Skip to main content

Why Toothpaste Cost is Impossible to Tell

Exactly which tube is larger? Which one is cheaper?

Exactly how much does a tube of toothpaste cost?

Looks like an easy answer, right? I mean, it’s exactly the amount you pay for the tube.

That’s until you walk into a supermarket and realise that something weird is happening.

Other than the very small tubes, most of the other tubes look the same size. Or rather the boxes look the same size.

But then why do they cost vastly different prices - why do some tubes cost twice or almost thrice the price of others if they are the same?
It does not help that different manufacturers use different measures to detail what’s inside. Some put it in grams, others in millilitres. Maybe others in millimetres, though this is a unit of length and you would therefore need width hence I doubt anyone uses it.

What then happens is that if you are comparing toothpastes and if you are hoping to get the one that’s cheapest, you get very confused.

Are milliliters and grams the same? Of course they aren’t, unless you are comparing water. To convert between the 2, you need a mathematical formula containing the density of the particular toothpaste - or the weight in grams per millimetre.

But why are the boxes the same or almost the same size? Well, you open up the boxes and find the tubes inside vary in size and do not necessarily reflect the size of the box. Some are wide and short, others are narrow and long. It needs a little more than a simple glance to determine which one holds more toothpaste.

And that’s how it becomes impossible to determine which toothpaste brand is cheaper than the other as you walk down the supermarket aisle.

The game is rigged and is better left to mathematicians who can easily figure which is which. Your choices are going with what you think is the cheapest simply based on cost, what your mother bought, or the toothpaste you last saw on an advert.

The same game plays over at the tissue aisle, though to a lesser extent. Tissues are more standardised at 200 sheets and 2 ply, and either virgin pulp or blended.

What happens here is that a pack of 2, a pack of 4, a pack of 8 and a pack of 10 all cost different prices for each tissue brand. Some brands have deeply discounted 2 packs or 4 packs but their price per roll costs more for the 8 and 10 packs. Again, it does not help that the prices are usually not multiple of 10s or multiples of 2.

A price like 279 shillings for an 8 pack becomes very difficult for many to determine what the price per roll is. There are too many remainders and decimals involved.

What tissue and toothpaste makers are practicing is a form of price-discrimination. Price discrimination means realising that different people are ready to pay different prices for the same thing - a Toyota LandCruiser VX and a Toyota Passo both have 5 doors and 4 wheels, but very different prices. Same as a mug of Senator Lager and a bottle of WhiteCap, which are both half-litre beers from the same brewery.

Price discrimination is a strategy that a business person deploys to ensure that they are not “leaving money on the table” by under charging those who want to pay more or overcharging those who can’t afford a high price.

While the tissue rolls is a good example of price-discrimination, the toothpaste tubes is more a case of appearances - the same way you buy a swollen packet of crisps only to find 5 crisps at the bottom of the pack and a lot of air at the top. 

125 grams/100 ml of Close Up toothpase will cost you between KSh. 238 for buy one get one free (2 packs) at Carrefour and KSh. 239 for one at Naivas. 

140 grams/100 ml of Colgate at Tuksys goes for KSh. 200 (April 2019 prices), while 220 grams of Colgate at Carrefour goes for KSh. 220 (December 2019 prices). 

Give it a try next time you buy toothpaste or tissue at the supermarket. Try to rank what brands are cheaper than the others, and whether that rank remains the same both for small and larger packs. Good Luck, you will need it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every ha...

WhatsApp Solution: Sorry we were unable to restore any of your message history backup

*This method only works if you are trying to transfer WhatsApp from one phone to another, and have not deleted WhatsApp data or formatted the old phone. If you already uninstalled WhatsApp and deleted data or logged into a different number, it won't work. If you get the “Sorry we were unable to restore any of your message history backup” when trying to restore your WhatsApp messages, trying to restore again from the same backup will probably fail. The issue seems to be caused by an issue with your backup file such as if you repeatedly tried to backup with internet connecting and disconnecting. 

Visiting Watamu

Getting to Watamu: Flight to Malindi Airport. Jambojet flies here and so do other airlines from Wilson. You'll then need a Cab to Watamu (KSh. 1,700 to KSh. 2,000 - many apps are inaccurate) or matatu just outside the airport (KSh. 100) SGR to Mombasa, then shuttle to Watamu. There are about 2 regular shuttles and they charge KSh. 1,500 to KSh. 2,000 one way  Bus to Watamu. Tahmeed and other buses operate regular schedules to Total Watamu  Drive: It's faster branching through Mariakani to Kaloleni then to Kilifi. The route through Tsavo is not any faster and has park fees. Takes 9 hours  Things to do  Beach Sunbathing : Watamu has some of the world's best beaches, with white sand. The left side from Watamu Village has a bay with shallow water during low tide,  you can wade and swim in the ocean even if you don't know how to swim! Ocean is warm in July - August but very windy. Watamu beaches have lots of seaweed but this shouldn't deter yo...

Why Humanity Hasn't Learned From the Covid Pandemic

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic began ravaging the world, succeeding the 1918 flu pandemic.  Many found it unbelievable that despite all the scientific progress that the world has made since 1918, from composite jets to modern healthcare to going to the moon, the world was still susceptible to a pandemic.  Ironically, some of these advancements largely played a role in the spread of the pandemic. Thousands of global flights every hour and air conditioning fanned its spread like a dry wind would in a forest fire.  There was even further disbelief in mid-2020 when it became apparent that many countries were even struggling to keep a pandemic in check. Developed countries, supposed to have the best healthcare, suffered the worst outbreaks amidst disagreements on measures such as quarantines and wearing of masks.  In yet another twist, technology advancement finally came to our rescue with the speedy development of vaccines, including the safe pioneering of never-tried-b...

EuroTrip - What to know when planning your trip

Planning a Eurotrip can be daunting. First, that’s assuming that you have a Schengen visa, especially if you come from an African country. It is usually hard to get this visa, but the good thing is that once obtained, unless in unusual circumstances, a visa to one of the main European countries allows you to visit the rest - of course the UK is an exception. Another good thing is that it is quite easy to travel across Europe. Again, once you cross into a Western Europe country, travel between the different countries is considered a local trip, meaning you do not need to have your passport stamped to cross from one country to another. However, your passport may need to be presented for inspection at some crossings, and also on flights. Milan’s retro and noisy trams await More important, you need to carry your passport when crossing from one country to another and it is also highly advised to carry your passport when travelling from one city to another, even in the same co...