It’s a sad, sad day in the NanaBread kitchen. Today, I opened my last roll of Job Squad paper towels. The corporate nincompoops at Kleenex have decided to discontinue my favorite brand. How does a company decide to discontinue the best product they make? I’m at a loss for words. While it may be true that Job Squad wasn’t the best seller in the paper towel aisle, anyone who used them will testify that nothing worked better.
Farewell Job Squad, I Knew Thee Well
Those paper towels have seen me through a lot of messes over the years. They cleaned my mirrors and windows. They polished my countertops. They helped me clean up dog vomit when Ziggy ate too many french fries. They cleaned up Jonah Bear when he ate carrots for the first time and wore most of the jar. Job Squad was there for me when I bought all new stainless appliances for the kitchen and obsessed about fingerprints. They were there when the plastic tub of spaghetti sauce exploded in my microwave because I didn’t open the lid first. They soaked up the milk from the paper carton that leaked all over my fridge and milk from Jonah and Lilly’s bottles when they rode in my car. Yep…today, I sat in my kitchen and cried. Not because there are no other paper towels out there to choose from; sure there are. I shed a tear because one of my dearest friends is gone forever. One I deeply cared for and came to rely on. I loved you dearly, Job Squad. You will be greatly missed.
Inside NanaBread's Head 
When is the memorial? Should I send flowers or give to your favorite charity? Personally I prefer wakes; any reason for a party! I’ll bring the slushies and you can clean up the mess with your last roll of Job Squads and we will both be happy!
Not to deter you from the sadness of this day… *sniff sniff* but I am absolutely thrilled to have run across someone else that actually uses the word nincompoops!! Except I tend to spell it ninkumpoops. I’m just happy to know that I am not alone in my weirdness! :)
~Wendy
What can I say….nincompoops or ninkumpoops, they’re all the same dingleberries!
She’ll see. She doesn’t understand it now, but some day she will and she’ll have her own “ah-hah” moment. Good luck as she ages. My Baby turned into a bit of an “Exorcist” head-spinner between the ages of 14 and 17. I think it was a hormonal flare-up, but The Complete Package still refers to it as “the years we do not speak of.” You’d never know it now. She’s an awesome child and a world class mommy. Looks like we were good parents after all. Best wishes!!
I miss Job Squad, too. There may be more brands out there – Viva, Brawny and others that spend big bucks saying how good they are – but none perform as well as Job Squad. I know, I’ve tried them. You are right, those Kleenex execs are nincompoops.
Yes, they are. It’s good to know I’m not alone. I lovingly folded my last one and put it in a plastic bag marked “The Last Job Squad” so I could show it to my grandkids some day and tell them about the good ole’ days when men were men, phones were rotary and paper towels were plush.
I am posting this in 2020! Just saw ONE Job Squad Towel on Ebay for $30.00 plus shipping. Now who is the crazy one: The Seller? or “Moi” thinking of buying it!
HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!!
I loved your post and have wept openly. We too at the office will dearly miss Jobsquad! The alternative crap called Viva Paper Towels is pathetic and thin! Why on earth did Kimberly Clark decide to terminate this product is baffling!
Thanks, Vivian. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one out there mourning the loss of my beloved Job Squad paper towels. I don’t know what those executive-types were thinking, but I totally disagree with them. They killed my favorite brand, and I’m not happy about it. Not one little bit.
$$$! AND pressure from other paper towel manufacturers. So sad!
I TOO, AM A SAD, SAD CUSTOMER….I MISS MY JOB SQUAD. IN FACT, I ONLY BUY TOWELS ON RARE OCCASIONS NOW BECAUSE IT INFURIATED ME SO. I VERY RARELY EVER SING A PRODUCTS PRAISE BUT THOSE TOWELS WERE THE BOMB. AND I AM IN AGREEMENT THAT HOW COULD KLEENEX TAKE THE BEST PRODUCT THAT THEY EVER CREATED. IM STILL NOT OVER IT. EVERY ONE WHOEVER SET FOOT IN MY HOME AND USED THOSE TOWELS ALWAYS ALWAYS COMMENTED ON THEIR QUALITY. SHAME SHAME ON YOU KLEENEX!
I have used Job Squad towels since they first hit the market. I found about 15 rolls at a salvage store a few months ago and grabbed them. I have been out for about a month now and while I hate to see a grown man cry, I sob daily for my Job Squad. Maybe we could getup an online petition to ask Kleenex to make them again?
A little humor to try and chear you up:
Ever wonder how successful Kimberly-Clark (now Kleenex) would have been if they had called their product “Dirtynex” instead?
