Posted on 05/07/2019 12:52:56 AM PDT by Cronos
...That raises the question of whether Gillette’s financial results are suffering because of its toxic-masculinity misfire...the stock fell 3% on a day the S&P 500 closed at a new high.
..sales of grooming products, including Gillette, slipped 1%, continuing a long string of declines. Margins disappointed.
Grooming products are 9% of P&G’s revenue. During its last earnings call in January, the company said its Gillette ad hadn’t negatively affected sales, and touted “unprecedented levels of both media coverage and consumer engagement.”
...The days of $5 razor cartridges are fading. Amazon recently listed an eight-pack of Gillette Fusion 5 ProShield cartridges for $23.49, or close to $3 a cartridge. Online clubs still have plenty of room to undercut prices like that, although Gillette says one of its cartridges can last up to a month.
Since Gillette has recently begun offering me free ethics advice, here are some unsolicited thoughts on how to save on a shave.
Whisker-cutting technology peaked in 1904 when King Camp Gillette secured a patent for the double-edge safety razor. No gimmicky strips, or rows of blades, or batteries. Today, Amazon will sell you 100 double-edge blades for $5 to $10. Pop in a fresh blade after a week of shaving. A decent chrome handle is $20 and a stand is $15. Those last roughly forever. Amortized over five years, they bring your yearly shaving cost to around $10. And it’s a high-quality shave, especially when you throw in an apothecary cup for about $15 and discs of good shaving soap for $3 apiece. Each of those can last months. They make the thought of foams and gels about as appealing as shaving with silly string.
(Excerpt) Read more at barrons.com ...
After that debacle, in which I wrote a letter to Gillette, I will not, after a life of using their products for fifty years, ever use anything willingly again.
Heh, ain't that the truth.
Several years ago, I bought a 1954 Gillette safety razor on eBay. At the same time, I purchased a package of 100 Wilkinson sword blades. I probably won’t ever need another razor or blade. My total cost was under $40. When traveling, our use the five for a dollar pack of disposables from Walmart.
The laws of supply and demand are working here. Gillette has raised the price of blades beyond the level that most people will pay. They also seem to have raised it high enough to decrease profits.
I use cheap disposable plastic safety razors and I shave in the shower. All the hot water & steam softens up the hair bristles to be shaved. One of those disposable razors will last me a month or so. Once I notice it’s dull, I pitch it out and put a new one in the shower. I probably spend $20 a year on razors and always have a clean shave.
Oh, I will make sure I never buy Gillette again and will consider switching away from other P&G products for their toxic Leftism.
Ditto FRiend. I discovered the shave in the shower trick about a decade ago and don’t even need to look in the mirror because I know the contours of my face so well and the steam really opens up the pores.
The dollar store keeps this face nice and smooth. Razors must have the biggest Mark up of any product on the market.
I worked at the corporate HQ of Wal-Mart for 5 years. All that stuff.....P&G, Unilever, etc. You can buy products every bit as good for half the price. Almost any store brand products for toothpaste, razors, laundry detergent, paper towels, etc etc. The only difference is price. A lot of it comes from the very same factories! It’s just that the first 10 million units are given a P&G label and the next 5 million a Wal-Mart store brand label etc. It’s the same stuff. There’s no reason to pay more.
The same is true for lots of textiles. Levi’s jeans are no better than Wrangler. They just cost 5 times as much.
Or baseballers
wranglers are superior.
I know, I was equally offended. And why promote diabetes?
Their problems go a lot deeper than that ad.
Gillette is part of P&G, which has been funding far-left whacko causes for a number of years now.
I bought a decent Sams Club razor and a pack of blades that fit it, almost 3 years ago now.
Still have almost half of the blades. I shave every other day, pretty much just use warm water. I don’t get why so many guys burn thru so many blades.
I’ve used DE razors for 7-8 years. FWIW, regular Ivory soap works fine, lathered with one’s hand. Shaving cream also works fine. There is a reason 75% of men switched to shaving cream in the decade it came out.
