According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, Mich., when Carol Bertrand replaces rolls of toilet paper less often at area businesses, she said she knows the economy is tanking.

"When we have had rightsizing," the owner of Bee Clean Building Services said, "I notice a difference in the amount of soap, toilet paper and paper hand towels used. I can tell when companies are adjusting their staffing before it's ever announced."

Call it toilet paper economics. Without all the fancy charts, bar graphs and "expert" pontificators, the people who handle janitorial work have what might be called the inside scoop on what's happening with many area businesses.

Alan White said he gauges the financial health of his corporate clients by their product choices. When times are good, White, owner of A-L Janitorial Inc., said his customers don't mind spending money on name-brand paper handtowels or higher-end garbage bags.

Lately, White said, his clients have been talking with him about ways to reduce their cleaning bills.

"It used to be if there was a quarter-roll of toilet paper left they'd tell me to take it and throw it away," White said of some of his clients. "Now they want the toilet paper used all the way down to the end and they'll change it themselves or go to a dispenser where if one roll runs out, it will flip to another."

Bertrand said she saw the beginnings of an economic slowdown several years ago.

"It's been a very slow process," Bertrand said. "I sell product to many of my clients and through my monthly invoicing I've noticed a drastic reduction from four years ago."

Desks and wastebaskets have proved to be reliable economic barometers for Paul Cahill, general manager of Servicemaster Inc. commercial division. Cahill said his employees may walk in to clean a desk which has become devoid of personal items overnight.

"We had one building that stopped their second shift and we noticed because that's when we were doing their cleaning. They had to call and give us the alarm code to get in because there was nobody there to let us in," Cahill said.