Major retailers across the country, including CVS, Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, 7-Eleven and others, are now carrying international brands, many of them from Mexico, according to Stars and Stripes.
In recent weeks, reports NBC News, a CVS in New York has been selling three Mexican brands: Regio, Hoteles Elite and Daisy Soft. Mexico’s Petalo was on the shelves of a Piggly Wiggly in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. And a Safeway supermarket in Fremont, California, had those same brands, plus Vogue, with a label in Spanish saying that it smells like chamomile.
In March, when about 50 percent of the population was on lockdown, the binge-buying of toilet paper did provide some comic relief to late-night TV viewers. Stephen Colbert appeared live from his own bathtub, counseling viewers to “look on the bright side — you’re finally going to get a chance to binge watch all that toilet paper you bought.”
For whatever the reason, Americans use a lot more toilet paper than other countries, according to Patrick Penfield, a supply chain professor at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. And many consumers are very particular when it comes to which brand they use.
Dining out with my family months ago, before the pandemic hit, this journalist recalls a very animated discussion over the attributes of Charmin versus another popular brand. In any case, once the toilet paper panic took hold, retailers had to get creative – working with new suppliers to get customers what they needed.
“American consumers, in times of plenty, are very picky,” said Erika Marsillac, an associate professor of supply chain management at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. “If the shelves are running low or empty, you’ll grab whatever you can grab.”
Even though Americans buy products from all over the world, most of our toilet paper is made right here, in the U.S. This is because toilet paper is inexpensive and takes up a lot of space in trucks and ships, making it not worth the cost of importing from other countries.
But these are difficult times for the whole world, and supply and demand must be kept in balance, so consumers will seem a plethora of brands, including Cashmere from Canada and King Blue from Trinidad and Tobago, besides Mexico’s brands.
Many U.S. toilet paper manufacturers have stopped making many varieties of toilet paper they usually make, like sheets that are stronger or infused with aloe, just so they can focus on the basics. Believe it or not – there has been a 22 percent jump in the sale of toilet paper in this country.
One reason for the jump in sales? People are doing more of their bathroom business at home instead of at work or school, according to the research firm, Nielsen, reports Richmond.com.
But don’t worry, Charmin, Angel Soft and other brands we use will still be around. Once things gets back to a semblance of normal, we’ll be able to use our old brands.
