Port strikes spark toilet paper ‘panic buying’ as shoppers say store shelves left empty

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Toilet paper ‘panic buying’ has been reported in parts of the country, as Americans fear the impact of the ongoing port strike.

Roughly 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association walked out on Tuesday morning after their contract with the ports expired. News that the strike could impact 36 ports appears to have led some consumers to buy rolls upon rolls of toilet paper in a panic, with shoppers posting pictures of their local stores with empty shelves.

Social media users in New Jersey, Colorado, Virginia and other states reported shelves cleaned out of toilet paper.

While experts told USA Today that certain imported goods, including bananas, alcohol and seafood, are likely to be impacted by the strike no mention has been made of toilet paper.

The vast majority of toilet paper sold in the US comes from domestic factories, according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation. That is mostly moved by rail and truck versus coming in through ports. The paper it does import largely comes from Canada and Mexico, which wouldn’t need shipping ports such as those impacted by the strike.

Georgia Republican Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene nonetheless blamed the strike for the lack of toilet paper in her local store. “Toilet paper is always the first to go,” she wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. “We shouldn’t be dependent on foreign countries for all of our needs! Put America FIRST!!!”

Others in search of toilet paper have posted photos on social media of empty shelves at stores across the country.

One X user posted a picture from inside a Costco in Brick, New Jersey with the caption “No toilet paper to be had!”

“Toilet paper panic started already at Sam’s club. No toilet paper,” another X wrote, while another remarked: “They cleaned out the toilet paper at my local Walmart in Virginia. Toilet paper hoarding 2.0!”

Other X users pointed out that needless panic buying can lead to shortages, while others recalled the toilet paper panic of 2020 during the Covid pandemic.

As people feared catching the then-unknown virus, some began stocking up on the necessity. Stores became so depleted that some major chains began selling international brands of toilet paper.

Americans spent $1.4 billion on toilet paper in the four weeks after the pandemic lockdowns began, a 102 percent increase from the same period a year before, the Washington Post reported at the time. Panic led to an uptick in demand, which surpassed supply, creating a shortage.