How do laundry shops make money ?

[Alwyn]

They're making fortunes (by local standards). My local shop charges me 400 baht for 80 pieces - can be shirts, trousers - whatever. That's 5 baht a piece. 3o baht for a shirt is outrageous

[Wordworx]

And some (some) get the occasional bonus from the ignorant farang.

Sorting things out in Chiang Mai after arrival, trying a few different shops, the one closest whacked me pretty good. Real good, in fact. Because they were close and did a decent job I let it slide at first, noting the times they did not give me a ticket with price in advance were the times the price shot up when I returned for pickup.

After a few run-throughs was dealing with husband part of the team at pickup, I asked, "Wait, how much?" Price immediately dropped 100 baht. So I thought had that sorted out; we had an understanding.

Then went back to pickup one day when the wife was on counter duty. She went for the BIG score, tried to whack me for 300 baht -- and this is fold only, not ironed. Can't detail kilos or pieces, but let's say stacked and folded, less than a foot in height. About what others would be charging 75-100 baht.

I have to admit, did not take it well. Went sort of ugly American. She dropped it 100 baht, so basically ended up only overcharging me by about 100%. And that was it for False-smile Laundry. They lost a year+ of regular business (and pretty sure they don't give a crap).

A reasonable farang surcharge: okay. But the wildly greedy gouging and assumption that you are an idiot foreigner with too much money, that gets old.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Wordworx

[mikemac]

I have known them for quite some time, and they claim that they're not making enough.

HA HA !!!

Have you ever met anyone who is making good money that they doing well ? The guy I sometimes work for in Australia is worth millions, and cries poor more than the average Thai.

[Somchai Mao]

The place I use in Bangkok is staffed by a cute girl from Myanmar who appears to live in the laundry. Even when I walk past at 3, 4, 5 in the morning the light is on and the machines are running. I occasionally have a crafty look inside and generally she is either working or sleeping on a bench. I always leave her a tip. She charges by the kilo 80 baht and 120 baht ironed. She provides a great service although she has done something to my socks that made them disintegrate when I put them on. Tantamount to slavery for the poor girl.

[stoli]

I know that the laundry that I used to use is making money, and their prices are much cheaper. I no longer use them because I don't believe they used soap in the wash, just bleach. Then they would hang my shirts on rusty metal hangers to dry. I have rust stains on the shoulders of most of my shirts.

[NCC1701A]

The place I use in Bangkok is staffed by a cute girl from Myanmar who appears to live in the laundry. Even when I walk past at 3, 4, 5 in the morning the light is on and the machines are running. I occasionally have a crafty look inside and generally she is either working or sleeping on a bench. I always leave her a tip. She charges by the kilo 80 baht and 120 baht ironed. She provides a great service although she has done something to my socks that made them disintegrate when I put them on. Tantamount to slavery for the poor girl.

maybe you should take her out to dinner... let her have a feast of some sort.

[Ulic]

Not sure how they do it. The place I go in Jomtien charges 30 baht to wash, 30 baht to dry, per load up to 7 kg.

For the ironing of my 2xl shirts they charge 10 baht per shirt. When I was in Phuket the lady charged 30 baht

per kg, everything was ironed perfectly. Both services cheap,cheap,cheap, as far as I am concerned

[Somchai Mao]

The place I use in Bangkok is staffed by a cute girl from Myanmar who appears to live in the laundry. Even when I walk past at 3, 4, 5 in the morning the light is on and the machines are running. I occasionally have a crafty look inside and generally she is either working or sleeping on a bench. I always leave her a tip. She charges by the kilo 80 baht and 120 baht ironed. She provides a great service although she has done something to my socks that made them disintegrate when I put them on. Tantamount to slavery for the poor girl.

maybe you should take her out to dinner... let her have a feast of some sort.

I asked her ages ago but she looked panicked at the idea. During the day if I'm passing I'll sit with her and get some bbq stuff. Her Thai isn't brilliant and her English non-existent so we communicate in limited Thai. She's very cagey so I presume she's there illegally.

[Minnehaha]

It has all been said.

Depending where you are... prices will differ.

But even in Bkk, the going rate is about 5 Bt per item, maybe more depending....

