Places that Totally Should (but often don't) Carry Tampons

A hundred dollar bill on the sidewalk.

A giant bar of chocolate.

A tampon.

All great things to have when you need them.

Knowing where you can and can’t find tampons can help when planning or when those inevitable glitches in the plan come along, threatening to derail your day.

Hotels

Some of the most amazing, fun, and comfortable places on the planet are hotels. Many boast of luxurious suites with balconies overlooking brightly-lit pools and beaches, world-class food service on shiny silver trays, and even spas, shopping centers, and water parks. Yet, you would be surprised at how few of these establishments carry tampons. Just like with anything, you get what you pay for. For instance, a hotel which offers wine and nightly turn-down service might fare a better chance of stocking sanitary supplies than one that calls cold cereal and day-old bread a continental breakfast. Whatever the case, any place where a woman has facilities to sleep, bathe, and care for other hygienic needs really should carry tampons.

Gas Station Bathrooms

While most gas stations will gladly unload as many tampons as you can carry (for the small fee of an arm and a leg, of course), very few offer them to women when inside of the bathroom. I find this to be pretty mind-boggling for a couple of reasons. For one, many women use gas station bathrooms, especially when travelling, and may have an immediate need for a tampon. The other reason is that these same bathrooms have one or multiple condom dispensers. While I am an advocate and supporter of safe sex, these same gas stations already sell condoms on their shelves. So, you mean to tell me that I’m going to need a condom, at item designed for use with a penis-carrying member of society who should not be in the bathroom with you, but not a tampon, something designed for a natural bodily function that is pretty much guaranteed to happen at least once this month?

Pools

There are plenty of measures taken at pools to keep them safe and clean. Signs are posted everywhere, reminding patrons of the need to keep themselves clean, not to get in the pool if they have a contagious skin disease, and to take their dirty diapers home with them as opposed to just ditching them in the pool. There are people hired for the sole purpose of cleaning out debris, making sure that the water is properly chlorinated, and are tasked with shutting it down if some overexcited patron pinches off a floater.

Because of all of these safety measures, it would seem logical to make sure that tampons would be kept at a front desk, nurse’s station, or in the locker room. Tampons give women the freedom to still enjoy swimming despite being on their period. It would be nice to have a tampon readily available right there when changing into a bathing suit.

My Purse

While it’s always easy to see where improvements could be made elsewhere, nothing beats having supplies on hand myself. Because, the truth of the matter is, I would never notice whether or not these places had tampons or didn’t if I’d been carrying them myself. Even in places that carry tampons, they may not have one that I like, the brand the I use, suited to my particular flow. Add to that, nobody (except one creepy ex-boyfriend) knows my period schedule better than I do. After one too many times of being in a tampon desert, I try to make sure that I always carry one.