The economics of toilet paper

By MarketWatch

Last winter, I saw a television commercial bragging about an "improved" toilet-paper brand that was so good consumers would actually use less and thus save money.

Saving money by using less toilet paper struck me as odd, if only because I presumed that most people take whatever amount of paper they use by habit and then take a little more than normal if they think they need it.

I was reminded of the commercial recently when Kimberly-Clark announced that it would raise the price of its Cottonelle and Scott bathroom tissues in February. Prices on toilet paper and a number of child-care products will rise between 4% and 7%.

That may not seem like a lot of money -- until you consider that you are flushing it away. And it got me to thinking about how so many consumers want to save money but find it hard to squeeze just a little bit more out of their paychecks. Moreover, it made me focus on how hard it can be to change your habits, the standard advice that savings gurus offer.

In some instances, finding a way to make your money go a bit further requires real thought and life-altering decisions. Nowhere is that more evident than with toilet paper, which is precisely why it is a great example for making spending decisions about other needs.

Consumers tend to think of rising prices for necessities as being the cost of gasoline or eggs, but it includes staples such as energy -- and toilet paper. Regardless of which commodity is involved, cutting costs is theoretically a good thing.

Still, the idea that people might use some newfangled toilet paper to reduce their use of the stuff seems highly dubious.

"Toilet paper is a tactile thing, where the instant you touch it you know what you need from it," says Dave Praeger, the author of "Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product."

Without getting too graphic here, Praeger breaks toilet-paper users into two types: the scrunchers and the folders. The former pretty much just wad up the paper and use it, while the latter fold it neatly, getting more surface area to use, which, theoretically, cuts down on paper waste.

"Folding takes more time than scrunching, and research already shows that you spend 47 minutes a day in the bathroom," Praeger says. "So if you add 10 or 20 seconds to fold, it will add up to more lost time. And I don't know that you will actually notice the savings from using less paper that way."

• Talk back: Is it worthwhile to pinch pennies on the little stuff?

Aside from changing your usage, you can change your product, going for something cheaper. But given how the experience is tactile, that typically doesn't work, according to Praeger, because you spend less to get the rolls home but use more tissue to make up for the lower quality.

"The very existence of subpar toilet paper in the market shows that cost is a factor," Praeger says. "There are cheap brands out there that are scratchy and that tear, and you have to use three times as much of them. . . . No one in their right mind would pick these lousy brands over the good brands, except for costs. The question is whether they really are saving anything based on how they use it, and the answer is probably not."

The economics of toilet paper

Kimberly-Clark officials did not return phone calls asking for comment on toilet-paper usage or price inflation. But previous estimates released by the makers of Charmin-brand paper said the average person uses 57 sheets of toilet paper per day. With that in mind, you can estimate costs pretty easily.

A typical brand's 12-pack retails for $6.99 and has 352 sheets per roll, meaning that it will last a family of four about 18 to 19 days. That means that family needs to buy a 12-pack about 20 times per year, putting the annual toilet-tissue costs around $140.

For the typical consumer, looking to find a way to scrape together enough savings to fully fund an individual retirement account or to cut into credit card debt, the idea of cutting back on bathroom spending by $50 or more a year is attractive.

Changing brands, buying in bulk, using coupons and stocking up during sales are common ideas. But you could go further: Praeger suggested that bidet attachments for common toilets run as little as $100 and dramatically reduce paper consumption, paying for themselves by the second year.

And yet for someone not willing to take measures that drastic, re-examining the routine remains a good idea.

Says Praeger: "I don't think it matters if it's toilet paper or anything else that you have to use every day. When prices go up, you should look for a way to keep costs down. If you're not uncomfortable making a change, you might be able to save some money."

Saving bits of cash isn't always about sacrifice. It's not that you must brown-bag your lunch or give up the drive-through coffee on the way to work, but rather than you must limit the lunch bill or stick with a small cup and pocket the difference.

If toilet-paper prices are going up, it simply means that the wise consumer will try to see how to sidestep the increase.

This article was reported and written by Chuck Jaffe for MarketWatch.

Published Nov. 12, 2007