What life lessons did you learn from surviving the toilet paper crisis of 2020?

That watching mass hysteria is fun to watch.

I had coupons in December and January for toilet paper. Bought five months worth and had some at the house,

I learned that I can’t predict what random things people will hoard. T.P. seemed to come out of left field. I predicted sanitizer, masks, rice, Raman noodles and stuff like that pretty easily.

Oh it’s available at several stores in area, one package limit.

I learned how incredibly selfish some people can be, and how giving and cooperative others are.

I also learned that government leaders in the United States of America will do nothing to assure the citizenry that they are safe and don’t need to hoard in such an extreme way. Imagine if there had been a plan to make sure people in quarantine would receive food and supplies. Doesn’t even need to be free food, just that there would be a service in place. Imagine if the government had limited how much TP, soap, and Clorox wipes you can buy on one shopping trip. Eventually, stores did limit, but it was done a little too late. I don’t understand why it took so long in Florida. In Florida we limit purchases during hurricanes all the time. Maybe since where I live has fewer hurricanes the stores weren’t on top of it, possibly other parts of Florida were.

Also, everyone should have a little extra supplies and pantry food to be prepared for whatever might happen at any given time. I realize poor people don’t have this luxury, but if everyone else did it, it helps the poor. People wiping out grocery shelves means that someone who is poor and down to their last roll of TP gets to the store and there is no TP, it really isn’t funny. Not only the poor, but anyone working full time who after a long day of work, maybe a day of saving lives, gets to the store and there is no meat on the shelves, no TP, no soap, it’s just wrong.

There is a surplus of food in America from what I can tell, there is no need for people to panic and no need for anyone to go hungry. They were letting food rot in fields in Florida.

I already knew that refrigerating a mask that uses rubberized elastic straps, will greatly extend the life of the straps.

Unfortunately, I presumed the straps on my P95 were fabric, and rubber-free.

From this, I’ve learned to commence refrigeration, ASAP after the first use.

It’s a life lesson, because wildfires are part of living in So Cal.

As far as this applies to available supplies, I’ve learned that I should buy 2 more, the next time the line at Home Depot has than 20 people.

That I can get by just fine with leaves. :)

No, but what @SQUEEKY2 said. Never bought into the hysteria, just fun and sad to watch everyone act like sheep/cattle. All the stores I go to are fully stocked now.

I have learned that people who don’t understand my need to keep no less than a month’s supply of non perishables, tp, hygiene items, etc. can take their attitudes to hell with them. Not that I cared before, but being called a hoarder just for being well supplied gave me a laugh when I was well stocked and they were pouting in long lines just to enter grocery stores.

@Patty_Melt There is a big difference between being well stocked and a hoarder, we keep a months worth of TP at all time,<well stocked. 6 years worth of TP =hoarder.

My health often prevents me from being able to get out, pandemic or no. So, I live with overstock on most necessary items, most of the time.

I am a hoarder, with a note from my doctor.

I’ve learned that both Barnum & Lincoln were right.

Posting this again.
I learned some ways people are viewing the pandemic, and its effects around the world.

Cracks appear when the shit hits the fan.

I’ve learned that scientists can be dictators.They can do things with impunity. Ferguson comes to mind.
I have learned things about some people in my personal life, both good and bad.

Not to judge quite so fast. So many people that called others “hoarders” or “stupid”, particularly on the issue of TP, didn’t take into account that, for example, five people at home, all day, every day, are going to use a LOT more TP at home than those same people would if three of them were at school a collective 105 hours per week, and the other two at work, collectively, 60–80 hours per week. Presumably using toilets and TP elsewhere.

Of course They are suddenly buying massive amounts of TP. Being prepared =/= hoarding.

@canidmajor From the start I bought additional TP, I did it late February before the extreme panic started, so I completely agree that it was prudent to buy some extra, I did it myself. Your point about multiple people in the house is also valid, especially houses with multiple females. But, there are people who bought enough for 3 months or more. I bought enough for a an extra month (an extra package of TP) which is essentially having a two month supply in my house. I figured if I get quarantined I need two weeks, and if I get sick during the quarantine I needed at least a month. A lot of these people buying TP were not thinking how much they need, but stocking up because they became afraid it would run out and never be available again. That was the hoarding, it wasn’t I need some extra in case I can’t go to the market for a month, but rather I need to get mine because there might never be a roll of TP again, and I don’t care about anyone else, I am out for myself and my family. Some people really went overboard. They created the very problem they were afraid of. Since then I have bought TP before I generally would have, because it can be hard to find. Basically, I maintain the two months supply in my house more or less. Now, TP is more available again, although I have not been able to get my preferred brand for two months now.

That causing a panic made Toilet Paper companies richer.
Mask and sanitizer companies richer now.
Crowd mentality was created during a Pandemic unnecessarily.
I managed with two packs of 12 rolls of Toilet Paper as always.
I have never purchased more than that at any given time.
Course I live by myself, so can’t say for the people with multiple families etc

“If you can keep your head while all others lose theirs…. comes to mind.

@JLeslie I know what hoarding is.

Yes, some hoarded. But an enormous amount of judgement was meted out to people who were not in fact, hoarding, but were sensibly preparing for a time when they would be minimizing outside contact. Buying 100 rolls for two people in the household is hoarding. Buying 48 rolls for a household of five is not.

My point, because you apparently missed it entirely, was that judging all by a single metric is just silly.

^^Who was doing that?

