The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by jon-nyc 5 Mar 2025, 22:32
So apparently 40% of toilet paper consumption is in institutions and commercial spaces.
As we all started to stay home there was a sudden shift in demand for residential TP - that afternoon dump you took at the office you now did at home. The spike in demand for residential paper was offset by a decline in demand of the commercial paper but much the commercial stuff couldn’t be easily ported over. Different supply chains and, often, product dimensions.
So the initial demand shock was real - along with the initial shortage. Only then did panic buying make it worse.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by jon-nyc 5 Mar 2025, 22:33
At one point I bought a case of large commercial rolls (about a foot in diameter) off Amazon. I never needed to use it. But it gave us peace of mind.
I gave it to a friend who had commercial space when the crisis was over.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
We never had an issue…
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
We didn’t either.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
For me it depends of the meaning of ‘issue’. We never went without household paper but I did have to go to multiple stores or buy singly ply garbage, etc.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
Get a bidet!!!! Never realized how nice they were until I got one. Hard to go back!
Plus, you use quite a bit less toilet paper
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
You fools. I just held it for like 8 months. It wasn't that difficult and it gave credence to folks who looked at me and would say, "You are so full of shit."
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Get a bidet!!!! Never realized how nice they were until I got one. Hard to go back!
Plus, you use quite a bit less toilet paper
wrote 19 days ago last edited by@taiwan_girl said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:
Get a bidet!!!! Never realized how nice they were until I got one. Hard to go back!
Plus, you use quite a bit less toilet paper
Mark was evangelizing them at the time. I ended up getting a poor man’s bidet (sprayer attached to toilet) as Mayla prefers them.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
Lol, 89! My mom had/has (she’s in memory care, her husband still in the house) one of those Japanese toilet seats that does the bidet thing, plus has an air dryer, along with a heated seat. It’s a pretty good substitute for an actual bidet. It freaks you out a little when you first sit down as it’s unexpectedly warm.
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wrote 19 days ago last edited by
I’ve used those before and agree it’s weird. I suppose it becomes non-weird at some point.
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wrote 18 days ago last edited by
I have like the one that Jodi mentions, from a Japanese company called Toto. It does become "non weird" and then a regular toilet becomes weird. LOL
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wrote 18 days ago last edited by
The hardest part for guests was understanding that it was still just a a toilet, all those buttons and funny pictures made you think you had to flush it some other way than the normal way.
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Get a bidet!!!! Never realized how nice they were until I got one. Hard to go back!
Plus, you use quite a bit less toilet paper
wrote 18 days ago last edited by@taiwan_girl said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:
Get a bidet!!!! Never realized how nice they were until I got one. Hard to go back!
Plus, you use quite a bit less toilet paper
I have a story about a bidet from when I first visited France in the mid 70’s. I had no idea what it was. I thought was for washing my feet. My German girlfriend told me otherwise.
When we visited Vienna in 2012, my then five year old son was impressed as hell with our hotel room. After a quick inspection of the bathroom he commented that the room “even had a special toilet for kids”.
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wrote 18 days ago last edited by
Lol.
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wrote 18 days ago last edited by
In Taiwan, probably a big majority of toilets, even in public places are of the "squat pot" type, though they are becoming a bit less common. In a public urinal place that does not really cater to Westerners, there may be five toilets, four of them will be squat pots.
something like below
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In Taiwan, probably a big majority of toilets, even in public places are of the "squat pot" type, though they are becoming a bit less common. In a public urinal place that does not really cater to Westerners, there may be five toilets, four of them will be squat pots.
something like below
wrote 18 days ago last edited bySoviet “bomb sight” toilets were “medieval” in comparison to the photo you linked. I’ll leave at the word “medieval”.
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Soviet “bomb sight” toilets were “medieval” in comparison to the photo you linked. I’ll leave at the word “medieval”.
wrote 18 days ago last edited by@Renauda 555
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wrote 18 days ago last edited by NobodySock 18 days ago
I haven't used toilet paper since,,,, oh shit, since 3 days ago at the last hotel I stayed in in Sardinia. It was an agritourismo and they had no bidet (the sacrilege!!!). They also had gas station type of toilet paper from a dispenser. Ugh. No really, I installed bidet's onto my toilets couple years back and there is no turning back nor need for paper to clean my better half.
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wrote 18 days ago last edited by
I resist using our sprayer because the water is too cold.
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wrote 17 days ago last edited by
@jon-nyc said in The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 wasn’t as irrational as we thought.:
I resist using our sprayer because the water is too cold.
Said every woman everywhere.