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This is a contemptible article. It seems mostly to be a product of PR, and for an American audience it seems intended to perpetuate the cognitive capture regard

by jblow 13y ago

This is a contemptible article. It seems mostly to be a product of PR, and for an American audience it seems intended to perpetuate the cognitive capture regarding razors being things that a lot of thought goes into and that therefore justify high prices. Do the math for how much a razor "should" cost, and ask why you can't buy one for remotely that much at your local Walgreens. Ask why stuff like Dollar Shave Club exists, and then look at their prices and figure out what their margins are.

lake99 13y ago
> intended to perpetuate the cognitive capture regarding razors being things that a lot of thought goes into and that therefore justify high prices A lot of thought goes into anything that is mass-market and is still competitively priced. The article says, "each razor blade is 5 rupees, or 12 cents". Stuff like Dollar Shave club is way too expensive for most Indians, and that what this article is about. If you still find it contemptible, fine, you make cheaper razors. If they work, I'll buy them.
paddy_m 13y ago
Also take a look at http://dorcousa.com/ http://dorcousa.com/ which is about 33% cheaper than Dollar Shave Club. Dorco is the wholesaler to Dollar Shave Club
kemayo 13y ago
The bit which really tripped my PR filter was: > To do that, P&G executives would have to attract the nearly 500 million Indians who use double-edged razors, an old fashioned T-shaped razor that has no protective piece of plastic that goes between the blade and the skin when shaving. ...such razors are generally called "safety razors", and unless there's a radically different design in use in India, they're pretty hard to cut yourself with. But a resurgence in their popularity would be pretty terrible for Gillette, given how much cheaper their blades are, so their PR can't say anything positive about them.
- tlrobinson 13y ago
  Maybe I don't know how to use them properly, but I cut myself way more often with safety razors than Gillette style razors.
  - stevewillows 13y ago
    Slow and with the grain, short strokes with medium temperature water. I've been using one for about two years now and won't ever go back to that multi-blade, whisker tugging nightmare.
- christoph 13y ago
  I invested in one of these recently, along with a badger hair brush, some proper shaving foam, and something like 100 blades from a variety of manufacturers. The total outlay was maybe £50. I am honestly never going back to a mass manufactured multi-blade type razor again. I get a much better, closer shave and way less rash and burn. It takes longer, but i feel the trade off is well worth it. There is the obvious financial benefit that will more that pay for itself within a couple of years as well. I forget how much a gilette mach whatever blade was, something like £3-5.
  - doorhammer 13y ago
    I recently started purposefully taking longer to shave and it seems that my quality of shave has gone of pretty dramatically. Granted, I'll usually just be shaving my neck, but I don't get the nicks and burn anymore. ymmv I've thought about going the safety razor route but there was a span of time where I was travelling almost constantly and, from what I understand, you're not allowed to bring them in your carry on (I don't usually check luggage). Might give it a shot now that I don't really travel anymore.
- Espressosaurus 13y ago
  I used a cartridge razor before I switched to safety razors for cost reasons--and you're wrong. It's much easier to cut yourself with a safety razor than with a cartridge razor. All it takes is being tired and in a hurry, or being clumsy when replacing the blade. I've found the benefits (closer shave, cheap enough to replace regularly) worth the costs in time and (occasional) blood. But don't pretend that they're as idiot-proof as the cartridge razors, because unfortunately, they're not. All that said--yeah, this was pretty transparently a PR piece with the moral of the story being "watch how people do what they do to make products that will appeal to them." Um, duh?
tarr11 13y ago
I don't really think of razors as high priced. I have a 4-blade razor from Gillette and I can shave for several weeks on one blade before it dulls out. As an american audience member, my takeaway was around "knowing your customer". I also thought that they were focused on cost savings. I am not sure what exactly you think is contemptible about this. That there is PR involved? That the price of razors is too high?
j-g-faustus 13y ago
I've no idea how much a razor "should" cost, perhaps you would enlighten us with your calculations? If I decided to produce my own razor blades, I suppose I would need to buy an iron mine, a factory to melt the ore to iron, and a factory to turn the iron into razor blades. And presumably hire a few industrial designers or engineers to ensure that I got a nice razor rather than a lousy one. I've no idea what any of these things cost, so I'll pick a random number and estimate a few hundred million USD. And say I did all that just to get razor blades for myself, because I thought the market offerings were too expensive. So my math is: Say $500m to aquire the means of production, an unknown yearly cost to keep them running (so I'll just ignore that part), and a consumption of one razor blade per week or slightly more than 3,000 blades in a lifetime (assuming 60 years, age 17-77, of shaving). According to my calculations, razor blades "should" cost in the neighbourhood of $160,000 per blade. That's my math. What's yours?
philwelch 13y ago
Do you realize you're calling the article out as a PR shill and then immediately reciting PR talking points for a competitor?
jdietrich 13y ago
Gillette already make a lower-cost product for the Indian market; They have a range of double-edged razors and blades, which sell for less than the product being discussed. Gillette have little interest in competing on price with local brands. The marketing effort by Gillette is to upsell Indian consumers from a generic double-edged razor to a proprietary cartridge system, opening the path for continual upselling to multi-blade cartridge systems as those consumers and their offspring enter the middle class.