Barry- sleepless in Atlanta
When I was in elementary school, oh so many years ago, I did a science fair project investigating various brands of paper towels for various qualities- dry and wet toughness, absorbency, softness, and so on. Job Squad won each category by a wide margin. Good stuff.
I can believe it. I loved them and thought they were the best paper towels on the market – by far. That’s why I’m still in shock that they pulled them. Shock and mourning. I need to let them go, but I just can’t. I want them back.
I actually have two rolls of this precious towels left in the kitchen and one left in the office. I don’t know what will the days be like after I run out of them. Hmm, maybe I can put them up on Ebay to sell to the highest bidder!!!
I’m so jealous! I saved the last paper towel off my last roll. Put it in a plastic bag marked “The Last Job Squad” and put it away as a keepsake. It was a sad, sad day. I have a feeling you’d make some big money on Ebay. There appears to be an entire community of Job Squad mourners who’d likely bid on them. If they were mine, I’d encase at least one roll in a lucite box and put it on a shelf like a trophy. Or an Oscar. :)
You must have lived in Fairbury. IL. My son did that class experiment in 1981-1982. I used them exclusively from then on. I thought Viva bought Job Squad, however, for the past year? they have been useless.
Ruth
I think I just make put one roll up n Ebay for some laughs. People might think I am crazy to sell a roll of towel on Ebay! I have YET to find an alternative to Job Squad. Seriously all paper towels mourners should come together to grief over Job Squad Paper Towels – maybe I will start a Facebook Fanpage for it! Parting will be such sweet sorrow (not!)
I too, mourn our loss. DITTO to everything that has been said. Where’s the petition I’m ready to sign. First I lost Postom now this. I just feel so helpless.
What?!? I had no idea they’d stop making Postom. Not that I ever drank it, but I grew up seeing it on store shelves. I don’t eat Twinkies, either, but I was still shocked when they closed down Hostess. What is happening to the products of my youth? If they stop making Ovaltine, I’m going to lose it. Thanks for comiserating, Marcy!
I wholeheartedly agree with everyone. I still have THREE (count ’em–3) rolls of Job Squad left. A friend has a whole case. There is NO paper towel that even comes close. Next I expect the KIeenex dodos to do away with the softest tissue too. Humbug!
Three rolls & a case, Sylvia? I’m jealous! I kept my last ‘square’ for sentimental reasons. I still miss them. {sigh}
Just found this post. I am fed up with useless paper towels and remembered when I was a kid we used job squad. I googled the name and found your post. Have you found any paper towels that you have found competent, I know there is nothing comparable!?
Hi, Stephanie! I’m using Bounty Extra Soft paper towels now, but they are not as good as my beloved Job Squad. I still miss them terribly and have not found any paper towel on the market that matches their strength, feel and/or durability. Why they stopped producing Job Squad towels when they were so popular is beyond me. I wish they would bring them back.
Glad to know that I was right in thinking Job Squad towels were the BEST! Sam’s Club carried a Members Mark Towel which was very much comparable, but ALSO discontinued those!
Ladies, I think it’s all about $$$! There are probably Lobbyist out there, so the crappy towels are the only ones available. After all, Job Squad Towels lasted, and lasted…. I miss them!
I still think of them fondly each time I grab an inferior paper towel. It has been several years since my beloved Job Squad towels were discontinued, and it still hurts. :)
Agreed: Job Squad was the best. I always kept lesser ones for everyday use and Job Squad was the good paper towels for big messes and shop work. I, too, can’t believe the nincompoops and knuckleheads at Kleenex abandoned the best product in its class. The others don’t even come close. Pity. If anyone finds a decent substitute, please post!
When I was a teen we used JS paper towels. I grew up on a small farm and these great towels did everything from scrubbing pig snout smudges from a sliding glass door to scrubbing mud and other farm gunk from our boots!
I have spent my entire adult life looking for something comparable.
I eventually stumbled upon Viva, Mimd you, these will not be an exact match to JS but they do stand up well to strenuous use.
Imagine my surprise when I went to visit my parents on their ranch and found 2 paper towel dispensers in the kitchen. Seemed like overkill to me. When I asked my mom about this oddity she said “since I can’t find JS towels anymore I’ve started using Viva”. One of the rolls (cheap flimsy one) is for drying hands, the other filled with Viva is for tougher jobs. She also has PT dispensers in the garage, barn and tack room, all sporting Viva towels.
