No more wire hangers! There is rarely a time when I meet someone who hasn’t relished the thought of throwing them away. Growing up with two younger siblings our shared closet was often askew – with wire hangers that never seemed to set right. I remember vowing to buy all wooden hangers when I was old enough to afford them. That was in college. Now with monthly visits to the dry cleaner, my freshly pressed suits and blouses come with two dozen wire hangers with that familiar white paper wrapping.

Long ago, I encountered a dilemma. My conscience could never accept trashing them. So what’s a girl in the affectionately green era to do? I attempted to take them back. Alas, my wire hangers were politely declined, “No, we don’t need them back.”

“You don’t recycle them?” I asked.

“Oh no, it’s all right”, the woman behind the counter replied.

Flash forward to just 6 months ago. Higher gas prices. Higher food costs. Higher everything. I had quite a wire hanger collection going at this point. I was going to give my dry cleaner another chance at receiving the horrible hangers and at being environmentally correct. I figured that if they didn’t say yes to the hangers – I would just take them to work where we began recycling programs hangers, bottles and cans and electronics. It was a new day.

After making some small talk with that same woman behind the counter, I asked: “With all this stuff going on in the economy, what is your highest business expense?”

“Hangers,” she replied, “And the plastic bags we put the clothes in.”

This time around she gladly received the hangers telling me prices had gone up on these items over the past year. Chances are without things changing prices, those costs would be passed on to people like me. Even at my no frills cleaner!

Made in America

It’s far more than high gas prices. Here’s an idea of how much the prices have gone up for wire hangers:

I called Classic Cleaners in Antelope. The owners told me they used to buy 500 hangers for about 19 dollars. Now that same stock costs 35 dollars today. That’s an increase of more than 50%. I called Woodard Ficetti Cleaners in downtown Sacramento – they’re costs have gone up 100%. Those numbers are across the board according to the National Dry Cleaners Association. 50-100 % increases based on the tax imposed on Chinese manufacturers of hangers – which are where most dry cleaners used to get their supply. The tax was imposed because American wire hanger manufacturers couldn’t compete with rock bottom prices offered by the Chinese. Now, its higher for those buying American…and Chinese.

Bringing it back home…

Hangers and Hamburgers

Not long before I had the dry cleaner lady hip to recycling, I had begun a conversation with the owner of a downtown diner. They had raised their prices about a dollar per sandwich to offset fuel surcharges.

“A lot of businesses are raising prices for fuel – obviously – but one of the highest costs is dry cleaning – uniforms and linens. The cost of wire hangers has gone up because of the price and value of metals (and the tax on Chinese imports). That’s hitting businesses hard”, he told me.

So you mean if I simply bring my hangers back to my dry cleaner, I’ll keep prices the same at local businesses? In theory…it’s possible.

And there is something to this whole “Going green” that will affect my life in a tangible, practical way right now? Yes.

Here are some tips for saving: Organic Dry cleaners will ALWAYS recycle.

Save On Cleaners www.saveoncleaner.com
5500 Madison Ave
Sacramento, CA 95841
Phone: (916) 332-2000

Some cleaners will give you a reusable bag – which cuts down cost and trashing of plastic. Usually there’s a monthly payment plan or one time fee for the bag. Check out:

Executive Cleaners
5412 Madison Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95841
Phone: (916) 338-5681

Encourage your dry cleaner to advertise recycling. It’ll give us all more bang for our buck.