Ethics | Shopping Trend

I must buy tons of Toilet Paper

Because I poop a lot

I visited most supermarkets around and near my city to buy toilet paper. I visited 7-Elevens, Costcos, Walmarts, Sam Stores, BJ’s, TJs, Aldis, convenience stores, you name it. But I just could not find any.

So what is the deal? I asked supermarket managers and employees, truck drivers, other customers, and friends about the toilet paper crisis. Why can’t I find any toilet paper?

One store manager told me that even though they allow customers to buy only one toilet paper package per visit, this rule is easily broken. “As soon as stores open, if there is toilet paper, customers will rush to buy it. In the queue lines, husbands, wives, grandparents, and teenage children belonging to the same family will pose as different customers and will buy much more than the allowed quota per household. Being understaffed doesn’t help at all, if nobody protects the toilet paper, customers will take as many packs as their shopping carts can carry”, he said.

Another store manager told me that she has seen the same customers return to the store a few times during a very short time to buy more toilet paper, thus the “quota” per household is easily defeated.

An employee of a well-known national chain supermarket told me that as soon as the store opens, people run towards the toilet paper area. Or if a truck bringing toilet paper arrives at the store during the day, the majority of customers inside the store will move towards wherever the toilet paper is. “It’s amazing, it’s even funny I guess, it is the most sought-after item in the store”.

A truck driver told me that transporting pallets of toilet paper has become the “normal”. “I’m surprised that stores can consistently run out of toilet paper in so little time. During my 15 years as a delivery driver, I have never transported so much toilet paper”.

One day at a local supermarket, I saw many customers carrying toilet paper packs in their shopping carts. Most customers had 2 large packs. Finally! I was going to buy toilet paper, but I only found empty shelves. A fellow customer was also looking at the empty shelves. When I told her about my dire toilet paper situation and asked her if she had any trouble finding toilet paper, she told me “I have accumulated a large stock at home but I want to keep buying just in case”.

These are some of the many “analog” games one can make with all the rolls of toilet paper one over-stocked preparing for the nuclear war.

I asked a friend about her toilet paper situation and she told me that she is well stocked with more than 100 rolls at home because she has kids. However, she said that she will not stop buying toilet paper. If she happens to see it while shopping at stores or online, she will buy more.

An acquaintance told me that she goes on a toilet paper buying tour. Early in the mornings, she starts visiting several supermarkets to buy that precious pack of toilet paper. She has been able to stock a dozen large packs, “because it’s necessary”.

When I asked people, “Why do you need so much toilet paper?”, they told me about their many reasons. “We don’t know when will toilet paper be available in the future”, “if the current situation gets worse, we may not be able to go shopping”, “stores may close for months”, “everybody is buying lots of toilet paper for a reason, so we must do the same”, “we may need lots of toilet paper”, etc.

Honestly, do they need all that toilet paper? Do they poop that much? How many times do they use the toilet every day? Are they preparing for a nuclear war, like the one they watched on Netflix? What are they gonna do with all that paper? A reply to these questions can be: “Mind your own business”, right?

But if they buy all that toilet paper, enough for many months or more, other people that don’t have toilet paper, like me and many others, will not be able to buy any. How about next time they go to the supermarket and see toilet paper, they avoid buying it so people that need it can buy some? This is not a competition of who can buy more toilet paper, or who can stockpile more packs.

Game #549 “Endless Track” is played by following the track that never ends as you unroll the TP roll. It’s exciting, which track number are you going to choose?

If they need to use all that toilet paper during such a short time, there may be something very wrong with their bowels and bladders. Either way, all that paper may clog their toilets and sewage pipes. If they throw the “used” paper into a trash bin, they will create tons of toxic trash. And I am not even considering the environmental impact from factories suddenly having to meet explosive bursts of demand.

It may be very difficult to change human behavior and the culture of me-and-only-me. I guess to the many ones like me, that still can’t find toilet paper anywhere, the answer to the question of why we can’t find any toilet paper is simple: “They just thought about themselves”.

Let’s reflect that the terrible times we live in now also present us with a great opportunity. The opportunity for all of us to build a better, more humane, caring, considerate, compassionate, empathic, and inclusive world. Thinking about others is a great way to start this change.