In theory the idea of an automatic soap dispenser is a good idea. It’s a way to reduce contact germs and portion the amounts of soap that people receive. And as it was pointed out to me, it’s also a great tool for the handicapped. Yet this tool is flawed. It favors facilities over consumers and the amount of soap that it portions out is completely inadequate for what anyone should need to wash their hands.

As demonstrated on the Georgia-Pacific Professional YouTube channel, the amount of soap that a single person receives by one of these dispensers can be controlled by whoever installs the device. From a marketing perspective these dispensers claim that they not only lessen soap waste, but also lessen contact germs. Their real purpose does not reduce germs spreading, but it reduces the amount of money and maintenance a facility must spend on soap.

According to a catalog listing on Grainger.com, one of these Gen two 1200 milliliter (40.58 fluid ounce) enMotion dispensers intend to, “supply a premeasured amount of hand soap to help prevent waste. Touch-free automatic dispensers allow users to avoid touching the dispenser, handle or pump.”

The brand promotes that it prevents waste and implies it also prevents germ spread-age, but what defines waste as waste when, regularly, people often take just the amount of soap that they need in the first place. Presumably it might conserve soap, but the use of 4 D volt batteries as shown in the demonstration video, to power this thing is not conservative at all. People have the capacity to get it themselves. If anything, these soap dispensers withhold essential suds, restricting and preventing a consumer from making their hands adequately clean.

When a sink is automatic, contamination between a hand and a soap dispenser would be canceled out after the hands are washed. This cannot happen if facilities keep choosing to give these small soap portions to their bathroom users. If these automatic dispensers are replaced by non-automatic ones, and if there are automatic sinks, these contact germs shouldn’t matter. In many bathroom locations around Point Park, at least in the Women’s restrooms, there are automatic sinks.

We do not need these dispensers to control our daily lives and waste our time. I do not have the patience to wait for soap to be dispensed for me. I would much rather pump the soap out myself instead of waiting. Giving yourself the amount that you need is essential to get the hand-washing job done the first time, especially when the quality of the soap that is used is also poor. Really, these dispensers just cause laziness and inadequately washed hands. Overall, this product from enMotion is just a completely subpar package that’s guaranteed to make anyone who washes their hands with this soap disappointed.