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duncang

(3,668 posts)
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 11:56 AM Oct 3

Toilet paper

Last edited Thu Oct 3, 2024, 03:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Not a political statement but a human statement.

Just got back from Sam’s the rush for toilet paper and other paper products is inn full swing there. Saw a bunch of people loading up on it. One woman had a dolly stacked about 3 feet high with nothing but toilet paper. She had already put some boxes of it in her van. She had several brands of it including the monster rolls used in businesses.

I guess she will be prepared for the zombie apocalypse. I just don’t get it. Buying a years worth of toilet paper doesn’t make sense. Did she run out of toilet paper after her purchase during Covid?

Edit: She wasn’t the only one with only paper products. She was the one with the most.

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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yaesu

(8,258 posts)
1. I'm sure social media is causing unnecessary panic do to the Longshoreman strike
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 12:01 PM
Oct 3

most consumers goods will just be diverted to the West coast. If it lasts their may be shortages and price increases but nothing like covid

Xavier Breath

(5,103 posts)
2. If it's something non-perishable that you know you will eventually use
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 12:04 PM
Oct 3

then I don't see the harm. There must be some level of satisfaction when you open up the hall closet and see it stuffed with tp. Probably gives one a warm and fuzzy all over. And if you can believe commercials, bears love the stuff.

genxlib

(5,705 posts)
9. The harm is that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 12:46 PM
Oct 3

There will be shortages on the shelf in the coming weeks because all of the normal backlog of supply will be sitting in the garages of some undereducated but overreactive jackasses.

Then the assholes will say "see I told you so"

genxlib

(5,705 posts)
15. I live in Hurricane Country
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 08:45 PM
Oct 3

We always have a stockpile of TP on hand.

It won’t bother me. It will just be a stupid talking point heading into the election

God help us if it sways a single voter

SWBTATTReg

(24,178 posts)
12. And then, after all of this is said and done, and these idiots have stockpiled everything, all will be declared
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 01:44 PM
Oct 3

fine and good by the shipping industry when they resolve all port labor issues, etc.

And then these idiots, like all of the ones when COVID hit the US so badly, disrupting the supply chains, who accumulated all of the toilet paper, other paper goods, etc., were stuck w/ the massive surplus in their garages, elsewhere, trying to get rid of it. I laughed back then when this happened, and I am laughing now. It'll happen again too, when this issue gets resolved, as it normally does.

One point that this idiots and tRUMP consistently fail to remember, that one doesn't shake up or move the massive US Economy so easily, it's a slumbering giant, silent and watchful in the background, and when you stir it to anger, it moves w/ unshakeable force and action, towards those that angered it. I am constantly amazed at how many of these idiots think that they, along w/ their meager voices, can try to impact supply lines, etc., like the slowing of the incoming tides, it doesn't make much of an impact. Perhaps in the single digits disruption in the consumer end of the transaction, but other than that, not much.

One thing, to also remember, is that trying to reach all 330 million of us, in the United States, to try and enact a single unifying force or driving action, to accomplish something is hard to do, think of it this way, how many $billions and $billions of dollars do candidates spend in the US? Think of how much companies spend in advertising annually in the US, or other mechanisms to encourage people to buy their products? Untold hundreds of billions of dollars annually. This is also why I laugh when you see these articles suggesting that the Russians and/or Chinese are sneaking ads into the US Markets to try and inadvertently impact voter choices...ha ha heh. These two countries still don't under the vast US Consumer Markets, and what it takes to really, really impact this giant market.

The last unshakeable force I recall that impacted the Consumer Market, was COVID, in itself, a giant force. Consumers were being begged by authorities to keep spending. Keep the economic engines going.

PennRalphie

(292 posts)
19. After COVID,
Fri Oct 4, 2024, 06:38 AM
Oct 4

My educated and non jackass wife declared that this household would never run out of toilet tissue. While she has not stocked up because of the longshoremen now over strike, I’m sure many just like her did

I wonder how many Amazon addicted shoppers did the same?

Jirel

(2,259 posts)
5. MAGA social media plan for disruption.
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 12:10 PM
Oct 3

This is not about people panicking over the strike (many know nothing about it), but about a concerted MAGA social media effort to try to blame manufactured shortages on the Biden administration before the election. The same messages/warnings/memes have popped up in local town groups warning that people are going to be hoarding TP because of the coming shortages. Once those started up, people started panicking buying. I’ve been having great fun calling out the idiots for manufacturing a panic, as TP IS MADE IN AMERICA, so the strike will have no impact whatsoever.

You should all do the same. Look for those troll messages, mock and correct the facts, and post pics from your TP (and other paper packaging) showing that they’re made right here.

GopherGal

(2,401 posts)
8. Have to admit I participated in this...
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 12:38 PM
Oct 3

After my vax appointment, I used the "please stay behind for 15 minutes" (as well as the $5 store coupon they gave me for getting the shots) to buy a 9-pack of double-rolls, even though I hadn't reached my usual "stock-out, put on grocery list" level at home. I had begun to wonder Monday during my last grocery trip when I noticed that both the people before and after me in the checkout line had mega-packs of TP.

Even on the drive home, it occurred to me "that's probably all made in the USA anyway". Then I read a little bit and verified that. Bananas and, after a few months, cars are the things I read may start to become difficult to find.

duncang

(3,668 posts)
14. If so
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 03:30 PM
Oct 3

She wasn’t the only one loaded up with only paper products. She just had the largest amount I saw. I was in the closest pick up spot. So I could see everyone come out.

biophile

(376 posts)
7. Hope it's for relief in WNC but could be for profit
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 12:36 PM
Oct 3

Resell later at a gain if prices really skyrocket- or as another poster noted- keep it until you need it.

Niagara

(9,705 posts)
13. My SO is a ILA member but obviously not a port employee so this strike isn't going to impact his job too much
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 02:41 PM
Oct 3

We purchased some items right before the strike and toilet paper was one of these items. I want to make clear that we're not hoarding toilet paper in our house. We only purchased extra, it's not like we have the room to store a hoard of toilet paper anyway.


Toilet paper isn't imported, but we remember the panic buying and toilet paper shortage when Covid hit. When other consumers panic buy certain items and hoard these items, it causes hardships on other consumers.


I'm not sure where you're located, but there were reports of stores yesterday in areas in Alabama where people are starting to panic buy on the toilet paper. Here we go.





mnhtnbb

(32,085 posts)
17. Here in NC people are buying water & TP
Fri Oct 4, 2024, 04:43 AM
Oct 4

to donate to organizations which are distributing products to flood damaged areas in western NC. They are literally clearing the shelves. Manufacturers are saying it's not going to cause a supply problem, but is just a short term issue of distribution.

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