Source: http://blogs.sfweekly.com
The quality of one of our most essential everyday products — toilet paper — is strikingly low in all public buildings on campus, as well as all places of residence under the jurisdiction of the University. Toilet paper is something that almost every single person on this campus needs to use at some point during the day. In fact, it is one of the most widely used amenities on this campus, probably second only to the wireless Internet.
As such a ubiquitous and significant — though seemingly “unimportant” — part of our campus, something like the quality of our toilet paper should warrant more time, effort and money spent than it currently does.
Asking for five-ply toilet paper made out of quilts might be a little over the top, but making it two-ply instead of one-extremely-thin-unabsorbent-and-uncomfortable-ply is a simple change that would yield widespread appreciation.
With its $1.5 billion endowment, you’d think the University could do better than this. In the process of working on the most important projects, like the fantastic renovation of the Commons, it’s easy to overlook needed improvements in something as small and simple as toilet paper. But the cheap quality of our toilet paper is still something that students notice and something that deserves improvement.
Obviously, thin toilet paper costs less to produce and thus also costs less to buy. Perhaps the school is using the same money-saving tactic that many large businesses use in the face of economic downturn, which is to cut back on the quality of toilet paper, paper towels and tissues.
Ultimately, however, this forces people to use more of the product since the quality is so low, and usually ends up costing more. So at what metaphorical and literal cost is UR using such bad toilet paper? The administration really ought to attend to this upgrade as a small way to improve the quality of life at UR.
