Stockpiling Toilet Paper? No Need To Hoard During Port Strike: Experts

VIRGINIA — Shoppers in Virginia and other states emptied store shelves of toilet paper this week after East Coast dockworkers went on strike began. But retailers and business analysts say there is no reason to return to COVID-era hoarding.

Dockworkers in Virginia are among 45,000 who went on strike Tuesday, shut down ports from Maine to Texas, where about half of U.S. imports are processed, as they demand higher wages and a ban on automation. Thursday evening the two sides said they had reached a tentative agreement and the strike is suspended.

Some panic buying started Tuesday. Elizabeth Hollis, a shopper at a Walmart in Yorktown, Virginia, told news station WAVY that she encountered shelves reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic, when toilet paper disappeared from store shelves.

“I didn’t expect that everything was sold out — disinfectant sprays, almost like a little COVID,” Hollis said.

A BJ’s Wholesale Club in Hampton, Virginia, also had long lines Wednesday and was running low on toilet paper, WAVY reported.

But here's the good news: Most toilet paper and paper towels are manufactured in the United States and supplies won’t be affected by the strike, experts say. And Costco officials said they ordered ahead on many goods in case the strike materialized.

The panic buying of toilet paper was sparked because consumers think the ports strike will make it difficult to obtain as needed, said Andy Borchers, a professor of management at Lipscomb University in Nashville. But that's a baseless fear.

“It turns out 90 percent of the toilet paper we use in the US is produced in the US," Borchers told WZTV in Nashville. "The remaining 10 percent comes from Canada and Mexico.”

More than 90% of toilet paper Americans use is made in the United States, Delaware Online reported. Kimberly-Clark, Proctor & Gamble and Georgia-Pacific make most of the supply found in every household in the country. That includes the brands Scott, Charmin, Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, along with Bounty paper towels.

Midday Wednesday at a Costco in Arlington, Virginia, shelves normally piled to the ceiling with paper towels and toilet paper still had products, but it appeared lower than usual, USA Today reported.

Jennifer, a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a photo of empty shelves when she went to buy the most essential paper product.

"They cleaned out the toilet paper at my local Walmart in Virginia. Toilet paper hoarding 2.0!," she posted from a Hampton Roads, Virginia, Walmart store.

Shoppers may have the PTSD of the pandemic, think of stockpiling toilet paper, paper towels, food supply," Shayna Turbovsky, a shopper in Texas, told USA TODAY.

"People feel the fear and want to overconsume and buy everything they can," she said.

The bad news: Items that could end up in short supply during a prolonged strike include imported chocolate, meats, and raw products such as sugar and cocoa, CNN reported. French wines, German beers, and imported spirits such as rums and tequilas could also see shortages.

Some perishable foods such as bananas and tropical fruits could soon disappear from grocery stores, as virtually all are imported from Central and South America. Alan Siger, president of the Produce Distributors Association, told The Associated Press that most other fruits and vegetables are grown domestically and aren't processed at ports.

After an improved offer on wages, the International Longshoremen’s Association agreed to suspend the strike. Employers, represented by the United States Maritime Alliance, proposed a 62 percent wage increase over the course of a new six-year contract,The New York Times reported.

The union said that it had reached “a tentative agreement on wages” and that its 45,000 members would go back to work, with the current contract extended until Jan. 15. The parties will go back to the bargaining table “to negotiate all other outstanding issues.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.