I'm only playing devil's advocate, I actually agree.
But people are ignoring the fact this tiny dishwasher likely REQUIRES commercial grade concentrate. If you look at the design of it, it is almost identical to countertop commercial dishwashers but scaled down (and using plastic instead of stainless steel). Those also need to use concentrate. If that's the case, then the manufacturer had to figure out a way of selling commercial dishwasher concentrate directly to consumers that was both safe but also makes it hard for them to use the wrong product (e.g. avoid them buying off-the-shelf dishwasher liquid/gel at the supermarket).
Again, I'm totally playing devil's advocate here, but I do feel like they maybe started out with an actual design goal here (reduce mistakes, improved UX, protect detergent during shipping) then got greedy when they decided each "cassette" only contained 30x washes, and that they'd cost like £5~/per. So I'm giving them credit for solving one problem while criticizing them for getting too greedy anyway.
I feel like they could have struck a nice middle-ground by copying "ink tanks" from inkjet printers. Just downward facing 1 liter bottles of commercial concentrate, with the reset being done in software exclusively rather than tank-DRM (simpler/more reliable anyway). They could still upcharge, but with less waste/less re-ordering.
But people are ignoring the fact this tiny dishwasher likely REQUIRES commercial grade concentrate. If you look at the design of it, it is almost identical to countertop commercial dishwashers but scaled down (and using plastic instead of stainless steel). Those also need to use concentrate. If that's the case, then the manufacturer had to figure out a way of selling commercial dishwasher concentrate directly to consumers that was both safe but also makes it hard for them to use the wrong product (e.g. avoid them buying off-the-shelf dishwasher liquid/gel at the supermarket).
Again, I'm totally playing devil's advocate here, but I do feel like they maybe started out with an actual design goal here (reduce mistakes, improved UX, protect detergent during shipping) then got greedy when they decided each "cassette" only contained 30x washes, and that they'd cost like £5~/per. So I'm giving them credit for solving one problem while criticizing them for getting too greedy anyway.
I feel like they could have struck a nice middle-ground by copying "ink tanks" from inkjet printers. Just downward facing 1 liter bottles of commercial concentrate, with the reset being done in software exclusively rather than tank-DRM (simpler/more reliable anyway). They could still upcharge, but with less waste/less re-ordering.