Why are Gillette and Schick cartridge blades so expensive ?

Why are plastic cartridge blades so expensive compared to double edge razor blades ?

For instance two cutting edges are present on a double edged blade and also in a two blade plastic cartridge, but the double edged blade often is far less than half the price of the plastic cartridge blade. A popular double edged Derby blade is far less than one fifth the price of most two blade plastic cartridges.

A high price for a five blade plastic cartridge would be understandable compared to a double edged blade.

With Gillette and Schick competing for the plastic cartridge market , prices should be naturally falling to grab market share but are not.

Are plastic cartridges expensive to produce compared to a double edged blade ? Why such a wide difference in price ?

They're dirt cheap to produce but people will pay through the nose for them because they are the latest thing.

It's all for one thing;

"The Bottom Line"

"Why are Gillette and Schick cartridge blades so expensive?"

Because the purpose of Gillette and Schick is to make a profit, and as long as people are willing to pay the going price for the blades they will keep selling them at the highest price possible to maximize their profit.

For the same reason gasoline is expensive.

Most need it, you can only get it from THEM

Because its the best a man can get....actually bc people are falsely convinced that the latest and greatest is the cure for their shaving woes and will pay for it....for some it works for others it doesn't and they will pay even more money when the next thing comes out and they pin their hopes on that.

HoosierTrooper said:

"Why are Gillette and Schick cartridge blades so expensive?"

Because the purpose of Gillette and Schick is to make a profit, and as long as people are willing to pay the going price for the blades they will keep selling them at the highest price possible to maximize their profit.

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+1 . . . plus patent law protection that gives them the ability to charge the price without direct competition.

Everyone should see the operations of Gillette to understand where the money goes...the robotic operation is an engineering marvel at the Boston manufacturing plant. From start with raw materials to finish there is no human guidance

To the OP's point

Bass301 said:

With Gillette and Schick competing for the plastic cartridge market , prices should be naturally falling to grab market share but are not.

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Yeah, they should. Since the blade cartridges probably cost them something like 15 cents each to produce a $4 dollar item, Why doesn't Schick just price theirs at $2.50 and scoop a huge chunk of the market? I'm sure there's a good reason, but it isn't obvious on the face of it.

And ... why don't Merkur or any of the other DE razor makers spend some money advertising in the states? Gillette could certainly use some high-profile debunking from someone with ad money to spend. Imagine the parody opportunities that come from five bladed razors! Six, if you count the "trimming" blade on the Fusion. Six-bladed, light-up, vibrating razors!

Something is fishy about the whole market, IMHO.

Tom

Thanks for replies so far.

I wonder how much the total production cost of a double edged blade is and how much the total production cost of a two blade plastic cartridge is ?

Patent protection likely expired years ago for the two blade plastic cartridges (Atra, Trac Two, etc) but generic brands for some reason are still hard to find.

If Gillette , Schick, and others are keeping the prices intentionally or unintentionally high it's a form of collusion which should be investigated by the Justice Department for potential anti-trust violations. Seems like it would have gotten attention by now because nearly every man and woman (including Supreme Court justices and high powered lawyers) shaves on a regular basis and must have asked themselves this same question about the high price of blades.

In a nutshell. GREED

There is competition in the DE blade market which drives down prices

the cartridges are patented so it is essentially a monopoly and the manufacturer can charge what they want. Marketing makes sure the sucke^Wconsumer will buy them

Marketing has also successfully weaned enough people away from trac2/atra that there isn't enough of a demand for other manufacturers products

and of course you can be sure marketing will lure people away to the next best thing a man can get before the patents on the current set of razors expire

Absolute Mustard said:

Everyone should see the operations of Gillette to understand where the money goes...the robotic operation is an engineering marvel at the Boston manufacturing plant. From start with raw materials to finish there is no human guidance

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While it may be true that the Gillette plant contains fantastic engineering feats, it is certainly not true that that's the main reason the carts are expensive. In point of fact they cost pennies to produce.

Because they can be.
No one has any incentive to drop prices. Schick would rather try to win more of this easy-money pie by marketing rather than win more of it by making it less profitable. And P&G has deeper pockets than Schick and would win a price war.

What I truly do not understand is why Gillette is still making DE blades at all. It can't be making them as much money as converting the market (and their factories) to the Guard would. Of course recent moves may unfortunately be an indicator that they intend to do just that.

I am not sure if this is totally accurate. If you look at the price that DE blades were back in the 40s-60s, they may be the same comparable price that people pay today for cartridge razors. We still use a technology that is based on an easier production model, i.e. no plastic molds to place razors in. And thus costs less for us. But in comparing the past to the present the prices might be equal. Any thoughts?

Hey, if Gillette and Schick can get it, more power to them. The correct price is the price the customer is willing to pay. If they are willing to pay the price, well, good for them.

For me, I can get 100 Derby blades for about $17.00. That's two year's worth. I have no clue how long a five blade cartridge lasts. If I used one I would keep on using it until it was beyond offering a decent shave. With the Derby's I don't care.

I have often wondered if the popularity of the stubble look is in anyway related to having to shave with a multi-blade cartridge, the price of it and the suspect quality of the shave.

Question :

How does the DE blade market exist at all now ?

In my American city a double edged razor is impossible to find , the blades almost as hard to find , and the blades which are available are generic brands rather than quality blades like Derby , Feather, Sharp , Astra, etc.

Is the international market outside the USA the main market for DE
shaving ?
If yes , which countries ?

In USA , it seems relatively few people under the age of 60 are even aware of DE shaving and those who are think of it as unsafe because the equipment is largely unavailable on store shelves. They think of a "safety razor" as one which uses a disposable plastic cartridge and doesn't have exposed blade edges.

Bass301 said:

Question :

How does the DE blade market exist at all now ?

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Millions and millions of DE razors were produced over the years. Millions are still in use. And then there's the overseas markets where in some cases the DE is king.

crugg said:

I am not sure if this is totally accurate. If you look at the price that DE blades were back in the 40s-60s, they may be the same comparable price that people pay today for cartridge razors. We still use a technology that is based on an easier production model, i.e. no plastic molds to place razors in. And thus costs less for us. But in comparing the past to the present the prices might be equal. Any thoughts?

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Good question. From the proverbial dim recesses of my mind, I seem to think that I payed about $5 to $6 dollars for Gillette blades in a 10 pack back in the 70's and early 80's. I am also willing to be very wrong about the price. The quality of the DE's was very good, much better than most of the other products hanging on the Kroger's display.

I switched to a twin blade in the eighties convinced by the hype that they were better. I then grew a beard because I was tired of bad shaves.

Gillette got out of the DE business because they could better get margins from the twin blades at the time. The competition was stiff for DE's and I imagine the margin's thin. Twin blades were proprietary. The marketing campaigns were excellent and they seemed to key on all of the things guys complained about shaves and shaving. Yet for me, the twin blades were no better than DE's. Three blades didn't do anything for me, either, except cost more.

Still, they must work for a lot of guys out there. They keep selling them.

crugg said:

I am not sure if this is totally accurate. If you look at the price that DE blades were back in the 40s-60s, they may be the same comparable price that people pay today for cartridge razors. We still use a technology that is based on an easier production model, i.e. no plastic molds to place razors in. And thus costs less for us. But in comparing the past to the present the prices might be equal. Any thoughts?

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Superspeed Price in 1951 $1.00
Superspeed Price with inflation would cost $8.40

DE Blades in 1951 (ten pack) $0.49
Same Ten Pack today $4.12


Proglide Razor (Target online) $8.99
8 Pack Blades $23.89