For proper dress shirts, I always sent them to CleanMate, which has franchisees in many locations, mostly Big C.
They can do a proper wash iron press of a gentlemans dress shirt. They can even serve it folded.... so you can pack it for travel. I paid something close to 20 Baht per piece for this depending on the package I bought. Maybe as much as 35.

If you are wearing a suit every day or many days and dress shirt every day, this service is indispensable. The simple laundry at my place or next door, or down the street, or even the maid could do nothing like a professional press place like Cleanmate when it comes to mens dress shirts.

For cleanmate, I (or my maid) would drop off the shirts at the Cleanmate location in Big C and then they would deliver to my condo, no added charge. I think it was 3 or 4 business days.

[MikeOwen]

Op, they are pulling the wool over your eyes. Dunno where you are but even if it were along Suk, what they're charging is relatively expensive, around mid-level hotel prices. The reason they work long hours and don't want to outsource is because they are raking it in.

Frankly, I did a survey with a few other shops in my vicinity, and the rates are the same.

Okay, I forgot to mention. I'm the odd customer whose business with the laundry is on "per piece" basis. Most of their customers are on a membership basis, something like 700 baht per month for up to 55 pieces. The cost per item is about 13 baht.

Well, it definitely takes more than 2 minutes to iron a shirt, and more for pants. As for washing, I'm not sure if they throw everything into the machine. But I check the collar and I'm very sure they do make the effort to "scrub" the inside collar with detergent, manually.

You need to get your shirts washed more frequently is the collars need scrubbing , yeuk this is 2013

[Torrens54]

Thanks for letting us know that "1 am" is IN The Morning, some folk get confused and think that it is in the Afternoon.... or is that p.m.?

[Torrens54]

Thanks for letting us know that "1 am" is IN The Morning, some folk get confused and think that it is in the Afternoon.... or is that p.m.?

[Secondmouse]

30 Baht for a shirt:

Washing is no effort and costs almost nothing in the washing machine.

ironing. I don't know how long a professional who is doing it all the day needs: 1 min?

I guess something between 45 seconds and 2 min.

Lets say 30 shirts per hour. 20 Baht profit, 10 Baht for electric washing powder, etc= 600 Baht per hour. Not great but the double of the minimum salary

This doesn't make sense......the minimum wage is 300 per DAY...not per hour.......on your calculations of 600 Baht per hour working from 9.am. till 1a.m....that would amount to 16 hours, but lets assume a 3 hour siesta for lunch, so for a 13 hour day they would be making 7,800 Baht......that's 156,000 a month working 5 days a week..?...I don't think so.

[F4UCorsair]

If they can't make money at B30 a shirt, the better look elsewhere to make a living.

Washing a shirt in a washing machine involves less than a minute, putting it in and taking it out, along with another 20+ pieces. Ironing a shirt takes me 4 minutes, and I know exactly because I hate ironing, but if I was doing it full time, I'd guess I'd be ironing a shirt in not much over 3 minutes.

If a Thai is working constantly at B30 a shirt for 5 minutes labor, I make that B360 an hour, allowing for a little wastage, say B300 an hour, that's about $10.00 an hour, even 50 hours a week, $500.00 a week! How much does the average Thai worker earn?

They're BS'ing you..........and themselves!

[ozyjon]

"and they claim that they're not making enough" when was the last time someone actually said,, i have loads of money i don't need any more,,, rubbish,, the more you have the more you want and it LOS no one will ever tell you the truth,, i'm poor give me money, where have i heard that before... get f$%^d if you want my simpathy well you wont get it,, been ripped off never again,, i'm poor, leave me alone.

[dao16]

I have noticed that Thais who are pretty well off will still claim to be poor to a foreigner. Just the other week, I was in a store and I told the lady, during conversation, that I preferred supporting family-run shops instead of going to 7-11, if I can (if not, I just go to 7-11). She said "yeah, we are just a poor family," but I know they are not poor and I gave her a silly look and said "you aren't poor, I just like family shops." She laughed immediately and gave me a knowing look back. She knew that I knew they weren't poor....was just something to say to a foreigner (who, presumably has more, in most Thai people's imagination).

[Straight8]

30 b for shirts and 40 b for trousers and they are not making good profits?

If you believe that then you'd believe anything they tell you.

[Straight8]

They're making fortunes (by local standards). My local shop charges me 400 baht for 80 pieces - can be shirts, trousers - whatever. That's 5 baht a piece. 3o baht for a shirt is outrageous

40 baht for trouser is even more outrageous.

