Usually they base the load amount on the size of the load, and what line inside the cap you fill to.

it could just be a typo

The predetermined level or line on the fill cap will most likely be higher on the cap, requiring you to use more for each load, as it is diluted with fabric softener!

That touch of Downy throws off the amount of loads.

The 81 load bottles are filled with the missing sheets of toilet paper.

Dark matter?

the downy one may be more concentrated due to the softener in there...

I would imagine that "touch of Downy" takes away from the amount of detergent in the bottle, thereby lessening its cleaning capacity per fluid ounce.

This, of course, is based on me reading the label - which seems to be done less and less these days...

I bet the caps are the same, but the lines are drawn differently inside of them.

*off-topic mode=ON*

Sam's Club? Why would you want to give your money to the evil empire that is WalMart? Is there no alternative in your area?

I would hope there is some other reailer that is more deserving of your money.

There is an asterisk next to the numbers. Could we get a close up of what they indicate?

This isn't at all illogical. The one that advertises fewer loads is diluted with fabric softener. Therefore you need a larger volume of liquid to get the same amount of detergent.

Sure, the caps look the same, but since when do you fill the cap to the very top? There's always a line inside that demarcates the suggested amount for one load.

That being said, it sure is a funny picture.

Wow. Two different products do two different things. Amazing.

People use too much detergent anyway. Just use about 75% of the reccomended value and your clothes will turn out fine.

@Erskine:

EXACTLY. You take the same-sized container, but this time instead of loading 170 fl. oz. of TIDE, you load ~135 fl. oz TIDE and the rest DOWNY.

So to get the same amount of DETERGENT, the main product being sold, you are required to use MORE per cap, resulting in LESS LOADS as compared to the DETERGENT-ONLY formula....

This really shouldn't have made it onto the site, c'mon.

It has fabric softener in it! Not sure how that didn't make sense. It basically means that they put enough softener in it to reduce the amount of loads the bottle of soap can clean. It isn't rocket surgery or brain science.

I don't understand why you would mix softener and detergent in the same bottle/Washer.

I thought fabric softener is added to the rinse (final) cycles of the washing machine because it "cuts through or neutralizes" the detergent, allowing the softener to saturate/coat the fabric?

This is why fabric softener used on towels makes them less absorbent.

@MPHinPgh: Why buy Tide, as it's made by the equally evil Proctor & Gamble? The bottom line is people can buy whatever they please, wherever they please. They don't need some self-righteous, ignorant prick, moralizing at them.

Off topic, but I laugh at people who buy Tide at the grocery store...when they could easily pick up one of the "2nd tier" brands (Purex, Dynamo, etc) that is usually on sale for $1.99 for a standard size bottle. I don't think my clothes are getting any less clean.

@mercurypdx: What about using dryer sheets, do they also make towels less absorbent?

All this one proved is that Sam's Club, along with the other membership stores, shaft you on items like this. You think it's a good deal because it's in a large bottle and it's at Sam's, but the fact is the price is no cheaper than most department stores

I think there is probably a toll free phone number on the back to answer such questions.

@theblackdog: The article I linked above says they're one and the same (one is liquid dispersal, the other would be gaseous), but further googling will reveal an entire "Anti-Softener" contingent who says to use baking soda, vinegar, or a combination of the two instead.

@zouxou: No, sometimes they DO need a prick to do plant a bug in their ear.

As far as being self-righteous, there was nothing of the sort in that remark, and moralizing is a bit of a stretch.

Compare the number of posts on The Consumerist that deal with WalMart to those that deal with P&G. WalMart seems to come out the winner of the "Evil Empire" award. Is it not a fair question to ask if there's an alternative?

I have the right to pose the question, just as you have the right to call me a prick.

OMG I've been looking for just Plain old ass orange bottle tide without any stupid ass additives for ever. I've used that downey one. Its crap. Costs the same and has less loads. Plus they put SOOOOOOOOOO much downey in the product you have to was the clothes 2x (once with soap and once on just a rinse without detergent) just to get the downey out of the clothes.

All these companies do now is just add crap to their producs. Tide is going to come with dirt added soon just to get you to use more.

@projoe1979:

I wish my sister-in-law would listen to that advice. My wife and I live with her and she fills the cup and lets it overflow into the washing machine. She also uses 2 cups of fabric softener for every full load as well. This is also the same one who drinks a case (24) of Diet Mountain Dew every week. "Moderation" is not in her vocabulary.

@theblackdog: No, but they supposedly cause cancer (but what else doesn't?). [www.ghchealth.com]

The cap sizes are different to account for the addition of the Downy. Also, be aware that detergent manufacturers are moving toward more concentrated formulas, so 85 ounces may now be doing the work of what 170 ounces did last summer.

Ok, all you math whizzes out there.

according to the label on the bottle, the bottle contains 170 fl.oz. of "something". it doesn't specify what, and in what ratio. That means that even if 75% of the bottle were fabric softener, it would still be 170 fl.oz..

So, there are 2 possibilities here.

1. a Load of "regular" tide is 1.55oz, while a load of Tide with Downy is 2.1 oz. Since the OP said that the cups were the same size, the lines might be in different places inside the cups, but there's no way to know that.

