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"Herd" Mentality for sure, but this thread title was clearly inevitable.

We Asked People Buying Tons of Toilet Paper ‘Why?’
"I just know all my friends are going crazy over toilet paper. Every single one."
...
VICE: Hi Lily, why are you buying so much toilet paper?
Lily: I’m buying this because I can see everyone panicking, so I’m also panicking [laughs]
...
VICE: Hi Ashley, why do you think Australians are buying toilet paper of all things?
Ashley: I think they’re just scared. They’re scared they can’t leave their house and they’ll run out. It’s some type of group panic thing that’s going on.
...
What do you think was the main thing that sparked this panic?
Definitely the news for sure. I think the news has got everyone so scared of this coronavirus and now they’re just doing silly things like with this toilet paper episode.

https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/ ... -paper-why

So, any thoughts on how toilet paper has become a symbol of the hair-fire du jour?

At first I thought maybe chronic diarrhea was listed as a symptom of coronavirus and I just didn't get the memo, but then I realized that the toilet paper frenzy had to do with fears that China wouldn't be exporting any to us after their economy shuts down. So people wanted to get as much as they could before we ran out. Has nothing to do with people wanting to lock themselves in their house for months hoping they don't crap themselves to death.

Icarus wrote:I realized that the toilet paper frenzy had to do with fears that China wouldn't be exporting any to us after their economy shuts down.

Sorry? Are you seriously telling me that the US gets its toilet paper from China? Or at least that some people think it does.

The European country I live in has much less by way of forest resources than the US, but the paper in my local supermarket is made in the country where it is being sold (I just checked). If it turns out that the US is not very largely self-sufficient in this regard, I'd be very surprised.

The buying frenzy will stop once people start seeing more stories on TV about how stupid it is, rather than stories about "Wow! Look! Empty shelves!!".

Chap wrote:Sorry? Are you seriously telling me that the US gets its toilet paper from China?

If it’s Trump-branded, yes. : )

canpakes wrote:

Chap wrote:Sorry? Are you seriously telling me that the US gets its toilet paper from China?

If it’s Trump-branded, yes. : )

You may be thinking of his ties. They look pretty crappy to me.

Icarus wrote:At first I thought maybe chronic diarrhea was listed as a symptom of coronavirus and I just didn't get the memo, but then I realized that the toilet paper frenzy had to do with fears that China wouldn't be exporting any to us after their economy shuts down. So people wanted to get as much as they could before we ran out. Has nothing to do with people wanting to lock themselves in their house for months hoping they don't crap themselves to death.

I wonder who/what the source of those fears was since toilet paper, and related household items only have the No. 492 import by value, and only totaled $35.25 million in Dec 2019.

List of top 10 sources for import of toilet paper and other...

1 Indonesia $145.97 M
2 Canada $145.77 M
3 Mexico $97.98 M
4 Italy $30.17 M
5 Turkey $20.06 M
6 Germany $12.05 M
7 France $5.65 M
8 Vietnam $4.38 M
9 Sweden $4.34 M
10 Spain $4.29 M

Some Schmo wrote:You may be thinking of his ties. They look pretty crappy to me.

They can also be used as toilet paper, in a pinch.

canpakes wrote:

Some Schmo wrote:You may be thinking of his ties. They look pretty crappy to me.

They can also be used as toilet paper, in a pinch.

Don't you mean after the pinch? I'm trying to get a sense of the timeline here.