Hope on the Toilet Paper Front

swsig

swsig

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We were starting to run low on toilet paper and our two nearby supermarkets, Kroger and Walmart hadn't had any in a month. So I started doing what I did during the ammunition shortage of 2014-15, checking the internet at odd hours looking for product availability, and jumping on it immediately when some became available. I amassed a bunch of .22lr that way, and I wondered if that tactic would work for toilet paper. Unfortunately, I could not find any on line sellers with any in stock, but Walmart and Kroger both will tell you if a particular store has any on the shelf.

Wonder of wonders, this morning, about 2am, both my local Kroger and Walmart listed TP in stock! Since they were closed at the time, I decided to simply stay up all night and be there when they opened. Kroger opens at 6am, and Walmart at 7am, so if Kroger's website lied to me, I'd still be able to be at Walmart when they opened. I got to Kroger (complete with my oh-so-elegant pollen mask) just as the doors opened. There were only 6 people ahead of me so keeping social distance was no problem. I headed straight for the TP section. It was completely barren, just as it has been for a month. I was p-oed! Kroger lied to me! Since I had time to kill before Walmart opened, I decided to pick up a few other things. That took five minutes, tops, and when I turned around to leave the store, right behind me, as if by magic, a giant pallet containing hundreds of 12-packs of Angel Soft toilet paper had silently appeared. I grabbed my allotted two, and took back all of my muttered imprecations I'd been directing at Kroger. They hadn't lied after all. Their exhausted staff (they were frantically stocking all over the store while I was there) just hadn't had time to get the pallet from out back. Kudos to them and to everyone else who are busting their butts to keep the essential businesses functioning.

I never did get to Walmart, but I hope my Kroger experience means we have turned the corner on our toilet paper crisis.
 
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swsig said:
I never did get to Walmart, but I hope my Kroger experience means we have turned the corner on our toilet paper crisis.
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I feel your relief! :D Timing store visits to exactly when they bring out the precious items in short supply from the back room is an art form. :) Master it and you are all set! :D
 
swsig said:
busting their butts
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I see what you did there! :D

My own TP story is that I finally resorted to eBay of all places to find TP at a semi-reasonable price. Ordered a package of 10 rolls, took three weeks to finally get here yesterday, and lo and behold, it's from an Asian country and has spidery writing on the label that is translated into English as "Focus on quality life paper". Sounds like something you'd find inside a fortune cookie, right?

Get this: the rolls are 3 3/4" wide, 3 3/4" in diameter, and the hole in the middle (with the cardboard tube) is 1 3/4" in diameter. Do the math, and you'll see that the TP roll itself is 1" thick!

Not to mention, the stuff's pink.

I'm surprised the writing on the package isn't translated as "Gotcha!" :)

I told my wife that unless we absolutely have to open the pack, we'll keep it as a souvenir of the Pandemic of 2020, and hopefully a time will come when we'll be able to look at it and have a laugh.
 
Lately have seen TP, paper towels and tissue.
Have bought some paper towels and tissue.
Already have enough TP.
Gave some to my Son who was running low.
 
We always buy the large bulk pack at Sam's, and haven't needed any yet. But every time I go there I check for availability. Haven't been any for 3 weeks, and no paper towels either . Kleenex tissues were down to 4 12 pack's so I bought one of those. Paper towels on Wed at our Sam's must have had a Semi load come in, half the entire aisle was stacked with it. Still waiting on TP.
 
H Richard said:
Still waiting on TP.
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Right now, the biggest shortages in my area are: 1) Clorox disinfecting wipes and, 2) fresh ground beef. :confused:

Score those two items are you are in great shape! :D

I have neither. :(
 
I am hearing of stores getting some in the AM here as well. It is gone rather quickly when out on the floor. In my extended circle of friends, we always grab an extra pack, not all of it. It winds up getting handed off to some who as none. I've given several rolls to friends and even friends of friends who were getting low. As someone said "spread the joy-roll"

Around here good folks are starting to feel we are all in this together kinda thing. Not all, however, some folks are hogs and some just selfish.

My friends are actually going shopping for some elderly folks that shouldn't venture out.

Personally I'm starting to wonder what things will be like when and if "normal" returns.
 
TTSH said:
Right now, the biggest shortages in my area are: 1) Clorox disinfecting wipes and, 2) fresh ground beef. :confused:

Score those two items are you are in great shape! :D

I have neither. :(
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We haven’t seen wipes or hand sanitizer anywhere. I’m guessing the bulk of that is going to police, fire, EMS,and hospital personnel. I have no problem with that, we need them.
 
We’re doing pretty well at my local Freddy’s (Fred Meyers). Picked up a 12 pack of TP and 6 pack of paper towels yesterday.
 
I went to the local grocery store early this morning and they had a pretty decent supply of TP so I got one package of 8 rolls.
Still no eggs though, they have a sign there saying the reason behind the egg shortage is because research labs are using 90,000 eggs daily trying to find a vaccine for corvid-19.
 
Rustyt1953 said:
The stores around here are having no restocking problems as far as TP is concerned. Things must be easing up as they no longer have EZ-Widers under lock and key.
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Rusty; no wonder you have plenty of TP, you're about 20 miles from Kroger's home office and huge warehouses! But I am completely in the dark about the rolling paper supply!

Ivan
 
I started a tp usage chart a couple of weeks back. 13 days for the first roll. So my package of 18 will last 234 days. What are the hoarders doing with all that tp?
 
I was at our Walmart 2 days ago, late afternoon, and they had TP and paper towels stocked. About half the shoppers had some in their carts. We didn't take any as we bought a 12 pack last month. Eggs were also in stock.

Got wet cat food and kitty litter, which I'd heard were in short supply. The joy of living in a town of only 50,000.
 
My local small town grocery posts on Facebook when they get the items in that are in short supply. 10AM today was TP, paper towels, flour, eggs, sorry no Clorox wipes.
 
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