Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

[ShavingPrimate]

The shipping information shows dimensions and weight for a pack of 100 blades, not 1,000.

Not related to your post but anytime I check shipping information as to weight on Amazon, it often does not correlate to the product being mentioned.

No idea why this is? Seems like a simple thing, but way to often it doesn't make sense, so I have become accustomed to disregarding it completely.

 

[Lane101]

Not related to your post but anytime I check shipping information as to weight on Amazon, it often does not correlate to the product being mentioned.

No idea why this is? Seems like a simple thing, but way to often it doesn't make sense, so I have become accustomed to disregarding it completely.

Agree, lots of incorrect information on many Amazon listings and in this case it is a concern given multiple reviews from customers who only received 100 blades when they thought they were ordering 1,000.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Agree, lots of incorrect information on many Amazon listings and in this case it is a concern given multiple reviews from customers who only received 100 blades when they thought they were ordering 1,000.

That's obviously very bad. But you can complain to Amazon directly and get a refund in full.

 

[mata_66]

My last experience with Dorco blades goes back to 2017. ST300 were mediocre and ST301 not too bad. Both were still produced in South Korea and at the time they surely were two different blades.
Probably, after they moved production in Vietnam, Dorco sold the same HQ blade as both ST300 and ST301 until they finally cancelled the ST301 from their catalog.
At the end the only Dorco product I liked was their 5-blades cartridge.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Probably, after they moved production in Vietnam, Dorco sold the same HQ blade as both ST300 and ST301 until they finally cancelled the ST301 from their catalog.

Razor blade catalogs and websites are and always have be a bit sketchy. They are never as informative or accurate as they might be.

The Dorcoglobal.com website (men's DE razor blade page link), very much still lists their ST301, along side of their ST300. Having recently acquired a couple hundred of the ST301's, I can assure you that they are still very much a viable product.

It makes little or no economic sense to discontinue to produce a razor blade in a plastic box. Many shavers worldwide still prefer and covet plastic boxes because they do not crush, soak up water and have a built-in blade disposal system.

If a product like the ST301 was removed from the market, chances are that they would loose a significant portion of their DE customer base to companies like Parker, Feather, German Wilkinson Sword, Shark, Derby and others who still have their products available in plastic box tucks (mostly only in plastic boxes).

ST300/301
list

ST300/301

• Easy and Comfortable Shave
• Longer Life to shave
• Smooth touch and clean cut

They list their Prime only as a 300, but I have those in plastic boxes also. Their name and logo is also printed on each blade in green, rather than blue ink.

STP300
list

STP300

• Soft shave and reduce skin irritation
• Excellent sharpness remarkable first cut
• More durable Less corroded

The Titan is listed only as 300 series. I don't have any of them.

STL300
list

STL300

• Smart reusability
• Reliable cutting performance
• Effective shaving experience

Amazon is showing these listed only in the 300 series cardboard tucks.

They are listed at $9.60/100.

I have posted photos from the Dorco site, they show up in the previews but not when actually posted? You can still follow the link to the website.

 

[Lane101]

Razor blade catalogs and websites are and always have be a bit sketchy. They are never as informative or accurate as they might be.

The Dorcoglobal.com website (men's DE razor blade page link), very much still lists their ST301, along side of their ST300. Having recently acquired a couple hundred of the ST301's, I can assure you that they are still very much a viable product.

It makes little or no economic sense to discontinue to produce a razor blade in a plastic box. Many shavers worldwide still prefer and covet plastic boxes because they do not crush, soak up water and have a built-in blade disposal system.

If a product like the ST301 was removed from the market, chances are that they would loose a significant portion of their DE customer base to companies like Parker, Feather, German Wilkinson Sword, Shark, Derby and others who still have their products available in plastic box tucks (mostly only in plastic boxes).

ST300/301
list

ST300/301

• Easy and Comfortable Shave
• Longer Life to shave
• Smooth touch and clean cut

They list their Prime only as a 300, but I have those in plastic boxes also. Their name and logo is also printed on each blade in green, rather than blue ink.

