The next shortage in the Joe Biden era is, apparently, tampons:
Feminine care products are in short supply in some stores, with manufacturers acknowledging consumers are frustrated. https://t.co/pbRVr06pqY
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 10, 2022
Empty shelves Joe is back, baby!
Our team’s photo of local pharmacies last week in Maryland and Indianapolis showing empty shelves where #Tampons use to be. #TamponShortage – We’ve heard your DMs of empty shelves from Iowa to Toronto and NYC to LA. Have you seen shelves near you that look like this? pic.twitter.com/KABPbmVxAd
— I Support The Girls (@I_Support_Girls) June 9, 2022
If the Biden administration handles this like they did the baby formula shortage, there will be a lot of angry women out there in the coming months:
— I Support The Girls (@I_Support_Girls) June 9, 2022
Somehow, Amy Schumer might be to blame because she is a really good spox for tampons. Or something:
A spokesperson for Proctor & Gamble said on Wednesday that sales saw a spike after Schumer appeared in Tampax commercials in 2020 (via @toofab)https://t.co/6ZqipgVzSS
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 10, 2022
Yeah, we don’t think this is what did it but what do we know:
When @amyschumer told us she was going to be a bloodsucker for #Halloween, this is not what we were expecting… 🧛 pic.twitter.com/ob9fY3ELbW
— Tampax US (@Tampax) October 31, 2021
We’ll have to see if the turns into a real shortage or not, but it’s looking that way:
The great tampon shortage of 2022 is the supply chain problem no one's talking about https://t.co/63OEaTrxlf @DanaMarlowe the founder of @I_Support_Girls which provides bras & menstrual hygiene for people experiencing homelessness has seen big drop off in tampon donations.
— AnnaMChavez.eth (@AnnaMariaChavez) June 9, 2022
TIME magazine explained what’s going on in this long thread. The TL;DR version? Women stocked up during the pandemic and “the raw materials that go into tampons—cotton, rayon, and sometimes pulp and plastic for applicators—have been some of the most in-demand raw materials throughout the pandemic.”
“Tucked away on a forum, I found dozens of women complaining about not being able to find tampons,” writes @AlanaSemuels.
“A similar discussion was happening on Reddit, where one poster said she checked eight stores looking for her preferred brand” https://t.co/GDIsLJRZr3
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
“To put it bluntly, tampons are next to impossible to find,” says Michelle Wolfe, a radio host in Montana, who wrote a piece on her radio station’s website about not being able to find tampons. “I would say it’s been like this for a solid six months”
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
In 2020, people stocked up on supplies because they were worried they’d run out.
This increase in demand came at a time when the supply chain for tampons, like the supply chain for just about everything else, became disrupted by factory closures and port delays
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
And the raw materials that go into tampons—cotton, rayon, and sometimes pulp and plastic for applicators—have been some of the most in-demand raw materials throughout the pandemic.
As demand soared, supply shrank pic.twitter.com/2YIMYOBeHH
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
Increased demand, staffing shortages, raw material shortages—none of these factors are unique to tampons.
What makes the tampon shortage so problematic is that tampons are not something women can stop buying until supplies return
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
Despite this, it’s hard to find anyone doing anything about the tampon shortage.
Even stranger, aside from a few pockets of the internet where frustrated women are venting, nobody’s talking about the great tampon shortage of 2022
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
“I kept asking myself—am I going crazy? Because I went to so many stores and couldn’t find anything,” says Eal Ganott, a mother or two in Queens who found validation in a Reddit thread
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
“Are bad decisions being made at companies run by men that are affecting the supply of products for women?” asks @AlanaSemuels.
Read more ⬇️ https://t.co/GDIsLJRZr3
— TIME (@TIME) June 10, 2022
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Related:
Fact-checkers trying to get ahead of ‘miscaptioned’ photos of empty grocery store shelves
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