Tissue Stock Planning: How to Avoid Running Out Without Overstocking

Washroom paper is a low value, high volume product, which means both failure modes cost real money. Run out and you have an emergency cash and carry run at retail prices, or a complaint. Overstock and you have a pallet of tissue occupying space that should hold saleable or operational stock. Here is how to sit between the two.

Work out your true weekly run rate first

Almost every stock planning problem in this category traces back to not knowing actual consumption. Estimates based on headcount or covers are a starting point, not a plan.

Measure it properly once:

1. Count exactly what is in the store cupboard on a Monday.
2. Do not change anything for four weeks.
3. Count again, adding anything delivered in between.
4. Divide the difference by four to get a weekly run rate.

Four weeks is the minimum because one week will always be atypical. If your business is seasonal, do this in both a peak and a quiet period and hold two run rates.

Setting a reorder point

The reorder point is the stock level at which you place the next order. It has two components:

Lead time cover. Weekly run rate multiplied by lead time in weeks. If you get through 20 rolls a week and delivery takes two weeks, you need 40 rolls of cover just to bridge the gap.

Buffer stock. Extra cover for demand spikes and delivery slippage. For washroom paper, one to two weeks of buffer is usually right. More than that and you are storing cash.

So a site using 20 rolls weekly with a two week lead time and a one week buffer reorders at 60 rolls remaining. Write that number on the cupboard door. It removes the judgement call entirely.

Why running out is more expensive than it looks

The obvious cost is buying a small quantity at retail. The hidden costs are larger:

• Staff time spent sourcing it urgently, usually a manager rather than an administrator.
• The vehicle and fuel to collect it.
• In hospitality, care and food service, the reputational cost of an empty dispenser found by a guest, family member or inspector.
• The habit it creates: emergency buying tends to persist because nobody resets the process afterwards.

Why overstocking is also expensive

Tissue does not spoil, so buyers often assume overstocking is harmless. It is not.

Paper is bulky relative to its value, so it occupies a disproportionate amount of floor space per pound of stock. It also absorbs moisture and is easily damaged, so a pallet stored badly for six months can be partially unusable. And cash tied up in twelve months of toilet roll is cash not available elsewhere.

A sensible target for most UK sites is four to eight weeks of stock on hand, ordered as full pallets to capture tier pricing.

Balancing tier pricing against holding cost

This is the real tension. Larger orders get better rates, as covered in our guide to wholesale tissue pricing, but larger orders mean more stock sitting still.

Two ways to get both:

Scheduled delivery against a committed volume. Agree an annual or quarterly quantity with your supplier, priced at that tier, but take delivery monthly. You get the price without the storage.

Consolidate across sites. Multi site operators can clear a better tier on combined volume while each site holds only a few weeks of stock. This is usually the single biggest saving available to a group.

Seasonality and known peaks

Build known events into the plan rather than reacting to them. Hospitality should uplift for December. Schools should order ahead of the September return, per our school budgeting guide. Venues should uplift ahead of conference and event season.

The rule is simple: increase the buffer, not the reorder frequency. Ordering more often in peak just multiplies the chance of one delivery arriving late at the worst moment.

Lead time is a negotiable number

Many buyers treat lead time as fixed. It rarely is. Buying direct from a UK manufacturer typically shortens it against imported stock, and a shorter lead time lets you hold less buffer, which is a saving that never appears on the invoice. Our article on domestic sourcing covers the supply chain argument.

We manufacture in Leicester and can work to a scheduled delivery arrangement against a committed annual volume. To set one up, contact us through the wholesale quote form.