Robinhood Snacks - 🧻 Toilet Paper hoarding drama

The trifecta is nearly complete... to fight COVID-19 and all its very real, negative fallouts. The Fed came in hard with the monetary policy, state/local governments are going big on public health policy, and now the White House might come through with a big fiscal policy boon — a $1T stimulus plan. The goal = Get cash into Americans' pockets when many really need it.

• The $1T Proposal: The Trump admin pitched a plan to Congress to send checks directly to Americans (like a birthday check from Nana). Also included in the plan is up to $500B to help small businesses and $50B to boost struggling airlines.
• The Checks: The administration anticipates dropping as much as $500B on two waves of direct payments (that's around $1,520 per American, if divided evenly — but probably more, since babies don't cash checks).

You probably want to hear more about the checks... The direct payments will be means-tested to make sure they don't advantage wealthier citizens. They don't include tax cut savings (also on the table). Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says the gov hopes to send the first batch out by the end of April. Also, the proposal still needs to pass Congress.

Hands off the rolls... In this coronavirus-buying panic, we've focused plenty on sanitizing products like Clorox (now being held safely behind the CVS sales counter along with pricey whiskey and cigarettes). While hand sanitizer sales have surged 470%, the surprise star of panic-buying is... toilet paper. From convenience stores to grocery aisles, not a roll in sight.

• US TP sales last week surged 60% from the same time last year. Fear of not having any wipe-products is so bad that Americans are even getting on the bidet bandwagon.
• So Kimberly-Clark (maker of Scott and Cottonelle) and Procter & Gamble (Charmin) ramped up production to meet demand.
• Kim will "reallocate inventory" (aka, use paper pulp to make more toilet paper, fewer paper towels). TP > PT.
• Georgia Pacific has managed to ship out 20% more of its Angel Soft and Quilted Northern TP than its regular capacity. But the crazy demand is causing unnecessary strain on supply chains...

TP-makers are asking whyyy?... Drugs stores and groceries aren't shutting down. Toilet paper will always continue to be produced/shipped. Many TP-creating mills were already operating 24/7 before the pandemic — their capacity is fixed at "max." Producing TP is pretty easy, but it takes time to get it shipped to warehouses/retailers and then onto shelves.