Gillette Conspiracy Theory

[SUNA]

As many of you know I have been using cartridges lately and have found something very interesting.

Probably 2+ years ago I stocked up on Gillette Sensor Excel blades at Costco and have been slowly going through them. I bought a lot. I am starting to run low so I recently purchased more at Costco. Here's what I have noticed...the blades from 2+ years ago are way better than the blades I recently purchased. I even went to WalMart and bought a 4 pack to test them. Same thing...no where near the performance of the older blades from 2+ years ago.

I would not be suprised to see/hear that Gillette slowly cuts their standards on older model blades so their newer blades seem to perform better. Conspiracy!?

 

[Go West Young Man]

Wouldn't be the first time Gillette has been accused of that.

 

[Den]

Conspiracy!?

Maybe....I've come to expect anything from Gillette. Anything they can come up with to cut cost and please their shareholders is possible.

 

[Hank21]

Gillette Series Shaving Gel is crap in a can.

 

[moshulu]

Yeah, right. So how come Gillette continues to make those excellent, inexpensive Bleue Extra DE blades, with the quality as good as ever, or better? And the company doesn' t even make any razors for them! Can someone possibly explain how that fits into the Evil Gillette Conspiracy Theory? What a dumb question - of course someone can!

 

[don.putnick]

At least your Costco still has the Sensor Excel blades. Mine has gone exclusively Fusion.

 

[Hank21]

Bleue!

Sounds French.

Betcha Pinaud has something to do with it.

 

[Hank21]

At least your Costco still has the Sensor Excel blades. Mine has gone exclusively Fusion.

If you shaved with a DE you could use Bleue Extra DE blades!

I have to go my coffee is getting cold.

 

[SUNA]

Gillette Series Shaving Gel is crap in a can.

Thanks for the irrelevant post.

Yeah, right. So how come Gillette continues to make those excellent, inexpensive Bleue Extra DE blades, with the quality as good as ever, or better?

We cannot buy them in North American stores.

If you shaved with a DE you could use Bleue Extra DE blades!

I have to go my coffee is getting cold.

I already have 300 of Gillette Bleue Extra NOS blades.

Again, thank you very much for your valuable input. Guess you must have missed a dose of medication before logging in today.

 

[takeshi]

I would not be suprised to see/hear that Gillette slowly cuts their standards on older model blades so their newer blades seem to perform better. Conspiracy!?

I've seen quite a few posts indicating that the older style cartridges (namely Atra and Trac II) seem to be made in China and allegedly suffer in quality. I don't see how that's a conspiracy in and of itself though. Quite a leap IMO.

 

[treewhale]

Yeah, right. So how come Gillette continues to make those excellent, inexpensive Bleue Extra DE blades, with the quality as good as ever, or better? And the company doesn' t even make any razors for them! Can someone possibly explain how that fits into the Evil Gillette Conspiracy Theory? What a dumb question - of course someone can!

Any corporation will seek profit wherever it can. By continuing to serve the DE blade market while at the same time attempting to kill that segment with heavy marketing of the Fusion, they profit from DE even as they attempt to kill it. Either way, they will be successful. Why would thier DE blade standards go up even as cartridge quality goes down? Obviously they see more threat of cannabalization of sales from older carts than from DE blades. By having a quality DE blade they maintain market share in that area and by lowering older cart standards they push cart users to Fusion.

Conspiracy.

 

[aimsport]

But it might not be a conspiracy... it may be that their manufacturing equipment is getting tired and they've made a business decision to not re-invest.

Making one thing great is tough. Making the one great thing the same way millions and millions of times is even tougher. Making the one great thing millions of times for many many years is tougher still.

 

[SUNA]

But it might not be a conspiracy... it may be that their manufacturing equipment is getting tired and they've made a business decision to not re-invest.

Making one thing great is tough. Making the one great thing the same way millions and millions of times is even tougher. Making the one great thing millions of times for many many years is tougher still.

It's a conspiracy, I say!

 

[treewhale]

It's a conspiracy, I say!

The question is not whether you are paranoid. The question is whether you are paranoid ENOUGH!

 

[brg]

I've seen quite a few posts indicating that the older style cartridges (namely Atra and Trac II) seem to be made in China and allegedly suffer in quality. I don't see how that's a conspiracy in and of itself though. Quite a leap IMO.

Now there's your problem!

 

[jmg]

I agree with the conspiracy theory.

 

[media]

Maybe....I've come to expect anything from Gillette. Anything they can come up with to cut cost and please their shareholders is possible.

Nice avatar...is that gortex?

 

[Myosin]

This really has nothing to do with a conspiracy from Gillette.

Gillette is a business and like any other business they are expected to maintain a certain level of sales and profit by their shareholders.

Gillette has to keep the price of the blades relatively consistent year to year while being expected to increase their profit each year by shareholders.

Increasing the price of the blades even more would hurt sales so the only other alternative is to make it cheaper to produce the blades by lowering the quality of the materials used.

The wiki page for Gillette shows that it costs 0.08 cent to make one fusion cartridge. Not sure how much the sensor costs to produce, but I would bet that it was alot more per blade than a fusion by today's standards.

 

[SUNA]

The wiki page for Gillette shows that it costs 0.08 cent to make one fusion cartridge. Not sure how much the sensor costs to produce, but I would bet that it was alot more per blade than a fusion by today's standards.

Can you please provide a link to that. Thx!

 

[fair enough]

As many of you know I have been using cartridges lately and have found something very interesting.

Probably 2+ years ago I stocked up on Gillette Sensor Excel blades at Costco and have been slowly going through them. I bought a lot. I am starting to run low so I recently purchased more at Costco. Here's what I have noticed...the blades from 2+ years ago are way better than the blades I recently purchased. I even went to WalMart and bought a 4 pack to test them. Same thing...no where near the performance of the older blades from 2+ years ago.

I would not be suprised to see/hear that Gillette slowly cuts their standards on older model blades so their newer blades seem to perform better. Conspiracy!?

When you are the only maker of replacement cartridges on a patented shaving system, eg Sensor/ Trak2/ M3 etc. . there is less need to maintain rigorous standards of quality. D/E blades on the other hand can be used in any D/E razor, so the consumer benefits from market competition.