Score!
We did our weekly grocery shopping at Fred Meyer on Thursday as usual. When we went through the paper product aisle things weren’t entirely empty and we didn’t need anything, so we kept on going. Fast forward to yesterday (Saturday) and when we went to add some toilet paper to the main bathroom, we discovered that there were really only three rolls left. Hmmm. With what is in each bathroom and this, we probably have enough to get to our next shopping day, but with all the hubbub on the the news and on the net about empty shelves we figured maybe we should go get some.
I can sort of understand the run on hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipers, but what the heck, nowhere in anything I had read or heard about this virus was diarrhea ever mentioned as a symptom. Why were people hoarding toilet paper?
After dinner we headed over to Fred Meyer and sure enough there was nary a roll of toilet paper to be had. We did buy a couple of rolls of paper towels and 3 other little items that we missed on Thursday, so the trip wasn’t a total waste. Donna asked the cashier when they expected the next shipment of TP in and was told they get a truck every morning, but that it was for everything in the store and may not have this now much sought after item.
Because it is on the way home we ducked into the Rite Aid just down the street. Its paper product aisle was bare as well. We decide to also stop into the Holiday Market, a 1/3 scale supermarket with fewer items and fewer choices on the way home too. As we approached, the parking lot was fuller than normal and the two cars right in front of me pulled in there, so I said, “I guarantee they don’t have any either, so let’s just go home.”
So this morning we contemplated making a run to the Albertson’s and Sherm’s Thunderbird Market to look for toilet paper, but I felt it was a waste of time and really didn’t want to start playing Whack-A-Mole with local supermarkets hoping to get lucky and happen to be in a store when they came from out back to stock the paper products. Donna suggested trying Amazon. Ha, no toilet paper at all was available in Prime. There were a few of other options, but all from third party vendors with shipping fees of $5 to $15 and 7 to 10 day delivery times.
Mid morning today we did go back to Fred Meyer just to see if the morning truck brought some toilet paper. As we entered the store someone was coming out with cart that had a package of either three rolls of paper towels or 6 rolls of TP, couldn’t tell exactly as it is impolite to stare. When we got to the paper product aisle there they were, a few dozen packs of Kroger brand 12 packs. There was a sign that said Limit 2, so that is what we got. We are now set for the next three weeks or so and hopefully by then the great Covid-19 TP Rush will have subsided.