Hand Laundries
Probably are a dying breed; can look up several in the Manhattan Yellow pages. It seems to me most laundries/dry cleaners locally rely heavily on Mexican labour, even the ones owned by Asians.
According to our local laundry owner, running that sort of business is very labour intensive,with the costs going up the more hand work is done versus machines. On the flip side most people won't pay beyond a certian rate, so prices run in a narrow range. In a place like NYC where costs are high, the only way to make money is volume, volume, volume.
Laundries historically depended upon labour from the lower rungs of society/new immigrants. Think about it,would you want to sort through/wash other people's soiled laundry/linens? Stuck in hot, humid conditions, standing for hours on end?
Again this is another case of immigrants taking jobs most Americans do not want. Years ago a woman who found herself short of funds would take in washing to make ends meet (Mildred Pierce did it), but welfare took that incentive away. Well that and public health laws regarding commercial laundries.
Launderess
Probably are a dying breed; can look up several in the Manhattan Yellow pages. It seems to me most laundries/dry cleaners locally rely heavily on Mexican labour, even the ones owned by Asians.
According to our local laundry owner, running that sort of business is very labour intensive,with the costs going up the more hand work is done versus machines. On the flip side most people won't pay beyond a certian rate, so prices run in a narrow range. In a place like NYC where costs are high, the only way to make money is volume, volume, volume.
Laundries historically depended upon labour from the lower rungs of society/new immigrants. Think about it,would you want to sort through/wash other people's soiled laundry/linens? Stuck in hot, humid conditions, standing for hours on end?
Again this is another case of immigrants taking jobs most Americans do not want. Years ago a woman who found herself short of funds would take in washing to make ends meet (Mildred Pierce did it), but welfare took that incentive away. Well that and public health laws regarding commercial laundries.
Launderess