The toilet paper market is split into corporate and consumer. Nearly all demand has shifted into the consumer market. So there is actually in increase in demand, and supply that was previously allocated to corporate settings will take time to begin serving the consumer context. “Georgia-Pacific, a leading toilet paper manufacturer based in Atlanta, estimates that the average household will use 40% more toilet paper than usual if all of its members are staying home around the clock. That’s a huge leap in demand for a product whose supply chain is predicated on the assumption that demand is essentially constant.”

“There’s another, entirely logical explanation for why stores have run out of toilet paper — one that has gone oddly overlooked in the vast majority of media coverage. It has nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with supply chains.”