Arithmetic

What a wipe actually costs

Nineteen packs, one brand, and a four-fold spread in the price of a single sheet. Here is where the difference hides.

The number on the shelf is the wrong number

Pack prices in this catalogue run from under three dollars to just over thirty, and the cheap-looking one is regularly the expensive one. A flip-top of 80 sheets and a case of 1200 sheets are not two sizes of the same purchase. They are two different answers to the question of how much cupboard you are willing to give up.

Divide the price by the sheet count and the shelf reorders itself. That single number is printed nowhere on the pack, which is exactly why it is worth working out once and writing on the inside of a cupboard door.

Where the spread comes from

Three things move the per-sheet figure. Count is the obvious one: bulk cases carry the lowest cost per sheet in almost every line. Sheet type is the second, and it moves the number more than people expect, because a flushable sheet and a quilted sheet are built differently. Scent line is the third and the smallest.

The practical read is that a bulk case of a plain line will beat a small pack of a specialist line by a wide margin, and that comparing across those groups tells you very little.

When the expensive sheet is the right one

Per-sheet cost is a fine way to sort a shelf and a poor way to decide alone. A 1200 sheet case is a bad buy if it sits open for eight months, and an 80 count flip-top earns its premium in a diaper bag where the bulk case cannot go.

The honest version of the advice is boring. Buy bulk for the changing table, buy small for the bag, and stop paying bulk-case prices for sheets you will carry around.