I’ve said for years that the prices charged for razor blades or cartridges are ridiculously inflated, out of all proportion to the costs involved. Now, an article in the Daily Mail provides the evidence I’ve long been seeking, and confirms all I’ve said.
Men are paying over the odds for a clean shave because of a huge mark-up on razor heads.
The products sold by Gillette and other companies cost as little as 5p [US 8c] to make, industry insiders have revealed.
But consumers are charged up to £2.43 [US $3.88] a piece – a mark-up of more than 4,750 per cent.
The price of shaving products at leading supermarkets is under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.
The Government watchdog is involved in a long-running inquiry into alleged collusion between manufacturers and retailers.
It is alleged that salesmen from Procter & Gamble, which bought Gillette for $57 billion (£35 billion) in 2005, urged retailers not to cut the shop price of its brands.
A check of Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s found the UK’s three biggest supermarkets are selling Gillette’s Fusion Power cartridges at the same price.
A pack of eight costs £18.53 [US $29.58], and the replacement razor heads are so expensive that they are now the most shoplifted product in the High Street.
Special security measures have been introduced, including sealing the packs in boxes with an electronic tag which sets off an alarm if it is not removed before leaving the store, and CCTV that activates if the product is removed from the shelf.
A pack of four Fusion Power cartridges costs only 20p [US 32c] to manufacture, plus 8p [US 13c] for packaging. But they are sold for £9.72 – £9.44 [US $15.52 – $15.07].
An industry insider said Gillette takes the lion share – £6.28 [US $10.02] – to cover its operating costs and make a profit.
. . .
The insider said: ‘I know as a matter of fact that it will not cost more than 5p to produce a refill cartridge, it is a question of pennies given the bulk involved, yet Gillette is charging a wholesale price which is much higher.
‘The figures tell you why it can afford to use stars such as Tiger Woods on its payroll (for advertising) and how it could afford to give David Beckham a diamond-encrusted mach3 razor for Father’s Day some years back costing $54,000.
‘With the Gillette products, the company is so dominant that it is able to spell out the terms of sale, including the price they want to see, to retailers.’
There’s more at the link.
Admittedly, US retail prices seem a bit lower than UK consumers are paying. At the time of writing, an 8-pack of Gillette M3 Power cartridges (shown below) sells at Wal-Mart for $23.47.
However, that’s still a heck of a mark-up in Gillette’s favor!
Several years ago, I decided I’d had enough of being ripped off like this. I did a bit of research, and found that a basic electric razor would cost me anywhere from $25 to $35. For example, the Philips Norelco model 6940 (shown below) retails at Wal-Mart for $31.88 at the time of writing.
I figured that such a razor would give me two to three years of reliable shaving before its heads needed replacing. In practice, I don’t replace them, because a set of replacement heads costs more than a new razor! I simply buy a new unit.
Experience has proved me correct. I’m now on my third such razor. I get two-and-a-half years useful life out of each. That makes my cost per month (averaging the cost of the razor over the time I use it) about $1.60 – or about a quarter of what it would cost me to use two Gillette M3 Power cartridges per month (they used to last me about two weeks each).
(Oh – in case you’re wondering, I’ve used Wal-Mart products and prices solely as an example, and because they tend to be the cheapest, in my experience. I’m not paid by them, I’m not promoting Wal-Mart, and I’ll gladly use equally low-priced examples from another store, if it makes anyone feel more comfortable.)
How about it, guys? How do you get around such outrageous price-gouging?
Peter
Unfortunately, you don't! I've never found that an electric razor is truly effective at giving me a close shave, so I'm forced to use the razors with the replaceable (ridiculously overpriced) cartridges. This means I probably don't shave my legs as often as I should! 😉
I shave in the shower. Either that softens my beard enough to go easy on blades, or I've got a higher than usual tolerance for a dull blade, because I go months between changing blades.
King Gillette had a basic pholosophy-"give away the razor, charge (through the nose)for the blades".
It worked 100 years ago as a marketing strategy, and still does.