2. the marketing department, ad department, or some other department fucked up and put the wrong number on one or the other bottle.

I'm leaning towards #2, since it would be hard not to notice that the line would be 25% higher in the downy cup than in the regular tide cup.

Two things. The one mixed with Downy would have fewer loads because, well, it's mixed. That makes the big difference.

And second, can we stop with the 'how dare you even think of shopping at ***' comments?
This happens a lot on Best Buy threads, but it's cropped up here against Sam's Club. Maybe they are evil. Maybe all they want is your money. (...Okay, that's the basis of a business...) But we shop there for our own reasons. Maybe we don't have many options. Maybe we'd rather go to the Super Conglomerate than spend 7 bucks on something we could buy there for 4. Heck, maybe we like the places we choose to shop most of the time.

Here's a tip: instead of buying the pricey brand name detergent, look for the cheapest brand name detergent that contains BOTH SURFACTANTS AND ENZYMES.

Most of the cheaper brands will contain just surfactants (soap) and will NOT work as well as the higher end brands that also contain enzymes to break up organic bits like sweat.

There is a middle ground though and as long as you are OK with the smell, you'll save a few bucks off of the premium products. My wife and I don't care about the smell so that's what we end up buying.

I don't like products like this that add to things together, like celery salt. I prefer to add my own salt to taste. And the celery seed is just that celery seed.
The same with these detergents I buy soap to be soap and then add or not add other products. You get a better deal by buying just a single product than if you buy the blended version. Like others have said they add more fabric softener to the detergent so your getting less soap. Therefor loosing money.
Also keep in mind the number of loads is based on there "measurement" of how much soap to add. I often only add 3/4 of that amount into each load, depending on the load size and how dirty the laundry is.
You'll find you save a lot on soap just by cutting back a little bit and I assure you you wont notice the difference.

The two bottles obviously contain two DIFFERENT products, I would expect less loads from the bottle with fabric softener added.

Seems that actually reading the container would have answered the question before it was asked.

the downey one has a false bottom so that the bottle looks bigger

I second Dashrashi's comment.

It appears that they just change what the "Medium Load" detergent recommendation is. On some containers it says Line 1 and on other Line 2.

@kingKonqueror: Did you even read the article? For example the part that said, "Thinking that the additional additives to the Tide (Frebreez and Downy) might have diluted the strength of the detergent I pulled and compared the measuring caps of each bottle and they were identical."

It could also be that the caps are identical, but the instructions on the Downy-Tide might say "fill to line 3", while the regular Tide might say "fill to line 2". That's what I'd do, if I was manufacturing caps like this.

Of course, filling either one to line 1 would probably get your clothes just as clean.

the caps are identical to leverage costs. They are two completely different products. One is a regular liquid detergent and the other is a liquid detergent with a fabric softening agent so you don't have add fabric softener to the rinse.

@Shadowman615: There's like four of us who showed you the logic behind that - read, please.

@MBZ321: That crap ruins clothes.

@JackAshley: that would be my guess too. even though both have the same size measuring cup (from the outside), the lines inside I'm pretty sure are different since the fewer loads Tide is mixed in with Downy.

@mopar_man: I got itchy reading that, and I'm guessing her clothes always look filthy.

Ye Gods, people!

Fewer loads! Less detergent, fewer loads!

If you count it, use 'fewer'; if you measure it, use 'less'.

@Erskine: The problem is with all those damn words that do this thing like MAKE IT CLEAR that there is a softener additive in one and not the other which obviously dilutes the detergent which means it takes more to get the same number of loads clean (this is based on science and bunny torture).

I know this has been explained several times above, but I thought it would be nice to point out how idiotic it is that this post was made.

Some real cracker jack reporting here, guys.

Dont by that toxic garbage anyway, spend a buck more and get non toxic Method Home products.

When u use regular tide liquid, line one is medium loads--when you use tide with bleach or in this case, tide with downey, line two is the medium load--you use more liquid for the load in the tide with bleach or with downy.

Tide has been doing this for decades (with their bleach version--their downy one is newer).

I like Tide, it does clean well, but I have started making my own detergent which I like better.

Oh, the loads are equal. When you account for the loads of bullcrap.

Tide is wildly overformulated and provides a great deal less marginal utility value added for the cost increase they charge.

I use Purex, but then, my dad is the packaging manager for all Purex lines.

@Shadowman615: Yes, the caps are the same, but the directions on the back of the bottles are different. Line 1 for regular Tide, Line 2 for Tide with Downy.

Mystery solved, different directions require different fill lines!

@catskyfire:

Good point. No point in calling out any one business when they're ALL out to screw you over in some way...
But seriously, I used to live in Georgia, and there was a club store there called BJ's (awesome name for a store btw). I saw them around quite a bit, but I've never seen them anywhere else. The nearest Costco was like 20 miles away. We all know that BJ's are great, but what if BJ's sucked (ba dum psh) for whatever reason? Well, you might feel morally superior for not going to Costco, but you'd better feel sort of shitty because you used up all that gas getting there. Sometimes there aren't options. Sometimes, all you really need is a BJ.