With the vast majority of the country under "lock-down" measures currently due to the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the great subjects of both discussions and complaints has been the lack of toilet paper to be found in any store! There are other items that are nowhere to be had either. We collectively have cursed our greedy neighbors for hoarding and stocking up unnecessary quantities of paper products, cleaning/sanitizing products, and food. Well, let me put your mind at ease, we are NOT a nation of greedy, "I've got mine, you fend for yourself" hoarders - at least not in a majority. After some study and thought let me "splain" it to you.
As I mentioned at the opening, most of the country is at home. Most schools and a majority of businesses are closed. (Let me take this opportunity to thank those that are still keeping our country running. From truck drivers, to hospital janitorial staff, to grocery store cashiers and everyone else that is out there just doing their job - THANK YOU!) In "normal" times most of us, even "stay-at-home Moms/Dads spend a portion of their time out and about. For those of us that do work or go to school, six to twelve (or more) hours of our days are spent outside our home - and our home bathroom. That means the bathroom breaks you would normally have performed in the bathroom at work, in the restaurant where you got lunch, at the airport, in the hotel, etc., are now happening at home. It is estimated that a family can have 40% or more bathroom usage at their homes currently than before all of this. 40% more bathroom breaks at home translates into much more toilet paper use!
But there is another part of the equation that brings this into even more focus. Those businesses and institutions use a different toilet paper in a majority of cases. (here comes a lesson on the toilet paper industry - hang on!) If you have stayed at many hotels/motels you have probably had to change the toilet paper at one time or another. What was different about that over what happens when you change a roll at home? (think, I'll wait...)
More than likely - you had to unwrap the roll!
For sanitation, storage, and economic reasons industrial/commercial toilet paper is a very different product than the Charmin or Northern (or whatever) you buy in a store for home use. First is the packaging. Instead of being in a plastic wrap containing four, six, twenty-four, or whatever number of rolls, it is in a case of ninety-six or more individually wrapped rolls. Or, in some cases it is on a twelve to sixteen inch roll that fits a specific dispenser. Now, I knew all this as I am sure did most of you. But, I had not thought about it as being part of this supply problem.
Here is some more information on the toilet paper issue ("Marge - he's still talking about the toilet paper industry!") Industrial/commercial grade toilet paper is not the same product as consumer toilet paper. Think back to your last "wipe" away from home in a commercial setting (that's a sentence I never saw myself writing!). The paper was thinner and much more rough/coarse than the Quilted Northern you have at home, right? For cost reasons, (and actually to make it less attractive to steal) the industrial/commercial toilet paper is made with more recycled paper pulp (not recycled toilet paper - come on!) versus the virgin pulp in your Angel Soft or Charmin at home. This makes it rougher and coarser, but also can make it stronger. That way it can be made thinner. This again is an economic move. One other critical thing about industrial/commercial toilet paper besides being different paper and packaged differently - it is not even made in the same plants in a lot of cases. They also go through different distribution channels. Instead of a grocery supplier, they go to a janitorial supplier for instance. That means even if the company wanted to divert the industrial/commercial toilet paper to your local grocery store, it would not be packaged for sale there nor would it be set-up for delivery there. I hope you see the issue here.
This investigation into toilet paper led me to thinking and studying on other products that seem to have vanished from our stores; like bacon, peanut butter, eggs, and more. The industrial/commercial issue is a large part of these shortages as well. Let's take eggs. Chickens are still producing a similar number of eggs I am pretty sure. However, a grocery store grade A, large egg is not the same as a restaurant grade A egg. In most cases they are not as large as the average egg purchased in a grocery store. Most people buy large, or even jumbo grade eggs in a store. Restaurants use a small or medium egg in a lot of cases - economic reasons again. The restaurant egg may not have as "pretty" a shell. There is nothing wrong with the egg itself, but for some reason the shell is mottled or not perfect. I know we have domesticated and bred our chickens to produce larger eggs as well as developed specific diets to give eggs a more uniform color and appearance, but do you really believe that every egg that comes out of a chicken is uniform? Nope, they are not. Egg farms and processors sort, grade, and package eggs for grocery stores knowing that people are going to look at the eggs and buy ones that have the right look and size. They cannot just throw the other eggs away and still keep their costs down, so the lesser eggs go to restaurants. (I am NOT saying the egg itself is not a grade A egg or bad in any way other than appearance and/or size) The lesser eggs from that level may go to animal feed or to be used in a processed egg product where the shell is never seen. Every egg possible is used however. That means that you can still buy your "pretty" eggs at a good price.
How about bacon? There are still pigs/hogs being turned into bacon, sausage, ham, and other pork products. But bacon is in short supply at most grocery stores I have been to since this started. Again, the industrial/commercial thing comes into play. How much bacon do you think is used by McDonald's, Burger King, Bojangles, Hardee's, Jack-in-the-Box, Waffle House, Denny's, IHOP, and all the other restaurants every morning, at least before all this started? That bacon is also different than the Oscar Mayer you may buy at the grocery store. It may come from the same processing plant, but it is cut and packaged totally differently. In fact, due to our packaging and labeling laws this product cannot even be sold in grocery stores. It does not have the required nutritional label, or other mandatory information that a consumer product would. It may not be cut the same way or to the same thickness. It may even be seasoned differently, especially if a restaurant is large enough to specify the flavoring/seasoning of a product made specifically for them.
There are many other products that are in this same situation. A large percentage of them are processed differently, packaged differently, and distributed by different companies through different channels that keep them from ever being sold in a grocery store - even if the companies that make them would like to have them sold there. Bread and bread products, cheese products, and some produce* comes to mind. These are in some cases the identical products that you can buy in the grocery, just packaged and distributed differently. Sometimes they are totally different products that require different cooking/preparation to use and would not work in a home kitchen.
So, even though there are some selfish people out there that are taking much more than their "fair" share; a lot of the empty shelves are caused by the shift in consumption that has occurred by us all being at home. The lack of our use of the industrial/commercial supply of certain products has created real shortages. Remember this next time you curse your neighbor under your breath because you just know that he has more toilet paper than he needs.
* a BONUS story - this about a specific produce product - bananas. I read a tale told by a banana importer and distributor responding to why bananas are sold out in a lot of stores. He told a similar story as what I wrote above. But there were details that were different and interesting - at least to me. Bananas literally grow on trees. The bananas you see in your grocery are almost always in a bunch of four to eight bananas. They almost always are slightly greenish-yellow and free of most blemishes or spots. That is not what a large portion of bananas look like in a processing plant. Certain bananas have a less than perfect peel and look. Like with the egg, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the banana, but when put in a store against its beautiful brethren it would not sell. Certain bananas have an independent streak. They break away from the bunches and stay single or in a pair. These do not transport as well with the larger bunches - they tend to get crushed or mashed - nor do they sell as well. These are put in cases together in batches of @150 and sold to schools - if they are relatively attractive. If they have ugly peels they are put in larger batches and sold to commercial food processors or large kitchens for use in cooking or food preparation. These outlier bananas are not in as big a demand now, but still are a large part of the banana crop. The single bananas that would have been consumed by a child at school is now from a bunch at home. The same thing happens as with the products above - shortages in the grocery stores as all the banana consumption moves to that type. Hey, I enjoyed learning this. I hope you did as well.
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