There’s a Toilet Paper Calculator That Cuts Through ‘Mega’ and ‘Jumbo’ Marketing Claims

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is simultaneously two seconds and a hundred years ago, toilet paper was a hot commodity: You could barely find it in stock, and when you did, you bought what you could, even if it was the industrial, single-ply kind that practically disintegrated while still on the roll. Now that the panic has subsided and store shelves are once again bursting with velvety-soft ribbons made of clouds and babies’ bottoms, shoppers are falling into three camps: those who grab whatever seems reasonably priced, those who buy their favorite brand (regardless of cost), and those who obsessively attempt to cut through the marketing tactics of ply, sheets per roll, and rolls per pack to discern what’s an actual deal.