You've seen the invoice. Two cases of toilet roll. One costs £18. One costs £32. The cheaper one wins, obviously.
Except it doesn't. Not once you run the numbers properly.
The price on the case is the wrong number to look at. The only number that actually matters is cost per use — what you spend every time someone visits your washroom. Everything else is noise.
Here's how to work it out, why it changes everything, and what it means for your monthly spend.
The Difference Between Case Price and Cost Per Use
Case price is simple. Cost per use takes one extra step — and that step is where most procurement decisions go wrong.
Consider two businesses. Business A buys standard 1-ply toilet rolls at £18 per case. Business B buys quality 2-ply jumbo rolls at £32 per case. Business A appears to be winning on price. But here's what the invoice doesn't show.
The 1-ply rolls contain fewer sheets per roll and a thinner sheet — so each visitor uses more paper. The 2-ply jumbo rolls have more sheets per roll, the rolls last longer, and users take less because each sheet does more. Once you divide case price by total usable sheets, and then by average sheets per visit, Business B is often paying less per washroom visit than Business A.
Illustrative example (figures for comparison only — actual prices vary):
Business A: £18 case ÷ 36 rolls ÷ 200 sheets = £0.0025 per sheet. At 10 sheets per visit: £0.025 per use.
Business B: £32 case ÷ 6 jumbo rolls ÷ 800 sheets = £0.0067 per sheet. At 4 sheets per visit (2-ply, more effective): £0.027 per use.
The gap is negligible — and once waste, restocking labour, and storage are factored in, Business B typically comes out ahead.
The principle holds across formats: centrefeed rolls, paper hand towels, Z-fold towels. More sheets per case and fewer sheets per use often neutralises a higher case price entirely.
How Dispenser Type Affects How Much Product Gets Used Per Visit
The dispenser is not a passive container. It is an active factor in your monthly spend.
Open-shelf stacks — rolls sitting loose on a shelf or in a basket — have no portion control at all. Visitors take what they like. Rolls get knocked to the floor, unrolled, or taken home. This is the highest-waste format available, and it's remarkably common in smaller offices and hospitality venues.
Wall-mounted standard dispensers are better. They protect the roll and present one sheet at a time, nudging users toward a natural portion.
Controlled-dispensing systems — auto-cut centrefeed dispensers or jumbo roll housings with controlled exit slots — go further still. Industry estimates from washroom product suppliers suggest that controlled dispensing reduces paper consumption by 30–50% compared to uncontrolled formats (industry estimate based on supplier case studies — no independent peer-reviewed source available). For high-footfall sites, the saving over a year can be considerable.
One trap to avoid: the dispenser-and-refill compatibility problem. A proprietary dispenser only accepts the manufacturer's own refills. That locks you into their pricing permanently. If you're evaluating a "free dispenser" offer from a supplier, check the refill costs over 24 months before agreeing. The hardware is rarely the profit centre — the consumables are.
| Dispenser Format | Portion Control | Waste Risk | Compatibility | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open shelf / basket | None | High | Universal | Low-footfall, staff-only areas |
| Standard wall-mount | Moderate | Medium | Usually universal | Small offices, low-traffic washrooms |
| Jumbo roll housing | Good | Low | Check core size | Restaurants, salons, medium footfall |
| Auto-cut centrefeed | Excellent | Very low | Often proprietary | Hotels, leisure, high footfall |
The Hidden Costs Nobody Puts on the Invoice
The case price is the visible cost. There are at least four invisible costs sitting behind it.
Staff restocking time. A cheap, fast-burning roll in a busy washroom might need changing twice per shift. A quality jumbo roll might last an entire day. If your cleaning team spends an extra 20 minutes daily on toilet roll changes across five washrooms, that's labour cost your supplier's invoice never mentions.
Storage and handling. Cheap 1-ply rolls are often smaller per roll but supplied in large case quantities with lots of air per case. Quality jumbo rolls are denser — more usable product per cubic metre of storage. Limited storeroom? Bulkier product with lower yield is quietly costing you space.
Product waste from dispensing failures. Thin paper tears in cheap dispensers. Half-used rolls get discarded when a new cleaning cycle starts. Rolls that won't fit properly get abandoned. Paid product, ending up in the bin.
Client and guest perception. This one is harder to quantify but well-documented. A Tork Insight Survey (2014) found that 30% of customers reported spending less time at venues with poorly maintained washrooms. The data is from over a decade ago, but the pattern holds: washroom quality affects dwell time, and in hospitality or service settings, dwell time is directly linked to spend.
"The washroom is the one room your guests always visit and the one room most businesses spend the least thinking about."
For a hotel, restaurant, or salon, a poor washroom experience is not a minor inconvenience. It is a reputational event — one that's increasingly documented in online reviews.
How to Build a Simple Cost-Per-Visit Calculation
You don't need a spreadsheet. Four steps are enough.
- Find the total sheet count per case. Multiply rolls per case by sheets per roll. This is your raw output number.
- Estimate sheets used per visit. For toilet roll: typically 3–6 sheets for 2-ply, 8–15 for 1-ply. For paper hand towels: typically 1–2 for interleaved Z-fold, 1–3 for centrefeed.
- Divide total sheets by sheets per visit. This gives you usable visits per case.
- Divide case price by usable visits. This is your cost per visit.
The table below shows how this plays out across three common formats. All numbers are approximate and for comparison purposes only — actual product specifications and prices vary by supplier.
| Factor | Standard 2-Ply Roll | Jumbo Toilet Roll | Auto-Cut Centrefeed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheets per roll (approx.) | 200 | 400 | 150m roll (~500 cuts) |
| Rolls per case (approx.) | 36 | 12 | 6 |
| Total sheets per case | 7,200 | 4,800 | ~3,000 cuts |
| Est. sheets per use | 5 | 4 | 1–2 cuts (controlled) |
| Usable visits per case | 1,440 | 1,200 | 1,500–3,000 |
| Illustrative case price | £20 | £28 | £35 |
| Est. cost per visit | £0.014 | £0.023 | £0.012–£0.023 |
Once you've run this for toilet roll, repeat it for paper hand towels. The maths is the same. Total sheets ÷ sheets per use ÷ case price. The product that wins on cost per visit is the one to order.
What "Better Value" Actually Looks Like
The answer is almost never "buy the most expensive product." It's also almost never "buy the cheapest case."
The answer is: match the right format, the right quality, and the right dispenser to your actual footfall — then run the numbers.
A boutique salon with 20 clients a day has entirely different needs from a leisure centre with 400. A 2-ply standard roll in a wall-mount dispenser might be exactly right for the salon. The leisure centre probably needs jumbo roll housings, where controlled dispensing reduces consumption enough to offset the higher product cost.
Three variables drive the outcome:
- Format — standard roll, jumbo roll, centrefeed, Z-fold, interleaved. Each has a different sheet count, density, and dispenser requirement.
- Quality tier — 1-ply vs 2-ply vs embossed 3-ply changes both user behaviour and perception.
- Dispenser compatibility — the best product in the wrong dispenser costs more, not less.
When you align all three to your specific site, the cost per visit gets smaller — and stays smaller.
At Tisha, we'd rather show you the numbers than hide behind a quote form. If you can tell us your site type, approximate footfall, and current product, we can run a cost-per-visit comparison before you commit to anything. One case. No contract. No minimum.
