Mini jumbo, jumbo and maxi jumbo, explained

The three formats, pinned down

All three are the same idea: far more paper on one core than a household roll, so a busy washroom is serviced less often. The differences are diameter and length. A mini jumbo typically carries somewhere between 130 and 200 metres of tissue. A jumbo runs to roughly 300 metres. The largest rolls, sold as maxi jumbo, carry around 400 metres. Exact lengths vary by producer and by ply, which is precisely why a specification should state metres rather than a format name.

Household rolls, by contrast, are specified in sheets. The washroom formats are specified in metres and in core diameter, because they live in dispensers rather than on spindles.

The core question, literally

Washroom dispensers take one of two core diameters: 60 millimetres, sometimes described as two and a quarter inches, or 76 millimetres, three inches. The dispenser on the wall decides which roll you can sell to that site. A 60 millimetre roll on a 76 millimetre spindle will not mount at all, and a 76 millimetre core on a 60 millimetre spigot rattles and dispenses badly. Some producers wind a dual core that accepts both, which is worth asking for if your customer base is mixed, because it halves the SKUs your warehouse carries.

Which format for which site

• Mini jumbo suits offices, schools and smaller hospitality washrooms. The dispenser has a smaller footprint on the wall, and the roll turns over fast enough that the outer layers do not sit gathering dust.
• Jumbo is the default for high traffic washrooms: shopping centres and transport hubs. Fewer service visits per week is the whole argument.
• Maxi jumbo pushes that argument to its limit for the busiest sites, at the price of a large dispenser and a heavy case.

The case maths distributors actually care about

Because these rolls are specified in metres, the honest comparison between two offers is pence per metre delivered, not price per case. Divide the delivered case price by rolls per case times metres per roll. Then check the container loading, because jumbo formats are bulky and the number of cases that physically fit in a forty foot high cube decides the freight share each case carries. A tighter wound roll, or two fewer millimetres of core, loads more paper into the same steel box.

Under an own brand label, the format mix is a range decision. Most distributors carry a two ply mini jumbo and a two ply jumbo as the core, add maxi jumbo where their customer base includes genuinely high traffic sites, and hold one ply variants only where a contract demands them.

Where Millgate fits

Millgate produces own brand toilet tissue across all three washroom formats and conventional rolls, to your stated length, ply and core, on European production. Paper and cleaning chemicals consolidate into one container with one invoice from a US company. Send the specification you buy on today, or a photograph of the case, and we will quote it.