STP300
list

STP300

• Soft shave and reduce skin irritation
• Excellent sharpness remarkable first cut
• More durable Less corroded

The Titan is listed only as 300 series. I don't have any of them.

STL300
list

STL300

• Smart reusability
• Reliable cutting performance
• Effective shaving experience

Amazon is showing these listed only in the 300 series cardboard tucks.

They are listed at $9.60/100.

I have posted photos from the Dorco site, they show up in the previews but not when actually posted? You can still follow the link to the website.

Have a look at Dorco's latest catalog where only the 300 paper tuck SKUs for for the Titan, Stainless and Prime blades are listed. This is a recent change from earlier catalogs that listed both the 300 and 301 plastic tuck SKUs. Per my post #1 above (link below) in this thread there is a good chance that the plastic tucks are discontinued though it could take years for the inventory to be sold through here. The Dorco Store on Amazon (more details below) still shows older Korean production ST301 blades for example.

Dorco is focused on driving penetration into other east Asian, Middle East and African markets with its DE blades. Hence the change to lower cost cardboard packaging where, unlike the plastic tucks, the blades are double wrapped with a barcode on each to allow individual blade sales that are often all that can be afforded by many in low income countries.

@ShavingPrimate you are right that many shavers in more developed countries prefer the plastic tucks and Dorco may have decided to discontinue them since the U.S. market is no longer a focus. Gillette/P&G sued them (see post#22 above) over patents and forced them to largely abandon the U.S. market (they used to sell directly here) with the exception of private label/3rd party manufacturing (e.g. Harry's Razors) and an exclusive deal to sell Dorco branded razors & blades through Amazon.

Lates Dorco Catalog:

https://www.dorcoglobal.com:6541/bbs/board.php?bo_table=brochure

Link to Post #1 Above:

Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

Hi everyone. Just received a new shipment of 100 STP300 Dorco Prime double edge blades and discovered a stock keeping unit (SKU) change confirmed via a review of their latest product catalog. The ST301 stainless Dorco blade package is no longer listed in the catalog, only the ST300, Primes and...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Have a look at Dorco's latest catalog where only the 300 paper tuck SKUs for for the Titan, Stainless and Prime blades are listed. This is a recent change

We will need to watch and see what happens...

Clearly though, the catalog does not align with the website.

I really don't see them eliminating the plastic boxes. Right now, they remain an option. One can choose from either depending on economics or personal preferences.

Gillette blades appear to only be available in cardboard tucks. Other major brands are only available in plastic. For those who prefer this, they have a major advantage over Gillette, who is the big gorilla here.

If plastic boxes were an important point to me and a company were to discontinue offering them, I might very well jump to a competitive product? Though, they have the decided advantage of having the least expensive blades that are available in a plastic box.

I see more private label blades marketed in plastic boxes or some alternate type of dispenser.

Many individuals prefer to throw their used blades away in the plastic box they came in. If my daily drivers were in plastic boxes, that is exactly what I would do. Not everyone wants to have a blade bank sitting around their bathroom!

Dorco Store on Amazon (more details below) still shows older Korean production ST301 blades for example.

My recent purchase of Dorco ST301's from Amazon, on sale are from Vietnam.

It doesn't make a great deal of sense to build a new factory there with the latest technology and then make the same blade in Korea?

They make one blade and place it in two different packages, that's all there is to it. The cost of real estate and everything else that is connected with the cost of manufacturing is substantially less in Vietnam, than in uber expensive South Korea.

there is a good chance that the plastic tucks are discontinued though it could take years for the inventory to be sold through

Modern manufacturers don't have years of inventory sitting around aging. I doubt that they have more than six months of inventory on hand. Probably not even that. Again, they are continuously manufacturing one blade in the ST 300/301 type. They only need to package it in different wrapping and place it in different boxes. Individual retailers supply my vary?

unlike the plastic tucks, the blades are double wrapped with a barcode on each to allow individual blade sales that are often all that can be afforded by many in low income countries.

