"Why the poor pay more for toilet paper — and just about everything else"

[FSogol]

There are several ways to save money on, say, a roll of toilet paper. You can reach for the cheaper version: the store brand, or the singly-ply TP, or the stuff that feels like packing paper. Or you can buy in bulk, saving on each roll per unit. Or you can stock up when the deal is good, like when the corner store offers two packs for the price of one.

The poor, who need all of these strategies, are much less likely to use the last two. They can't afford to, according to some revealing research by University of Michigan professor Yesim Orhun and Ph.D. student Mike Palazzolo (hat tip to Michigan Public Radio).

snip

When Orhun and Palazzolo compared households with similar consumption rates shopping at comparable stores — and controlling for two-ply TP — they found that the poor were less likely than wealthier households to buy bigger packages, or to time their purchases to take advantage of sales. By failing to do so, they paid about 5.9 percent more per sheet of toilet paper — a little less than what they saved by buying cheaper brands in the first place (8.8 percent).

Perhaps this sounds like a subtle discovery about minor household goods. But it supports a larger point about poverty: It's expensive to be poor. Or, to state the same from another angle: Having more money gives people the luxury of paying less for things.

Whole article by Emily Badger at WAPO
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/08/why-the-poor-pay-more-for-toilet-paper-and-just-about-everything-else/

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. It's not easy getting that 32-roll package onto the bus ...

... and conveying it through three transfers to get to a stop somewhere near home. Wrestling the package for an hour or more, it just doesn't seem worth it.

The big box stores with big savings are generally a long way from the city center (sometimes called a "food desert" or a "shopping desert&quot .

In parts of Detroit (and probably other places), the nearest grocery store is the food aisle of a liquor store or a gas station.

[FSogol]

3. They mention food deserts in the article. They kind of conclude

that it could change when the stores begin care about attracting those customer which means there would have to be more competition . (more stores in those areas)

[maveric]

2. I've noticed that gas prices...

in the poorer areas of town have higher prices than in wealthy or "white suburban" areas.

[Heidi]

4. Kick!

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. The psychology of poverty is as significant a problem as the practical and logistical ones.

http://www.citylab.com/work/2013/08/how-poverty-taxes-brain/6716/

If you give the person buying the cheap toilet paper $100, it rarely is spent on bulk purchases of necessities or in ways that mitigate the practical problem of financial scarcity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html