I recently wrote about the success of a Sainsbury’s bargain offer on soap powder. I now notice from the papers that there seems to be quite a cost- of-washing war going on between the supermarkets – even Waitrose are in on it, with eye-catching ads for branded laundry products at discounts of between 30% and 50%.
I can take a rather objective line on this since my attitude towards such products varies between bewilderment & impatience bordering on contempt. In my old fashioned opinion best results are obtained from proper sorting, by fabric as well as colour, minimum amount of a standard ‘soap’ & PROPER RINSING. If you can hang things on an outside line to dry, so much the better.
The prices also seem, even when discounted, to be verging on the extortionate, though when you work it out I suppose 25p per wash is not so bad, unless you still have a voice inside which tells you THAT’S FIVE SHILLINGS.
But is it really 25p per wash – how can you check?
In very small print at the bottom of the Waitrose ads can be found information about the (discounted) price per kilogram of each product, which ranges from £1.33 to £6.70 – oh, hang on a minute, some of these are prices per litre; does a litre of gel weigh more or less than a kilogram of powder? Are conversion tables available?
How is the rational economic woman to make a rational decision? Would game theory help?