The 300's individual packaging is both attractive and intelligent. The aspect of individual blades being sold, was one that has not occurred to me previously.

I will note that I do have a few other blades that are packaged in this fashion. They are: Voskhod, Diamond Edge, Super-Max Super Stainless and the Gillette 7 OC Black's. Though none of which, including the 300's, have a bar code on each individually wrapped blade.

(I just happened to pull 26 blades for my 1-Week, 1-blade adventure next year.)

As it happened, I shaved with a 300 this morning, in a in a Parker 3-piece razor. The Parker head is a tad but more efficient/agressive than the DE89 head. I received a fantastic BBS shave, that did surprise me a bit by its closeness and comfort. (My regular shave is with a R41).

Got to tip my hat to Dorco, these blades offer an incredible shave, even more so when their 6-cent price is taken into account!

 

[Lane101]

We will need to watch and see what happens...

Clearly though, the catalog does not align with the website.

I really don't see them eliminating the plastic boxes. Right now, they remain an option. One can choose from either depending on economics or personal preferences.

Gillette blades appear to only be available in cardboard tucks. Other major brands are only available in plastic. For those who prefer this, they have a major advantage over Gillette, who is the big gorilla here.

If plastic boxes were an important point to me and a company were to discontinue offering them, I might very well jump to a competitive product? Though, they have the decided advantage of having the least expensive blades that are available in a plastic box.

I see more private label blades marketed in plastic boxes or some alternate type of dispenser.

Many individuals prefer to throw their used blades away in the plastic box they came in. If my daily drivers were in plastic boxes, that is exactly what I would do. Not everyone wants to have a blade bank sitting around their bathroom!



My recent purchase of Dorco ST301's from Amazon, on sale are from Vietnam.

It doesn't make a great deal of sense to build a new factory there with the latest technology and then make the same blade in Korea?

They make one blade and place it in two different packages, that's all there is to it. The cost of real estate and everything else that is connected with the cost of manufacturing is substantially less in Vietnam, than in uber expensive South Korea.



Modern manufacturers don't have years of inventory sitting around aging. I doubt that they have more than six months of inventory on hand. Probably not even that. Again, they are continuously manufacturing one blade in the ST 300/301 type. They only need to package it in different wrapping and place it in different boxes. Individual retailers supply my vary?



The 300's individual packaging is both attractive and intelligent. The aspect of individual blades being sold, was one that has not occurred to me previously.

I will note that I do have a few other blades that are packaged in this fashion. They are: Voskhod, Diamond Edge, Super-Max Super Stainless and the Gillette 7 OC Black's. Though none of which, including the 300's, have a bar code on each individually wrapped blade.

(I just happened to pull 26 blades for my 1-Week, 1-blade adventure next year.)

As it happened, I shaved with a 300 this morning, in a in a Parker 3-piece razor. The Parker head is a tad but more efficient/agressive than the DE89 head. I received a fantastic BBS shave, that did surprise me a bit by its closeness and comfort. (My regular shave is with a R41).

Got to tip my hat to Dorco, these blades offer an incredible shave, even more so when their 6-cent price is taken into account!

The issue with inventory is that when you dig in to Amazon there are often dozens of vendors offering each SKU. It's not the manufacturer holding the inventory it is the retailers/vendors selling on Amazon who hold it and a niche product like DE blades can easily be a very slow moving item with years of supply sitting around. Especially for what are often mom and pop retail operations. Even if Dorco has stopped making the plastic tucks we will still see availability for a long time. Look at all the St. Petersburg Gillette blades from Russia, with current sanctions likely can't export them yet there are plenty of Astra blades still for sale on Amazon.

Yes, a second wrapper with a barcode allows the local retailers, sometimes a village convenience store, to sell individual blades easily. For the larger big box Asian retailers Dorco will package 50 blades (see Klass example in this thread) in a single box for sale. They are really good at tailoring packaging and even blade names for local markets.

