When I have a cold, my irritation levels tend to rise with it, but sometimes I think that most people conspire to piss you off for no reason at all. Actually there is a reason. It is to try and milk as much money from you as they can.
H.I. has very particular tastes in soaps and cosmetics (and everything else actually) and each time she finds things which she likes, they are discontinued within a year or two of discovery.
We have been buying a particular sort of soap for about 4 or five years now, and usually buy three or four at a time. I looked it up on the net and found that even Tesco said they stocked it. I went to the website and it was 'temporarily out of stock'.
I fell for this trick by Marks and Spencer too. Go to their site and it is 'temporarily out of stock' - but while you're here, look at what else we have!
Of course, they just draw you in using search history software. I bet the photograph of the product is drawn from a large archive of other products and appears just for you.
I found the Oxfordshire company we normally buy it from, and they - like everyone else - only sells it in single bars, each with its own ceramic soap dish - for about £20. It is expensive enough as it is, without an ugly soap dish. I mean, look at it. It is the sort of thing which would be given away free in Mexico.
I contacted the company and asked if I could have the soap without the dish, and he said that this is the way the company sells the soap these days, so no. Sorry.
After I had commented that there is a limit to how many soap dishes we need - if any - and that I couldn't imagine how selling the soap for an extra £7 with a dish is going to increase sales, the man emailed back saying he had found three lone bars on the shelf and would sell me them at the normal price.
So now we have three bars to find an alternative soap. That should take us up to just after the New Year.
I mixed numerals with letters, but can't be arsed to correct it. I'm ill.
ReplyDeleteI make my own soap for the very reasons you mention. Sorry that being ill is making you irritable, hope you feel better soon :D
ReplyDeleteI have thought about it. My all-time favourite soap no longer exists. It was called 'Lignum Vitae' but the scent was very much like amber. I have been looking for an amber scented soap for years.
DeleteI am also fussy about soap I use and find it difficult to locate my favourite these days. Bars of soap are becoming rarities in supermarkets as shower gels and creams are forced upon us. I end up with Waitrose own brand which I am getting used to begrudgingly.
ReplyDeleteI went to M&S yesterday and I didn't find a single bar amongst all the liquids.
DeleteWhat soap is it ?
ReplyDeleteI get so cross when companies stop making/selling things that I like..... very frustrating ! Hope you are feeling better today. XXXX
I Coloniali (the Illipe Butter one).
DeleteThat must be some magnificent soap for the effort you have gone through in acquiring it! I hope your cold is short lived. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteLike I say, she is particular.
DeleteYes, I understand being a soap connoisseur.I read recently that bar soaps are ruining the oceans, but I cannot remember the details. Well, my bar of soap and I will continue their desecration. You get better, hear?!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what is in soap which they say is ruining the oceans? There are plastic micro granules in industrial hand cleansers which are adding to the problems of plastic.
DeleteIt seems to be a bad business strategy to force soap shoppers into also purchasing a (lousy) dish. As you mentioned, there are only so many soap dishes one needs.
ReplyDeleteExactly, but potty below suggests that they are probably meant as gifts. That sounds likely.
DeleteFor the last twenty five years I have used Imperial Leather soap because it was the only one we could find which didn't give the farmer a rash. Now I love it because each morning it reminds me of him. So I hope they never stop producing it.
ReplyDeleteWe use Imperial Leather as hand-washing soap. Three bars for a quid as opposed to one bar for £8.50.
DeleteMy husband will only use Imperial Leather, so by default everybody uses it in this house. The girls (daughters and granddaughters)say they think of him whenever they come across it, which isn't very often as everybody seems to use liquid soap these days
ReplyDeleteImperial Leather is the best value good-quality soap you can get I think. It is generally acceptable to everyone - especially at those prices.
DeleteI found there was always a very particular smell in Spanish airports, or wherever Spanish people gathered. I was told it was 'soap'. I tried for years to find out which soap, but was unsuccessful other that being told it was 'black soap'. I can smell it now; just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteI have never smelled that in Spain.
DeleteThe Soap with the dish is probably sold like that because it is a soap for giving. It is too good to use and stays on display in the second/guest bathroom. I have soaps, still wrapped, in drawers (along with the pants and knickers) that 'fragrance' the contents. Very old Yardley and even Imp. Leather amongst.
ReplyDeleteI think you may be right, Potty. I suppose it is what is known as 'adding value' to the sales team.
DeleteI like the look and smell of soap - when it's new. I have a horror of having to use it when it's cracked, slimy and harbouring goodness only knows what gained from the hands of previous users. Those lumps of soap pushed onto a metal holder in old French toilets being a good example. Yuk!
ReplyDeleteI used to wonder why people didn't say, 'as clean as soap'. Now I know why.
DeleteI buy mine from a local soap maker. It's good.
ReplyDelete