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Fair price for a shoe shine

Hello all,
My 12 year old daughter wanted to earn some money this spring and summer and I had suggested she go around our neighborhood seeing who would like their shoes shined. She seems to like this idea, but I am at a loss to know how much she should charge. So I thought I'd ask here because I thought there might be a number of fellows who have had their shoes shined recently and could tell me what is a fair price for a shoe shine.
Thank you for your help.
 
Hello all,
My 12 year old daughter wanted to earn some money this spring and summer and I had suggested she go around our neighborhood seeing who would like their shoes shined. She seems to like this idea, but I am at a loss to know how much she should charge. So I thought I'd ask here because I thought there might be a number of fellows who have had their shoes shined recently and could tell me what is a fair price for a shoe shine.
Thank you for your help.

I'm not sure, but I would think $15-$20 is a good price for a good shoe shine. I'm not sure what kind of job your daughter would do...

I never have to pay for my shoe shines; I just go by my local clothier and they do it free while I hang out. But I always tip the guy a $10 spot... Best of luck to her though. Seeing industrious young kids really is awesome!
 
Hello all,
My 12 year old daughter wanted to earn some money this spring and summer and I had suggested she go around our neighborhood seeing who would like their shoes shined. She seems to like this idea, but I am at a loss to know how much she should charge. So I thought I'd ask here because I thought there might be a number of fellows who have had their shoes shined recently and could tell me what is a fair price for a shoe shine.
Thank you for your help.

I've had shoes shined, but I can't remember what I paid. You may try looking for a shoe shine stand, if they still exists, to see what it costs.
 
I had a pair of beat-up dress shoes brought back to life by a cobbler last year. He charged me $8 ... but he did this at his bench with an electric buffing wheel.

Other cobblers have tacked on an extra $3~5 for a shine when I've had heels put on. Some did it for free, but the cost of the shine was built in to the cost of other services.

An entrepreneurial young man with a traditional carry-around wooden box used to ask for $2, but of course, he was hustling for tips. I'd guess he averaged about $5 a shine. He would hang out on the streets of Fell's Point, Baltimore, MD and hit up the bar and nightclub patrons. He did a booming business.

Good luck to your daughter.
 
I've had shoes shined, but I can't remember what I paid. You may try looking for a shoe shine stand, if they still exists, to see what it costs.

There're always like 100 at airports, but aside from that you're right, I don't see them anywhere.

I know of only two, both in Minnesota.

There was one at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, near the Larry Craig bathroom.

The other is in Rochester, MN in the underground "subway" system. It is under the Kahler Hotel in the tunnel connected from the Mayo building (or Sieben's Building - I can't tell them apart when under ground).

There may be one downtown Minneapolis some place, but I've never looked for one.
 
I pay $10 (Canadian - so lets say $8 US) with a nice tip to a guy who does a hand shine that leaves my shoes gleaming like glass.

Before your daughter goes out to shine shoes for cash, she should make sure she knows how to give a good shine - its not as easy as it seems.
 
In lower Manhattan there are as many shoeshine places as there are Starbucks. I go at least once a week and were I go it's $3 a shine (standard price downtown), however he offers a shine club every sixth shine is free. For some reason I never get my card punched for the free shine. It's customary to give the shoe shine person usually a $1 tip. The woman who does my shoes is great and I always give her $2. Extra during the holidays.

It the one lost art I never learned how to do correctly. One day need to learn, how to shine my own shoes.
 
It the one lost art I never learned how to do correctly. One day need to learn, how to shine my own shoes.

There's a great tutorial in this forum - I'll post a link if I get a chance.

All you need is some good polish (I prefer paste to cream), a good buffing brush and a nice soft cloth or a pair of nylons for the final buffing.

Some nice extras are an old toothbrush for cleaning and polishing the welts and some sole dressing for touching up the edges of the sole and heel.

Once you get the hang of it, you can put a great shine on your shoes in about 5 minutes per pair.
 
Make sure she knows what she's doing, Chris is right, shining shoes, isn't as easy as you'd think.

The tutorial was mentioned earlier, it is linked in the Gentlemen's Essentials Sticky here in the Speakeasy.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Looks like anywhere from $0 to $50.

In $4.3 seconds.

I have no chance of paying for a shoeshine in my little town, so I couldn't even if I wanted to. Being a cheap b@ftard, though, I'd probably do it myself anyhow.

+1 on the advice of making sure she can do a bang-up job, expecially if she is looking to provide a 'professional' service rather than a quasi-charity thing akin to the ever-popular car wash (donate money to our worthy cause and you get the side benefit of having some soapy water splattered on your vehicle.)
 
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