> ... staying home (and ahem, going to the toilet at home more) as opposed to going to the office.

From what I understand, this was the real driver of the shortage. The toilet paper manufacturers had to retool for home-size rolls to meet demand, where they were previously making tons of office-size rolls. Highly efficient manufacturing processes don't turn on a dime.

Also, most offices buy super terrible toilet paper (like 1 ply, thinner than a tissue). I don’t know if it is to discourage pooping on the company dime or what, but I don’t know if any individuals that would be ok with buying that for their own use. So retooling in more than just roll size/length probably also needed to happen.

> I don’t know if it is to discourage pooping on the company dime or what

It's because it doesn't clog toilets as much. If you stock two ply in an office, people will do unspeakable things with their literal shit, and it's just not good times.

I worked in one place that switched briefly to more home-style twoply, and we very quickly switched back. It wasn't because of the cost. It was because of the poop. Everywhere. All the poop.

In some cases that is result of super super low flow fixtures + bad pressure.

Commercial fixtures need higher pressure than a home fixture, and sometimes the office building can not provide proper pressure, combined with wanting under a gallon of water per flush and well bad things happen

The shortages came too quickly to claim it was just WFH unless people generally only buy enough to get by for a week at a time..

I generally restock on paper goods like that ever 3-6 months, not weekly...

If everyone buys for a month at a time, it would be spread out over that month. With lockdowns, people bought more than usual, and everyone was trying to buy it at the same time rather than spread out. And then people heard about shortages and it just reinforced it - people who still had a month worth at home would throw another package in the care "just in case".

As I recall, even though I normally keep pretty well stocked with paper goods and other staples, I did a shopping trip right before everything went a bit crazy and definitely picked up some additional reserves just in case. It certainly wasn't prepping levels but enough to throw off stocking levels if everyone did what I did during the first month or three. I still have a 10 pound bag of flour which I would normally never buy but it's what was there of my preferred brand at one point when shelves were a bit scant.

Getting a bidet attachment for my toilet was a game-changer for me. Now I feel deprived when I go on a vacation and have to deal with regular toilets again.

One benefit is that I use a fraction of the amount of toilet paper.

A lot of people (especially in apartments), do buy a week at a time - not the weirdest or craziest thing I guess, but definitely not something I would be comfortable doing!

I shouldn't have said the driver. The initial panic-buys were definitely what kicked it off. The need for retooling is what sustained the shortage for months despite rationing by grocery stores.

Even if people bought for just the next week, they had to buy more, because now they were using their toilet at home, exclusively. Everyone buying more at once caused a real shortage.

I don't believe it's that pragmatic. There's a great sense of the unknown, as if society will totally shut down. After all, you don't see people shop the same way when they plan to be home for a while (vacations, kids not going to school during the summer, etc)

It can be both. I personally think of uncertainty like the exponent of the function for buying. More uncertainty, higher value exponentially.

Do people really go at the office on a regular enough basis to have an impact like that on the supply chain?

If people are drinking coffee at work, then absolutely

Yes.