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Toilet paper pallets: Don't panic when shopping
Photo: 7aktuell.de |
Nils Reeh / 7aktuell.de/Nils Reeh
If the Covid curve goes up, the inventory of toilet paper in the warehouses goes down - after the experiences in spring, some actually seem to believe in such an automatism.
When the first corona wave was slowed down by contact restrictions at the time, toilet paper was actually in short supply in many supermarkets: many customers had stocked up for long periods of time at home, far beyond their actual needs.
From the point of view of the hygiene paper manufacturer Fripa from Miltenberg in Lower Franconia, there is no reason for such hamster purchases.
"Germany is very well supplied with hygiene paper, the supply chains work," says sales manager Jürgen Fischar.
Consumers shouldn't have to worry.
Producers like Fripa, Essity and Sofidel also worked in the pandemic.
"... as long as the consumer behaves normally"
"There will be no undersupply as long as the consumer behaves normally," said Fischar.
Fripa is currently working extra shifts with around 450 employees to meet demand.
But he already sees here and there that hygiene articles are being bought more in the stores, said the sales manager.
"We are in a similar situation to March."
At the beginning of the corona crisis, sales of toilet paper in drug stores and larger supermarkets soared.
At Fripa too, demand has increased, by how much, Fischar does not want to put a figure.
more on the subject
In the corona crisis, the supermarket remains on the goods: warehouse full of toilet paper "right up to the top" by Alexander Preker
Hamster purchases: The toilet paper complex by Alexander Preker and Achim Tack (graphic)
In fact, at the beginning of the pandemic it was not clear how and whether the companies would work under these conditions, so there was some justification for the concern that the paper could run out.
However, the hamster purchases of many consumers probably only led to the situation they had feared: empty shelves.
For the manufacturers, according to their own admission, the time was still a losing business because major customers such as hotel chains or exhibition companies canceled their orders.
The retail sector is currently giving the all-clear for the time being, even if, for example, signs are again hanging in drugstores that only two packs of toilet paper can be bought per household.
According to a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov, around every tenth consumer in Germany wants to stock up on toilet paper, pasta and other everyday goods in the coming weeks.
Almost two thirds (64 percent) expressly exclude such hamster purchases.
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mamk / dpa
