Scarcity of tampon products drives consumer frustration

Geoff Bennett:

Tampons are the latest addition to the growing list of out of stock items in states all across the country. Supply chain problems have left many shelves sparse and the products have become more expensive, making it equally hard to find affordable alternatives. My colleague Lisa Desjardins looks into what's behind this latest shortage.

Lisa Desjardins:

Overlapping with the ongoing baby formula shortage, scarcity of some tampon products across the country is driving more consumer frustration. To explain what's happening here, I'm joined by Sharon Terlep of The Wall Street Journal.

Sharon, Americans know by now we've had supply chain issues up and down, the product line for consumers. But why in particular, with tampons what's going on?

Sharon Terlep, The Wall Street Journal:

Sure, it's a case of, there's problems all over. And it's, you know, just some of them happen to hit tampons. But part of this is because it's an industry that's dominated by one very large player, Procter & Gamble, they ran into some bumps. And then the number two player Edgewell had a very specific kind of tampon related supply chain issue. And so all of a sudden, there are a lot of brands that just aren't available, which you know, as any woman who's used a tampon knows you want your brand and what you're comfortable with.

Lisa Desjardins:

Does this have to do with supply coming from outside the United States of what goes into making tampons?

Sharon Terlep:

Sure, I mean tampons, they seem simple, but they're actually pretty complicated and regulated. They're regulated as a medical device by the FDA. So not anyone can make them. They're made out of what we call a non-woven, which are sheets that are kind of used together. So they're a complicated and pretty high tech product. So they're the kind of thing that when their supply chain issues, they're more likely to be affected.

Lisa Desjardins:

Now, Walgreens told us in a statement that their pharmacies are, "experiencing some temporary brand specific shortages in certain geographies." So have prices going up everywhere? And where exactly are their shortages right now?

Sharon Terlep:

Sure, prices have gone up everywhere. So every company that makes tampons, all the big companies have raised prices just as part of inflation supply chain issues. But what we saw in the data is there's regional shortages, that you're more severe than others. And a lot of it just has to do with, you know, can be as specific as to the store or it may be a brand. So it's not widespread, but it's widespread enough that it seems fairly severe.

Lisa Desjardins:

You know, this is the second major product that we've seen used by women and by anyone who can get pregnant, including transgender and non-binary people. Is it just coincidental this kind of shortage and baby formula? Or is there some sort of lack of priority on these items? Or maybe just too few companies that make them?

Sharon Terlep:

Yeah, I mean, certainly there is — there's the issue of two, few companies making these products. Earlier this year, there was an issue of diapers. So I think that even added particularly to parents, of course, you know, not only women but to parents, and then part of it is the nature of the item as — it's an essential item, but unlike medication, it doesn't have the same kind of urgent emergency status that you might see for some others face masks vaccines. You know, you have diaper bags and diaper bags, you can sometimes get tampons, but it's not. It doesn't have the same kind of urgency that some other essential items might have.

Lisa Desjardins:

I know many people want to know, how long is this going to last? How long are people going to have to juggle sort of make do and perhaps not get the products that they need?

Sharon Terlep:

Sure. And, you know, the companies have said they feel like they're getting closer the, you know, the supplies improving. I think we saw last year a lot and a lot of cases companies predicted an end to shortage, and they were wrong. So nobody's going to predict that. But in the last couple of months supply has improved. And so I think you'll see improvement in the next couple months, barring something unforeseen, which of course is, you don't know why no one can bet on that right now.

Lisa Desjardins:

Sharon Terlep of the Wall Street Journal, we appreciate your time.

Sharon Terlep:

Thank you, take care.