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Panic-buying toilet paper is back as Americans rush to stockpile rolls amid the Delta variant-led COVID-19 surge

The Delta variant-fueled COVID surge has Americans stockpiling 2020's favorite panic-buy; toilet paper.

Stores currently have 14 per cent less TP than normal, sparking fears that the US could return to the early days of the pandemic where shortages were frequent and stores often had just 40 per cent of its regular stock available.

Procter & Gamble is running its toilet paper mills 24/7 and increasing shipping to keep up with the surge in demand, according to The Wall Street Journal. They are also reportedly rationing, by limiting retailer purchases. 

Earlier this month, a number of Costco customers took to Twitter to bemoan a dearth of toilet paper - along with bottled water and other common doomsday shopping favorites - were out of stock at their local stores. 

'There wasn't any bottle water packs or toilet paper at Costco today... sign of the times to come,' a user from California tweeted on August 16. 

Meanwhile, paper product sales were up by eight per cent higher in the three weeks ending on August 22 in comparison to last year. 

The Delta variant-fueled COVID surge has Americans stockpiling 2020's favorite panic-buy; toilet paper. Pictured is a woman stocking up on toilet paper last March

The Delta variant-fueled COVID surge has Americans stockpiling 2020's favorite panic-buy; toilet paper. Pictured is a woman stocking up on toilet paper last March

Retailers are in better shape than they were last year, but with supply chain and material shortages, they are struggling to get the full gamut of sizes and brands of toilet paper and paper towels that shoppers were accustomed to pre-pandemic. Here, a woman picks up a roll of toilet paper at a store in Burbank in November of last year amid shortages brought on by a surge in coronavirus infections

Retailers are in better shape than they were last year, but with supply chain and material shortages, they are struggling to get the full gamut of sizes and brands of toilet paper and paper towels that shoppers were accustomed to pre-pandemic. Here, a woman picks up a roll of toilet paper at a store in Burbank in November of last year amid shortages brought on by a surge in coronavirus infections

Paper product sales were up by 8 percent higher in the three weeks ending on August 22 in comparison to last year. Pictured are emptied shelves in a California Target last March

Paper product sales were up by 8 percent higher in the three weeks ending on August 22 in comparison to last year. Pictured are emptied shelves in a California Target last March

 The majority of the top-ten fastest growing sales items as of August 5, according to IRI, evidence our gradual return to 'normal' life - eye and lip cosmetics, premixed cocktails and wine coolers, breath fresheners and cheesecakes are all on the list. 

But the highest-growing products - cough syrup and allergy and sinus products - show that the pandemic is far from off our minds. Compared to this time last year, cold, allergy and sinus liquids are up a whopping 65.3 percent, while cough syrup is selling 52 percent more. 

And, as the country learned last March, pandemic panic and aisles devoid of toilet paper and flushable wipes go hand-in-hand. 

The IRI data shows that P&G and other paper companies are working to meet rising demand, with that average stocking level up from 84 percent on July 25. 

Neither P&G nor Costco returned MailOnline's requests for comment at press time. 

Along with mounting fears surrounding the Delta variant, back-to-school shopping, government stimulus, rising COVID cases and a return to social activities have Americans buying more - and space on container ships for raw materials dwindling. 

Retailers are in better shape than they were last year, but with supply chain and material shortages, they are struggling to get the full gamut of sizes and brands of toilet paper and paper towels that shoppers were accustomed to pre-pandemic. 

Grocery stores across the country have had to think creatively to make due amid these long-lasting obstacles. Here, a woman reaches for toilet paper on a scantly-stocked shelf in November of last year

Grocery stores across the country have had to think creatively to make due amid these long-lasting obstacles. Here, a woman reaches for toilet paper on a scantly-stocked shelf in November of last year

Arthur Ackles, the vice president of Massachusetts-based grocery chain Roche Bros., told the Journal that he was notified of purchasing limits on P&G paper products last week. 

'Customers are asking a lot of questions,' he told the outlet. Certain items, he said, have already been unavailable for a few days recently - he fears the sight of scantly-stocked shelves may spur on another wave of panic buying. 

While other retailers and grocers are buying more household staples like toilet paper and cleaning products, Roche Bros is looking at alternate suppliers and securing more items.

'I don't think we fully recovered from when the supply chain got hit,' he said. 

On average, grocery stores ran out of 13 percent of their items last year, IRI data shows - now, 11 percent of items remain out of stock. Pre-pandemic, only 5 to 7 percent of items were missing from shelves at any given time on average. 

Food City, a southern grocery chain, has resorted to buying paper products from smaller companies to fill gaps in their shelves. Steve Smith, the chief executive of the Virginia-based chain, told the Journal that they fill their shelves 'with whatever we've got.'

Toilet paper demand at Food City has been up seven percent for the past four weeks compared to the same period in 2020, and August saw the store's second-highest month of sales since the pandemic began. 

Grocery stores across the country have had to think creatively to make due amid these long-lasting obstacles. 

Louisiana-based Rouses Market, for example, started making its own take on Kraft Heinz Lunchables, which they told the Journal have been tough to get, packaging cheese, crackers, grapes and meat together themselves.  

Cleaning products are also seeing increased buying as COVID-influenced hygienic habits persist even after vaccination rates rise. According to an IRI study published on August 5, Lysol sold $328.8million more in products versus this time in 2020. 

Smaller home care companies have seen a larger percentage sales growth, according to the firm, with German company Freudenberg Household Products seeing an over 55 percent increase in profits over the last two years. 

P&G has seen a whopping 27.4 percent increase in sales over the past two years; Clorox has increased profits by 13.4 percent during this time. 

However, Cottonelle and Scott toilet paper manufacturer Kimberly-Clark saw their steepest quarterly sales decline in a decade this year, according to the Journal, when demand for the paper products plummeted back from pandemic highs at the beginning of the year. 

Last year, Clorox doubled their capacity to make their sanitizing wipes last year, which were notoriously difficult to find in the height of the pandemic, along with capacity for other cleaning products, the company said in press releases. 

Like P&G, Clorox ran their plants night and day and roped in third-party manufacturers, attempting to meet demand. 

Purell-maker Gojo Industries opened another factory and a warehouse in the US last year to double the size of its manufacturing operations. 

Toilet paper manufacturers have a harder time increasing capacity - machines that roll wood pulp into paper products require a massive, four-story-tall machine made of intricate parts that can take months or years to build and cost billions of dollars. 

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