Super Soaps Revisited;...The Cost

Super Soaps which are otherwise called superwetters, are based on carbon, silicon, and teflon chemistries. At very low concentrations they dramatically reduce the surface tension of water. And therefore makes it possible to clean windows (under the right conditions) using water with a high TDS and no DI/RO because the water drains from the glass leaving no drops. I have done it so I know it works. It is also possible to squeegee with a Super Soap. They give excellant glide at very low concentrations. And clean really well. Check out a video demonstrating how these superwetters work in a water based paint.

However. Lets look at the cost and how much a Super Soap product would cost retail. The cost is rather high. I needed to invest about five hundred just to buy a five gallon pail. It cost around a hundred bux per gallon. Which is the average cost for these superwetters. When I was working with Unger and the Shark Tank verifies this;…a manufacturers total cost must be multiplied by 4 to 6.5 to get the end retail/consumer price. So a product that cost around ninety bux per gallon would be .70 cents per ounce. A 12 ounce bottle would therefore cost 8.44. Add a buck for the bottle and label and you end up at a manufacturing cost of 9.44. Multiply this by 4 and you have a retail price of 37.75 for 12 ounces. Would you pay that plus shipping? Do you think it could possibly compete at that cost with the other window cleaning soaps out there?

If it quantifiably increases work speed with equal or better results then of course the cost can be justified. Just like the cost to own and run a WFP.

Even so, that blue goo they use on oily critters does a bang-up job while being cheap and readily available.

Personally I don’t think it does enough of a better job to justify the cost. Some people might love it. But most will not think it really is that great. As for myself I just use Dawn and TSP. That combination works really well. I would never pay 37.75 for 12 ounces of soap. No matter how high tech it was.

Henry

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