Lots of companies do refills in pouches or bottles with no dispensers. I like the idea as it is green and eco friendly, but often the savings are not worth it especially if the item is on offer, the refills end up costing less. I used it once and I saved 10p, but with the pound shops, buying a new one is as cheap as a refill these days. Should companies make them cheaper to encourage people to buy them, or if it costs as much to produce how can them make refills more economical?
I'm pretty sure refill packs are cheaper to produce, as companies don't have to spend on solid plastic dispensers. I feel that people in general just want convenience, and are too lazy to refill their dispenser. Companies are probably afraid that people would switch to rival brands if they raised the price of the normal variant with the dispenser. I for one would definitely like to see cheaper prices on refill packs!
Yeah I do think hand soap refills are a tad bit too pricey. I hardly buy one unless they're on sale. I got to purchase buy-one-take-one hand soap refills from Watson once. It cost me around 2 dollars. It was a great bargain because each pouch is so concentrated you can just add water and save up half of the content until the diluted half runs out. I did this with the first pouch I opened and it still hasn't run out even as we speak. Maybe because there isn't much competition with soap refills. Once more companies try to manufacture refills, prices would start to drop.
I buy the refill bags even though you don't save much. It's for the convenience factor. I just don't want to go to the store every time it runs out. I also like that I'm not throwing away so many plastic bottles.
I usually use refill as it is better than buying an entire bottle of soap. So I find them much cheaper than the usual soap bottles. I also agree that they should be made quite a lot cheaper so that more and more people will be able to afford it. I also think they are a great substitute to soap bars.
That you could even get soap refills has just recently come to my attention. I have not seen much out there in the market. Once more customers are aware of the product, and more companies start competing with each other then the price will go down.
I definitely think that using refills is better for the economy, less plastic waste and they are convenient.. especially if you like your container or scent. You are right however, the packages with the refills are often more expensive then buying the original container which often discourages people from making the purchase. Manufacturers would be wise to fix this as they are missing out on a lot of money in this department.
I haven't come across this issue, but I certainly see your point. Generally, the refills I see are about the same price as the dispensers, but they do contain more soap. It still works out to be a better deal. Maybe it's just a difference in brands between the areas in which we live. I can also get an extra large refill here for $2 that will fill my dispenser several times (the dispenser bottles are usually around $1 here), so that works out well for me.
