dry-cleaning when I was cleaning my closet. The suit pants were $3.10, and the shirts were $1.75. Granted this was nine years ago, but my most recent visit to the same location, pants were $5.25, and shirts were $3.25. Another cleaner near my old office (where I had my cleaning done for almost 3 years) was $4.25 for pants and $2.25 for shirts, but alas they regularly broke buttons, and it is not worth going an extra 20 minutes (each way) to save $8 on weekly cleaning.

To make it worse, nobody advertises prices, so it is a guessing game until you get a slip. We were going to have my wife's Pea Coat cleaned, until we were told it would be $45 (for a $75 jacket).

What are prices in your area?

I took my textile motorcycle jacket to be dry cleaned yesterday. As best I can remember, I've NEVER had anything dry cleaned before.

The slip says I'll owe them $13.05 when I pick it up, which seems reasonable.

Your 2009 prices are what I paid until a year ago then I switched dry cleaners

Nothing. Gave up any clothing that requires it, except my marryin' and buryin' suit.

I pay $2.50 per shirt. Not sure if that’s expensive, average or cheap BUT I learned (when one of my favorite shirts almost got destroyed by a crappy dry cleaner) that you should find a good dry-cleaner and stick to it; price be damned!

Side note: Some of the shirts I get dry cleaned cost me as low as $15 (Banana Republic clearance rack for the win!). I likely spent more getting the shirt cleaned in a year than it’s worth, but I’d rather have the shirt last longer than going through the hassle of shopping around for shirts; it’s sorta tricky to find a button-down that fits me well.

OK, to go against all the “I never have anything dry cleaned!” crowd,

I have uniform pants that need to be dry cleaned. And occassionally a dress shirt. Pants seem to be about $3-4 a pair, shirts about half that. This is in the Dallas area, and I use a local place that I know, and not one of the giant drive-through beasts.

I pay $1.25 for dress shirts and $5 for a suit.

I’m just gonna say, that is a good deal. I had a deal down in south Texas for 3 pairs of pants for $9, but it was very specific.

Just a word of caution. I recently looked at one of my cleaning bills and thought "Wow, those prices are high". So I changed cleaners to take advantage of lower pricing. First time through, the new cleaner lost two of my dress shirts. Now I'm back at the old cleaner, paying the higher price, and arguing with the second cleaner over why they're going to reimburse me for my lost shirts.

I pay 2.25 a shirt for shirt service. Pants are 7. I rarely have a jacket cleaned, so I don’t recall that one.

I have been asking around all day and a friend just told me that his dry cleaner does a 5+5 for $35 deal as long as it is picked up within 7 days of drop off. Five wool/ suit pants and five starched shirts for $35 is not bad at all!

Wowsers. That has to add up. Are you guys going through 5 pairs of pants and 5 shirts a week? At those rates?

I wear a cotton uniform now most of the time. Wash them at home and iron them when needed. Rarely wear my poly-wools. I'll wear a suit or slacks/jacket a few times a month, but not even enough to remember what I'm paying to get them cleaned!

I looked at a tag on the drop-off drycleaning rack at our station on my way out tonight. It was something around $8 for two shirts and a pair of pants.

No, I wear suits about 2-3 times a week, and only have five shirts that are ever dry cleaned. My weekly dry cleaning needs are about 4-6 pieces, still about $20-25 a week.

$2.75 shirts, $5.75 slacks.
Local owned place where services occur on site. In my experience taking the time to find one where stuff isn’t shipped around is key to not having things go missing.

My opinion and general consensus seems to be that dress slacks can go way more than single wear before cleaning.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
$2.75 shirts, $5.75 slacks.
Local owned place where services occur on site. In my experience taking the time to find one where stuff isn’t shipped around is key to not having things go missing.

My opinion and general consensus seems to be that dress slacks can go way more than single wear before cleaning.

Yes, I apply the twice, not thrice policy myself. In the south on a 90+ degree day that is sunny, sometimes I feel differently.