Yes, you read that right and no, I never thought I would write such a thing but I was surfing the net a couple days ago and ran across this story which lead me to this story and this story. In a nutshell, ob tampons which many women (including myself) swear by are suddenly unavailable. Then I hopped over to eBay and Amazon. Surely if there is a shortage these pillars of the free market system would know and according to the prices that are now listed on these sites--from $20 to $90 a box for what usually costs $7 a box--there must be some kind of problem.So out I went the next morning in a hunt to bulk up my stocks (actually I was running pretty low and knowing that I was nearly to my monthly PMS freak out, I thought I would be proactive--although I was freaking out a bit nonetheless). I went to Walmart first, no luck. Then Target, no luck. Then Fred Meyers which is a large chain store in our area and their shelves were bare too. Finally I stopped by a small pharmacy which I rarely see anyone shopping at and I raided their shelves. Imagine the surprised look on the cashier's face when I stepped up to the counter with literally an armload of tampons. She didn't ask and I didn't say anything. I then stopped by Safeway, a grocery store, and got their last two boxes so I am set for a while (after spending nearly $100! ouch).
When emotion gets wrapped up with your purchases, sometimes common sense goes out the window. And you can't really tell a girl being held hostage by PMS not to be emotional. Sure there are other tampons out there but I don't much care for them as I thought ob was perfect. There are even better, more logical options out there, namely the DivaCup and similar products which are reusable silicon cups that...well suffice it to say that hubby NEVER wants to hear another explanation of what a DivaCup is. But I did do some thorough research and when I get over the ick factor and possibly more desperate, I may give it a try. FYI, for more than you ever wanted to know about "alternative" feminine hygiene products, click here. And yes, these alternatives are way cheaper than mainstream products (a one time purchase of $25), way greener (you aren't throwing away wrappers and disposable products because you reuse the product forever), and better in other ways as well (I didn't know you weren't supposed to flush tampons until one day our mainline drain got clogged and the young plumber guy went to work on it and asked if anyone had flushed a mop down the toilet...yikes). So hopefully the powers that be will get the situation figured out and my favorite product will soon be restocked but until then, I am hoarding my supply (hubby did kind of look at my pile of product then look at the prices on Amazon and got dollar signs in his eyes but I told him not to even think about it...).
