Why is there a tampon shortage?

Karyn Leit, board president of the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges, said the New Jersey-based group — which feeds 600 households a month — also distributes menstrual products twice a month. On those off-weeks, she has had “clients who come up to me in tears saying that they are menstruating as we speak and is there anything I could do to please help them.”

She wishes more people understood that menstruation “is a biological process” and that these products should be available everywhere. “When they’re not, it stops people from going about their day.”

Elise Joy, co-founder and executive director of Girls Helping Girls Period, said she saw the first hints of the shortage in early spring, when multiple agencies began asking whether her group could supply them with menstrual products. By April, she was being peppered with calls and emails from organizations that also donate tampons and pads to those who cannot afford them, asking her to fill supply gaps.

Joy hasn’t turned anyone away, but she’s not sure how long she’ll be able to keep up. Even her corporate partners are struggling to keep up with demand.

“I can see the supplies dwindling in the warehouse,” Joy told The Washington Post. “We’re okay for the moment, for the next couple months given the supplies I have, but I don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen in the fall.”

Data on the shortage is patchy, but scarcity and inflation have been reflected in price increases: The average cost for a package of tampons is up nearly 10 percent in the past year, while a package of pads has risen 8.3 percent, according to data from NielsenIQ.

Meanwhile, product recalls have hit a 10-year high, according to a recent report from Sedgwick Claims Management Services, with more than 900 million units of inventory recalled in the first quarter of 2022.

A CVS Health spokesman acknowledged there have been times in recent weeks when suppliers have been unable to “fulfill the full quantities of orders placed” for feminine-care products in recent weeks. Walgreens told The Post it is experiencing “some temporary brand-specific shortages in certain geographies.”

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tampax, said it is working with retail partners to maximize availability of feminine-care products, “which has significantly increased over the last several months.”

“We understand it is frustrating for consumers when they can’t find what they need,” Procter & Gamble told The Post. “We can assure you this is a temporary situation.”

Not all brands have been affected equally. Kimberly-Clark, the Irving, Tex.-based consumer goods giant and maker of U by Kotex tampons, told The Post that it “has not experienced a product or supply shortage” in the United States, saying it is “working closely with our retail partners to keep shelves stocked.”

If manufacturers are struggling now to keep product on shelves, it’s only going to worsen as the year progresses and peak season approaches for shippers and retailers, according to Vaughn Moore, chief executive of AIT Worldwide Logistics.

“Capacity is only going to get tighter as we move toward the end of the year,” Moore said. “It’s a really challenging time.”

Consumers have had to contend with product shortages throughout the coronavirus pandemic, be it toilet paper and hand sanitizer or cleaning wipes and baby formula. It’s become “a new normal,” but one that consumers in the United States aren’t accustomed to.

“We’re not used to delayed gratification and not getting instant response for the things we need,” Moore said.

Some of the inventory issues stem from the rising cost of cotton, rayon and plastic, according to…