Where are my wipes, paper towel, and TP? What to do?

2020-05-09 0 By SecureSteve

As more and more people are discovering, shelves today are sorely lacking in cleaning and disinfecting products. Among other things such as a lack of toilet paper and paper towel, disinfecting wipes are limited or missing from the inventory of your favorite store.

What gives?

The lack of these critical items (that in “normal” situations are often taken for granted) really comes down to two things – people, and supply chains. If I recall my high school economics course, there’s this thing called “supply and demand”. I’m not sure, but it feels like it could be relevant here. People drive the demand, and companies try to supply that demand.

People are people

According to Dr. Thea Gallagher, in times of significant uncertainty (which somehow undersells the COVID-19 pandemic), “I think that people feel like there’s not much that they can control…” “There’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of information going around, a lot of impending doom, and so I think part of it helps people to feel like they have a little bit of control over what’s happening to them in their lives. If there’s one thing I can do it’s at least be prepared.”

She continues on to say that attempting to attain control of the situation by obtaining tons of TP doesn’t help in these situations. “It’s an absolute illusion because this whole thing is rolling out and there’s very little we can do,” she said. “Yeah, we can wash our hands and have some control, but that’s not ultimate control and I think it’s an illusion of control. I think that’s what people are trying to hold onto right now.”

Dr. Gallagher is the assistant professor and director of the Outpatient Clinic at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. (Whew, put that on a business card) She appears to have a lot of experience in this area. However, while I think her above description is accurate, there still are people who are jerks. Luckily, karma sometimes comes at the right time:

Supply Chain and Logistics

People being people doesn’t seem to explain all of the problem, though. At some point, there’s no room left in the apartment to put all of this hoarded TP and paper towel. Thus, the other part of the economics 101 class of room high school – the supply chain.

Author Will Oremus, in an article on Medium, describes the challenges that producers face with the current state of affairs:

“…the toilet paper industry is split into two, largely separate markets: commercial and consumer. The pandemic has shifted the lion’s share of demand to the latter. People actually do need to buy significantly more toilet paper during the pandemic — not because they’re making more trips to the bathroom, but because they’re making more of them at home. With some 75% of the U.S. population under stay-at-home orders, Americans are no longer using the restrooms at their workplace, in schools, at restaurants, at hotels, or in airports.

Georgia-Pacific, a leading toilet paper manufacturer based in Atlanta, estimates that the average household will use 40% more toilet paper than usual if all of its members are staying home around the clock. That’s a huge leap in demand for a product whose supply chain is predicated on the assumption that demand is essentially constant. It’s one that won’t fully subside even when people stop hoarding or panic-buying. “

Will Oremus continues, “Talk to anyone in the industry, and they’ll tell you the toilet paper made for the commercial market is a fundamentally different product from the toilet paper you buy in the store. It comes in huge rolls, too big to fit on most home dispensers. The paper itself is thinner and more utilitarian. It comes individually wrapped and is shipped on huge pallets, rather than in brightly branded packs of six or 12.“

So, it is extremely difficult for many producers to make massive changes to their production models , especially when those changes happen within just a few weeks. According to the chairman and CEO of Clorox, Benno Doer, shelves likely won’t be fully stocked any time soon. Despite factories running 24 hours per day, “Clorox saw a 500% spike in consumer demand for their disinfectant wipes.” 500% is crazy! No wonder stores can’t keep this stuff stocked!

What to do?

Clorox CEO Benno Doer expects that help is on the way, but it might take a while. “We think that there’s going to be substantial improvement this summer [in availability]. It’s going to be touch and go until then, unfortunately. But help is on the way, and I think things should ease up in the next few months.”

In the interim, Homestead Survival Site lists several TP alternatives. Try at your own risk:

Paper
Bidet
Bum Gun
Sponge
Cloth Rags
Cardboard Tubes
Sanitary Napkin
Cotton Balls or Wipes
Snow
Rope
Corn on the Cob
Mullein Leaves
Banana Leaves
Receipts
Your Hand

Perhaps slightly more useful, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided a list of Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2. The brand names of below are listed on the website. Just a few examples include: