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Around the world, in countries afflicted with the coronavirus, stores are sold out of toilet paper.
And we all know who to blame: hoarders and panic-buyers, right?
Well, not so fast, writes @WillOremus. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
And we all know who to blame: hoarders and panic-buyers, right?
Well, not so fast, writes @WillOremus. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
No doubt there’s been some panic-buying.
There have also been a handful of documented cases of true hoarding.
But you don’t need to assume that most consumers are greedy or irrational to understand how coronavirus would spur a surge in demand.
There have also been a handful of documented cases of true hoarding.
But you don’t need to assume that most consumers are greedy or irrational to understand how coronavirus would spur a surge in demand.
There’s another, entirely logical explanation for why stores have run out of toilet paper — one that has gone oddly overlooked in the vast majority of media coverage.
It has nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with supply chains. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
It has nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with supply chains. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
In short, 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. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
The pandemic has shifted the lion’s share of demand to the latter. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
People actually do need to buy significantly more toilet paper during the pandemic.
With some 75 percent 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.
With some 75 percent 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.
“Not only is it not the same product, but it often doesn’t come from the same mills,” said @econproph, a professor of economics at Lansing Community College, who once worked as head of planning for a wholesale paper distributor. http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
In theory, some of the mills that make commercial toilet paper could try to redirect some of that supply to the consumer market.
But the industry can’t just flip a switch.
Read more.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Down pointing backhand index" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index"> http://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz ">https://read.medium.com/kDWgLTz&q...
But the industry can’t just flip a switch.
Read more.
