# Shortages again this fall, are you hearing this? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [August 14, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054 "2020-08-14T05:15:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/102 "2020-08-23T03:03:55Z")
> [@dummygladhands71](#): > > I am sick to fucking death of people telling me that if my cats are hungry enough, they’ll eat what I put down. NO, they won’t, and I am almost certainly making a trip to the vet if they don’t. Yeah. Most young and healthy cats will eat what’s given them, eventually, and before they take harm from going hungry. Old and/or ill cats often won’t – the urge to eat just isn’t that strong. And an occasional young and healthy cat (and an even more occasional dog) just won’t eat if things aren’t Right. And going without food for even a day or two can be dangerous for cats, or other creatures, in some states of health. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/103 "2020-08-23T03:07:57Z")
Yes, ironically, really fat cats are in grave danger if they don’t eat. Owners might think going hungry won’t harm them because of the fat, when the opposite is true. (I’m sure you know this – just continuing the thought.) ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/104 "2020-08-23T18:33:58Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Which is why I think it’s responsible for people to slowly and deliberately increase their backstock, being mindful of not stripping the shelves of anything. Because the more people do that now, slowly and over the next couple of months, the less problematic it will be when we do have some disruption in the fall. I have no idea what ‘buying slowly’ over the next few months is supposed to mean in this context. If I buy one large pack of toilet paper or paper towels that I wouldn’t normally buy, I’m increasing my stockpile by weeks or months in a single go. When bleach wipes get back on the shelves and I buy one value pack, that’s also ‘hoarding’ months at a time. If I buy an extra bag of the cat food my cats eat, that’s a ‘stockpile’ of two months. “Buying weeks or months”, for many products, is buying one single pack.I’m just not going to follow your advice by buying only individual rolls of toilet paper or tiny packs of bleach wipes (I don’t think I’ve even seen the individual rolls on store shelves), and I think it’s absurd to claim that people who buy a single pack (or single extra pack) of something are committing some sin against society by ‘clearing the shelves’. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/105 "2020-08-23T19:37:40Z")
I think your anger should be directed at someone other than me. Did I say “buy the smallest size”? No, I said, “don’t strip the shelves”. If one value pack of toilet paper is a two month supply for you, great, pick up an extra one with my blessing. I use a lot more tp than you, but I have a case and a half in my basement right now. It also matters where you shop. A month of lentils for my family would strip the shelf of my supermarket, but wouldn’t even be noticed at the Indian grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/106 "2020-08-23T19:51:30Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think your anger should be directed at someone other than me. Did I say “buy the smallest size”? No, I said, “don’t strip the shelves”. If one value pack of toilet paper is a two month supply for you, great, pick up an extra one with my blessing. I use a lot more tp than you, but I have a case and a half in my basement right now. And I think your bogus accusations of anger should be directed at someone who is angry instead of someone who simply disagrees with you. You were affirming LSLGuy’s comment where he stated " What’s disruptive and harmful is for a large fraction of the entire public to suddenly and simultaneously change their policy from ‘I want to stock two week’s worth’ to ‘I want to stock 3 months worth.’ As I pointed out, in many cases a decision to stock several months worth involves buying one single extra package, and claiming that it’s ‘disruptive and harmful’ for people to buy one extra package is unreasonable. The fact that you’ve backpedaled to agree with me while making up an ‘angry’ story doesn’t change the fact that you backpedaled. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/107 "2020-08-23T20:32:57Z")
Naw, man. Read my posts. I’ve been in favor of stockpiling from the start. I think it will be less disruptive if we all do a little stockpiling here and there now, than if we suddenly do it when supply chains get disrupted again. If “stockpiling” for your household simply means buying one large package from the store, then this thread really isn’t even about you. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/108 "2020-08-23T20:56:37Z")
Yeah, you’re off base, here. If you want to rail against someone saying you shouldn’t buy one extra package of something, you’re going to need to look for them elsewhere. And you sure sound angry (maybe hostile is the better word) to me too. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/109 "2020-08-23T21:29:18Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I have no idea what ‘buying slowly’ over the next few months is supposed to mean in this context. If I buy one large pack of toilet paper or paper towels that I wouldn’t normally buy, I’m increasing my stockpile by weeks or months in a single go. When bleach wipes get back on the shelves and I buy one value pack, that’s also ‘hoarding’ months at a time. If I buy an extra bag of the cat food my cats eat, that’s a ‘stockpile’ of two months. My read on it is “buying slowly” for you would be to buy that one large pack of toilet paper one week, then the next week one value pack of bleach wipes, then the following week one extra bag of cat food… and not repeating any of that for months, until you need to replace that extra pack/bag/whatever. It’s not buying one roll a week - it’s only buying that extra large pack once instead of picking up that large pack of TP every single week. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/110 "2020-08-23T21:59:10Z")
