Hi,
I will tell you a little about why we abandoned the bottles as a form of packaging for our tests.
We have been selling our tests since 1996 and we were the first ones ever to make these available to the public. The bottles worked fine until about 5 years ago, when anti-terrorist laws became more stringent, especially the rules about sending chemicals cross-border... This caused massive delays and sometimes the kits wouldn't even make it at all!
Another drawback of the bottles is the fact that they will go off after a certain period, especially when the packaging has a plastic component in it. It is our experience that the quality of the results can't be guaranteed for more than 5-6 months and then the bottle (and the chemicals in it) has to be discarded. This period can even get shorter if the bottle isn't stored under proper conditions. For this reason, we had to have really short distribution lines, we produced more or less on demand and the tests needed to be made frshly for each order and sold quickly to ensure its quality. Otherwise they would go off on the shelves and this caused a tremendous amount of hassle for us...
We did some research among our customers (N=400) and found that on average people used the test for about 6-20 times. Most people use them to look for a reliable source from whom they purchase in larger quantities. What they deemed most important was user-friendliness and shelf life.
We tried to work the results from our research into the new packaging design and ended up with the ampoules. These are filled with a minute amount of reagent, enough for 1 test, which is buffered in granules which form a gel-like substance. This way the liquid can't leak and exempts our tests from hazmat concerns, so no issues at the border! Also, after opening or testing, the liquid will neutralize itself so there are no real environmental concerns either, and the user is not exposed to toxic chemicals and you don't need a plate to do the test. The ampoules are filled and closed under a inert atmosphere, which eleminates shelf life issues. We say they stay good for a minimum of 3 years but that is only because we have to put something on the package. In reality, they don't go off at all...
The drawbacks of the single use tests seem to be the higher costs per test (around € 1.80), when compared with the bottles. However, there's hardly anyone that uses all that liquid.
Compared to the value of the stuff people want to buy we hope the price of a test is reasonable enough. It's less than a beer in a club... So actually, the price per test pretty much the same for the average user, who uses the test for about 20 times before the bottle has to be discarded. With us he gets tests that don't go off at all.
Hoping to have clarified things for you,
EZ Test