It's orders of magnitude cheaper though, and most people would accept a >90% good enough job for <1% of the price.

Also I recommend the Technology Connections videos on how dishwashers work. Most people are probably not using them correctly for optimal results.

Good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04

TLDW: Stop using detergent packs, start using the pre-wash bin.

I saw this but had a huge box of soap packs. So I started putting one in the prewash thingy and two more soap packs in the main section.

Now it cleans shockingly well.

Try using multiple soap packets and rinse-aid. Works wonders.

Good thing we have mostly automated production of soap packs, so they’re cheap, plentiful, and almost as good as the handmade ones our caveman ancestors used

Mine doesn't.