If you want to understand why people choose products that are bad for them, die the environment and are expensive as well, maybe just look at the dish washer tablets.
They take control away from you. They force you to use the same, manufacturer-selected amount of detergent every time, even if your dish washer is half empty and the dishes are almost clean. They also contain a prescribed amount of descaling agent, no matter the composition of the local drinking water.
They are also individually packed into little plastic sachets which tend to be a pain to open, or - if labelled “water-soluble” - they clog up your dishwasher because in effect, they’re not water soluble.
And they are significantly more expensive both per gram or per machine load than normal powder plus descaling agent powder.
From a consumer’s standpoint, there is not a single reason for dish washer tablets.
Yet, everyone buys them and it’s become increasingly hard to get the objectively better and cheaper alternative: powder.
And, of course you know why everyone buys them: They’re advertised as superior and producers make it very hard to get other types of products because they optimise their portfolio not based on what it best for consumers or the environment, but based on what’s best for their baseline.
Take this simple example and apply it to everyday life: computers, social media, cars, ffs even bicycles.
Self-determined #consumerism, heck #EthicalConsumerism does not exist.
From a consumer’s standpoint, there is not a single reason for dish washer tablets.
Sure there is. Convenience. You make people’s lives easier, so they have to think about mundane chores less, they’ll happily buy your product.
It’s just that simple.
@LouisIngenthron
I addressed this: I, personally, don’t find them more convenient. They’re individually packed in what Steve Martin aptly described as CD wrap. And I have to buy them more often.
Maybe, the I-don’t-want-to-think aspect counts. But other than that, they’re objectively worse than powder from a convenience pov.
This toot is - in part - inspired by a very good rant about dish washer misuse by Technology Connections @TechConnectify :
👉 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04
In part by us running out of tablets during vacations and the experience of sheer endless yield from a simple pack of powder at home.
Also: It seems to be called ‘detergent packs’ in “America” 😉
Also II: I know you like analogies, @SheDrivesMobility . Here is one: Cars are the Spültabs of transportation.
Also III: Americans, consider using “Spültabs” instead of “detergent packs”. It’s shorter, features a fancy umlaut and will spice up any argument about Spültabs at home by sounding German. You’re welcome.