Posted on 06/29/2008 5:49:21 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Rising oil price raises insolveny prospect for dry-cleaners
Suzy Jagger in New York
Washable polyester almost finished them off in the 1960s and now the surging price of oil is putting American dry-cleaners out of business at the fastest rate for four decades.
The dry-cleaning business is particularly sensitive to the oil price because almost every part of their operations is either dependent on fuel or derived from it.
On Friday the price of oil hit a new high with light sweet crude climbing to $142.99 a barrel, before settling up 57 cents at $140.20. This time last year, the price of oil was $88 a barrel.
Dry-cleaners use oil-based solvents to clean suits, jackets and ties and they have seen their operating costs increase almost threefold in two years as the oil price continues to rise.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
I think the same can be said about farming. Chemical fertilizers are made from petroleum product and farm machines use lots of fuel.
Ping!
My dry cleaner uses an advanced liquid CO2 process. As long as there’s fire he’s going to be well supplied.
I married into a Farm Family 15 years ago. It’s the easiest way to lose money, consistently, year after year after year. But there’s always food on the table at the end of the day, and none of us have ever gone to bed hungry, so it DOES have it’s perks. ;)
Dry Cleaning? I think I’ve used a dry cleaner ONCE in my entire life, to clean and press my Wedding Gown which now sits hermetically sealed in the attic and will never see the light of day again, unless one of my sons has a bride who would like to wear it. *HINT*
*SOB* *SNIFFLE* *SOB*
This d@mn ‘Democrat Manufactured Oil Crisis’ has us ALL in a dither. ;)
If you like $5/gal, Thank Congress. If you want $10, Vote Obama.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Have you seen the new book?
Start with a large fortune.
“I think the same can be said about farming. Chemical fertilizers are made from petroleum product and farm machines use lots of fuel.”
The Ag chemical industry has farmers by the short hairs when it comes to pesticides/fertilizers. Last week my GF’s BIL had to buy 1 gallon of spray to treat his tobacco for mold. $700 dollars for one gallon.
The biggest profit farmers ever see is when the suburbs encroach and they sell their land.
It all depends on what you do and where you live.
Folks back home in suburban Northern Virginia who commute between work and home twice a day tend to use dry cleaners for business attire because it's not cost-effective (in terms of their time) to wash shirts and pants, then iron and starch them, and so forth. For example, hypothetical of course, but not atypical in Northern Virginia: if you're making $40.00/hour (pre-tax) and it costs $1.00/each to dry clean three white collar shirts, then you pay the $3.00 for dry cleaning and go out to make that $40.00 in one hour's work.
That said, my dad mentioned to me a few weeks ago that prices at the dry cleaners in our area had increased rather spectacularly and that, with the cost of gasoline to drive to the dry cleaners, folks are really starting to feel the pinch.
Dry cleaners are also being hit by ever tightening environmental rules. The venting of dry cleaning solvents to the atmosphere in even minute amounts is prohibited in some areas like California and it is only a matter of time before the class action lawyers find some evidence that these dry cleaning solvents might cause cancer and finish off the entire industry.
If you are talking dollars and cents but the biggest profit most farm families see is their children growing up to be hard working, independent, and self-reliant adults. Some profits you can't put a price on.
Thanks for the ping.
LOL! Yep. That’s the standard joke over the dinner table at FILs. However, he’s one intelligent man; a retired IBM Engineer who always wanted to farm. He retired in his early 50’s, and is 73 now and on the tractor more often than not. Think, “Oliver Wendell Douglas” but not a doofus, LOL!
The key is diversification. While he always does corn and soybean, he’s also done cattle, hogs, laying hens, all sorts of farm markets for fruits and veggies (his grapes are awesome!) and also sells trees. Has a lot of set-aside land “rented” to the state, etc.
As I said, one intelligent man, plus a Marine to boot! (There’s no such thing as an Ex-Marine.) He’s one of my heroes. :)
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