Josh got down to the bottom of his bottle of Walmart’s Great Value house brand laundry detergent and made a terrible discovery. Poor bottle design means that most customers aren’t using all of the detergent that they pay for. He found an extremely unattractive, yet effective solution to the problem.

Just wanted to let you guys know about this “Great Value” purchase that I won’t be buying again in the future. I was doing laundry today with my Walmart “Great Value” detergent when it ran out on me. What caught me off guard was that the bottle still had weight to it and I could feel liquid swishing around, but no matter how I turned the bottle and shook it, nothing else would come out.

So I decided I’d cut it open and see the cause. As you can see in the picture that I’ve included, the Great Value brand spout goes into the bottle about 3/4s of an inch causing you to lose out on a great deal of detergent. The holes for the liquid to run through are only on the bottom of the spout, not on the sides so you can’t access that extra liquid. I ran 3 extra loads of laundry on the detergent I poured out of my newly formed hole on the side.

I wonder how many people threw away bottles thinking they were finished.

A few years ago, another reader suggested punching a hole in the bottom of the bottle for the same purpose. My method for getting that last bit of detergent out has been to pour some water in the bottle, shake it a bit, and pour the soapy water into the washing machine. I also do this for the last few dregs of shampoo or conditioner in a bottle. I like Josh’s method better, though. Any other ideas for getting the most out of your detergent bottles (or other containers?)

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