by jblow 13y ago

lake99 13y ago

> intended to perpetuate the cognitive capture regarding razors being things that a lot of thought goes into and that therefore justify high prices A lot of thought goes into anything that is mass-market and is still competitively priced. The article says, "each razor blade is 5 rupees, or 12 cents". Stuff like Dollar Shave club is way too expensive for most Indians, and that what this article is about. If you still find it contemptible, fine, you make cheaper razors. If they work, I'll buy them.

paddy_m 13y ago

Also take a look at http://dorcousa.com/ http://dorcousa.com/ which is about 33% cheaper than Dollar Shave Club. Dorco is the wholesaler to Dollar Shave Club

kemayo 13y ago

The bit which really tripped my PR filter was: > To do that, P&G executives would have to attract the nearly 500 million Indians who use double-edged razors, an old fashioned T-shaped razor that has no protective piece of plastic that goes between the blade and the skin when shaving. ...such razors are generally called "safety razors", and unless there's a radically different design in use in India, they're pretty hard to cut yourself with. But a resurgence in their popularity would be pretty terrible for Gillette, given how much cheaper their blades are, so their PR can't say anything positive about them.

tlrobinson 13y ago
Maybe I don't know how to use them properly, but I cut myself way more often with safety razors than Gillette style razors.
- stevewillows 13y ago
  Slow and with the grain, short strokes with medium temperature water. I've been using one for about two years now and won't ever go back to that multi-blade, whisker tugging nightmare.
christoph 13y ago
I invested in one of these recently, along with a badger hair brush, some proper shaving foam, and something like 100 blades from a variety of manufacturers. The total outlay was maybe £50. I am honestly never going back to a mass manufactured multi-blade type razor again. I get a much better, closer shave and way less rash and burn. It takes longer, but i feel the trade off is well worth it. There is the obvious financial benefit that will more that pay for itself within a couple of years as well. I forget how much a gilette mach whatever blade was, something like £3-5.
- doorhammer 13y ago
  I recently started purposefully taking longer to shave and it seems that my quality of shave has gone of pretty dramatically. Granted, I'll usually just be shaving my neck, but I don't get the nicks and burn anymore. ymmv I've thought about going the safety razor route but there was a span of time where I was travelling almost constantly and, from what I understand, you're not allowed to bring them in your carry on (I don't usually check luggage). Might give it a shot now that I don't really travel anymore.
Espressosaurus 13y ago
I used a cartridge razor before I switched to safety razors for cost reasons--and you're wrong. It's much easier to cut yourself with a safety razor than with a cartridge razor. All it takes is being tired and in a hurry, or being clumsy when replacing the blade. I've found the benefits (closer shave, cheap enough to replace regularly) worth the costs in time and (occasional) blood. But don't pretend that they're as idiot-proof as the cartridge razors, because unfortunately, they're not. All that said--yeah, this was pretty transparently a PR piece with the moral of the story being "watch how people do what they do to make products that will appeal to them." Um, duh?

tarr11 13y ago

I don't really think of razors as high priced. I have a 4-blade razor from Gillette and I can shave for several weeks on one blade before it dulls out. As an american audience member, my takeaway was around "knowing your customer". I also thought that they were focused on cost savings. I am not sure what exactly you think is contemptible about this. That there is PR involved? That the price of razors is too high?

j-g-faustus 13y ago

I've no idea how much a razor "should" cost, perhaps you would enlighten us with your calculations? If I decided to produce my own razor blades, I suppose I would need to buy an iron mine, a factory to melt the ore to iron, and a factory to turn the iron into razor blades. And presumably hire a few industrial designers or engineers to ensure that I got a nice razor rather than a lousy one. I've no idea what any of these things cost, so I'll pick a random number and estimate a few hundred million USD. And say I did all that just to get razor blades for myself, because I thought the market offerings were too expensive. So my math is: Say $500m to aquire the means of production, an unknown yearly cost to keep them running (so I'll just ignore that part), and a consumption of one razor blade per week or slightly more than 3,000 blades in a lifetime (assuming 60 years, age 17-77, of shaving). According to my calculations, razor blades "should" cost in the neighbourhood of $160,000 per blade. That's my math. What's yours?

philwelch 13y ago

Do you realize you're calling the article out as a PR shill and then immediately reciting PR talking points for a competitor?

jdietrich 13y ago

Gillette already make a lower-cost product for the Indian market; They have a range of double-edged razors and blades, which sell for less than the product being discussed. Gillette have little interest in competing on price with local brands. The marketing effort by Gillette is to upsell Indian consumers from a generic double-edged razor to a proprietary cartridge system, opening the path for continual upselling to multi-blade cartridge systems as those consumers and their offspring enter the middle class.