Different location and plenty of tp, but zero paper towels in stock. So it goes. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/111 "2020-08-23T22:44:00Z")
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about why there are paper towel shortages. Unlike toilet paper, we really ARE using a lot more of it. But for the past couple of decades industry has been rewarded for being “lean” and having no extra capacity. And the machines to make paper towels are huge and very expensive, and the paper industry doesn’t expect demand to stay elevated, so they don’t want to build more capacity (and couldn’t have done so, yet, even if they did want to.) It pointed out that paper towels are the poster child of where “lean manufacturing” paid off, because demand was quite stable, and they are bulky, so storage is expensive. eta: here it is > **[Why Are There Still Not Enough Paper Towels?](https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-arent-there-enough-paper-towels-11598020793)** > > Blame lean manufacturing. A decadeslong effort to eke out more profit by keeping inventory low left many manufacturers unprepared when Covid-19 struck. And production is unlikely to ramp up significantly any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/112 "2020-08-24T00:13:30Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > Yeah, you’re off base, here. If you want to rail against someone saying you shouldn’t buy one extra package of something, you’re going to need to look for them elsewhere. > > And you sure sound angry (maybe hostile is the better word) to me too. It sounded so angry I leaned back and said “where is that fury coming from?” Puzzlegal’s suggestions about how to stock up vs. hoard were reasoned, calm ones. I intend to take them to heart and start to slowly and gradually build up a modest stock in reserve for my household, without panicked buying that clears the shelves. That may mean a 6 or 12 pack of TP or two extra packs of pasta every other shopping trip. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/113 "2020-08-24T01:12:55Z")
No, it doesnt assume that at all. People are now not at the office, they are at home. Thus they use home TP, not commercial TP… unless they stole a bunch for the office. Whether you are male or female, if you are not in the office but working/unemployed at home, you are using home TP, not commercial TP. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/114 "2020-08-24T01:19:54Z")
You should read the post again. She’s not saying that people are not using tp at home. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/115 "2020-08-24T01:26:05Z")
Then it doesn’t make sense to me at all. Sure dudettes use TP more often than dudes. But still, they will use whatever amount they use at home rather than at work. So yes, perhaps _“more people taking shits at home instead of the office”_ was simplistic, but it gets the point across- if you aint at work, you aint using TP at work. Perhaps you could explain it better then? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/116 "2020-08-24T02:10:19Z")
The point is that adding the extra detail about poop suggests that that is the primary use of toilet paper. That’s not true for 50% of the population. Most of our TP use isn’t poop-related. It’s not that it’s simplistic. It’s that it is unnecessarily specific, and that specificity reveals that the speaker assumes everyone is a man. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/117 "2020-08-24T02:35:32Z")
Which is why it’s annoying. I’m curious how people are getting these interpretations of the post I agreed with, which ended with this: > [@MandaJo](#): > > People started using much more TP at home for all sorts of TP tasks. It kind of makes me think people’s knees are jerking so hard, they aren’t bothering to read to the end, or stopping to try to comprehend. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/118 "2020-08-24T02:50:55Z")
I believe Mssmith is a female? I dont think the post was meant to be taken literally word for word. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/119 "2020-08-24T02:57:22Z")
^^ msmith537 is not a female. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/120 "2020-08-24T02:59:45Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > The point is that adding the extra detail about poop suggests that that is the primary use of toilet paper. That’s not true for 50% of the population. Most of our TP use isn’t poop-related. Yup. Woman here. The majority of my TP use is not poop-related. Same with the majority of my toilet use. And like many people, I’m not pooping at home a lot more than I was when I went to the office. But I’m using a heck of a lot more TP at home than I was then. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054/121 "2020-08-24T04:29:27Z")
I totally believe all that. But again taking the post literally word for word is a fallacy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortages-again-this-fall-are-you-hearing-this/918054.md?page=7)