Agree these are excellent blades, best ones I own and often ignored because of earlier mixed levels of performance from older Korean production. For me they easily go well beyond a weeks worth of shaves, typically 10-12 per blade, 16 from the Prime I just 3017'd. Also suspect the stainless is better quality, when one of my Derby Extras (a real outlier) lasted over 20 shaves there were traces of rust on it (parts inside the razor, not the edges) when removed. Nothing like that on the above Prime blade.

Good dialogue, enjoy your upcoming blade adventure.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Look at all the St. Petersburg Gillette blades from Russia, with current sanctions likely can't export them yet there are plenty of Astra blades still for sale on Amazon.

From what I have been noticing though, with the exception of Sputnik and Rubie, all of the other Gillette PPI blades can still be found on Amazon.

Sputnik disappeared a few months back and Rubie just dropped off Amazon a couple of weeks ago. Both of these are the only PPI blades that are manufactured exclusively for sale in Russia.

A post on B&B stated that all of the other Gillette PPI blades are made for other countries (which I was not previously aware of).

Though, Voskhod and the other non-Gillette owned blades are still available on Amazon. The prices are still largely the same. Voskhod's are currently just under $9/100.

I am noticing some slight price increases on some of the blades like the 7 OC Yellows which are now around $18/100.

The Platinum's are the highest I have seen them. They have typically been around $14/100. Last June. Amazon had them on sale for $9.99, which was an incredibly low price (I picked up an extra 200). They are now $19/100, which is more than the Gillette Silver Blues are selling for, by a few dollars. Usually, the Platinum's are a few bucks less than the GSB's.

Towards the end of October, SafetyRazorPlace offered the GSB for $12.76, which was a very low price for them.

Due to the regional issues, I had quite expected to see blades from Russia origin to have doubled by now but that doesn't seem to have happened (yet).

I am very big into audio and most tubes are manufactured either in China or Russia. Since earlier this year, sellers have been hoarding tubes. Tubes that are manufactured in Russia have doubled in price, sometimes more.

Here is an axample of audio tubes with a name that is familiar to us here.

Voskhod Rocket 6J1P-EV / 6ZH1P-EV, Matched Pair​

1. 

$44.97

These are on Amazon.

 

[Guido75]

Thanks for this information @Lane101 - I am just bumping this thread as I believe Dorco’s could do with a little TLC. Based on earlier threads I first thought I made the wrong choice in purchasing ST300HQs (early 2022), but they provide me a really good and comfortable shave. Then I purchased a tuck of Titans and they were so good I stocked up on Titans big time. I get 7 shaves from the 300 and 10 shaves from a Titan.

Most importantly for me they are totally irritation free especially on the neck.

And I specifically looked for the cardboard packs - Primes are available in cardboard but I have only seen them in the plastic dispensers.

Again YMMV but I think these blades are excellent value for money.

Cheers,

Guido

 

[Lane101]

Thanks for this information @Lane101 - I am just bumping this thread as I believe Dorco’s could do with a little TLC. Based on earlier threads I first thought I made the wrong choice in purchasing ST300HQs (early 2022), but they provide me a really good and comfortable shave. Then I purchased a tuck of Titans and they were so good I stocked up on Titans big time. I get 7 shaves from the 300 and 10 shaves from a Titan.

Most importantly for me they are totally irritation free especially on the neck.

And I specifically looked for the cardboard packs - Primes are available in cardboard but I have only seen them in the plastic dispensers.

Again YMMV but I think these blades are excellent value for money.

Cheers,

Guido

Glad the info is useful. Nice that this thread has become a good source of info for B&Bers for Dorco information thanks to everyone's posts and questions.

The key to finding the cardboard Prime Dorco DE blades is the SKU number STP300 vs the plastic tuck Primes STP301. On the Amazon cardboard tuck listing I purchased (see my post #1 in this thread above) they show the plastic tuck picture while in the details the STP300 SKU is listed.

