If you take the contents out of a box of tissues, you will likely see what is shown in the photograph below: a stack of white tissues, with the last few layers of tissues being a different color — in this case, blue — which is what I wrote in this article written on Thursday, May 23, 2019 called Stupid Tip of the Day: If the Tissues are Colored, That Likely Means…
Blue Dye Has Apparently Become Too Expensive.
…and the tissues — which could have been blue, pink, yellow, or some other color — meant that the container was about to run out of tissues. The appearance of colored tissues is an indicator — or a secret message of sorts — to members of the housekeeping staff to change out the box of tissues with a fresh new box, as the current box is almost depleted of its supply. This is to ensure that guests in hotel rooms never run out of tissues — unless the guest goes through them like water due to a bad cold or allergies.
In recent years, however, instead of the entire tissue being comprised of blue dye, I have been encountering boxes in which the last few tissues simply had a thin blue stripe running down the middle of them.
Interestingly, some cursory research from many sources reveal that blue has always been one of the most — if not the most — expensive pigment for dyes, paint, and inks…
…and a new pigment of blue was discovered in recent years by Mas Subramanian — who is a chemist at Oregon State University — and his team; and YInMn Blue is reportedly the first new pigment of blue in approximately 200 years: “Commercially known as Blue 513, YInMn Blue is now available for use in industrial coatings, plastics, and artist color materials”, according to the official Internet web site of The Shepherd Color Company.
Final Boarding Call
If blue dye is so expensive, why not use a different color to apply to the last bunch of tissues?
I suppose a stripe of blue dye — or any other darker pigment — is probably safer to use than an entire tissue being dyed. I do not know…
…but the overall quality of tissues which are supplied in hotel rooms in recent years seem to be declining — they feel rougher and flimsier — which would be more of a tissue issue than the color of dye used and how it is applied.
Are you blue that the last tissues in a container may not completely blue anymore?
All photographs ©2019 and ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
