Nightmare Scenario: The Death of Choice

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BrattyPrincessSophie

Pottypants Bratty Princess Extraordinaire
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I want to preface this by saying that different people have different tastes and preferences and some people like plastic while others like cloth backed and that's ok. What's not ok is eliminating choice and alienating one segment of a market or another. People should always have choices available so they can pick and choose what they prefer. That said, why am I so worried as to word the title of this thread the way I did?

I was talking to a friend about how most medical oriented adult diaper manufacturers are switching fully to cloth backed and eliminating any and all plastic options altogether. This is distressing because people should be able to have at least a basic degree of choice in what type of product they prefer. No one segment of people should be alienated by having their choice taken away.

That friend told me that HDIS told her that about 90% of medical adult diaper manufacturers have fully switched over to cloth backing. I don't know how accurate that percentage is nor whether it applies worldwide or just in the US, but it sounds scary to people like me who prefer plastic backed and would love to continue to have the option to wear and use plastic backed products.

One issue I see pointed out is the vast majority of the full protection incontinence market consists of caregivers and long term care institutions who more often than not don't actually use the products they buy but instead buy them for others who do use them. This makes these people susceptible to marketing because they don't personally use these products and thus don't know any better. They have to go by what companies tell them is good or works well and often times that can be more misleading marketing than actual helpful information.

As I said before, I don't mind cloth backed or the people who prefer it but I want everyone to have options. I think it would be just as unfair to the people who prefer cloth backed to have their options stamped out in favor a majority move to plastic as it would be to people like me to have our options stamped out in favor of a majority move to cloth backed. I want choices because I want both sides to be satisfied.

On to the actual title. I'm worried my biggest fear may come true in that one day all medical adult diaper manufacturers worldwide will switch to cloth backed leaving us with ABDL companies as the only avenue for my product of choice, which doesn't sound so bad until you consider the possibility that it could end up becoming an expensive oligopoly because it's such a niche market with not nearly enough competition to offset the high prices created by such high demand and low supply for such a niche market. I'm worried that for IC folks who prefer plastic and pay out of pocket, plastic backed adult diapers will become so prohibitively expensive that we either have to live with cloth backed or just switch to actual cloth diapers. So how realistic is this nightmare scenario 10 years from now? 20? 30?

More importantly what can be done to ensure that both sides of the fence have as many options as possible?
 
I commend your thinking, choice is important. The one huge sticking point is that there is only a finite amount of plastic that can be created as oil reserves will eventually run out. Also big corporations are being forced to reduce their carbon footprints and plastic diapers are a huge footprint. These companies are switching to cloth back to be more environmentally friendly and to stop having to use the last of the worlds oil reserves. As much as everyone here hates it, it is happening.
 
being more eco friendly is one excuse given but I don't quite buy it. The "cloth" is just nonwoven thin plastic sprayed on top of a thinner traditional plastic panel. If anything even more plastic may be used in the process of making these meaning more likely than not cloth backed is no better for the environment than plastic backed. Any difference that may be present may be marginal at best.
 
I think this also may have a lot to do with supply and demand. Maybe it is just majority prefer discreet cloth backed diapers? With that being the case it becomes cheaper for the company to drop plastic backed diapers all together if they are not selling all that well and having them take a spot on the shelves and having machines for them.
 
1 we will never run out of oil in the ground more and more is produced daily its a renewable resource see your old science books. besides we have only scratched the surface in oil exploration and production the USA alone has enough oil for over 1000 years many many places have not been touched there is a large pool of oil in the middle of the country ironically it straddles the same pool of water that is enough water for 1500 years . I do believe its the nudge effect the companies are doing. Maybe in Europe and Asia they have to reduce footprints not here in the USA especially with the current occupant in DC. Guess companies will find out if each and every one of us were to simply stop buying thier crappy cloth crap they will either be forced into bankruptcy or bring back plastic backed diapers that the market needs. Shame on each company for this disaster you are bringing on yourselves I feel no sympathy for a company who puts up a middle finger to its customers saying we know better what you want or need.
 
what about using bio plastic?
 
Sorry Sophie, don't think anything can be done except for switching to quality ABDL products.

Yes it sucks and I personally dislike medical cloth like backed products and avoid them unless it is a true emergency.
 
Maybe but the question is, will there be enough competition in the ABDL market to keep prices affordable?
 