Plenty of hot water & soap to soften the stubble, and a good old fashioned safety razor. One good quality double sided blade lasts me a month, at a cost of £4.00 for a pack of ten.
I laugh when I see the younger & more fashion-concious men & boys, brainwashed by TV ads, heading straight for the extortionately priced "shaving systems"
I inherited a first generation universal safety razor from my great grandfather, I just get a pack of generic double edge blades at the drugstore, $4 or $5 for 15 blades.
The only people who have any business complaining about the price of blades are the people buying them. Unless marketers are colluding to inflate the prices thereof, then the price the consumer pays is the price the consumer is willing to pay.
Don't get me wrong, 20 bucks here for 10 Sensor Excel blades is frustrating, but until someone starts producing them off-brand for half the money, thats how the world is.
Jim
As an aside – if you feel like treating yourself, try some the stuff here.
safety razor here as well, actually the multi bladed razors bothered my skin, sheering the hair off at a level slightly below the skin caused me to break out. So i picked up a safety razor a year ago and the blade stays sharp for a very very long time. I've never tried the electric razors, i feared they would irritate my skin even more.
Safety razor. Two uses per blade (one per side) and replace. Very cheap. Using a brush and shaving soap also helps lift the bristles for easier shaving and like Owen said, it cuts down on razorburn and ingrown hairs.
I just paid $25.00 for 12. What a rip!
I use the blighters till the jelly strip is tattered. Then I replace with a new one. Takes about 3weeks. I go that long just because I think I'm getting punked by some gouging corporation.
Oh and those of you that get ingrown hairs, ONLY shave WITH the hairgrowth. Dont, shave against the grain. You WILL cut the hair below the surface of the skin, causing the hair to "ingrow". You may alreaady know this, but sometimes stating the obvious is a needed skill.
Straight razor, electric…hm gonna have to investigate.
Steve
I use a 53 year old Gillette Super-Speed razor and load it with Israeli Personna double edge blades that I purchase from Ebay for approx. $15 per hundred. I get just about a week's worth of good shaves out of each blade, so I am spending about $7 per year for blades.
I also use Col. Conk shaving soap and a badger hair brush, so I am only spending pennies for lather as well.
Straight razor for me. Electrics irritate my skin.
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I tried electrics years ago, and wasn't happy with them. The Gillette Fusion gives the best shave I've ever had, so that's what I use. I hate the high price, but I hate the shave I get from other razors more (and I don't have a heavy beard).
I help the price by buying 20-packs from Costco, and using each cartridge for three weeks. That's about how long it takes before it feels like they're not working any more.
As for fair – it's Gillette's choice how much to charge for them, and it's my choice as to whether or not I'm willing to pay that much. It's not like they have a monopoly on shaving products. I actually put off trying a Fusion razor for months because I'd heard how well they worked and I didn't want to get hooked on something that cost so much. In the best drug pusher (and Gillette) tradition, they finally sent me a free razor with a couple of cartridges and I tried it. I was hooked.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child. But when I became a man, I put away my safety razor and started using an adults razor. A real razor.
I remember when I was young, everyone knew that Kodak could give their cameras away. We all knew it was because they made all their money on the film.
I remember the first "action figure", G.I. Joe. They had wanted a doll for boys but you couldn't call it a doll. Boys wouldn't have any of that. So they called it an action figure. Well, the thing that made G. I. Joe so successful was that once they got you to buy the, um, action figure, then you had to buy all the stuff that went with it, the tanks, the canons, the helicopters and on and on. They called it the razor/razor blade marketing strategy.
And there is one reason. – I don't like supporting a company that only thinks of their customers as cash cows. "Let's milk them for all we can." That's all the respect they have for the customer, and that's no respect at all. They have all the technology to make whatever they like but all they care about is the next quarterly report.
One day I came home from work and noticed in my mail box, a new razor, one of those four blade models, and I thought to myself, yeah. Just like dope dealers, "The first one is free".
