Another Strange Habit of Women

I have a confession to make. It’s harmless, so don’t get excited. I am one of those women who likes particular tissue box designs. We buy the patterns we like, and then we save the cardboard box when the tissues are gone. Then we restock the same box with new tissues from some boringly designed box. Why do we do this? Because paper companies keep retiring tissue box designs.

I thought I was the only person who saved tissue boxes whose designs I liked. I only was doing it with reach-in tissue boxes. Harmless, right? Then I visited a friend who was doing it with the pop-up kind. Setting aside how clever we are to be able to replicate a factory machine and lay in a batch of new tissues into a box by hand, this is weird.

Only, guess what? At another person’s house, I saw the same thing happening. This person even had purchased many decorative tissue boxes in pottery, plastic, metal, and so on. But she still refills cardboard tissue boxes whose designs she likes, effectively keeping them around for years and making them her de facto decorating choices. I suspect there are thousands or even millions of women (and some men) doing this same thing.

That being the case, I’d like to announce that I am still waiting for the Scott Paper Company to sell tissues in those plaid boxes they had about fifty-five years ago. I don’t know that they would meld with any decor I have in my home, but I would buy them anyway. As a child I liked them and I would love to see them again. Scott Paper, are you listening? This is a reason to recycle old designs. Seeing them will bring a rush of recognition, and we will buy our refill tissues from you, something we don’t necessarily do right now. In effect, some of us, perhaps many of us, are simply buying tissues as bulk. If you want brand loyalty, abandoning all past box designs is a mistake.

Of course I have not done a serious study of this phenomenon; this is mere anecdotal evidence. Still, during my long life as a Baby Boomer I have discovered that what I like, there’s a good chance many millions of people will like also. Bring on the genuine retro tissue box designs, please.