It was an interesting discovery
developing Rosalie's, I found the Tide formulations of the 1960's where you were told to use 1 Cup per load contained the exact same amount of surfactant that is in my 1.5 tablespoon scoop. All the rest was STPP and water conditioners and sodium sulfate, a nice heavy filler that makes you feel you are using something strong! Of course all that STPP boosted the cleaning power of the surfactant which was needed to clean in tons of water. Then the STPP was much cheaper than surfactant. Today that has shifted.
But wow - doing my price surveys these last 3 years I discovered a real bait and switch. I found over that time all products on the shelf were clustered around 3 price points, $6.99-$8.00 ; $9.99-$11.99 and $16.99-$22.99. Looking deeper at the liquids I found the bottles were the same size in each category yet the loads were completely different in each bottle-- which puzzled me. Then I saw it , the same bottles carried different cap sizes with different markings ! They save on the packaging, change caps and boost the price. I found over the three years cost per/load went from 0.19cents/load to 0.25/cents a load but the buyer would never see that as the price grouping remained constant. And also who but me keeps old bottles around to compare.
developing Rosalie's, I found the Tide formulations of the 1960's where you were told to use 1 Cup per load contained the exact same amount of surfactant that is in my 1.5 tablespoon scoop. All the rest was STPP and water conditioners and sodium sulfate, a nice heavy filler that makes you feel you are using something strong! Of course all that STPP boosted the cleaning power of the surfactant which was needed to clean in tons of water. Then the STPP was much cheaper than surfactant. Today that has shifted.
But wow - doing my price surveys these last 3 years I discovered a real bait and switch. I found over that time all products on the shelf were clustered around 3 price points, $6.99-$8.00 ; $9.99-$11.99 and $16.99-$22.99. Looking deeper at the liquids I found the bottles were the same size in each category yet the loads were completely different in each bottle-- which puzzled me. Then I saw it , the same bottles carried different cap sizes with different markings ! They save on the packaging, change caps and boost the price. I found over the three years cost per/load went from 0.19cents/load to 0.25/cents a load but the buyer would never see that as the price grouping remained constant. And also who but me keeps old bottles around to compare.
