‘I’d bury it in the backyard’: Jake details fool-proof plan as toilet paper shortage concerns rise
Apr 11, 2026, 5:00 AM
After a 29-year-old man allegedly burned down a 1.2 million square foot warehouse filled with toilet paper, the western United States now potentially faces a toilet paper shortage.
Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, likened this toilet paper shortage to what was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and believe some households may begin hoarding it.
“You guys remember during COVID, everybody got really worried. I don’t even remember what caused this run on toilet paper, but people went and bought a lot of it,” Jake said.
“Isolation is what it was. Not being able to get out, so many stores were closed,” Spike responded. “Things were rationed, they would say how much you could buy of certain essentials, wipes, and toilet paper were hoarded. You’d go into stores and have aisles emptied entirely. I remember people wheeling through Costco with those flat carts, not even a shopping cart, like they’re building a fort out of toilet paper.”
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Warehouse fire destroys 1.2M square feet of toilet paper after pay dispute
Several years removed from the COVID-19 toilet paper shortage, a large chunk of the country faces the same fate after an employee at a toilet paper production company, dissatisfied with his pay, allegedly set fire to the entire facility’s supply.
“Why do you put all your roles in one basket, if you will?” Spike asked. “It doesn’t seem smart. Shouldn’t you want to have that around the country in strategic places?”
Jake explained his own approach to hoarding toilet paper during the pandemic, stating that he was so proud of his collection that he would often go and check on it at night.
“I got what I could, and I kept it. Every night, I would go down in my closet, and I would look at my stack of toilet paper, and then I’d sleep easy,” Jake said. “If it ever got below a certain point, I’d scurry out, and I’d get more of it. I’d bring it back, and sometimes I’d bury it in the backyard because my closet wasn’t big enough to hold it. I would go over there late at night because I didn’t want anybody to follow me. I didn’t want them to find my toilet paper.”
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
