Life
Women Are Paying How Much for Tampons?!
You'd think government corruption wouldn't have anything to do with your period, right? Well, crippling inflation has led to a tampon shortage in Argentina, where women apparently have to fork over $30 for a box. Ladies, this is not a drill — the Associated Press even has photographic proof.
Argentina defaulted on its debt in 2001, which makes trading internationally more than a little bit tricky. Inflation has led to import prices rising, and guess what? Turns out tampons are an imported good. Tampons have been scarce for the past two weeks, and some pharmacies have actually had their shelves emptied. It's a tampon famine down there.
According to the AP, Marcelo Yarmaian, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, one of the main tampon providers in Argentina, pointed out that it's only the most popular sizes and quantities that are facing a shortage — so it seems like women can still settle for their second choice tampon when they reach that time of the month, as long as they have the money for it.
But even for those who can afford $30 tampons, the search can quickly turn into something of a quest. Daniela Perez, 30, tells the AP she learned this firsthand when she found herself awkwardly tampon-less while vacationing in La Lucila del Mar. "I was looking for three days," Perez said while shopping at a Buenos Aires pharmacy that, incidentally, was also out of tampons. "Luckily, my sister, who was there, saved me. She had some that I brought back to Buenos Aires."
"I was looking [for tampons] for three days." Daniela Perez, 30
Miguel Ponce, head of the Chamber of Importers, told news site Infobae, it will take a few weeks for things to get back to normal, in part because of panic buying. Seems like women in Argentina are scrambling to get their hands on tampons in this run-don't-walk-to-the-pharmacy situation. "People see the news, get alarmed, and then go out and stock up," Ponce explained.
But seriously Argentina? Get it together already. No one should be paying $30 for a basic female necessity.