And who thinks those little "moisturizing strips" actually do anything good for you? I remember the first "Mach 3". They had plastic strips there. And the companies knew people would use those things for ever. So they put some "moisturizing strips" there instead. These things decay in almost no time so that the blades sit up above and then will cut you to pieces and you have to buy more "fresh" ones. Now they have you buying on a regular basis. Predictability. That's what they want.
So I bought a Dovo, all stainless, straight razor, and have been happy ever since.
I have now, for the past couple of years, already spent all the money I will ever need to in order to shave.
Use the link below to see the company I bought mine from. I have no affiliation with them. I just know them to be good people to deal with.
http://www.classicshaving.com/DOVO_Straight_Razors.html
Kevin Reynolds
Kevin there beat me to it. I looked at $7 for a can of foul smelling foam, the absurd prices for the latest Mach 27, and set about educating myself on the straight razor. The learning process and a few accessories probably set me back a bit more in the short term while I figured out the whats, hows, and what I liked, but with that resolved my costs are set for life at roughly $10/year for soap, and occasionally another $6-7 for more diamond paste to keep things sharp (but so far that's been a one-time cost).
I'll second Kevin's endorsement of classicshaving.com. I picked up a lovely Thiers-Issard 5/8 blade, a good wide strop, and even found a hair care better than anything else I've tried at a whopping $8/six months supply (The pinaud clubman tonic). I'm not paid by them either, but I'm happy to praise where it's due, and I've yet to have a bad experience with them.
In 1975, Saturday Night Live aired a spoof ad for the Triple-Trak Razor, making fun of the double-bladed razors then being marketed. "The Triple-Trak. Because you'll believe anything."
About 15 years later, triple-blade razors hit the market. Because people really will believe anything.
It's not even necessary to go all the way to the straight razor. You can get a good double-edged safety razor from http://www.classicshaving.com for about $30. After that, top-of-the-line Merkur blades cost a whopping 50 cents each, and they last more than a week each.
I haven't paid the Gillette tax in years.
Kevin's got the right idea. I just wish my hands were steady enough to use a straight razor without risk of scarring. I do have a double-edged safety razor, though. Ten blades are $2-$4.50, and I get several good shaves off each side. I picked up an unopened badger-hair brush at an estate sale, and my mug of soap has a few scraps of this and that in it. I have $15 in equipment, and maybe another $5 a year in consumables. I should add that I bought a handful of soaps and creams (emollients in tubes, not the canned abomination) on a trip to Canada in 2007, and it'll be some years before I use them up. The Canadians still understand the power of a good shave.
And Peter, it's the best shave of my life. A straight-edge requires focus, but a DE lets me shave in the shower. No bumps, rashes, or ingrown hairs. I won't go so far as to say I enjoy shaving, but it feels so satisfying when I'm done, with the faint masculine smell of shaving soap on my skin. It's a sensual experience, and one that doesn't have "metrosexual" written all over it.
classicshaving.com is a good site, though a bit obsessive at times–and the cost of "equipment" is often staggering–There are cheaper authentic samurai swords out there! I've got a few straight razors, picked up at an antique store or such, and they're easy enough to disinfect.
Antibubba
Having been the recipient of beard burn in sensitive places, I am not a fan of men using electric razors. And I note that friends who go to straight razors quickly stop looking a little ragged around the edges, and don't go back to cartridges.
For myself, well, when I bother to shave I use the same pink razor in the shower for weeks on end, until one day it occurs to me to try a new one and marvel at how amazingly sharp it is. However, for ten months a year it's too cold to wear anything with exposed leg skin, much less foolish to open that much area to mosquito bites. And if nobody's going to see it, why shave it?
Or, as the classic saying goes – "Ah, Alaskan women. Skin like porcelain, legs like Chewbacca."
With the exception of about three months in 2007 after my wife volunteered me for a free local TV afternoon show makeover (~$400 worth of free clothes out of it), I haven't shaved since sometime in 1981. And I only shaved for three months in 2007 to annoy my wife for volunteering me, because she hated the look and the stubble.
Unless one has a job where one wears a respirator, shaving is a waste of time and money. Women have no excuse except vanity.