Greg - I managed to grab a few boxes of Wisk tabs before they disappeared completely. Found them at the "Compare Supermarket" (calidad, precio, servicio!!!) in Bridgeport, CT, the next city over. It is actually a full line supermarket but loaded with Puerto Rican, Mexican, Dominican and South American products.
I am thrilled with the cleaning and the light fragrance and cannot remember for the life of me why I ignored them before and thought the fragrance too heavy. Interesting, though, I have searched every dollar store for miles and have for months and have found neither the Wisk or the Surf tabs. Seems like they just disappeared - so I am hoarding my remaining 5 boxes of Surf tabs and the three boxes of Wisk tabs.
A few other things I noticed recently. A different discounter - National Wholesale Liquidators has boxes of Canadian All powder. The box is the same size as the 40 load size of US All. However the Canadian version sells for $1.99 and does only 12 loads. Apparently not an "ultra" powder - since the paper measuring cup that is included holds 1 1/2 cups of powder - no wonder it only does 12 loads. It is a regular sudsfest but it has a great fragrance - slightly sweet and floral as many of the Canadian detergents do.
Another Canadian product I always see there is Surf - "frais de citron". Apparently in Canada both Surf and All are the bargain brands. The Surf comes in huge boxes for $2.99. I tried that a few years ago and honestly that too sudsed like a bandit and neither product delivered particularly great results.
Speaking of Surf - it looks like the Surf name is going away again (last time was in the late 60's). While in Wal Mart, I spotted bottles of the Spring Burst and Bright Sky liquid - but the new labels no longer even carry any reference to Surf at all - they just say "All". I suspected that would happen eventually - oh, well.......
Finally, I see that even the liquid versions of Fab are getting harder and harder to find. All of my markets - Stop&Shop and Shaws's no longer carry any Fab. And of course the powders have been out of the Northeast for a few years already. Occasionally, you do spot a few stray boxes of Rain Forest Powder at the dollar stores. Last time I saw any though, the box design had changed slightly - more importantly, though, the ingredients have changed - the enzymes are gone. I wonder if that will significantly affect performance. I do wish manufacturers would quit playing with the formulas. They complain that certain brands are dying - but it seems to me that they play an active role in killing them.
