Cigarette rolling paper comes in a flat pack, from which you take the papers one by one, like a box of Kleenex. Towards the bottom of the pack, there's gonna be an odd-colored piece of paper, after which there still gonna be 10 pieces left in the box. The odd-colored paper tells you that it's time to buy a new pack, but you still have 10 cigarettes' worth.
One of the episodes of The Simpsons I saw as a kid that had a surprisingly large impact on how I think was where Willie had cameras in all of the bathrooms to monitor if they needed the toilet roll changed: “That roll of towels is nearin' its end! She's on double red stripe!”
The toilet paper we buy now comes in individually-wrapped (paper wrapping) rolls, and several rolls in every box are wrapped in bright red paper. Those rolls have the suggestion printed on them that you put them towards the bottom of the pile in the bathroom so that when you reach for a new roll and the one you pull out is wrapped in red paper, you know it's time to go get more from the box. It's a clever design, although it does somewhat rely on people remembering to order the rolls that way when putting them in the cabinet...
If you buy in bulk, the rolls come in a big cardboard shipping box and not a shrink wrapped pack like the supermarket. The wrappers prevent stuff from getting on the rolls. Who Gives a Crap does the red wrapper thing.
Also common in commercial environments where you want to leave rolls out in the open, like a couple extra in every stall.
Wrapping with some tissue paper is probably more environmentally friendly than people buying 4-packs with non recyclable plastic.
Incidentally I've also worked somewhere with a little flag indicator on the milk cooler to let the kitchen staff know it's out and needs refilling (and to warn other users).
Yep! And indeed, this is Who Gives A Crap. I've been really impressed with their product. I do still intend to buy bidets for the house to cut down on TP use overall, but theirs is pretty darn environmentally friendly for the product that it is, and the subscription has been just the right amount that we're not having to buy extra at the grocery to cover shortages nor winding up with stacks and stacks like a doomsday prepper.
Selling individual rolls used to be more common. I'm sure you'll still see it today in smaller stores without a dedicated aisle for toilet paper/towels.
Why would they package those in larger packs? My guess is that the paper does help protect the roll while it's waiting to be racked. Dust/splashes/unravellng/etc. Might be where hotels get their TP.
The practice of having a slip that read “Five leaves left” was where Nick Drake got the title for his first album (somewhat eerily recorded five years before his death).
I've begun to notice the number five a lot. I was reading Tammy Wynette's wiki page the other day and noticed that it appears quite a bit -- born May 5th (5/5), married five times, dead at 55. She also collaborated with the KLF, a pop group from the early 90's which also had an unusual number of fives to do with them (as well as 23's...2+3=5? Oddly, Tammy has a memorial highway in Missippi, MS23). Which brings me back around to Nick Drake. One of the members of the KLF now runs a small web store which mostly just sells his books to do with his post-KLF career, but they also sell other things as well, like overstock Nick Drake album tuck boxes...which are designed to hold all five of Nick Drake's albums.
Receipt paper rolls also have this: When the roll is near the end there are pink stripes, telling the cashier to have a new roll nearby as the printer is about to run out of paper
I recently noticed that there was a "Time to order" message written on the outside of the cardboard core of my saran wrap. The visibility to the core became clearer as the wrap was consumed- giving both a sense of urgency, as well as not letting you forget. I thought it was pretty clever.
My first thought as well. Simplehuman, whose products and designs I admire, also include QR codes to reorder on the reminder and a refrigerator magnet included with the trashcan.
Edit: found a photo of this phenomenon on r/antiassholedesign https://www.reddit.com/r/antiassholedesign/comments/cfndfa/g...