General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I know this isn't the biggest problem we face now. [View all]lapfog_1
(29,243 posts)turns out that the plants that make commercial TP do not make home TP... completely different setup and packaging, etc. So when we all decided to stay home and only use home TP, the plants can't keep up. In addition, TP is a bulky item that uses a lot of storage space and shelf space but doesn't generate a lot of margin... so the entire supply chain is geared to "just in time" replacement based on average consumption.
So yes, people went out and started hording it at the beginning of the lock down, but because of the lock down and people NOT using offices or stores or public facilities and ONLY using home facilities.. there will be an ongoing shortage of TP in the stores because of these supply chain issues.
Of course one would hope that they figure out how to retail the commercial product because I, for one, don't care if it's Charmin or near sand paper.
There are many other similar products like this as well.
As for coffee, we should all start getting used to the idea of no coffee (unless we can make it synthetically) because global warming is forcing the coffee fields higher and higher into the mountains... and, of course, as you go higher there is much less land to grow stuff.