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For what it’s worth the worst toilet paper shortages were because home use increased dramatically and business use distribution wasn’t readily adaptable to that

For what it’s worth the worst toilet paper shortages were because home use increased dramatically and business use distribution wasn’t readily adaptable to that kind of market or distribution.

barbazoo 6y ago
It's hard to believe that the behavior we saw can be reasonably explained by demand.
- koolba 6y ago
  For people who spent greater than 1/3 of their day at the office, which would be 1/2 of their waking day, it seems reasonable that many would be defecating there as well. Plus it’s a great way to kill time between meetings.
- jonathankoren 6y ago
  Well, it is. It’s a well know social phenomenon. It even has a name. It’s called a run. Even at the time, stores and suppliers were saying nothing was wrong with any part of the supply chain. If you think there was some vast conspiracy to cover up the toilet paper shortage of 2020, not only do you have to explain where all the toilet paper went, and why the paper mills had a sudden drop in production, but you’re also going to have to explain shortages of flour, sugar, noodles, and most bizarrely of all, bottled water. Bottle water shortages, at a time when there was nothing wrong with municipal water supplies! This isn’t even the first time in my life I’ve seen a run that was caused by panic buying. I think back to the afternoon of September 11, 2001.[0] There were gas runs. Gas stations literally ran out of gas. Prices were gouged.[1] Lines formed like the 1970s oil crisis. The next day everything was back to normal. Why? Because there was nothing wrong with the oil supply. The only shortage was at the retail stations. As soon as the tanker trucks returned, it stations reopened. [0] https://tulsaworld.com/archive/9-11-attack-fueled-panic-at-the-pump/article_0cb51021-ebff-5169-8760-760938a9dda4.html https://tulsaworld.com/archive/9-11-attack-fueled-panic-at-t... [1] http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/gas.prices/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/gas.prices/index.html
  - maxerickson 6y ago
    I think they mean to separate out 'demand for use' from 'I want it'. I bought an extra package of toilet paper. I think I had made a normal purchase of a large package in mid February and then when the shelves looked pretty bare in early March I bought another large package even though I hadn't opened the previous one. So I had months of toilet paper sitting in storage. It was still an amount that I knew I would use up in a pretty moderate timeframe, and not taking up a lot of space, so whatever, but I certainly participated in the run.
    - jonathankoren 6y ago
      I filled up my tank on 9/11, even though I knew there was no reason to. It's one of the memories that has stuck with me for going on 20 years.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    As opposed to the runs, of course, which would also drive up toilet paper stockpiling.
- airhead969 6y ago
  The toilet paper crisis of 1973 was caused by a joke. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-paper-shortage-of-1973 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-pa... The toilet paper crisis of 2020 was caused by panic buying to feel safe in uncertain times, and a slight bump in real use, 40%. https://cnr.ncsu.edu/news/2020/05/coronavirus-toilet-paper-shortage https://cnr.ncsu.edu/news/2020/05/coronavirus-toilet-paper-s...

For what it’s worth the worst toilet paper shortages were because home use increased dramatically and business use distribution wasn’t readily adaptable to that kind of market or distribution.

barbazoo 6y ago

It's hard to believe that the behavior we saw can be reasonably explained by demand.

koolba 6y ago
For people who spent greater than 1/3 of their day at the office, which would be 1/2 of their waking day, it seems reasonable that many would be defecating there as well. Plus it’s a great way to kill time between meetings.
jonathankoren 6y ago
Well, it is. It’s a well know social phenomenon. It even has a name. It’s called a run. Even at the time, stores and suppliers were saying nothing was wrong with any part of the supply chain. If you think there was some vast conspiracy to cover up the toilet paper shortage of 2020, not only do you have to explain where all the toilet paper went, and why the paper mills had a sudden drop in production, but you’re also going to have to explain shortages of flour, sugar, noodles, and most bizarrely of all, bottled water. Bottle water shortages, at a time when there was nothing wrong with municipal water supplies! This isn’t even the first time in my life I’ve seen a run that was caused by panic buying. I think back to the afternoon of September 11, 2001.[0] There were gas runs. Gas stations literally ran out of gas. Prices were gouged.[1] Lines formed like the 1970s oil crisis. The next day everything was back to normal. Why? Because there was nothing wrong with the oil supply. The only shortage was at the retail stations. As soon as the tanker trucks returned, it stations reopened. [0] https://tulsaworld.com/archive/9-11-attack-fueled-panic-at-the-pump/article_0cb51021-ebff-5169-8760-760938a9dda4.html https://tulsaworld.com/archive/9-11-attack-fueled-panic-at-t... [1] http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/gas.prices/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/gas.prices/index.html
- maxerickson 6y ago
  I think they mean to separate out 'demand for use' from 'I want it'. I bought an extra package of toilet paper. I think I had made a normal purchase of a large package in mid February and then when the shelves looked pretty bare in early March I bought another large package even though I hadn't opened the previous one. So I had months of toilet paper sitting in storage. It was still an amount that I knew I would use up in a pretty moderate timeframe, and not taking up a lot of space, so whatever, but I certainly participated in the run.
  - jonathankoren 6y ago
    I filled up my tank on 9/11, even though I knew there was no reason to. It's one of the memories that has stuck with me for going on 20 years.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  As opposed to the runs, of course, which would also drive up toilet paper stockpiling.
airhead969 6y ago
The toilet paper crisis of 1973 was caused by a joke. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-paper-shortage-of-1973 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-pa... The toilet paper crisis of 2020 was caused by panic buying to feel safe in uncertain times, and a slight bump in real use, 40%. https://cnr.ncsu.edu/news/2020/05/coronavirus-toilet-paper-shortage https://cnr.ncsu.edu/news/2020/05/coronavirus-toilet-paper-s...