How the website works
The site is rather simple to operate. You put in the number of rolls you have on hand plus the number of toilet visits you estimate you make each day. The site then spits out a number at the top of the screen. When you visit it for the first time the default is shown of three visits per day with 10 rolls left. This would give you 53 days.
There are a few advanced options but not many. You can take into account the number of people in the household. One would think that you could simply add them in with their number of visits per day. You can also adjust for the number of sheets in your toilet paper rolls an important factor. You can also add in the number of days you are in quarantine. You should be able to add in the number of sheets you use in a wipe. No doubt this varies from person to person. Now you are all set to hoard toilet paper according to your degree of fear of how long you could be quarantined or how long a local shortage of toilet paper could last.
The site creators
At first UK residents Ben Sassoon and Sam Harris created the site as some light-hearted humour. However, it quickly grew into a tool that would help educate people according to Sassoon who said that the site could help reduce the stockpiling issues going on around the world. However, given the fear that some people have it remains to be seen if those who use the site actually reduce their stockpiling.
Sassoon noted that the site was set up quickly: “We went from idea to deployment in less than three hours. The site has definitely gone through a lot of changes since the first version, but it just proves the power of the internet. You can go from idea to viral in hours or even minutes. We are currently at around 2 million viewers in just four days. It’s beyond anything I’ve experienced before.”
Co-creator hopes the site will reduce hoarding
Sassoon claims the average user of the site has 5 times more toilet paper than they would need in a potential quarantine. He said he hoped the site will lead people to not go out and empty shelves. However, people may be hoarding because they think that toilet paper will not be available and not just because they think they need a certain amount. Sassoon notes that the quarantines lead to many people having free time at home that could lead to new creations.
