I would have loved them back in the 80's when I had to go to the laundry mat. Liquid detergent wasn't popular yet. I finally found one brand of powder that came in a plastic jug that resealed nicely.

Pods sounds intriguing but how do you do small loads? Sometimes I have to do an immediate small load and I need to be able to use less soap.

I only do small loads of clothes so I use one pod. For large load, like bed sheet set, I use two pods.

That's one of the reasons I don't like pods. I like to adjust my detergent use to the load. I also heard that the covering of the pods doesn't always dissolve and can cause plumbing problems, but I don't know that for a fact.

I pre-wash all my "yardage" fabrics including fat quarters because the sizing they put on fabrics irritates my skin, and sometimes my eyes. It's nice to know if the fabric will run or fade too, but mostly I need to be able to handle them!

I use whatever "free & clear" detergent we have at home at the time, sometimes with ammonia, sometimes with washing soda. No Evil Softener or dryer sheets. (If you want to see me claw my skin off, give me a towel that was washed in Tide and dried with dryer sheet.)

If I touch a pod with wet fingers it will dissolve immediately so I think it dissolves covered in water. It's nice to have choices.

I love the pods too. There have been a time or two when the cover didn't totally dissolve, so I just ran it through another rinse cycle. The only detergent I can't get in pods is Woolite for Darks. It works well for my jeans and my DH's black pants that he wears when he works. So if I need a little bit that is what I use - and I have been known to use a very small bit of the blue Dawn dish soap. (I use it hand washing so why not?)