An ode to ass gaskets — are they beginning to disappear?

Factual Questions
1

Important: this is not about whether paper toilet seat covers have any effective purpose or function in terms of disease transmission. We’ve done that repeatedly (2002, 2003, 2005, etc etc) and the general consensus is that the paper cover accomplishes basically nothing except making germophobic users feel better (with a side order of “the seat isn’t a vector for disease anyway”).

This question is specifically about whether the availability (and perhaps usage, which will necessarily create demand that supports availability) of the paper covers has decreased over the last decade or so, or if it’s holding steady over time.

I ask because I have a vague perception of their decline. A few decades ago, it seemed they were everywhere, always offered for use. Every restaurant, every airport, every library — you go into the toilet, and there’s the cover dispenser on the wall above the shitter. Whether you used it or not, it was always there. (Which made possible the jokes about coming back to the restaurant table: “look, I found a lobster bib in the bathroom!”)

But it seems to me (and this is why I’m asking the FQ, because I don’t trust “it seems to me”) that they’ve been gradually disappearing, and are no longer universally provided. I had this sense before I moved out of the US several years ago. And now, here in Europe, I hardly ever see them. I assume they already weren’t as widespread here before my relocation, but even before that, back in the US, it felt like they had been a trend in the 70s and 80s and were now firmly on a downslope.

Googling this question has not been productive. The results focus on the paper cover’s performance of its claimed function and whether there’s any justification for its use, which, per above, is not what I’m asking. Mixed in with this are a handful of industry-oriented pages which talk about manufacturing, sales, and distribution, but there’s not enough detail to glean whether the market is increasing or decreasing. Representative is this page which reads like ChatGPT-generated slop intended to drive sales of the attached “PDF report” about the industry, and which no sane person would regard as a reliable cite.

So that’s my question. Is my impression correct, and the trendline for assgasket availability is firmly downward, despite the COVID-fueled cleanliness blip during which we were spraying disinfectant on our incoming mail? (Presumably, if usage is declining, the facility owners would take the opportunity to cut a meaningless maintenance cost.) Or is my impression incorrect, and the paper seat covers continue to be widely offered in nearly every public loo?

2

They were never common in Canada.

I remember flying through O’Hare in Chicago and they had this plastic condom thing that rolled around the seat automatically when you stood up so your butt cheeks never touched the seat itself.

3

I never saw them as common, but yes it is now very rare to see them at all anymore. My thoughts on it has to do with clogged pipes and overloaded septic systems. More paper = more problems = more $$$.

4

I never saw them as common, either. I remember being really weirded out by them at the toilets at one job. It was the first time I’d seen them. They weren’t provided at any other jobs i had. I mostly associated them with airports.

5

With the growing popularity of skilled hovering, there has been less demand. Ass gasket companies are going the way of buggy-whip manufacturers.

This is my guess, too.

6

I don’t ever remember them being very common outside of maybe airports, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one. I never used them anyway, nor did I bother to hover.

7

I only know them from airports and none recently. There was a Chicago scandal years back having to do with O’Hare janitorial contracts and the seat liners were hilariously in the news.

Lol. “It was all wet though.” vigorously shakes droplettes over tablemates

8

My anecdotal opinion is the usage is about the same. They have them (and they get used) at my office. And I note that I see them when I am out and about (stores, restaurants, public toilets, etc). Central California.

ETA: I feel cheated though, you didn’t provide an ode.

Ode: A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied meter.

9

I can’t even remember the last time I saw one, and after seeing how the public reacted to mask mandates during COVID, cannot possibly see them making a resurgence.

I will say that occasionally I see signs that someone er… made do… by covering the seat with toilet paper, invariably soaked with piss. It’s the most American thing I can imagine… you’ve provided yourself with a minuscule imagined benefit, making the situation worse for everyone, and failed to clean up when you’re finished.

10

They finally got rid of those (at least in the domestic terminals) some years ago.

To answer the OP: I saw the paper ones in a highway rest area in Wisconsin last weekend, but that may have been the first time I’ve seen them in years.

11
Hidden, off topic

As long as we are on the subject, informal poll: Does it bother you to set on public toilet seats? I realize they are probably not the cleanest thing around, but I’m not a germaphobe. Given the nature of my work, I’m forced to use “strange” toilets frequently. Honestly it’s just not that big of a deal to me. I shower every day.

