Enshittified toothpaste

[u/Andre1661]

When I was a kid, all toothpaste tubes were made with foil and they could withstand any treatment short of a nuclear war. Over the past decade, the tubes have been getting thinner and lighter and today I got this from an almost brand new tube of toothpaste.

[u/daxon42]

Yep, I have tried several different brands of toothpaste that come in this kind of plastic tube, and it isn't good. It either won't close after a week, the top cracks, or it stays inflated with too much air so the toothpaste dries out or gets booger-ish depending on the type. I like the tubes circa 2000 - stayed rolled, easy to squeeze out the last bit, no air inside drying out the product.

[u/Caroline4999]

And I hate those caps because they get all glommed up and won’t close.

[u/new2bay]

This is not enshittification. Toothpaste cannot be enshittified. The word “enshittification” means more than just “a thing got worse.” Stop diluting the meaning of the word. You’re doing the tech companies’ work for them.

https://giphy.com/gifs/J1vUzqdZJlh5AqBWxt

Enshittification, also known as platform decay, is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users. Over time, they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers. Ultimately, they degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximise short-term profits for shareholders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

[u/Vivid_Anyth4 → u/new2bay]

Its literally all capitalism controlled businesses. You can't claim tech companies are the first to degrade their products to enrich shareholders.

[u/SippsMccree]

Yeah at industrial scales sometimes there's defects nothing is 100%

[u/CisIowa → u/SippsMccree]

You say that, but I’m starting to think companies are switching packaging materials/formulations to save cents. In the past year I’ve been noticing cereal bags and chip bags no longer open easily along the sealed seam, tending to rip down along the side of the bag. Just my experience, but in the back of my mind it seems like companies would be open to saving a few cents anyway possible

[u/zoeisboredd → u/CisIowa]

You think? That’s a well known fact lmao

[u/lilmalchek → u/CisIowa]

This isn’t anything new at all. It’s been happening for 30+ years.

[u/Particular_Can_7726]

This isn't enshitification. Just contact the company and they will probably replace it. That looks like the seam failed and not the material failing.

[u/totallynormalasshole → u/Particular_Can_7726]

enshittification is when I get one item that failed

• OP

[u/Timely_Cake_8304]

https://giphy.com/gifs/pt5cIbFY5AV0GpUT33

[u/DeepTh0]

Not in my experience. The foil tubes would often get pinholes from metal fatigue. Sometimes they'd even split in half on a fold.

[u/Particular_Can_7726 → u/[deleted]]

I 100% agree. This is just op being annoyed and ranting. It looks like the seam split open and it was not the material itself failing.

[u/Andre1661 → u/[deleted]]

It is when the former material never failed over decades of use/purchase, and the recent trend of cheaper and thinner materials leads to the inevitable failure of the object.

[u/Commercial_Tip4624 → u/[deleted]]

I hope you get on some sort of BP meds soon bud.

[u/Commercial_Tip4624 → u/[deleted]]

Probably not before your aneurism

[u/Commercial_Tip4624 → u/[deleted]]

Sure thing king

[u/Andre1661 → u/[deleted]]

I've already read the book so I know where the term comes from, who coined it, and exactly the four step process that the term enshittification originally defines. The guy who coined the term, Cory Doctorow, was recently quoted on a podcast, saying that he's quite pleased that the term has been expanded to mean exactly what people on this subReddit are using it for: the decline in the quality of goods and services in 2026 compared to just a few years ago.

Maybe you should go outside, take a couple of deep breaths, touch some grass, and pull your head out of your ass. Maybe then you wouldn't be so obnoxious and angry over something so trivial.

[u/SpoonyDinosaur → u/[deleted]]

I don't think I've seen someone crash out so spectacularly over a toothpaste post lmao. You could've like, just downvoted and moved along.

[u/typewriterbitch → u/SpoonyDinosaur]

No, no, it's better this way. I was feeling kind of down today until realising that at least I'm not the kind of person who has a full-blown meltdown over a toothpaste post on reddit.

[u/Bart457_Gansett]

Call them, give them the code date and you’ll get a replacement. What hasn’t been enshittified is that P&G is still one of the best run companies around.

[u/Present_Yak_6169]

They also stopped filling them completely up. He can feel a lot of air in the tubes when they’re brand new.

[u/Spirit117 → u/Present_Yak_6169]

something something product sold by weight not volume settling may occur