The Toilet Paper Panic... I Bought a Case Too

Two or three days ago, while everyone was still baffled, Costco’s boxed toilet paper was suddenly snapped up by shoppers, and the mountains of toilet paper piled in shopping carts made quite a few people start to get nervous.

After investigating the incident, everyone finally realized what had happened: someone on a social media app had, taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, commonly known as the Wuhan virus), spread a rumor that the raw materials for toilet paper would be requisitioned by the government to make masks, causing people to frantically snap up and hoard toilet paper.

Although Costco then announced that each membership card could only buy one pack, the scarce supply would still keep driving people to rush in and buy, especially since seeing empty shelves always makes one’s heart itch—after all, buying early brings peace of mind, and who knows what might happen with the government’s policies that keep changing in response to the situation.

In every battle, what people are always fighting against is the panic over the unknown.

Recently a movie line has been echoing in my mind: “Grab the money, grab the guns, grab the women.” What’s actually playing out in society now is grabbing masks, grabbing alcohol, grabbing cotton pads, grabbing toilet paper, grabbing whiskey, grabbing curry—so what will be the next thing to be grabbed?

Well, a friend asked, what about condoms? Things a single dog has no use for aren’t on my list (being sniped from behind is probably what that feels like).

A good friend’s sister-in-law said that when she went to buy hot pot ingredients on Sunday, she saw a bunch of housewives lining up, and many of them didn’t even know why they were rushing to buy. When the sister-in-law asked the person in front of her, they just smiled and replied, “Just follow along and grab, that’s all.”

Regarding this toilet paper panic-buying chaos, one source is currently known: a female Hong Kong celebrity, panicking over the Wuhan pneumonia, “out of kind-heartedness” caused this craze (or rather, madness). Interestingly, the Criminal Investigation Bureau later caught several rumor-mongers, whose identities included multi-level marketing members, traders, and hygiene product merchants—no need to guess that they were creating a buying frenzy to clear out inventory, and perhaps even intending to raise prices.

Please, government officials, do us a favor: first round up all these people and impose heavy fines; better yet, offer reporting bounties so that the public can easily report merchants who maliciously take the opportunity to raise prices.

Actually, I bought a case of toilet paper too, but not because I believed the rumor and rushed to buy—it was because my hometown really was almost out of toilet paper. When I bought it, I also discovered that the toilet paper on the shelves really was almost gone. I don’t kill toilet paper; toilet paper disappears because of rumors—then so be it, let’s kill, let’s grab (singing).

Although logically speaking, panic-buying toilet paper seems completely unnecessary during this novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, commonly known as the Wuhan virus) outbreak, natural and man-made disasters always drive people crazy. You don’t need to wait for Umbrella Corporation to publicly test the Tyrant-Virus to personally experience the storm of human nature brought on by the minor disaster of Wuhan pneumonia (just kidding).

⚠️ Note: The raw materials for toilet paper are virgin wood pulp and recycled pulp, mainly imported from South America; the non-woven fabric raw materials for medical masks (surgical masks) are polyethylene and polypropylene—that is, plastic—mainly imported from mainland China, and are chemical products. The two are worlds apart.

But I know that you may know, yet I believe there are more people who don’t. After all, not everyone needs to be involved in this field, so I won’t blame or mock those who frantically grab toilet paper—after all, buying a case of this kind of supply can last a year, so it’s not a waste (those who hoard alcohol cotton pads will probably use them to wipe their glasses after this outbreak ends).

On the contrary, those who mock the elders for panic-buying toilet paper—I don’t believe you don’t use the toilet paper your elders bought at home.

Actually, panic-buying toilet paper is, to me, still more acceptable than panic-buying N95 masks or alcohol cotton pads[1]. Toilet paper, though a daily necessity, isn’t at the level of wartime reserves—and besides, this isn’t even the first time it’s been frantically snapped up.

If everyone still remembers, not long ago a hypermarket’s social media editor claimed prices would rise, which let the toilet paper panic-buying wave spread for nearly half a year, and the store was even fined NT$3.5 million by the Fair Trade Commission. Now that raw materials aren’t scarce and retail prices haven’t risen, I believe the empty shelves in the stores will surely be restocked quickly.

Further Reading / Recommended Appendix

1. Discussion on How Many Times N95 Medical Masks Can Be Reused and How Long They Can Be Worn Continuously.