Most paper products are designed to be used in a purpose-built dispenser for ease-of-use, hygiene and to reduce wastage from overconsumption. From centrefeed to toilet rolls, choosing the correct dispenser can make all the difference from the perspective of both your business and your end-users. However, there are currently a wide range of captive dispensers on the market that sound convenient on the surface yet can quietly mask some less positive elements underneath.
What is a Captive Dispenser?
The term captive dispenser refers to a dispenser that is designed to only work with products of an exact dimension from a specific manufacturer. This is usually portrayed as a convenience factor, given that the dispenser and products can be purchased from the same supplier at the same time. For example, a captive toilet roll dispenser might only work with a specific patented core size or inserts, preventing other manufacturer’s products from being used with it. Similarly, a captive centrefeed dispenser might only work with an exact dimension of roll that might not exist elsewhere. Of course, this can cause problems further down the line that we’ll explore below.
Price Elasticity
One of the biggest problems with captive dispenser systems is a restriction on price elasticity. With recent geopolitical events, every business is feeling the pressure to cut costs and maintain their profitability. With price increases happening across all industries, paper suppliers may also increase their prices. Typically, in this scenario, distributors have the option to look at other suppliers to arrange a more affordable supply of paper products – ultimately helping to reduce costs to the end-user.
However, if the current product lines are being used in captive dispensers by your end-users, this can make the switch difficult or impossible. This is because paper products from another supplier may not fit into the captive dispensers, meaning that buyers either have to come to terms with the price increase, or end-users will need to swap out their existing dispensers to a universal dispenser type. Swapping to universal dispensers can be a costly move initially, however this now gives greater freedom in the paper products that can be used, helping to reduce costs in the long run.
Benefits to Distributors
For distributors, being locked into a captive dispenser system can be a headache. Not having the option to change paper supplier if prices increase can be crippling, especially if the prices stay high for a long time. Opting for universal dispensers instead can provide much greater freedom for purchasing departments on which paper products they source, and in turn can drastically reduce the prices they pay which can also be passed onto the end-user.
Environmental Waste
The potential issues caused by captive dispensers are not just financial but may also include environmental concerns. Moving away from captive dispensers could mean that your end-users have a large number of dispensers which are no longer fit for use. As such, these dispensers may end up being disposed of and will mostly likely end up in landfill due to their construction that makes them hard to recycle. Universal dispensers from the outset helps to mitigate this problem by providing a solution that works with a range of paper products, regardless of the supplier.
Effects of Choosing a Different Dispensing System
As a distributor, you may decide it’s best to change where you buy your paper products from. Whether it’s down to price, quality, or other factors, choosing a different supplier when your customers use a specific paper and dispenser combination could prove tricky. If you change the products you buy, there’s a risk that your customer will go elsewhere to ensure that they can continue to use the dispenser systems they already have in place. However, it could be worth noting to them about the benefits of switching to a universal dispenser – the biggest being that any paper cost savings can be passed directly onto them. What’s more, it makes it easier for you to readily change paper supplier as required to get the best price possible.
Offer Your End Users Reliable Paper Products
At Fourstones, we offer a range of high-quality paper products that work in most universal dispensers. Our centrefeed products feature easy-pull cores, making it quick and simple to remove their cores and install them in a dispenser. Similarly, several of our Away from Home (AFH) toilet roll products feature an option of 60mm and 76mm cores to ensure they fit in various toilet roll dispensers.
Blue Centrefeed
For high-performance centrefeed options tailored to demanding environments, why not explore our range of dedicated centrefeed products.
Blue Centrefeed: Our most popular centrefeed range; delivering on strength, absorbency and durability.
AFH Toilet Roll
For long-lasting AFH toilet roll options tailored to busy environments, why not explore our range of dedicated toilet roll products.
AFH Toilet Roll: Discover our soft, long and strong toilet roll options for a range of settings from catering to hospitality.
