The myth of 3 levels of dry cleaning and shirt laundry quality

Your cleaner tells you that they’re a true quality cleaner. That they offer “exceptional”, “exquisite” or “award winning” cleaning.

Yet, they offer 3 different levels of quality at 3 different price levels - artfully called their “everyday”, “expert” and “couture” service. Or their "diamond", "platinum" and "gold" service. Or their "classic", "deluxe" and "artisan" service.

Pressed for details, they’ll tell you that their “couture”, "gold", or "artisan" service is their “extra care service,” where your garments, particularly your designer, high fashion, specialty and couture garments, are cleaned by their "best cleaner”, pressed by their "best presser”, inspected “by hand”, hung on wishbone-shaped wood and chrome hangers, and stuffed with logo printed tissue.

Can it help?

Possibly. But not likely.

The real question you should ask yourself is this: is the fancy packaging worth the premium price?

Because, in many cases, that’s probably the only difference between their “everyday” and their “couture” service.

In other words, apart from the packaging, there is almost no difference in the quality of the product between your cleaner’s “everyday”, “expert” and “couture” services.

To illustrate the absurdity of offering three levels of service, let's draw an analogy...

Just imagine if McDonalds, Denny’s and Morton’s moved next door to one another and built a single kitchen to be shared by all three restaurants.

Furthermore, imagine if those three restaurants utilized the same chefs and servers, purchased their food and other supplies from the same vendors and set McDonalds prices at 400% below Denny’s prices and Denny’s prices at 400% below Morton’s prices.

Do you think it’s possible for that shared kitchen to consistently deliver a steak of Morton’s quality to Morton’s diners just because their steak is prepared by their shared kitchen’s “best short order cook” and served by their "best server”?

Don’t think so.

Is it possible for the same personnel, processes, equipment and facilities that routinely produces ordinary, bang and hang cleaning to also produce true quality cleaning?

Of course, they can’t.

The notion is absurd.

Their employees get confused about the quality of the product they need to deliver. Their clients get confused about the quality of the product they’re paying for. And the management has no idea how to allocate their limited resources to serve three very different sets of clients with very different needs along the quality-price spectrum.

A true quality cleaner would never offer three levels of care.

A true quality cleaner only offers one level of care ..... extraordinary care.

Clients who choose a true quality cleaner want best of breed. Not a mutt that has the characteristics of two or more breeds.