Toilet Paper Essentials Fly Off Shelves Again as Pandemic Panic Buying Returns

Well, here we are again. Bare shelves in the paper goods aisle. Limits on how many packages you can buy. That specific kind of anxiety that comes from wondering if youre going to be able to wipe your rear end next week. The toilet paper panic is back, folks, and honestly Im not sure we ever really recovered from the first round.

If youre having flashbacks to March 2020, youre not alone. CNN documented the psychology behind why toilet paper became the unlikely symbol of pandemic panic – basically when people feel uncertain and out of control, they stock up on essentials as a way to feel prepared. The same dynamics are playing out again as COVID cases surge and people start stockpiling.

The thing is, theres no actual shortage. The manufacturers are producing the same amount they always have. The supply chain is moving the same volume. What were seeing is a demand spike driven entirely by psychology – people see reports of shortages, they rush to buy extra, the rush creates actual shortages, which creates more reports, which creates more panic. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy made of Charmin.

I talked to a store manager at a major retailer who asked not to be named because they werent authorized to speak publicly. They told me the toilet paper deliveries are coming in at normal rates. The problem is those deliveries are selling out within hours instead of lasting days. “People are buying ten packages when they normally buy two,” they said. “And theyre coming back every few days to buy more even when they dont need it.”

Fortune reported on how the Great Toilet Paper Panic exposed weaknesses in American supply chains – sales ballooned 734% compared to the same period the previous year at the peak. Companies like Kimberly-Clark and Procter and Gamble ramped up production where they could, but theres only so much capacity in the system.

The broader supply chain disruptions that have been plaguing the economy for months now arent helping either. Even if toilet paper production is fine, the trucking industry is still short-staffed. Warehouse workers are still getting sick. Every link in the chain that gets stressed makes the whole thing more fragile.

What can you do? Honestly, just buy what you normally buy. If everyone did that, there wouldnt be a shortage. But I know thats asking a lot when youre standing in an aisle staring at the last three packages on the shelf and your brain is screaming at you to grab all of them. Human psychology is what it is.

Retailers are reimposing purchase limits at many locations. Two packages per customer, that kind of thing. It helps some, but determined hoarders just make multiple trips or send family members in separately. Theres no perfect solution when the underlying problem is collective anxiety.

Were probably going to be dealing with this on and off for as long as the pandemic continues. Every surge in cases, every new variant, every bit of alarming news – people are going to rush to the store and stock up on essentials. Toilet paper has become a symbol of preparedness, a security blanket made of two-ply. It doesnt make logical sense but since when do panics make logical sense?