JACKIE MARQUEZ / OPINION EDITOR

Starting your period is never fun. Not only do you have to deal with potential symptoms like cramps, mood swings and a lack of energy, but you also have to buy menstrual products. Ideally you could go to a store, grab a box of your preferred product, pay at self-checkout and get back to bed as soon as possible. Unfortunately, procuring your tampons or pads of choice isn’t always this simple; it certainly isn’t if you’re trying to buy feminine hygiene products on campus at USD. 

For students who live on campus without a car or students who find themselves suddenly in need of menstrual products during the school day, Tu Mercado (Tu Merc) is the only place on campus where  you can buy tampons or pads. There are free menstrual products in most on-campus bathrooms, but for students who want tampons with non-paper applicators (or higher quality products) Tu Merc is the only option. The experience of buying said commodities there isn’t ideal, to say the least. Two years ago, former Opinion Editor Olivia Synek criticized Tu Merc for their up-charge of menstrual products. In her opinion article, “Broke college kids can’t afford tampons,” she argued that Tu Merc’s tampon prices are significantly higher than the prices you can find at a convenience store or comparable college to USD. At the time, a box of tampons at Tu Merc was $11 for 16 tampons — about 69 cents a tampon. Today, a box of eight tampons at Tu Merc costs $4.00; that’s 50 cents a tampon. While the prices have dropped a little, the way that Tu Merc sells tampons is still far from perfect. 

Over the summer, Tu Merc rearranged its aisles. As part of this new floorplan, over-the-counter medications, feminine hygiene products and personal necessities like toothpaste and razors were moved next to the checkout counter. In the past, these items were against the frontmost wall of the market, and easily accessible to all. This new location is nowhere near accessible; it forces students to have employees retrieve period products for them, making the process of buying menstrual products uncomfortable and inconvenient. 

There’s nothing embarrassing about buying menstrual products — it’s something that nearly half the population  has  to do. However, our cultural taboo around periods can make the process of purchasing tampons or pads uncomfortable. According to a poll reported by The New York Post, 42% of women have experienced period-shaming, 58% have felt embarrassed by their period and 73% hide their menstrual products on the way to the  bathroom. All   of  these   statistics point to the fact that periods can still be an uncomfortable topic. 

Tu Merc’s new layout only exacerbates the discomfort that can come with buying menstrual products. Asking the cashier to grab you a box of tampons feels like you have the words “I’m on my period” written across your forehead. The fact that Tu Merc is primarily staffed by students doesn’t help either; the last thing I want to do on my tampon run is ask a guy from my 9 a.m. class to fetch me my feminine hygiene products. The situation only gets worse when the cashier grabs the wrong box. Having to tell one of your peers that you need a box of super absorbency tampons rather than regular absorbency isn’t something anyone wants to do, but sometimes it’s necessary to get the product you need. Putting tampons and pads  behind the counter forces you to share personal information that most people don’t want to disclose, making the process of buying period products feel invasive. On top of this, some students may not feel comfortable correcting workers, if they grab the wrong product. Ultimately, this can inhibit students from getting the menstrual products they need. 

While the new layout makes the process of buying pads or tampons more inconvenient, this was not its intended goal. According to Loryn Johnson, USD’s Auxiliary Services’ director of marketing, the purpose of the layout change was to improve the shopping experience.

“We often reorganize Tu Mercado to improve the flow for customers, line, access to merchandise, etc,” Johnson said.

While the intentions were good, it’s evident that this layout change hasn’t achieved this goal. Tu Merc lines still get long, and because of this there are times when you can’t even see the shelf of menstrual products without waiting in line. So, you wait in line to see what’s available. Then, when you get to the front of the line, you can’t access the prices yourself, so you have to ask the worker to check the price for you. If you want to compare prices, you have to ask them to check multiple prices. Because of this, not being able to directly access menstrual products is inconvenient for the cashier, the customer and anyone else waiting in line. 

Overall, Tu Mercado’s new layout change has negative impacts on students in need of menstrual products. It inconveniences  them  timewise and it makes the process of buying pads or tampons more uncomfortable. They need to return the period products to the shelves front wall, where they used to be. 

Photo Courtesy: Tu Mercado is the only place on campus where you can buy menstrual products; however, it can be difficult to access their pads and tampons behind the counter.

Emma-Kate Squires/The USD Vista