A pair of pants is much easier and quicker to iron at least.

However that is a fantastic deal you got, 80 pieces for 400 baht.

[mrtoad]

I have some friends that own a laundry, and it is a very good business to have. Lots of repeat customers, and they make a tidy profit/ The place is always busy.

[Cuban]

They charge 30 baht for wash and ironing of shirts and 40 baht for trousers.

Even after you have corrected your initial post with the normal or bulk price-rates, I have the impression that you are being dangled on a string....

...is there significance in your handle "rookie" ?

Business is a numbers game of looking at your costs; rent, staff, electric and water expenditure + profit = averaged cost to customer per item.

IME Thai laundries do not take care with their customers clothes and will iron using whatever temperature their iron is at rather than adjusting to suit the material - read a wash care label?

Two minutes ironing per item seems about right.

Also Thais IME will also iron clothes with too hot an iron and on the outside thus creating that "polished" look that is the result of ruined clothing.

Ironing on the inside is the correct method - but try telling a Thai "professional" this.

I suggest that the shop in question is looking for a tip from a rookie customer, but this will be of the Baht variety rather than Donald Trump type wisdom.

[pilm]

They wash and iron clothes for money.

Quite simple really.

Especially the ironing where there is really no overhead. Virtually all profit.

[mikemac]

Especially the ironing where there is really no overhead. Virtually all profit.

What are they using, solar powered irons ?

[TheSpade]

Was 400B for my laundry today.

I swear they just make the price up as they go along.

Every week I'm putting roughly the same amount of stuff in yet the price varies from 200-400B..

This week a little less than usual as I forgot to put my towels in and some jeans and shorts that were on the balcony.

Last week I had everything I own in there bar the stuff I was wearing and it was 300B.

[OldChinaHam]

One thing I do not understand is I pay 5 Baht for a Tshirt, 10 Baht for jeans, 10 Baht to have a dress shirt washed and ironed.

So why are you all paying so much?

[snake24]

They rely on tips from rich Farang like yourself.

Tips would be even more if their young daughter did a little bit of the sucky suck me love you long time thing.

[Somchai Mao]

They rely on tips from rich Farang like yourself.

Tips would be even more if their young daughter did a little bit of the sucky suck me love you long time thing.

Maybe she does, have you asked?

[snake24]

guys guys guys

comeon you are farang aren't you?

So you have "big" money.

What's 30 bht to you guys when i gbp is like what 50thb or something along those lines.

Why do you want to pay thai ppl rates?

[snake24]

They rely on tips from rich Farang like yourself.

Tips would be even more if their young daughter did a little bit of the sucky suck me love you long time thing.

Maybe she does, have you asked?

I don;t deal with getting my clothes cleaned by some local shop. I either get them dry cleaned at the hotel or my nice thai friend goes with me and we clean them via the automatic washing machines and then ironing them at her apartment.

[Keesters]

1) I'll never buy another washing machine. Last one was over baht 7,000 and now I can use an almost identical machine for baht 20 just down the street at the coin-operated laundry. 7000/20 = 350 washes. Actually more because the 20 baht includes water and electricity costs which I have to pay separately on top of the 7000. Say 400 washes at 2 washes / week = 200 weeks = almost 4 years. The one I purchased is now on its last legs after 3 years and would cost more than its worth to repair. How do the coin-op place make money?

2) There are 2 wash/dry/iron laundries in the moo-baan I live on. Don't use them as I consider them a) illegal and 2) an eye sore with masses of laundry hanging in the street drying in the sun. Houses on the estate are supposed to be residential only and no businesses are to be operated from them. That was in the contract from the developers. Do they pay taxes on these businesses? I'm told not as taxes are only collected from the main street shop houses. No taxes, water and electric at residential rates rather than business rates goes some way to making a profit or more of a profit than those laundries on the main street.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Keesters

[thairookie]

One thing I do not understand is I pay 5 Baht for a Tshirt, 10 Baht for jeans, 10 Baht to have a dress shirt washed and ironed.

So why are you all paying so much?

Long sleeves wash and iron - 30 baht. That seems to be the market rate these days in Bangkok. Trousers, 40 baht.

When you say 10 baht for wash and iron, are you referring to package deal or non-package ?