Essential feminine products are in short supply. A few girls I know laughed and said that they could have told me this a year ago before the topic reached the headlines. One complained that she traveled to three different stores to find her preferred brand. A shortage of cotton and plastic items has led to a slowdown in tampon manufacturing. This is not a good time of the month to anger half of the population.
Both CVS and Walgreens acknowledged the shortages and promised to increase supply. A spokesperson for the tampon manufacturing company Tampax, owned by P&G, said that they are “producing tampons 24/7 to meet the increased demand for our products.” Instacart, a grocery and drugstore delivery service, noted that tampon orders dropped to 67% last week and panic buying of bulk orders rose 29% week over week.
Adding to the war on women, feminine product prices have risen 10% in the past year according to NielsenIQ. Let us not forget the “pink tax” – women’s products were already 42% higher than products marketed to men. Before the world fell apart, women paid $1,300 per year more on average for the same products as men. That amount is much higher now. Worsening matters, most states in the US add a “luxury tax” to tampons and other essential feminine products. Yet, numerous companies and universities are stocking men’s restrooms with tampons to appeal to the woke culture.
New York estimated that it lost $14 million in annual revenue after repealing the tampon tax in 2016. California voted to suspend the tampon and diaper tax for two years, with an estimated loss of $55 million. Governments should not be using women’s bodies for their budgets. Our newest Supreme Court justice refuses to define “woman,” but the government is taking advantage of our daughters, wives, and sisters with little pushback for what is blatant discrimination.