Interesting # of shaves on the Titan as Dorco positions them as the "good" in the good, better, best line-up of Titan, Stainless & Primes. May have to get some though the last thing I need now is more blades.

These blades are excellent value for the money.

 

[Jack Goossen]

It's a real pitty the older Dorco blades gave the brand a questionable reputation.
I used a Prime last night in my PAA Prismatic and it gave the German Wilkinson and King C Gillette a thorough beating. Cannot yet say how the Dorco Prime will perform in my other razors, but the two aforementioned are among my best blades in most razors. I will try the Premium in other razors in the next few weeks and report back.
So far I am completely taken by surprise how good this blade is. Both Dorco's past reputation and the corny picture on the package clearly made me biased. Glad I listened to the recommendation @RayClem gave on the Dorco Prime. I would have missed an excellent blade if I had not.
Mucho gracias, Ray

 

[Lane101]

It's a real pitty the older Dorco blades gave the brand a questionable reputation.
I used a Prime last night in my PAA Prismatic and it gave the German Wilkinson and King C Gillette a thorough beating. Cannot yet say how the Dorco Prime will perform in my other razors, but the two aforementioned are among my best blades in most razors. I will try the Premium in other razors in the next few weeks and report back.
So far I am completely taken by surprise how good this blade is. Both Dorco's past reputation and the corny picture on the package clearly made me biased. Glad I listened to the recommendation @RayClem gave on the Dorco Prime. I would have missed an excellent blade if I had not.
Mucho gracias, Ray

Thank you for posting. The newer made in Vietnam Dorco's are excellent. Note that they also work well in my King C. Gillette razor. @RayClem 's analytical approach to evaluating our hobby's tools and software does a great job of accurately calling out how they will deliver. Also appreciate his willingness to share detailed findings and evaluation criteria so we can tailor the evaluations to our personal preferences.

 

[Steelerfan]

Dorco ST series and the Prime are some of my top tier blades, which I tried for myself instead of listening to the poor reviews. Dorco blades are an excellent value for the money.

 

[Lane101]

Quick update on Dorco blades so the latest info is all in one place. This is from a response to @dmshaver who had mixed results from a shave with a newer made in Vietnam Dorco Titan blade after excellent shaves with regular Dorco and Dorco Prime blades:

Per the 2022 catalog the Dorco and Prime blades have coatings that are not listed for the STL300 Titan blades. Typically those coatings enable greater smoothness by allowing the cut whiskers to better glide across the blade during the shaving process. That may be the difference between this and the excellent shave you realized from your Dorco ST300/301 blade your reported on in post #40 in this thread and Prime STP300/301 in post #57.

Dorco may have changed the Titan blades over the past two years. The 2020 catalog shows a Titan package that noted the blades are double coated (no specifics as to what with-likely teflon). The latest packaging shown in the 2022 catalog no longer states anything about the coating just noting "New Cutting Edge Technology". Per your picture you used one of the newer blades that may not be coated. This can also help explain earlier posts where shavers were happy with the Titan blades.

 

[dmshaver]

Thank you @Lane101 for the additional information. Yet another example of why B & B is such an exceptional place! It’s through the collaboration with each other that we learn. Having the latest information from the Dorco catalog is terrific! Thank you for sharing it with the community.

 

[DarkSpy]

I've shaved recently with a Dorco ST300 and was impressed by the shaves.
Not necessarily the most efficient blade, but definitely very smooth and especially irritation free. I even tried it in razors that I don't like and had excellent results.

I only have a couple of this blades and they are both marked "made in Vietnam", even though there is no "HQ" technology reference.
I suspect this blades came with a Dorco PL602 razor that I bought in 2016.

In a recent purchase I added a tuck of Dorco Primes to try, I didn't add the Titans because, supposedly, they are the lower quality and I already had the 2 Dorco ST300 "made in Vietnam", which I think is enough to grasp the performance of the blade.

Now, after unwraping the Dorco Prime I immediately noticed how thin it was compared to the ST300.

