P&G stealthily increasing price of "Old" Tide

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supersuds

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According to today's Wall Street Journal, P&G will be raising prices on some "fancier" varieties of Tide by as much as 25%. The reason: To offset the hit to their margins from the introduction of Tide Simply Clean & Fresh.

The price of regular Tide liquid won't change.

If I'm reading the article correctly, anything marked "Tide Plus" (Tide Plus Bleach Alternative, Tide Plus Febreze, etc.) will start coming in a smaller bottle. The 100 oz. bottle will be 92 oz.; the 50 oz. bottle will be 46 oz. "The tactic has been a tried and true way for consumer-goods makers to sell less volume for the same price," says the WSJ.

Also:

"In some cases, P&G is also reducing the number of loads per Tide bottle, which amounts to a stealth price increase. The current 100 ounce bottle of Tide with Febreze scent now states it contains 60 loads. The new 92 ounce version will be good for 48 loads, according to marketing materials P&G has shared with retailers, a 20% drop in loads on an 8% drop in volumes. In P&G's lingo, it is 'harmonizing' the number of loads, using 48 loads as the standard for medium-sized jugs. A P&G spokesman says consumers had found the different load numbers on different Tide variations confusing.

"The net result is that shoppers in some cases will be paying up to 25% more for their Tide detergent. The average price increase that P&G is imposing on retailers for Tide Plus—which currently brings in around $1 billion a year in sales—will be around 13%."
 
Well, I feel much better about having a 2-year supply of powdered Tide Ultra Vivid White + Bright HE on the laundry room shelf.

Wonder if they'll take similar "harmonizing" steps with containers of Tide Pods?

I read somewhere that the Pods are also costing profits at P&G because so many people overdose liquids and powders, whereas they're likely to toss in only one pod per load.

Poor little ol' P&G.

;-)
 
I've already switched to WISK!

For a much cheaper price...some sales as low as $1.99 to $2.49 fo a 100oz bottle, and a high CR rating...which is one of the only things I consider then to be honest about.....I stopped using Tide, and made the switch to Wisk....like ShopRite's old as campaign...."why pay more?"
Mike
 
I've also been impressed with Wisk, both in liquid and pod form. I'm a Tide man by habit, but that may change.

Of course it's only a matter of time before the Calculators Of Profit at Sun Products Corporation realize they can charge substantially more for a product that rivals Tide in cleaning ability.

Tide Ultra + Bleach HE (powdered): CR score of 82. Cost: $.23 per load
Wisk Deep Clean (liquid): CR score of 80. Cost: $.14 per load

[this post was last edited: 2/11/2014-11:23]

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WISK Here

My general Go-To Detergent has been Wisk for more than a few years. Having tried the PERSIL bandwagon... Really liked the Color Gel scent. But having to order online wasn't too great.

I do currently have a bag of Tide PODS that I use to clean up white loads.

Malcolm
 
I still have another box of Tide Vivid plus Bleach (53 load size). This is only used for whites and pastel colorfast cottons. In the winter I only do abut 1 load a month and in the summer 2-3 loads a month max. So it will last me a while longer. For the rest of my laundry I've been using Gain.
 
Phone Talking?

I shudder to have to delve into the Miele's phone system to purchase laundry detergent by mail. I can go into town to my local Miele dealer to make the purchase too, but don't care for the two hour round trip.

All that plus it being such an expensive detergent to boot.

Malcolm
 
Over here, Henkel has just decreased the number of loads to 15 for the concentrated version of Persil. Sure, you can buy a bigger box of Persil but it'll be about 50% useless fillers.

P&G is even better. If you buy a large box of Ariel, you are not only getting fillers but also less enzymes and other useful ingredients - even though both the good concentrate with 7 enzymes and the cheapened big-box version have the exact same name.

Fortunately, one can always buy Lidl or Aldi store brands that have the same ingredients as Persil for only a third of the price.
 
You seem to have more information in Europe about what, exactly, is in your detergents.

Henkel marketed a version of Purex for awhile (haven't seen it lately) with three enzymes, but it is unusual for a bargain brand over here to have more than one or two enzymes, if any!
 
It Was Bound To Happen Sometime

Everything else has been "down sized" so that we are paying more for less, it was only in due time that P&G would get around to laundry products. Lord knows they like every other manufacturer have fooled around with anything from toilet paper to orange juice.

People keep wondering why there isn't rampant inflation from the Federal Reserve printing money all these years. Well just look at what has happened. Prices may have not gone up much on many consumer goods, but you are paying the same or slightly more for less. It is a price hike no matter what anyone else calls it but many don't quite get it. However you do feel that one pound less of sugar in a bag (five pound bags have mostly been replaced by four), if you bake and otherwise use a decent amount of sugar.
 
Screw P&G

I use Sears Ultra Plus powder that I got for $7.88. It does a good job and does not leave my laundry reeking of artificial scent. If I want that, there is always some fab softener or dryer sheet.

Roma works ok in a pinch but it really does generate a lot of suds and is not for FL machines.

Bottom line, we as consumers need to vote with our pocketbooks and choose other brands that work in the laundry room. That is the best way to get back at P&G.
 
Since reading about the price increases and dwindling powder supplies around this forum, I've made a point to look at the stock at various stores I frequent.  Most shocking was Super Target last weekend.  I was there in the evening so presumably the shelves had not been restocked so there were many open spaces, but just the number of offerings for liquid vs. powder was stunning.  Literally one whole aisle (approx 25 feet +/-) of shelf space was detergents, and only about 4-5 feet of that was devoted to powders.  While there were sales on liquids and other additives, none were found on powdered detergents.  One Target Up & Up "fresh" flavor was on clearance in another section, but still was no bargain.

 

I usually buy detergents at Costco or (rarely) Sam's club where the prices for larger quantities are better.  Those retailers are reducing shelf space for powders as well, Costco only had three; Kirkland, Tide and a plastic-bucket low-end.  I've used the plastic bucket detergent which I would put on par with the likes of Sears powders.  A bit sudsier than needed and unless a softener is used in the final rinse, the end results are rather harsh.  Sam's club has similar offerings but in the section with "professional" cleaning supplies does have a Tide Professional with oxy bleach that is very good, but non-HE and pretty sudsy.  They also have one other Tide HE powder, a Member's Mark powder and a plastic bucket of harshness like Costco.

 

It's quite disheartening to see the powder selections disappearing, especially since the transport costs for all that water in liquids (kept above freezing as Jon pointed out the other day) only add to the final price.  The other hidden price we pay is all the resources used to manufacture, bottle and eventually dispose of the packaging.  For the relatively small percentage of folks who do recycle plastics, many don't realize the huge bulk of plastics are not recycled now<span style="text-decoration: underline;">, </span>nearly all of it ends up in landfills. 

 

 

 
 
Tide in all it's formulas, Cheer, Gain, Dreft, Ivory Snow, and Era are all P&G products.....they have the majority of shelf space in supermarkets. Why P&G doesn't promote ERA as it's bargain liquid, instead of possibly cannibalizing Tide's regular sales is beyond me. Another six figure salary decision made by a newly employed college graduate! Why not change the ERA bottle to yellow, add baking soda, and voila.....but what do I know. I know I am using Wisk from now on.
Mike
 
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