If left to function naturally with a minimum of interference, the free-market system and the profit motive will insure ongoing improvements in living standards and affordability.

I saw a small illustration of this big claim when I went away the weekend with my family at Washington State’s scenic Hood Canal. We stayed at sprawling old resort that had recently received a glamorous refurbishing and I particularly noted the soap and shampoo arrangements in the bathrooms. In place of the usual individual, sample-sized amenities, each one neatly wrapped and arranged on the counter, this facility featured refillable bottles of very fine shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap, bolted to the wall of the shower-bath. The sink included similar bottles with liquid soap and hand lotion, complete with a plastic pump that gets the goo immediately onto your hands.

The advantages of this approach seem so obvious, so overwhelming, that I feel confident that within a few years most hotels in the country will move in this direction. For the guest, you have fresh soap or shampoo whenever you want it--- no complicated wrappers to remove, no half-melted bars or half-used, unsealed little bottles on, say, the second day of your stay. For the hotel, the benefits may be even more substantial, allowing the business to avoid a huge waste of money and natural resources.

When a guest leaves behind a partially consumed bottle of lotion, or a partially dissolved bar of soap, there’s nothing to do but to throw it away. With the new system, there’s no waste at all: the hotel pays for only the soap and shampoo and conditioner and lotion that the guest actually uses – no more, no less.

The refillable-pump-bottle approach will also assist many Americans—including me – overcome the ravages of an embarrassing addiction. I’ve been a frequent traveler all my adult life, crossing the country for lectures or book tours, and over the course of more than 30 years I’ve developed the stupid habit of bringing home those little soaps and shampoos. In order to get fresh little bottles or bars of soap to my collection, I’ll remove the half-used soaps and hair supplies from view so that the hotel cleaning staff will provide new, unopened amenities. Then I’ll bring out the partially-used supplies so I can stuff the fresh little bottles into my luggage.

I know it’s crazy and dumb and childish and reflective of the Depression era mentality my mother (may she rest in peace) instilled in me: what if one day you couldn’t afford fine soap and shampoo? This way you’ll always have supplies (provided free!) to satisfy your needs.

Those supplies now amount to an insanely over-developed collection – with two huge drawers crammed with hotel soaps from around the world (London, Berlin, Jerusalem, Mexico City, even Warsaw) plus all the states of the union. Unless I live way beyond the normal life expectancy, I’ve already acquired more than enough exotic soaps to keep me clean the rest of my days. There’s also another overflowing drawer in my bathroom crammed with shampoos and conditioners (I stopped bringing home hand and body lotion some years ago).

I suspect that there are others out there (you don’t have to admit it but you know who you are) who have built up similarly impressive accumulations of these bathroom “souvenirs.” Picking up these supplies is nearly irresistible (to many of us) because they are handed out “free” – but of course they are not free to the hotels. To paraphrase the famous statement about “free lunch”-- there is no such thing as a free hotel soap sample.

In fact, looking at the literally hundreds of soaps in my drawers, the total cost to the hotels that purchased them might well be substantial. In other words, the hotel is paying real money – but no one is receiving real benefit (I can’t even use up all the soaps) – so it’s a classic case of inefficiency. Moreover, even as an unusually soap-and-shampoo-conscious consumer, the lack of such “free” supplies would in no way discourage me from patronizing a given hostelry. I’m more eager now to use accommodations that follow the pump-bottle-on-the-wall approach, because efficiency appeals to me far more than meaningless free goodies I really don’t need.

The new approach therefore will save the lodging business big money (think of all the millions upon millions of individually wrapped bars of soap no longer needed!) without losing customers or damaging service in any way. Ultimately, the profit motive – the eternal imperative of finding a way to a better job at lower cost – will help provide better, more rational accommodations and customer care. At the same time, the benefits to the environment (are you listening, Al Gore?) should be real and considerable. Bottles-on-the-wall will save a colossal yearly waste of wrapping paper, little plastic bottles, soap and lotions.

In the same way, the profit motive will ultimately work to develop a more sensible approach to energy consumption, automotive transportation, personal nourishment, and more. The only places the free market can’t work are those areas of the economy in which the government plays an overwhelming, even dominant role: most notably health care and education. Is it any wonder that the only two areas in which the cost to consumers has consistently and considerably outpaced the general rate of inflation are in health costs, and the fees for higher education—precisely those endeavors in which massive governmental intrusion makes it impossible for markets to function in a sensible way.

Meanwhile, I’m so struck by the sensible, ingenious nature of the bottle-on-the-wall scheme that I think I’m finally ready to give up my embarrassingly extensive soap and shampoo collection. If anyone wants to buy it in return for a worthy contribution to an institution promoting free-market economics (Heritage Foundation, say, or American Enterprise Institute, or even Cato Institute), I’m ready to sell (on the free market) and to provide you with an exotic, aging, and occasionally elegant collection of personally-sized bathroom supplies. Any takers?