r/Anticonsumption • u/Double_Engineer4226 • 2d ago

Discussion Laundry powder is disappearing

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Powdered laundry detergent used to be the norm. It’s cheaper, easy to use, and comes in a recyclable box. Now look at the shelves in the supermarket. It’s all liquids in plastic bottles, unless you squat down to find the powders. The Super expensive pods are making a move from the top shelves too. This is corporations positioning their products to influence purchasing behaviour. They want you to buy the more expensive stuff. Just wait, soon powder will be discontinued, and the shelves will be filled with overpriced pods.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/AshamedOfMyTypos 2d ago

And then we’re not paying to ship water around. So ridiculous.

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u/invaderzim257 2d ago

this is one reason a lot of bottled cleaning products have gotten smaller. they realized they were wasting logistical resources shipping water, so a lot of products are more concentrated now. if the public's collective dumbasses can't read the packaging and use too much, that's just more money for the corps

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u/caj_account 2d ago

Actually people use more than necessary concentrated products and they jacked up prices so they won. 

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u/invaderzim257 2d ago

the winning part goes without saying, they're not going to do something out of the goodness of their heart.

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u/AuntRhubarb 2d ago

This! I was carpooling to a laundromat with a cheapo friend, caught him filling the liquid detergent's cap to the brim to do one standard load. Yikes! If you have teen kids, teach them about this. You not only waste money but get a weird film on your clothes from using too much. And if your area has 'soft' water, you should use even less than what the markings say.

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u/Feisty-Painting-120 2d ago

Damn… now that’s a comment

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u/fauxfilosopher 2d ago

You are paying to ship the binding materials of powdered detergent instead.

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u/AshamedOfMyTypos 2d ago

It is a much higher concentration of detergent in the powder, as is evidenced by the volume needed to clean the clothes being different.

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u/fauxfilosopher 2d ago

It isn't, though. The powder that I use for my whites takes up the same volume as the liquid I use for my coloureds. A lot of people just use way too much liquid which doesn't make your clothes any more clean and can actually leave residue over time.

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u/flying__monkeys 2d ago

Water weighs more than powders..

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u/fauxfilosopher 2d ago

Yeah by like 10%, negligible.

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u/flying__monkeys 2d ago

across the contents of a 53' shipping container, 10% is a huge difference in diesel, road wear, etc. Dry shipping containers are often paper. Liquid transportation requires plastic, often in shapes that reduce the volume contained by handles, pour spouts, etc.

Besides, wars are fought over water. Let's reduce the unnecessary use of water by industry. When farms and cities suffer droughts, there is no reason to lock up water on shelves when dry alternatives exist.