Facial Tissue (Dollar Tree)

Any tissue I buy doesn’t seem to last very long. I work in an education setting, and it’s astonishing how quickly a large box of tissue can end up empty. My tissue boxes see some use during the fall and spring months, thanks to allergy season, but winter is the worst. Cold and flu season are practically guaranteed to clean out my tissue supply as fast as I can stock it. I’m exaggerating, but only a little.

In my situation, while having good tissue is nice, having cheap tissue is no small consideration. I don’t want to pay a lot if I can help it. So I’m always on the lookout for good deals on tissue boxes. I’ve looked at big box stores and even grocery stores. One place I’ve taken to looking is dollar stores, all of which sell tissue of some kind. Dollar General does. So does Family Dollar.

And so does Dollar Tree.

Dollar Tree tissue comes in an unassuming box that says “Tissues” on the front of it. There’s no branding, not even a Dollar Tree house brand. On the receipt, it currently just says “Facial Tissue.” Dollar Tree currently offers two versions: a box with 175 tissues and a cube with 85 tissues.

At the time of this post, all products at Dollar Tree are $1 but are moving toward $1.25. At the $1 price point, the box comes out to $0.0057 per tissue, while the cube comes out to $0.0011 a tissue. At $1.25, the box is $0.0071 a tissue, while the cube is $0.0014 a tissue.

How does that compare? At the $1 price point, both the box and the cube are the cheapest I can find. At $1.25, the box is the same price per tissue as Dollar General and Aldi, while the cube is still the cheapest cube I can find. So from a price perspective, these are competitive.

The box and cube don’t say a lot. They’re both distributed by Greenbrier International, the Dollar Tree company. Each 2-ply tissue in the box and cube are 8.4 inches x 8.2 inches, which is the standard size I see in other tissue boxes, especially brand-name ones. Beyond that, the boxes don’t indicate how they’re manufactured or what additional ingredients might be in them. Neither of them appear to have lotion.

I’d say these are adequate, although not great. I sometimes have trouble getting tissue out of a new box, but these seemed to be more trouble than some other boxes I’ve bought from other places. The first ones came out in clumps and tore more easily. They got better with time, but if your first tissue users aren’t careful, you could see some waste, especially at the start.

As for texture? Adequate there, too. I’ve had softer — Aldi, for example — but these aren’t sandpaper, either. They work. If you use tissue a lot, you might want to spring for something else to save your nose, but as an occasional tissue these are okay.

The Verdict:

For those in need of tissue, Dollar Tree sells tissue that is inexpensive. The price is as low as anywhere else. The quality isn’t the absolute worst I’ve seen, but it also isn’t the best, and it does have some issues. If you need cheap tissue that is a step above pure institutional tissue, this is worth a look.