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Toilet Paper

qwerty

qwerty

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SuperFanatic T2
Apr 3, 2020
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Muscatine, IA
Saw an interview with Doug McMillon (Wal-Mart CEO) on CBS News this morning. Wal-Mart alone has sold enough toilet paper in the last three weeks for every man, woman and child in the U.S. to have their own roll. That is over 325 million rolls of toilet paper.
 
Still waiting to have someone explain to me the toilet paper frenzy that swept the nation along with this virus.
 
I heard Murph and Andy explain that at least part of the problem is that almost half the production of toilet paper is for commercial use, so people pooping a lot less in public and more at home is at least part of the problem.
 
I discovered yesterday that you have to go early in the morning to find the stuff. I'd highly suggest the dollar stores too. That's where I've found it the last couple of times I needed it.
 
NorthCyd said:
I heard Murph and Andy explain that at least part of the problem is that almost half the production of toilet paper is for commercial use, so people pooping a lot less in public and more at home is at least part of the problem.
Click to expand...

Unless those are those monster rolls, you can just shrink wrap them into other things. Even at that, somebody would buy an industrial roll if it was on the shelf.
 
Cyinthenorth said:
Still waiting to have someone explain to me the toilet paper frenzy that swept the nation along with this virus.
Click to expand...
I can't find the exact article I read, but this one has similar highlights
https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...ere-has-all-the-toilet-paper-gone/2964143001/

Basically there probably was some hoarding going on, but the shelter in place caused at home use to go up 40% due to people not using commercial facilities (work, restaurant, starbucks, etc.).
This is a very low margin industry with fairly flat demand so ramping up production isn't really feasible.
There's also a big difference in the commercial TP vs home. Manufacturers can't just flip a switch and make that change easily.
 
I had to hit 4 stores this morning to find a pack of TP. I want to at least have a weeks worth on hand. I don't understand why people freaked out and stocked up on this ****. If everyone just bought a week or two worth as needed, it would not have been an issue.
 
I've been pretty amazed with how much we have been going through with everyone at home. Thankfully Costco had it in stock last week because I was getting pretty nervous.
 
We'll be good for another week or so, but I've been keeping an eye out for it. The Hy-Vee in Windsor Heights hasn't had TP or paper towels for over a week now.
 
NorthCyd said:
I heard Murph and Andy explain that at least part of the problem is that almost half the production of toilet paper is for commercial use, so people pooping a lot less in public and more at home is at least part of the problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had wondered about that also. I tried to do most of my #2's at work, on company time. So now we're using more TP here at home.

I've thought about that also being the cause of the stores having a tough time keeping up with bread supplies. I'm here making sandwiches for lunch every day at home when I would be eating at work instead normally.
 
I think there is an issue in America with people just not understanding how to use toilet paper. In this thread alone, I see people talking about how much toilet paper they're using and they only stock up for a couple weeks at a time. Are you people only buying 6 packs., or even 4? How many square per wipe are you using?

My wife and I stick with pretty much 12 double roll packs. If they don't last us at least a month, somebody must have had a few big blow outs.
 
Was in a grocery store yesterday and there was actually quite a bit. Other places are showing that it's available online when it wasn't two weeks ago.

But yeah the hoarding in general is pretty bad.

If you're going through more than one bottle of cleaner over two weeks your house is either too big or you're terrible at keeping things sanitary which is a whole other issue.
 
Cyinthenorth said:
I think there is an issue in America with people just not understanding how to use toilet paper. In this thread alone, I see people talking about how much toilet paper they're using and they only stock up for a couple weeks at a time. Are you people only buying 6 packs., or even 4? How many square per wipe are you using?

My wife and I stick with pretty much 12 double roll packs. If they don't last us at least a month, somebody must have had a few big blow outs.
Click to expand...

Freakin kids bro!
 
Cyinthenorth said:
Still waiting to have someone explain to me the toilet paper frenzy that swept the nation along with this virus.
Click to expand...

I talked to a lawyer who works in the paper industry and he laid it out well for me that made sense which mirrors what a couple of others have said.

Factories and production facilities typically make commercial grade TP (that awful single ply stuff most businesses use) or residential (i.e. Charmin) TP. And they can't really switch production lines or ramp up production. So while everyone is quarantined, we are crapping WAY more at home using more of Charmin and way less of the single ply stuff. So there really was a pretty significant demand increase for more Charmin which created a run on it. That's what kicked this off. But now people are scared they'll be wiping their butts with paper towels or rags and are stocking up just because. But the initial run was rooted in logic.
 
madguy30 said:
Was in a grocery store yesterday and there was actually quite a bit. Other places are showing that it's available online when it wasn't two weeks ago.

But yeah the hoarding in general is pretty bad.

If you're going through more than one bottle of cleaner over two weeks your house is either too big or you're terrible at keeping things sanitary which is a whole other issue.
Click to expand...
I've got a friend that works in a West DSM Hy-Vee. He showed me a picture of their back room just 2 days ago, with multiple double stacked pallets of TP. Some cheapo brand that I've never heard of, but they've got it. He said they aren't stocking the shelves with it. Only available thru Aisles Online:rolleyes:
 
cycloneworld said:
I talked to a lawyer who works in the paper industry and he laid it out well for me that made sense which mirrors what a couple of others have said.

Factories and production facilities typically make commercial grade TP (that awful single ply stuff most businesses use) or residential (i.e. Charmin) TP. And they can't really switch production lines or ramp up production. So while everyone is quarantined, we are crapping WAY more at home using more of Charmin and way less of the single ply stuff. So there really was a pretty significant demand increase for more Charmin which created a run on it. That's what kicked this off. But now people are scared they'll be wiping their butts with paper towels or rags and are stocking up just because. But the initial run was rooted in logic.
Click to expand...
This makes sense. Seems to me though, that this run on TP started even before places started shutting down. I've been working from home for 3 weeks now, and it seems like the frenzy started 3 weeks before that even.
 
There was obviously some hoarding that took place but I do think that the majority of people were purchasing TP rationally but unfortunately the supply chain hasn't been able to compensate for the huge spike in home use vs commercial. It's going to take a long time for the supply to catch up.
 
Cyinthenorth said:
I've got a friend that works in a West DSM Hy-Vee. He showed me a picture of their back room just 2 days ago, with multiple double stacked pallets of TP. Some cheapo brand that I've never heard of, but they've got it. He said they aren't stocking the shelves with it. Only available thru Aisles Online:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

People are going to love online groceries after this and our population's going to be even more sedentary, isn't it?
 
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