Out of Steam

Can you imagine paying $400 for a steam iron? When I called my neighborhood appliance store, they quoted me a price range of $34 to $400.

My iron of over 35 years gave up the ghost this week. I thought perhaps I could just make do with a cheap Best Buy iron I had bought for my sewing room. When it nearly ruined my favorite white blouse with black sticky stuff, I realized it was time to go iron shopping.

I called Appliance Fix-It, a small family-run neighborhood store, at 8:00 this morning because I remembered seeing irons amidst every other appliance imaginable when I was in there recently to have keys made. A description of the $34 iron made it seem quite adequate for my needs.

I did, however, get to see and hold the $400 model, and let me tell you it weighed a ton! The owner said they sell them to people who wear hand-made suits and are really particular about their clothes. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why such people wouldn’t just send their suits to the dry cleaners. I would actually have a sore shoulder after ironing too many suits with that iron.

The new iron is really quite nice. It’s a Panasonic with a retractable cord. I could have paid $24 more for automatic shut-off, but decided I didn’t need or even want it. I really like the fact that it has a very sturdy base which means it won’t topple over easily.

I’ll bet I paid close to $34 all those years ago for the one that broke. It’s a good thing inflation has been kinder to that industry than it has to the price of gas. I think gas sold for under $1 a gallon in 1972.