12
Hidden, off-topic

As someone with IBS, if I shits I sit. I wipe off the seat if there is moisture, but at the end of the day you do what you have to do.

13

They are still ubiquitous where I am (San Francisco Bay Area) at least in ladies’ rooms. I don’t recall seeing a public restroom that did NOT have them (but I don’t use them so maybe I wouldn’t notice.)

14

Per my OP, I would like to stay focused on the question of whether or not the paper covers remain as widely available as they used to be. Every previous thread has drifted into the much easier question about whether the covers do anything or serve a purpose (the answer is no).

As this is FQ, I was also hoping for more concrete information about usage and availability, beyond individual anecdata. Perhaps a facilities manager who can confirm they were installed in the company’s last offices but were omitted in the current one (if that’s the case) because it was unsupported by usage records, or some such.

15

Using the Google Shopping tool I see Scott, Kimberly Clark and Georgia Pacific still sell branded paper covers, along with a lot of no names that probably come from overseas. As long as North American paper companies are selling them, I guess there’s still a fairly substantial market for them.

16

They used to be mainly in public toilets in highly trafficked areas-- like airports, where there used to nearly always be lines at the toilets, but I think those dissipated after 9/11-- I’m assuming, where no matter how often they were cleaned, sometimes the toilets just didn’t look great.

But in the early days of AIDS, when people worried you could catch it from a toilet seat, all of a sudden, the ass gaskets were everywhere.

People have calmed down a lot about AIDS now. A 16-yr-old today knows more about safe sex than a physician in 1982.

17

Ew, ya … those. I didn’t expect to see an airport toilet this morning.

18

As they disappear (yes, I noticed fewer places seem to have them) there’s a business opportunity here - small, convenient packets of toilet seat antibacterial wipes!

Oh, never mind - someone beat me to it. Then again, people will try to flush them and there goes the plumbing. Never mind.

19
Hidden, off-topic

I always pause a moment if it’s in a heavily trafficked facility and/or if I see the previous user leaving the stall before I go into it. But then I shrug it off and never give it a second thought.

20

I told ChatGPT “Write an ode to ass gaskets”.

Summary

Ode to the Ass Gasket

Oh humble sheet of paper thin,
A silent shield 'gainst what’s within,
A guardian pure, unseen by most,
You save us all from what may roast.

In restroom realms where we must tread,
You lie in wait with caution spread.
No royal robe, no shining crown,
Yet you prevent the gory down.

Upon the seat, you gently lay,
A barrier 'twixt the flesh and spray.
Though some may scoff, or turn away,
You’re the hero in the fray.

Your flimsy form, so soft, so light,
A bastion strong against the blight.
In moments fleeting, you endure,
A guard of hygiene, safe and pure.

So let us sing, not in disdain,
For all you do, your humble gain.
A quiet worker, ever near,
You wipe our worries, quell our fear.

O Ass Gasket, simple, true,
We thank you for the work you do.
Without your aid, we’d surely fall,
Into the depths of restroom squall.

Then I told it to make it as a haiku

Summary

Paper shield so thin,
Guarding from the seat’s embrace,
Silent hero waits.

Then as a limerick

Summary

There once was a gasket so thin,
That protected the seat from within.
Though paper it be,
It kept all things free,
And saved us from what might begin.

Then as a sonnet in Pig Latin.

Summary

Iway ovelay ouyay, assgay asketgay,
Inway ouyay inentsray, orkingway ithway might.
Aymay ithoutway ouyay, e’dway allway befray,
Dangeredway ybway the seat’sway unholyflight.

Iway ithway ouyay, aymay afe’say sound,
Aystay onway eatsay, yotray inway peace.
Aymay, eyondbay ellay, ouyay restway around,
Inway oweray ofway yourway silentpeacetay’slease.

Alas, eyondbay sight, ourway orcesfay ouyay,
Elpway usway, aymay usway thriveway, if onlyway,
Youway wereway nownkay, but otnay seenway true,
For ouyay areway ourway ustardcray’s allyway.

Thusthay, ouyay guideway usway eachday,
Ossessway ofway us, ithoutway dismay.

I think that broke it.