Four symbols decide the machine, the temperature and whether your shirt survives. Here is how we read them.
The little label inside the side seam is the only instruction we get about a garment, and it is worth knowing what we are reading off it.
The tub with a number in it is the hottest the water may be. Thirty means thirty, and a shirt washed at sixty because it looked dirty is a shirt that fits somebody smaller now. The tub with a hand in it means no machine at all, and we will take those out of a mixed bag and price them separately rather than risk them.
The triangle is about bleach and the circle is about dry cleaning. A circle with a P is the solvent our cleaner uses; a crossed out circle means it cannot be dry cleaned at all, and a garment with a crossed out circle and a crossed out tub is one that can really only be sponged.
The square with a circle in it is the tumble dryer, and the dots inside it are the heat. This is the one that costs people the most. Half the shrunken clothes we are shown were washed perfectly well and then dried on high.
When the label has been cut out, we have none of this. We can guess from the fabric and we are usually right, but guessing on somebody else's clothes is not a service we are willing to sell, so those go back to you untouched with a note. If you want the label off because it scratches, cut it out and keep it in the wardrobe rather than throwing it away.