I held a dinner at my home the other night and my DIL asked what kind of PT I was using. So, I told her the sad story of the discontinuation of JS paper towels, and my stumbled upon Viva Towels. There will never be a PT comparable to JS, but I’ve found Viva to be an acceptable replacement.
I’m using Viva right now as well, Stephanie. It’s not the same, but it’s the closest thing I’ve found to date. If they’d make Viva towels twice as thick, I’d be tickled pink. Thanks for dropping by and commenting. I hope you’ll come back again and again! – jeanne
Good News Everyone! Your most loved product is still available, just under a different name and is now a different color.
I worked at the Scott Paper Company plant in Dover Delaware during the mid 70’s where the first full scale production of job squad was made. That facility is still there and is now owned by Proctor & Gamble.
The process used to make job squad is different from other paper making processes. The “Air-Lay” process is used, where most of the water that is normally used to make a paper product is replace with air flow. Less expensive and more enviromentally friendly. The money saved was put into better materials (a synthetic fiber and paper blend). That is why it feels and works the way it does.
OK, so where can you still find this “miracle” product? Actually almost anywhere, if you know what to look for. And what you are looking for is “Scott Shop Towel”. It is the exact same product, but blue in color. It is available folded and in a box or as a roll of 55 sheets, just like paper towels! Just Google it online and you’ll find it from a number of retailers. With a little research I’m sure that you will find a supply store locally that carries it. Petition Wal-Mart and see if you can get them to carry it for you. In any event, it will be easy for you to find.
Many years ago the decision was made to produce shop towels right along with the paper towel product. Shop towels compete with cloth products in performance, and are less expensive to produce, so there was more margin to be made in making shop towels.
As the sales of job squad fell off and Scott Shop Towels increased, it finally reached a point where it was no longer profitable to continue to make the “white” product. So, now, the only product being produced is the “blue” one.
Have no fear, there are entire facilities dedicated to producing this “Air-Lay” product that are not going to go anywhere soon. You just need to become acustomed to a new name and color.
I’m sure that the marketing and management types at the helm would much rather have you buying their cheap paper products that are in need of greater volume, than to have you start buying their shop towell product, which is selling quite well all on its own.
So, go try Scott Shop Towel and see for yourself.
And by the way, I’m not one of the marketing/management types I mentioned above. I’m a controls engineer who helped to design and build the machines that your most favorite product is made on. Thanks for enjoying my work and the work of those I was with.
Chuck
CHUCK! I searched online for these and found then by the roll at Home Depot. I will be running by there to see if they have them, and if what you’re saying is true – and these are my beloved Job Squads in blue – I OWE YOU A GIANT HUG! Thanks a million for the tip.
Readers: I’ll report back after I find a roll and put them to the test. Fingers crossed! -jeanne
So…did you try them, Scott Shop Towel? Are they the same but blue?
Hi, Susan!
I did, and I love them. They are not quite as soft, but every bit as durable. I use them for jobs when I need that extra strength, like washing windows. Try them and see if you agree. I look forward to hearing what you think. -jeanne
I telephoned the company, wrote the company, motivated my extended family and friends to write the company, and received stupid responses back on their insane decision to stop manufacturing Job Squad paper towels. if I had known in advance they were going to stop manufacturing the paper towels, I would have purchased a warehouse full, paid for rental on the warehouse, and have a remaining lifetime supply. Nothing out there takes the place…nothing!
Amen, Warren. Right there with you. -j
I share your feelings about Job Squad thank you for posting I feel the same way
I couldn’t agree more. What a fabulous product! Surely some other company will make a similar product!!
Viva paper towels are the old Job Squad paper towels.
You can order them in Walmart.com or in stores. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Viva-Choose-A-Size-One-Ply-Paper-Towels-8-count/21156236
You also have the option to buy them without the choose a size. Which just lets you use 1/2 of a paper towel instead of a full size one. Walmart online also offers the type of Viva paper towels that have a built in scrub quality (this is not the Job Squad type)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/VIVA-Vantage-Choose-A-Sheet-Paper-Towels-White-Big-Roll-6-Rolls/115470198
I buy both types from Walmart online along with toilet paper and other large bulky essentials as well as some non perishable food products. They are delivered to my front door for FREE.
They are also available under the Viva label at Target
I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I found a roll of Job Squad hiding in one of my cabinets. I will leave it hidden for a while. That way I know I always have one.
HIDDEN TREASURE!!!
The singer Tiny Tim was known to have dried himself after bathing not with a cloth bath towel, but with Job Squad paper towels.
Fascinating! I’d never heard that. -j