one roll versus two

Some bathroom stalls have one big monster size roll of toilet paper while others have two medium size rolls.

Why is this?

There are two reasons for super sizing and opting for one big roll. The first is obvious. Why does Costco super size everything? Because it's cheaper to produce in large quantities and therefore provides a discount to the consumer. The same is true for toilet paper. The bigger the roll the less it costs per sheet. The second advantage to having a big roll is that it needs to be changed less often which results in less maintenance costs.

What advantage does two rolls have over one?

Imagine what happens when the maintenance person checks up on the big roll and notices that there is only a small amount left. He ends up replacing it and discarding the remainder to avoid anyone from running out of paper while doing their business. But with two rolls usually one completely runs out before the other and the maintenance person can replace just the empty roll and leave the other to be fully depleted. This essentially allows the maintenance person to replace half of the supply.

This is somewhat analogous to fueling up your car. Imagine in the extreme case that you had to wait until your tank was completely empty before you could get more gas. You'd have difficulty timing it perfectly so that you ran out of gas just as you pulled into the station. And if you did still have some gas left you'd have to discard it. Even better than two rolls we are able to fill up our gas tank anytime even if we have almost a full tank.

So does that lead us to thinking that the more rolls the better? Yes and no but that's a topic for another day.