The Second Great Toilet Paper Panic

Personal Perspective: The rush to buy toilet paper is based on misinformation.

Reviewed by Lybi Ma

Key points

• There was a toilet paper shortage during Covid.
• Today people are panicking about a toilet paper shortage because of the dockworkers' strike.
• There will only be a shortage because people panic.
• Toilet paper doesn't depend on the docks since it is produced and shipped domestically.

I’m an early riser; I do my shopping early in the morning. When the doors open at Costco, the line is short and I’m home within twenty minutes.

Today was different.

The line outside stretched halfway down two sides of the building. By the time I entered, the aisles were full of overflowing carts and every one of the checkout lines was open and backed up.

Then I realized what was going on: the carts were piled high with toilet paper.

We are amid the Second Great Toilet Paper Panic. The first occurred in the early days of the Covid pandemic when lockdowns shut many stores and people were encouraged to stay indoors.

The reaction then was rational, as toilet paper is deemed a necessity.

At least in the US.

It isn’t so throughout Europe, as bidets are widely used. Not only do bidets dispense with much of the need for toilet paper, they are also more sanitary.

Although bidets are available here and are inexpensive to buy and use, Americans haven’t made the switch to this practical product, remaining as dependent as ever on toilet paper.

Unlike the previous toilet paper panic, there is no rational basis for the latest rush to stock up. Ignorance is the cause this time.

The dockworkers’ strike will have very little, if any, effect on toilet paper availability. This is because toilet paper products are domestic and are shipped by truck around the country. Products that are reliant on overseas shipments, such as bananas, will be in short supply if the strike lasts long.

If there is a toilet paper shortage, it will have been caused by panic buying. The less people know about where toilet paper is manufactured, the more toilet paper they will buy. And by buying more, they ensure a shortage as people run to buy what they think won’t be there soon.

The toilet paper panic is an example of ignorance creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There was no need to rush to buy toilet paper if the lesson from the first panic had been learned—buy a bidet, use less toilet paper. You’ll have more money and better hygiene and you do not need to panic the next time you think, either correctly or incorrectly, that a toilet paper shortage is going to happen tomorrow.