SnowPrincessSophie said:
being more eco friendly is one excuse given but I don't quite buy it. The "cloth" is just nonwoven thin plastic sprayed on top of a thinner traditional plastic panel. If anything even more plastic may be used in the process of making these meaning more likely than not cloth backed is no better for the environment than plastic backed. Any difference that may be present may be marginal at best.

well said!
 
xpluswearer said:
1 we will never run out of oil in the ground more and more is produced daily its a renewable resource see your old science books.

All the science books I had said that oil is a fossil fuel, and is not a renewable resource. It takes millions of years to occur, and therefore is finite in its supply.

I wonder if anyone really knows how much oil is produced over time compared to what humans use...?
 
I think the the regular medical diaper makers are switching due to the success the cloth backed one have. They wouldn't do it if they didn't think it would make or save them money. So My guess is people prefer less noise that cloth backed ones make. more discreet. I don't know what plastic backed ones offer that cloth backed ones don't. If you want plastic backed ones because you like diapers for a non medial reason, well then there are plenty of ABDL diaper companies that need your business.
 
That may be, but I happen to have a medical need and prefer plastic backed. Are the ABDL companies going to make more medical oriented plastic backed product lines? pseudo medical with their plain white variations? It all seems to be such a niche market that I fear it may become a prohibitively expensive oligopoly with not nearly enough competition to offset the price inflation. At that point, would it be best for people like me to just save money in the long run and fully switch over to actual reusable cloth diapers? I don't mind ABDL companies eventually being the sole source of plastic backed diapers as long as they continue to make plain white variants of the products and there's enough competition in the market to offset any potential price inflation.
 
tiny said:
All the science books I had said that oil is a fossil fuel, and is not a renewable resource. It takes millions of years to occur, and therefore is finite in its supply.

I wonder if anyone really knows how much oil is produced over time compared to what humans use...?
Oil is renewable, However its replaced at a snails pace due to the passage of time and process of science decomposition and cycle of things. Thing is in the USA at least idiots in government have closed many areas off for exploration and if those were lifted in Alaska and the western states America would become the oil superpower surpassing Saudi Arabia and Russia. We only have explored a small amount of land in this world . We truly dont know the extent of the resources we have in the deep depths of the oceans that most drilling equipment cannot get to yet. it would take a massive drought to allow modern well drilling equipment a chance to get to the oil at the bottom of the sea bed or in the polar regions. Just as we will never truly run out of water since the cycle of life of water is endless. Earth will never be without water in my view.
 
SnowPrincessSophie said:
Are the ABDL companies going to make more medical oriented plastic backed product lines? pseudo medical with their plain white variations?

As someone bemoaning the loss of the plain white Tykables, I sympathize. :(

It all seems to be such a niche market that I fear it may become a prohibitively expensive oligopoly with not nearly enough competition to offset the price inflation.

I think that's part of the problem; if the market is very small there are certain economies of scale you can't take advantage of. It's not necessarily a matter of "taking advantage" of customers, but there are certain flat costs that you incur whether you produce 1,000 or 100,000 units. You just have more units in the latter case to spread your costs over.
 
I personally am a big fan of plastic-based products. However, I have an idea. Perhaps ABDL producers could start using bioplastic material.
 
freechris said:
I personally am a big fan of plastic-based products. However, I have an idea. Perhaps ABDL producers could start using bioplastic material.

Just imagine the possibility of ABDL products moving toward greener manufacturing!

I would of course wear the extra expense (see what I did there) and would hope the enonomies of scale and flow on to the medical diaper and baby diaper sectors would normalise it and help reduce prices in the long term.
 
When you have a captive audience (dependent for need and by cost concerns) you can get away with cost cutting to make your products more profitable. They can make arguements its more comfortable/quieter/easier to change but what it really comes down to is somehow its saves them a nickle or dime every diaper made.
 
But you can only cheapen a product so much until it becomes unusable, then it no longer works. Depend learned this the hard way as the reviews of the new Depends are universally negative. You can cheapen the product and still get sales as long it maintains a basic level of functionality and works for its intended purpose, the reviews of the new Depends seem to indicate that is no longer the case.
 
SnowPrincessSophie said:
But you can only cheapen a product so much until it becomes unusable, then it no longer works. Depend learned this the hard way as the reviews of the new Depends are universally negative.

They didn't learn anything and continue to sell said product because they know they can.
 
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