5 ms·

When the store shelves are empty for months despite the fact that nothing has actually changed in terms of underlying supply or demand, that's hoarding.

• YokoZar 2y ago
  Demand did change though - people weren't pooping as much at offices, restaurants, and retail stores. All those places tend to use "commercial" toilet paper that is not available in your average grocery store. If you looked at commercial suppliers during 2020, you were much more likely to find available supply, though it may be a bit awkward using one of those giant rolls at home when it won't fit on a standard dispenser.
  • __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
    In more ways than one. All my friends just installed bidets instead. Now we need far less toilet paper. It started as a bit of a joke but we're now believers. Try it.
• simoncion 2y ago
  It was my understanding that because most businesses were closed for an extended period of it the TP-production companies had to shift their production lines from the god-awful paper typically used in commercial settings to the paper typically used in homes. A few weeks into the shelter-in-place order, I did see commercial TP appearing on the shelves in my local corner stores. A while later, I started seeing household TP appearing again. I'm not claiming that there was no hoarding, nor that there was no profiteering by folks buying up lots of stock and selling "on the street" at inflated prices. I am definitely claiming that closing most businesses for an extended period absolutely changed the underlying ratio of crappy commercial TP to better home TP required... which apparently isn't something one can respond to overnight.
• flohofwoe 2y ago
  "For months" is surely an exaggeration? What has changed in supply and demand is that much less toilet paper had to be distributed to workplaces, and much more close to people's to homes.
  • lisper 2y ago
    > "For months" is surely an exaggeration? Not where I live (San Francisco Bay area). It was literally months. Fortunately, we always buy in bulk and had a pretty good supply in stock when it hit the fan, and I was able to get resupplied through Amazon once. But lockdown happened in March and it was May before I saw a roll of TP on a shelf again, and then stores were limiting purchases for many months after that. > less toilet paper had to be distributed to workplaces Yeah, that's what everyone said. But I couldn't find industrial TP either, either in person nor on-line.
    • simoncion 2y ago
      > But I couldn't find industrial TP either, either in person nor on-line. Did you try the smaller corner stores? A few weeks into the shelter-in-place order in San Francisco, I started seeing the crappy single-ply commercial TP appearing on their shelves. (And throughout shelter-in-place, there was somewhat-lower-than-usual-but-nonzero amounts of paper towels.) At that point in time, larger places like CVS/Walgreens and Safeway were usually totally out of all paper -er- cleaning(?) products... the difference in stock levels never ceased to amaze me. (Luckily, I happened to have enough household-grade TP to last me until household-grade stuff started appearing on those shelves again.)
      • lisper 2y ago
        > Did you try the smaller corner stores? I live on the peninsula. We don't have small corner stores.
        • simoncion 2y ago
          Oh bummer. I take it convenience stores were also plumb out?
          • lisper 2y ago
            The one in our neighborhood was. I didn't do an exhaustive survey. But I did check a lot of drug stores and found nothing.