A Company Just Pulled $20,000 in Period Products From Their Restrooms. Here's Why.

We got a call from a distributor partner a few weeks ago.

"We have a customer that needs your help."

A company had invested $20,000 in period care products for their restrooms. Tampons, pads, dispensers. The whole setup. And they were pulling all of it.

Not because they changed their minds about providing period care. Because employees stopped using the products.

The reason? Cardboard applicators.

That was it. The products were stocked. The dispensers were mounted. The intention was there. But the experience wasn't. Complaints came in, usage dropped, and $20,000 in product sat untouched.

This Isn't an Isolated Story

If you manage restrooms for a commercial building, corporate campus, or multi-site portfolio, this probably sounds familiar. A lot of facilities teams make the decision to provide period care, check the box, and move on. But the product itself rarely gets a second look.

Here's the disconnect: roughly 88% of tampons sold in the U.S. use non-cardboard applicators. Go look at Amazon's best-selling tampons right now. You'll see the same thing. Consumers have a clear preference and it isn't cardboard.

Yet almost every period care dispenser on the commercial market still stocks cardboard applicator products. That's been the industry standard for decades.

So what happens? A company invests in restroom amenities, stocks the dispensers, and then wonders why usage is low or complaints are piling up. The product doesn't match what people actually use.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

This isn't just a user experience issue. It's a budget issue.

When products go unused, that's waste. When complaints increase, that's a facilities team spending time on something that should have been solved at procurement. When a company has to rip out $20,000 in product and start over, that's real dollars and real disruption.

For multi-site operators, multiply that across every location.

The decision to provide period care is a good one. But the product selection matters just as much as the decision itself.

What to Look For

If you're evaluating period care for your restrooms, or reconsidering what you currently stock, a few things to keep in mind:

Applicator type matters. Non-cardboard applicators align with what the vast majority of consumers already buy and use. Plant-based applicators offer a sustainable option without the usability tradeoff of cardboard.

In-stall placement matters. Products placed at the sink or on a counter see lower usage than products available inside the stall, where they're actually needed.

Complaints are data. If your team is fielding feedback about restroom products, that's a signal worth acting on, not dismissing.

Why We Built UNICORN the Way We Did

This is exactly the problem UNICORN was designed to solve. Our dispensers go inside every stall, stocked with plant-based applicator tampons and individually wrapped pads. The applicators are made from sugarcane, so they look and feel like what people are used to, without the environmental tradeoff.

Providing period care shouldn't be a $20,000 lesson. It should just be the right product in the right place from the start.

If your current restroom setup isn't working, we can help you. Contact us.

Learn more about the UNICORN system