Detergent Packs are shrinking again

[zanussi_lover]

I noticed that Lenor concentrate used to be in a 1.5 Litre bottle and have 42 washes, which is now 1.4 Litres and now 40 washes, yet they still charge £3.37 at ASDA when not on offer.

Daz used to be in a 42 wash box at Tesco, and is now 38 washes, yet still charge £4 on offer. Do they really think that we wont notice the size.

I remember when Persil Small and Mighty used to be in 42 wash bottles and they had it on offer at £4 but then the packs shrunk to 28 washes and they charged £4 again when not on offer.

Its absolutely rediculous, giving us less product yet charging the same amount of money.

 

[launderess]

It's Called Down-Sizing

Has been happening on both sides of the pond effecting all manner and sort of items ranging from meats/poultry to other groceries.

Producers have been lowering contents and or reducing size but keeping the price same or more for years now. Consumer Reports (USA consumer group and magazine publisher)has covered this along with other publications.

IMHO basically because everyone is loathe to stoke true inflation by raising prices to where they reflect true production costs, businesses are finding other methods to get their money. Then again in the current economic climate not many consumers would welcome really higher prices so we have this cat and mouse game.

 

[mrb627]

Gain HE Powder

was confirmed at 14.49 for a regular sized box. Unbelievable!

Malcolm

 

[passatdoc]

@Malcolm

That's a LOT for a box of Gain.

Typically, I buy my HE powders from Amazon. Their prices vary, but they often have deals on four- or six-packs of medium (77 ounce) boxes. I look on their site now and then for deals. Since I only need to use 1-2 tbsp (15-30 ml) at a dose in my FL, the stuff lasts for years. I use a coffee measure to dose detergent. Half scoop for light dose (15 ml/1 tbsp), full scoop for heavy dose (30 ml/1 tbsp) and I never exceed a full scoop.

I use Gain or Tide HE powder for everyday stuff, and use Persil or Ariel from Europe (brought back from trips) for my (office casual) work clothes, most of which are wrinkle-free, all-cotton collared shirts and trousers from LL Bean. I avoid anything that is labelled "for both toploaders and HE machines" because it's likely to oversuds. Kirkland's "HE" powder is also marked "for toploaders too" so I just avoid it. When you use 1-2 tbsp per load, you can afford to pay somewhat more for a product intended ONLY for FL/HE machines.

I wonder if part of the price creep stems from P&G's awareness that FL owners use far less soap per load. So they figure people won't complain about overpriced powder because it lasts so long (you'd be surprise how many people here will pay $50 for a box of German Persil, using the premise that a box lasts a full year---which it well may---if you only need 1-2 tbsp per load). Sort of analogous to diesel fuel costing 10% more than premium gas---but the diesel owners getting 40-50 mpg won't "complain" because they still pay less at the pump than someone with an SUV.