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Why Are There No Shoe Shine Stands in Singapore?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 4:15 pm
by Strong Eagle
Very common to find in office buildings, hotels in many US cities... can't say that I've seen one here.

Re: Why Are There No Shoe Shine Stands in Singapore?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 4:40 pm
by Edmundfo
Strong Eagle wrote:Very common to find in office buildings, hotels in many US cities... can't say that I've seen one here.
Because singaporeans have better things to do?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 5:02 pm
by nakatago
pride? :P

Re: Why Are There No Shoe Shine Stands in Singapore?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 5:21 pm
by revhappy
Strong Eagle wrote:Very common to find in office buildings, hotels in many US cities... can't say that I've seen one here.
Probably because the lowest strata of society is very poor in the US, which include illegal immigrants?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 6:20 pm
by sundaymorningstaple
Mr. Minit?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 8:02 pm
by carolynW
Its part of the helpers chores or kids do for pocket money.

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 8:46 pm
by observer
Perhaps it's because the asian equivalent to "kissing ass" is "polishing shoe" :)

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 9:19 pm
by sundaymorningstaple
observer wrote:Perhaps it's because the asian equivalent to "kissing ass" is "polishing shoe" :)
Maybe you should change it from asian to Singaporean. There are shoe shine boys all over Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya and other major asian cities as well.

Re: Why Are There No Shoe Shine Stands in Singapore?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:01 pm
by Strong Eagle
revhappy wrote:
Strong Eagle wrote:Very common to find in office buildings, hotels in many US cities... can't say that I've seen one here.
Probably because the lowest strata of society is very poor in the US, which include illegal immigrants?
Mostly blacks, actually... who, incidentally, are hurt the most by the influx of cheap immigrant labor.

Still, a reasonable earning could be made.

Re: Why Are There No Shoe Shine Stands in Singapore?

Posted: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:52 pm
by Splatted
Strong Eagle wrote:
revhappy wrote:
Strong Eagle wrote:Very common to find in office buildings, hotels in many US cities... can't say that I've seen one here.
Probably because the lowest strata of society is very poor in the US, which include illegal immigrants?
Mostly blacks, actually... who, incidentally, are hurt the most by the influx of cheap immigrant labor.

Still, a reasonable earning could be made.
They would have to be located in the right areas, eg around office buildings or CBD.

Everywhere else is mostly flip flop/slipper traffic

Posted: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 2:59 pm
by Shrekie
No opportunity I guess. Can't do it in a building without paying some sort of rent, can't do it on the streets without getting some sort of permit.

With the way rentals are in Singapore, they'd probably need to charge $5-$10 per pair of shoes just to cover rent. Now, why in the world would someone want to pay that kind of money for a shoe shine?

Posted: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 3:08 pm
by nakatago
Shrekie wrote:No opportunity I guess. Can't do it in a building without paying some sort of rent, can't do it on the streets without getting some sort of permit.

With the way rentals are in Singapore, they'd probably need to charge $5-$10 per pair of shoes just to cover rent. Now, why in the world would someone want to pay that kind of money for a shoe shine?
Nice first post.

I was about to say something like that. Also, there are maids to do it.

Posted: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 3:20 pm
by Shrekie
nakatago wrote:
Shrekie wrote:No opportunity I guess. Can't do it in a building without paying some sort of rent, can't do it on the streets without getting some sort of permit.

With the way rentals are in Singapore, they'd probably need to charge $5-$10 per pair of shoes just to cover rent. Now, why in the world would someone want to pay that kind of money for a shoe shine?
Nice first post.

I was about to say something like that. Also, there are maids to do it.
Thanks. I don't quite agree with the maids bit though. I think it's a simple enough task to do on my own.

Posted: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 3:28 pm
by nakatago
Shrekie wrote:
nakatago wrote:
Shrekie wrote:No opportunity I guess. Can't do it in a building without paying some sort of rent, can't do it on the streets without getting some sort of permit.

With the way rentals are in Singapore, they'd probably need to charge $5-$10 per pair of shoes just to cover rent. Now, why in the world would someone want to pay that kind of money for a shoe shine?
Nice first post.

I was about to say something like that. Also, there are maids to do it.
Thanks. I don't quite agree with the maids bit though. I think it's a simple enough task to do on my own.
Probably not you personally but you know what I mean...

Posted: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 5:19 pm
by sundaymorningstaple
it's not the maid's job to be washing cars either, but I see 'em doing it every morning as I leave my HDB flat to go to work! :x