This Is Why Costco Is So Obsessed with Toilet Paper

It has absolutely nothing to do with the number of trips to the bathroom.

big pack of toilet paper roll tissue paper in supermarket as backgroundVoyagerix/Shutterstock

There are approximately 64 million Costco members roaming the aisles of the warehouse club for one of their hottest commodities—toilet paper. It’s the must-have bathroom item that CNBC dubbed as the “crowned jewel” of Costco back in 2012. According to the CNBC report, the company sells about one billion rolls a year. That’s enough toilet paper to wrap around the world 1,200 times! Find out the best-selling item at Costco.

You may have never given it a second thought before, but a lot of hard work goes into that sheet of plush, white tissue you use to wipe your tush with. In fact, the company hires technicians to test the toilet paper based on the three gold standards: thickness, strength, and softness. Merchandise managers often take tours of the toilet paper mills to check the water used in the production, paper quality, and humidity levels to ensure they’re investing in quality for their customers. They even inspect how white it is! Find out some other things you aren’t buying at Costco, but should.

Since toilet paper sales make Costco $400 million annually, it’s no wonder the company is so meticulous about their toilet paper production. Even though the foods category counts as 22 percent of Costco sales, toilet paper falls under the softlines category, which accounts for 12 percent of sales.

We bet you’ll never take your much-needed toilet paper for granted ever again. Don’t miss this list of 10 bizarre things you never knew you could buy at Costco.

[Sources: cbsnews.com, cnbc.com, fool.com]

Ashley Lewis
Ashley is an Assistant Editor at Reader’s Digest. She received her Master’s Degree from CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in 2015. Before joining Reader’s Digest, she was a Jason Sheftell Fellow at the New York Daily News and interned at Seventeen and FOX News. When Ashley is not diligently fact-checking the magazine or writing for rd.com, she enjoys cooking (butternut squash pizza is her signature dish), binge-watching teen rom-coms on Netflix that she’s way too old for, and hiking (and falling down) mountains.