Toilet Paper Arbitrage

I noticed the toilet paper supplies at home were getting low. Low as in we had two twelve packs left. Momoko gets worried when we do not have a large supply of toilet paper. She complained that the prices were getting out of control. So I took over purchasing.


Now I love to get stuff delivered from Amazon. Same deal with toilet paper. I always look for free shipping. Even better if it is two day shipping. Last time I bought from Amazon, the box came from Walmart. That seemed strange. Why would Walmart use the Amazon storefront? They have their own web site.


This time around, the box came from Walmart again. I looked at the receipt. The cost was a couple bucks cheaper than I remember paying. I looked up my order. Sure enough, the actual price to me was higher. Then I figured it out. Someone is taking advantage of arbitrage here...


So a guy sees that he can buy toilet paper from Walmart for seven bucks. He lists is on sale at Amazon for ten bucks. When someone like me orders from Amazon, he places the same order with Walmart using my address as the shipping address. He pockets the difference in price. Arbitrage.


I thought about this for a second. Could I get the same deal from Walmart? No. I don't qualify for free shipping at Walmart. That would cost extra. So in effect, I am paying a couple extra dollars to make use of some other guy's shipping subscription. I get my toilet paper at the price I agreed upon.


As long as Walmart and Amazon are happy, getting their cuts of the transaction, there should be no losers here. I would think that Walmart might get suspicious if a dude has a free shipping subscription, and keeps changing his destination address. But hey. If Walmart if okay, I am okay. This is business.