Costco, a huge store that sells a lot of big items, has seen a rise in customers over the last few weeks. This supernatural activity (sorry for the Halloween joke) isn’t because it’s Halloween; it’s because of natural disasters and worker strikes that have caused people to buy in a hurry.
Costco even felt the need to say something public about the sudden rise in sales. Costco’s September 2024 sales report showed that sales had gone up a lot in the United States. Costco says that sales went up 9% in September 2023 compared to the same month the previous year.
The company said that the “abnormal” rise in sales (a shocking $24.6 billion) was due to people rushing to buy things they needed to get through the storm season. Costco says that only the last week of September made up 2% of all sales in the country.
Keep Calm & Go to Costco
Costco was able to keep their warehouses open even though there were a lot of panicked buyers. While other stores, like Walmart, had empty shelves, Costco had thought ahead and had everything ready. In their official statement, the company talked about how they had seen problems in the supply system coming.
To be safe, Costco had already moved some of its stock, rerouted supplies to stay away from areas that were flooding, and cleared goods that came from other countries before the port workers’ strike. Costco was able to keep stock on hand thanks to this huge deployment of supplies.
Walmart was so busy that it was hard to find things like cold water and toilet paper. The company even told customers to only buy what they needed for a week. This was especially bad in places that Hurricane Helene had a lot of damage. Costco, on the other hand, was able to weather the storm and keep its loyal customers stocked on everyday items.
Why were people hoarding TP?
TP shortage happened because of a series of events. First, there were port strikes at the beginning of October, which slowed down supplies by a huge amount. Then, on October 6, 2024, Hurricane Helene was supposed to hit land.
This made people go crazy with shopping for a week, partly because they needed to stock up before a natural disaster and partly because it made us remember the Covid-19 TP shortage in Vietnam.
Even though these changes in shopping habits were strange, there was no reason to be scared. After all, the port strikes wouldn’t stop the flow of things like toilet paper and paper towels… Mostly because these paper-based home goods are already made in the United States.
About 80% of the paper goods sold in US stores are made by American companies like Kimberly-Clark and Georgia-Pacific, which have factories in states like Alabama and South Carolina.
Imports of raw materials like eucalyptus wood would have been slowed down by a long port strike, but these companies already know where to get the materials they need. In short, short-term problems were caused by slow delivery, not by a real lack of goods. The US will never run out of TP because Costco always has some in stock.
Stock up at Costco
It is important to be ready ahead of time if you live in a place where natural disasters are common. So, when the alarms go off, you will already be ready. To keep your peace of mind and keep your mind on what’s important in case of an emergency, make sure your pantry is filled and your bag is ready. To make sure you’re always ready, try these things:
Have a list of must-haves: Being able to get clear water in a bottle is very important to have in case of an emergency. Figure out how much water you need to store for your family. You should think about how many people live in the house and how much water your pets need. There are clear rules to follow from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Slowly stock up: Start shopping now instead of waiting until the last minute. When you go food shopping, buy an extra item every time. This way, you can stick to your budget, carry it easily, and avoid buying something expensive all at once.
Turning: To keep from throwing away things, use up the oldest ones first and then buy new ones to replace them. That way you can see what you already have.
Needs Other Than Food: Batteries, lighting, and medicine should not be forgotten. During long power cuts (remember, no electricity!), these are very important. During natural disasters, it’s very hard to get to a drugstore or health center, so make sure all of your prescriptions are filled and your medicine cabinet is full.
Hurricane Helene and Hurricane may be gone now, but more storms are likely to come. It is more important than ever for people to get ready for the next storm and make sure their homes are stocked.
