Why do supermarkets still sell rinse aid and salt but not dishwasher powder?

Add another cleaning aid to this discussion: Why have supermarkets stopped selling pure soap flakes? Great for gentle washing(machine & hand) of delicates-materials like wool,silk etc Better for the environment and those with sensitive skin.LUX was one famous brand.Don't want to trot off to Amazon to buy similar.Available in liquid form as well.Anyone know where for either?

Seems to be still available online in more industrial quantities but if you don't want the hassle maybe try breaking/cutting a tablet in half for a half dose and see if that's any better.

I used to be a supermarket buyer back in the day. To answer your question, there are too many products and sub-products in this category, so buyers typically rely on sales reports. They identify what's selling and discontinue anything that isn't to optimise shelf space. For convenience, 9 out of 10 people use dishwasher tablets.

you try any other cycles? should be a quick one that gets hot enough to dissolve the tablet.

that's very quick for eco, mine takes 3hrs

I am like you, I tend to just do a short eco cycle. I noticed I could not find the Finish powder anywhere either. I resorted to throwing half a tablet in the bottom of the dishwasher instead, it seems to work OK, no residue left behind. I am now using these Dunnes pod things, they contain powder inside the pod as opposed to a hard tablet, working well for me on an eco cycle in the washer.

Book yerselves a trip to France. Dishwasher powder still available in supermarkets here, in sensible quantities for regular users.

Side note: the all-in-one pods are a con, partly for the reason given by the OP. Will post a link to a good explanatory video later.

As I said - if you've hard water, you may need an all in one tablet and salt and rinse aid. We never really bothered with the rinse aid, but did have to add salt. We'd end up with grit when the salt was out.

I use tablets but also put in rinse aid now and again. I find the machine works better. Dishes come out better when rinse aid is used.

I was also told by a repair guy that I still should be adding salt to the dishwasher a few times a year as he reckons the tablets don't contain enough. I do this but don't know if it makes any difference. He thinks it prolongs the machine.

I'm amazed at people not using salt and/or rinse aid!

I live in a hard water area and top up the salt regularly, rinse aid definitely helps with residue and drying

The powder is genuinely better than tabs/pods, but is so much harder to find i agree, more economical too

I watched a verrry in-depth breakdown on dishwashers on YT which reasoned out why the powder was better, surprisingly interesting!

My dw doesn't open the compartment for the tablet, it's 20 years old or so, so I've to wait until the rinse cycle is done and the dw has switched to Wash, then I throw the tab in at the bottom

Throwing it in at the start is literally pouring it down the drain!

I can see a trip to B&Q in the offing for that powder - I have an issue with a 40cm dishwasher on incredibly soft water - a tablet is far, far, far too much and leaves the dishes smelling of detergent; and I've been looking for old fashioned powder for a while.

Don't use salt there because it's completely pointless; whereas in my normal hyper hard water area it's absolutely essential.

Interesting thread here, another one who misses the bags of powder. I used to decant bags of it into plastic bottles so saved on plastic. I gave up looking for them and just use simplest tablets from Aldi/Lidl. Soft water here too so no need for salt or rinse aid.

As an aside I saw someone recommend runnning clothes washing machine at 60degree (no clothes) with one d w tablet to give inside a good clean.

Someone asked about handwash detergent? I use a bottle of handwash liquid Tesco ownbrand as I still handwash some items. I still get boxes of laundry detergent. I resent that I must use a standard amount for every wash as with the pod things.