Toilet paper hoarding returns to Southern California after port strike prompts supply fears

A dockworker strike thousands of miles away from Southern California was enough to empty toilet paper supplies this week in a scene reminiscent of the pandemic.

Shoppers on Thursday lined up to buy paper products and bottled water in bulk at Costco and other big-box retail stores across the region.

“Not again!” laughed one man as he tossed a case of Kirkland toilet paper into his cart midday at a busy Costco in Tustin.

Shoppers were likely spooked by a dockworker walkout at US ports stretching from Houston to Maine.

Also see: If dockworkers strike drags on, US could see shortages and higher retail prices

The panic might all be for naught. The strike was suspended late Thursday until mid-January, so that all sides could negotiate terms of a six-year contract for 55,000 dockworkers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Bad news begets panic

Not long after the strike began Tuesday, reports of empty pallets at Costco prompted the company’s chief financial officer to say he didn’t expect any supply challenges due to the strike.

Noting an uptick in demand in recent days, Gary Millerchip said Costco was working to replenish products that were selling fast.

Craig Rosenblum, a retail analyst with Columbus Consulting, said the port strike and an escalating war in Israel are causing jitters up and down the supply chain.

“The news is already driving concern that products may sit at port or not be able to get unloaded,” Rosenblum said. “The shopper truly does not understand what is manufactured where, therefore (they’re) feeding into the hysteria, like Covid, and shoppers are starting to buy up anything they can get.”

Much of the nation’s produce and food is made domestically, he said. “This should not affect the West Coast, but who knows when it comes to shopper psychology.”

Costco, an epicenter again

The scene at multiple Costco locations in Southern California felt a lot like a hoarding redux.

In Fullerton, an employee pulling up empty pallets said the store’s toilet paper had just been sold out. Bottled water was moving off the floor just as quickly.

Roberto Marshall of Yorba Linda was among the shoppers loading up, buying a case of 48 toilet paper rolls.

“Just in case there’s a shortage again,” Marshall said, recalling how he was caught without paper products when the pandemic shut the world down four years ago.

The Costco in Montclair had a line of 30 customers waiting to get in the doors when it opened at 10 a.m.

“The last time I saw lines like this was during Covid,” said Leticia Cordova, an Ontario resident.

Pomona resident Alicia Torres was frustrated after missing her shot at paper products the day before. She showed up at the Montclair store on Wednesday, only to leave empty-handed from there and other Costcos in Chino and Rancho Cucamonga.

Torres returned Thursday because a Costco door-checker told her a small shipment would be arriving. “It sounds like the pandemic all over again.”

Calvin Clifton, who operates a construction company that buys steel pipe for fire extinguishing equipment, isn’t worried yet. But any West Coast dockworkers action in sympathy for the Eastern and Gulf ports shutdown could hurt his business, he said.

“Everybody is panicked,” said Clifton, who was shopping at a Target in Yorba Linda on Thursday. He bought extra supplies of toilet paper at a Costco in San Dimas because he saw how busy the store was early in the day. All the paper products had moved off the shelves, as well as water bottles. “The lines were really backed up.”

James Blackburn, a team leader for the Walmart in Brea, was stacking packages of toilet paper on shelves.

“We’re seeing online orders for toilet paper picking up,” he said.

This week, toilet papermakers said that U.S. consumers don’t need to fear shortages.

The American Forest and Paper Association, which represents makers of toilet paper, facial tissues, paper towels and other wood products, said it was not aware of the strike having any impact on tissue product delivery in the U.S.

The association said it spoke out after seeing reports on social media of consumers stocking up on toilet paper.

The trade group said approximately 85% of toilet paper, paper towels, napkins and tissues used in the U.S. is made by U.S.-based producers and not affected by the strike.