I'm wondering how long it will take everyone to be at capacity for toilet paper. I mean I can fill entire rooms with it but then it physically gets in the way. There has to be a point of diminishing returns soon.
Suppose a two-bedroom house has 200m² surface with the ceiling at 4m. And let's assume that it's possible to squeeze 25 six-packs of toilet paper in 1m³. That's a capacity of 20,000 six-packs (800 m³ house volume times 25 rolls per m³). Assuming of course the person is willing to stuff every last cm³ of their house with toilet paper maximising storage efficiency, which means throwing out all the furniture and living in their car, not to mention not being able to go to the toilet in the house, in the first place.
It's definitely doable. 20,000 six-packs per person, no problem.
I'm afraid it's going to take a while before people are at capacity.
Edit: of course, when I say "back-of-the-napkin", it's just a turn of phrase. We ain't got no napkins.
In that scenario, money would acquire the same value that toilet paper used to have before the virus. So toilet paper would be the new money and money the new toilet paper.
Haven't seen TP on a shelf in over a week, and I go to stores three times every two days.
Its (1) easy to make, (2) mostly produced in-country with no long, integrated supply chain and (3) relatively new (talk to someone over 80 who grew up rural, they probably switched from the sears catalog to toilet paper in their life).
In short, toilet paper is a low margin, least-stocked product with difficulty in transportation. Logistics matters.
One hypothesis is it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. The other is it's the defence of an intimate space.
Either way, it’s older than this crisis.
... oh, wait. ;-)
But seriously, I think there is probably no fundamental shortage of the ability to make more TP. When you drive through northern Wisconsin, you will see huge stacks of wood all over the place.
No one is going to build a whole new paper mill to cover for a 100-year event. TP is about the best example for inelastic supply and inelastic demand.
That's why it's so weird to me that people are buying so much. How long do people expect this to last? I'm guessing it'll be resolved within a couple months in most places, so what's the point in buying >6 months worth of TP?
Honestly, I think everyone with means should have 1-2 months of basic necessities on hand in case of emergencies (job loss, natural disaster, etc), especially for shelf-stable stuff like TP and soap. However, the time to stock up isn't when an emergency happens, but after an emergency happens (presumably your stock is a bit low).
One roll per week? That seems frugal.
180 pieces per roll x 36 rolls is 6480 pieces of toilet paper. (Guessing the 180, fairly standard-ish here in Australia).
Divide that by days in half a year 6480 / 182 = 35 pieces per day divided by 4 family members in the house is 9 pieces of toilet paper each per day.
(not wasteful) != frugal
In any case, using a lot of TP might be unfortunate, but it's hardly a sin.