# Why are razor cartridges so expensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205 "2006-05-03T05:02:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/21 "2006-05-03T17:56:23Z")
I recently switched to Target’s double blades for the Gillette Sensor. They work far better than Gillette’s blades and they’re half the price. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/22 "2006-05-03T18:54:16Z")
A piece of trivia for you. Did you know that in the UK the most shoplifted item is the Mach 3 razor and its cartridges? They are now being fitted with individual security tags , and sometimes locked away in their own cabinet to try and prevent them being stolen. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/23 "2006-05-03T19:01:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Razor companies spend an absolutely insane amount of money on R&D, believe it or not. Gillette spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on research and development. The Mach 3 razor reportedly cost 750 million dollars to develop. And the marketing costs are gigantic. [/QUOTE] Cite? Not that I don’t believe you, I just can’t believe it costs that much to design a razor. Also, would a generic mach 3 razor head infringe on Gillette’s patents? ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/24 "2006-05-03T20:05:42Z")
[QUOTE=riker1384] Electric shavers are a lot more comfortable if you use a pre-shave gel such as Williams Lectric. [/QUOTE] Actually, I’m using a Philips Coolshave, the with the lotion cartridges, and the lotion (actualy it came with both lotion and gel packs) works great; the mild discomfort is simply from the heads tugging on the stubble as they cut it off. Most of the time it’s okay but there’s always a few hairs here and there that it just catches wrong and pulls before severing. Probably not much I can do except get a newer, sharper set of heads, which I’ll probably have to do in a few months anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/25 "2006-05-03T20:45:23Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] So I went and got one of those old-school “Missile Silo” type razors, the ones that you use the double-edged blades in. [/QUOTE] Those cut my face up pretty bad. I’ve noticed the Mach 3 is one of the few razors that does not cut me up. I sometimes buy blades on ebay for it, they go for about $1 each there, as opposed to $2 a blade at stores. I should go to sams club or costco though. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/26 "2006-05-03T21:36:48Z")
Well, I can only add this: [Open up, baby birds!](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930) ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/27 "2006-05-03T22:03:36Z")
[QUOTE=Iggins] Well, I can only add this: [Open up, baby birds!](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930) [/QUOTE] [Life imitates satire.](http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/14/news/fortune500/gillette/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/28 "2006-05-04T02:31:09Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > Cite? Not that I don’t believe you, I just can’t believe it costs that much to design a razor. That was a number I just ‘knew’, probably from reading engineering mags. But I just did some Googling, and found this: > [@http://old.themlc.org/economics/less10.htm](#): > > The product of seven years of continuous effort and an unprecedented seven hundred and fifty million dollars in manufacturing and development costs alone, Mach 3 will make its debut in July and by the turn of the century should be the most popular razor in America. Within two years, Gillette should be selling 1.2 billion Mach 3 blades each year. I also found a U.K. commission report on competitive practices in the razor industry (warning: PDF) which says this: > [@](#): > > The development of particular new products, each of which may take several years, may require the commitment of considerable amounts of R&D expenditure over the period (eg Gillette spent some £110 million over a ten-year period to develop its Sensor systems razor and a further £70 million to start up production That’s 180 million pounds spent between 1979 and 1989 on the Sensor R&D, which was a much simpler razor. In constant American dollars, that’s got to be close to $500 million. > [@](#): > > Also, would a generic mach 3 razor head infringe on Gillette’s patents? Of the 35 patents on the Mach3, you can bet that one of the most critical would be the patented method of attaching the razor blade catridge. After spending that much on R&D, Gillette would be insane to have an attachment method that allowed generic blades to be attached to their razor. So if you make a blade that fits, you’re probably in patent violation. They’ve got hundreds of patents on various aspects of razor technology, making it pretty hard to sell generic replacements. Patents only last 17 years, which is why you can find generic Trac-II and Atra cartridges I’d imagine. Here’s an interesting [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillette_Mach_3) article on the Mach3 that goes into great detail about its construction. It’s actually a pretty sophisticated little device. And a lot of the research you can’t see, such as the metallurgy of the blades. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205/29 "2006-05-04T03:09:23Z")
I recently participated in a market research study for razors. We used what were apparently run of the mill Gillette Fusions. My $75 participation payment came directly from Gillette’s bottom line. During the eligibily interview, they asked me I or anyone in my family was a metallurgy engineer. I kinda wish I was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-razor-cartridges-so-expensive/355205.md?page=1)