@Inspired_2write I think the TP is a temporary increase, because in the end people still go to the bathroom the same amount. It’s not like sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. I bought extra TP, but I don’t keep buying extra, I just maintain the stash level in my house.

I learned that I am not wrong to ascribe a sheep’s mentality to almost all people.

@JLeslie: ”Who was doing that?”

Um…large numbers of people all over the place, here on fluther, on Facebook, and other sites on the Internet. People in stores were castigating other people for buying large amounts of TP. How on earth did you miss that???
People on this thread talking about it using terms like “mass hysteria”.

That’s who.

@JLeslie…. Do you never go to the stores? The TP shelves were EMPTY. My step daughter works for Walmart. People were lining up at 6 a.m. waiting for the stores to open so they could get more TP. They were selling out of TP by ten a.m. It’s only been in the last 3 or 4 weeks that people got their act together and stopped the nonsense.

@Dutchess_III I know. I’m not sure why you are telling me?

I have to confess, I get sort of strange kick out of watching mass hysteria myself.
It makes for good laughs over a drink later.

To be honest, the life lesson I learned was merely an affirmation that I have been correct all along. I routinely buy toilet paper and paper towels in bulk at Costco, and store it in the garage. I never got close to running short.

I’m with @josie. I keep a supply on hand at all times. When we get below about a dozen rolls it is time to restock. Buy in bulk. It is less expensive that way.

We run it down to the last roll before we buy more. I don’t know where I’d keep dozens of rolls of toilet paper.

@Dutchess_III That is a high risk move. I don’t have the stomach for it. That would be like driving my car on “E”.

Interesting point. Pre-covid I never let my TP get down to the last roll, but I‘d at times let the food in my fridge get down to a few carrots, an apple, maybe some celery sticks, and a few eggs. I did have some food in the pantry or freezer, not much, but my point is I tried to never risk no TP. Three rolls left would be the lowest. During hurricane season I do pack my pantry fairly full.

I can’t imagine running through a whole roll of TP in one day! We get down to one roll and we have a couple of days to restock.

@Dutchess_III We have had weeks in some stores where you had to camp out overnight to be there when the store opened to just get one package of TP. And that may have been once or twice a week they got a delivery. Pick the right night to camp out. Our local Target got in a shipment of TP after not having any for 10 days.

I meant in normal times @Tropical_Willie. I am well aware of the ridiculous Toilet Paper Crisis we recently went thorough. It didn’t affect us much.
I still don’t understand the logic behind it.

There you go @Dutchess_III you are trying to be logical, it is not logical. That is the point !

@Dutchess_III

“We run it down to the last roll before we buy more. I don’t know where I’d keep dozens of rolls of toilet paper.”

Do you have a place where you can store a dozen rolls?

I can store 18 rolls under the sink in my bathroom.

I saw somewhere on YT that we had a tp crisis because China is a major supplier. Before warning us of covid, they had a run on tp because word circulated that it could be used to make masks. Panic drove people to buy it up as a multipurpose necessity, stocking to the rafters.
That cut off our import, and crippled our supply before we had a chance.
That is one of the reasons Trump is trying to build up manufacturing in our country. He is not against doing business with other countries. As it should be, we do trade goods all around the world, but he is working to build an infrastructure which, if emergency requires, enables us to be autonomous.
This pandemic not only demonstrated some of our weaknesses, but also what parts of the world might need us most under certain conditions.
It is kind of like finding out which of your neighbors will let you in their bomb shelter after all, and which ones would be in a fit of panic with nowhere to go.

Bad mouth big corporations if you want, but several of ours retooled and started churning out respirators, ventilators, and other things in short supply. I heard of distilleries stopping production to make hand sanitizer, supplying hospitals and citizens, mostly for free.

Not only did they meet the needs of US citizens, but donated a great deal to other countries which had people dying in parking lots.

I was deeply encouraged, then some asinine groups decided to thumb their nose at their own country and used peaceful protests to loot, destroy, and vilify their own neighborhoods, and others, just to turn great things into a political nightmare.
I want my country back from their assaults.

This is what is my takeaway.

To watch YouTube videos on preparedness.

I’ve learned that I didn’t know much about consumer versus commercial supply chains.

Today all the bicycles, fishing gear and most of the camping supplies are gone at all the local Walmarts. I did not predict this either.

@ARE_you_kidding_me: also swimming pools of all types are very in demand this summer, and anything for the yard, like fire pits.

You guys saying there has been a run on that stuff in your area?
Bikes? Camping gear? fishing supplies? really?What the heck is causing people to bulk buy that kinda stuff?

@SQUEEKY2, people are looking to nature for a way to seek fun and leisure away from home, but safely distanced. People who have said, gee, I’d like to go camping, but they put it off for next year. They do that one year after another. This year, everyone who was putting it off finally did, or will this year.
People who would have gone to a Disney park, or six flags, etc., are instead taking a chance with the great outdoors.

I heard areas of the Midwest are overpopulated with deer this season, so I imagine hunting will be up this year too.

I’d like to share something I saw on FB yesterday which amused me.

13, “I’m the worst number in the world.”

666, “that’s cute.”

2020, “Hold my beer…”

There are also re-supply issues where the supply chain is sluggish.

Yes, @Brian1946. We buy in increments of 18 and we do store it under the bathroom sink. I do not, however, have the room for 36 roles, or 72 rolls or 144 rolls, or any other multiple of 18 rolls of toilet paper.

We are always over run with deer @Patty_Melt.