It happened slowly. Drugstores’ stocks of ob tampons began slowly dwindling. You probably figured your drugstore sucked and never restocks their shelves with anything anyway, and that eventually your trusted, beloved ob tampon would reappear. But they haven’t. As it’s been reported on elsewhere, it’s not just your drugstore that’s out of them. In fact, ob tampons are now nowhere to be found.
Which is why they are now showing up on ebay, selling for $50 a pop.
So what’s the story? Whos behind the disappearance of our favorite ‘pon? Could it be competing brands trying to squeeze ob out of the market and force it’s customer base to use their products, applicators and all? Or could it be some sort of right-wing, fanatically religious group trying to keep ladies from putting their lady fingers inside of their lady parts until marriage?
Well, over on the obtampons site, they promise that that shelves will be restocked soon and that they experienced a “temporary supply interruption” that lead to the product running out at a number of stores. It’s a curious answer, to be sure, and it’s made even curiouser by the fact that the company refused to discuss the matter with a New York Times reporter a few weeks ago.
But for the menstruating set, corporate games and conspiracy theories don’t matter nearly as much as finding some damn non-applicator tampons. Don’t even try Amazon, where they are now selling 3 40-tampon boxes for $80. However, you do have some options.
