Zac Rogers, an assistant professor of operations and supply chain management in CSU’s College of Business, has spent a lot of time thinking about what it takes to get things from Point A to Point B. Now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic as people stock up on the essentials to avoid repeated trips to the grocery store, many are stuck looking at near-empty shelves and wondering: Why it’s so hard to buy toilet paper?
Rogers – who has delved into complex research topics from sustainability in supply chains to emerging logistics technologies, cybersecurity and more – has a simple answer:
“Toilet paper is big, it takes up a lot of space, but it’s not very valuable.”
For shipping toilet paper to be cost effective, companies wait until they have enough orders to send a truck fully packed.
“Because of that, you wouldn’t send toilet paper every day. You’d probably send two or three big trucks once a week,” Rogers explained.
In response to spikes in demand in advance of stay-at-home orders, toilet paper companies still need to send large shipments, but much more frequently.