So I have a couple of questions, that are related to each other:
1) Does anyone have a recent Dorco ST300 and is it as thin as the new Dorco Primes?
2) Did Dorco change the manufacturing process/blades since they were made in Vietnam? I ask this, because it's not clear to me if there a Pre HQ and Post HQ difference, or if it just a marketing change.

 

[T Bone]

Wow, this thread is like the Rosetta Stone of Dorco blades! Thank you for this info, @Lane101, I was just trying to identify some Dorcos in my stash the other day. (And thank you for the timely bump, @DarkSpy, though I'm sorry I don't have an answer to your question.)

Clearly the bottom tuck is Korean ST300s, and the middle tuck is Vietnamese ST300s, but the top one was a mystery to me. I'd kinda figured out that they were probably also ST300s, but I wasn't sure - neither the tuck, the blade wrapper, or the blade are marked ST300, nor did they indicate Korea or Vietnam. From what I gather in this thread though, "HQ" didn't start appearing until production had moved to Vietnam, so those should be Vietnamese ST300s, and will almost certainly be identical to the middle tuck, despite the completely different packaging. Do I have this right?

 

[Lane101]

I've shaved recently with a Dorco ST300 and was impressed by the shaves.
Not necessarily the most efficient blade, but definitely very smooth and especially irritation free. I even tried it in razors that I don't like and had excellent results.

I only have a couple of this blades and they are both marked "made in Vietnam", even though there is no "HQ" technology reference.
I suspect this blades came with a Dorco PL602 razor that I bought in 2016.

In a recent purchase I added a tuck of Dorco Primes to try, I didn't add the Titans because, supposedly, they are the lower quality and I already had the 2 Dorco ST300 "made in Vietnam", which I think is enough to grasp the performance of the blade.

Now, after unwraping the Dorco Prime I immediately noticed how thin it was compared to the ST300.

So I have a couple of questions, that are related to each other:
1) Does anyone have a recent Dorco ST300 and is it as thin as the new Dorco Primes?
2) Did Dorco change the manufacturing process/blades since they were made in Vietnam? I ask this, because it's not clear to me if there a Pre HQ and Post HQ difference, or if it just a marketing change.

Hi DarkSpy, All my Dorco blades are recent made in Vietnam production having been purchased over the past couple of years.

My ST300/301 blades are just as thin as my Prime STP300/301 blades to answer your first question. The only published difference between the Prime and Stainless (ST300/301) blades is that the Primes have an extra coating. Unaware of any changes to the above blades since production was moved to Vietnam though the Titan STL300 blades may have changed (coatings) per the above posts.

For clarification there are just two types of blades (excluding Titan), the Dorco Stainless that go under ST300/301 and the Prime blades under STP300/301. The only difference between the 300 and 301 designation is that 300 blades are in paper tucks while the 301 blades come in plastic with rear slots for used blades. Pre HQ are more likely to be older blades made in Korea though some come from Vietnam per; @T Bone 's post above.

 

[Lane101]

Wow, this thread is like the Rosetta Stone of Dorco blades! Thank you for this info, @Lane101, I was just trying to identify some Dorcos in my stash the other day. (And thank you for the timely bump, @DarkSpy, though I'm sorry I don't have an answer to your question.)

Clearly the bottom tuck is Korean ST300s, and the middle tuck is Vietnamese ST300s, but the top one was a mystery to me. I'd kinda figured out that they were probably also ST300s, but I wasn't sure - neither the tuck, the blade wrapper, or the blade are marked ST300, nor did they indicate Korea or Vietnam. From what I gather in this thread though, "HQ" didn't start appearing until production had moved to Vietnam, so those should be Vietnamese ST300s, and will almost certainly be identical to the middle tuck, despite the completely different packaging. Do I have this right?

View attachment 1663818 View attachment 1663820

Thank you @T Bone , The top tuck are just the same Dorco Stainless blades in a plastic tuck under the ST301 item code versus ST300 for the paper tucks.