Unlike what a lot of websites indicate, a good “I’ve got a job” shave takes 5 minutes. Tops. From when you turn the faucet on. Too many Internet people turn a morning’s shave into a religious ritual.
Of course, one CAN take much longer and get a shave as good as what some of us can remember getting in a barber shop. It is kind of like coffee. Aficionados can spend big bucks on machines, seek out special coffees from all over the world, etc. Mr Coffee + Folgers is good enough to get the job done - while shaving. Depends on what one is after.
Another cheap and effective option is to buy Trac II cartridges off Amazon. The no name ones. They run 10-15 cents each. Combine them with a “Bump Fighter” razor handle and you have a very good and fast twin blade shave. Almost impossible to cut yourself. Great for when you need to be at work by 3 AM.
But I’m no longer in the military and a DE razor + Ivory works fine.
I switched from all PG products - like Blendamed - except Vicks and Old Spice, I can’t find anything that compares to those two
The Mach III was a fundamental game changer to mens grooming. With over $1 Billion invested in it, they hit a home run.... Everything since has been trying to recapture lightning in a bottle, and while their other products are fine, they weren’t revolutionary...
The patent is expired now on the Mach III, and the newer products (fusion) etc are just not that much better to justify the price.
Cheaper alternatives are now available, so Gillette has been forced to cut prices... Gillette several times tried to retire the Mach III and push users to Fusion, but it just couldn’t do it, because as stated above, the Mach III is about as close to perfection as you are going to get, and the Fusion isn’t worth the added price for benefit (and if you are like me, and don’t shave daily, the blades are too close together and clog up, so not only is it not that much better for its price, Its actually less convenient)
In the midst of all this, you decide its your job to lecture your customers on how to be a man, and how they should raise their sons???
You had fundamental issues prior to that stupidity, but that stupidity just added fuel.
I was a Mach III customer for life... Yes I knew cheaper options were out there, but you had earned my brand loyalty through years of delivering a solid product that fit my needs and while a bit expensive, I was willing to reward you for your innovation.
Then you decided you thought it was your job to tell me how to be a man, and how I should raise my kids.... And just like that, you LOST a lifetime customer, FOREVER.
Now I know my individual revenues to your bottom line probably weren’t massive. Probably well under $100 per year... I am not loyal on shave Gel, so whoever is cheapest gets that money, sometimes its your product, sometimes its Edge... from now on, it will never be yours, no matter the price point... and the same with razors.
Yes, the sub $5000 ish you would likely have made off me for the rest of my life, is a drop in your giant bucket, and its not going to majorly affect my personal bottom line much one way or another... but just know that I am not alone. So while your revenues were going to decline with competition in your core market anyway, that your behavior, your STUPID, IDIOTIC BEHAVIOR, cost you more....
Oh and its also important to note, that not only was I brand loyal, but I recommended and sung the praises of your product when it came up in conversation.. which admittedly was not daily, not even close, but I was also a lifetime of free marketing for your product, that will now do nothing but advise people to steer clear of you.
STUPIDITY does not need rewarded.
Wrangler jeans are superior to Levis IMHO...
Levis are overpriced crap that wear out in no time... They are not remotely the jean brand I grew up with that would take a beating, and last forever.
Last pare of Levis I bought, didn’t even make it a year before they had holes in them.... haven’t bought a pair in probably 15 years, after every pair I bought wore out in under a year... levis are basically a frufru brand anymore....
Embrace Your Masculine Toxicity
Don’t touch any women, leave lost kids alone.
Maleness is Mafia; you’re Don Corleone.
But it’s mostly you older guys doomed, as a rule;
The snow-flaky beta males are neutered in school.
I don’t even know what brands I buy. They are the cheapest twins I can find at the Dollar General. I have got as much as 10 weeks on one, the average seems to be closer to six weeks. One of them was good for one shave- when you buy cheap the quality control is not so great. I’ve been doing it for twenty years give or take a bit. I try to keep it under a penny a shave. That’s all plus the 3 dollar hair drier, of course, and sales tax.
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