Why Do We Buy Both?
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Did you know that in the United States alone, we purchase and throw away billions of tissue boxes each year?
A conservative estimate is 20–30 boxes per household annually. Across roughly 130 million households, that adds up to 2.5 to 4 billion boxes every year.
It’s a massive, largely unquestioned habit.
I haven’t purchased a tissue box in years.
Before AchooBox became a finished product, I had prototypes and 3D-printed versions throughout my home. Long before that, I was doing what most people do—running out of tissues and reaching for the roll. It worked. So I started to question why I was buying both in the first place.
Part of the answer is simple: habit.
For decades, facial tissue boxes have been considered acceptable to leave out in our homes. The roll, on the other hand, was confined to the bathroom. Over time, that distinction became something we rarely questioned.
AchooBox challenges that.
It doesn’t change what you use—it changes how it fits into your space.
My background is in product strategy and customer success, where I spent years studying how people adopt new ideas. What looks obvious in hindsight rarely starts that way. In fact, both Kleenex and toilet paper took years to become everyday household staples.
Building AchooBox led me to explore that history more closely—and to better understand how small shifts in behavior become new norms over time. It’s a small shift—but one that changes how you use something every day. And across millions of homes, those small shifts add up.
If you’re curious, I’ve put together three short videos exploring: