Earlier this week, we shared a reader’s photo of the new and larger scoop in her box of Tide detergent. Normally, we’d be happy when a company offers something bigger, but in this case it appeared that Tide-maker Procter & Gamble was trying to make customers use more detergent and finish off their boxes faster. Someone from the company’s “Fabric Care Communications” team reached out to explain why they made this change.

The team explains:

Washing machines (on average) today (in 2015) vs. just 5 years ago are up to 4x the size! This means that machines are washing more clothes (and more soils) than they did in the past- and in order to effectively clean soils from these larger loads, there must be sufficient detergent to address the cleaning and anti-redeposition of soils in the load.

Washing machines are getting bigger: high efficiency washers have grown in the last few years, and high-efficiency washers are available on the market that take loads that are up to four times bigger. While it’s important not to over-detergent your HE load, under-dosing on detergent is bad, too.

Tide sent over this helpful infographic for our readers that explains how all this works:

The problem is that the change depends on consumers re-reading the directions every time they buy a new box, or actually reading the box the first time they buy a new detergent. They must have more faith in the laundry-doing public than I do.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.