Facepalm

Maybe it depends on your model(like it was poorly designed or something), but in general the soap compartment should deploy precisely when it needs to. But, hey, if it's working for you then who am I to say otherwise

I am currently on the other side - my soap compartment broke, and so I have to throw the packet in the bottom of my washer. It works... okay. The problem is, most of the soap goes out with the pre-rinse. So I often have dishes that I have to re-wash by hand now, versus never having to do that before. I dream of the day where I fix my soap dispenser.