Viva paper towels: the Amazon AU 12-pack vs the 6-pack at Coles

A 6-pack of Viva Paper Towels at Coles is $8.00. It's a kitchen staple that gets restocked without much thought: spills, benchtops, the usual paper-towel jobs.

Amazon AU sells the same Viva brand as a 12-count Select-A-Size box for $13.99. Bigger pack, bigger individual rolls too: the Amazon rolls run 90 sheets each versus 60 sheets in the Coles 6-pack.

The actual prices, side by side

Why the bigger box is cheaper per sheet

Same reasoning that shows up across most bulk-vs-small comparisons on this site: the 6-pack carries more packaging overhead and supermarket shelf margin per sheet than a 12-count box built for a household that's committing to a bigger one-off purchase. It's the same Viva paper, just sold in a format that rewards buying more at once.

How long does a 12-count box actually last?

For an average household using paper towel for spills and general kitchen cleanup (not as a substitute for dish cloths or dedicated cleaning wipes), a 90-sheet roll typically lasts 2-3 weeks. Twelve rolls works out to roughly 6-9 months of supply for one household.

That's a genuinely long runway between purchases, which is worth weighing against the storage space a 12-count box takes up. For a smaller household or one that uses paper towel sparingly, it might be closer to a year's supply, still fine, paper towel doesn't degrade sitting in a cupboard, but worth knowing before committing shelf space to it.

For the broader Subscribe & Save story across every category where bulk genuinely beats the supermarket, read the full Subscribe & Save pillar article.