[brewmaster15]

I just read a story on line originally from the LA Times. People from Las Vegas were driving up to the small towns of Alamo and Caliente to buy toilet rolls from the small stores there. After the big panic was over in Vegas and TP came back to the stores.
The owner of a hardware store in Caliente drove down to Las Vegas filled his truck with the stuff and brought it back to supply the locals.

Lol.. thats a new twist on recycling I think!

I have read that some big box stores changed their return policy so things like toilet paper could not be returned , I guess they expect buyers remorse to set it at some point..

Costco stores ban returns on toilet paper, soap amid coronavirus panic - Business Insider

[mkgd1]

Lol.. thats a new twist on recycling I think!

I have read that some big box stores changed their return policy so things like toilet paper could not be returned , I guess they expect buyers remorse to set it at some point..

Costco stores ban returns on toilet paper, soap amid coronavirus panic - Business Insider

I saw those signs in a few stores.
My daughter lives in Southern California. She was telling me about the lines at the stores and the TP shortage. She knows several people who bought huge quantities with a view to selling them at a big markup. The shortage was short lived so they were stuck with a closet full of the stuff.

[PDL]

Don't get me started on Prepper's. While I was growing up there was the almost real threat of Nuclear War. The schools were sending us home early with the idea that we should get our parents to sign a note referring to the time we got home. When I got home my parents were at work or out and about. The next day I was yelled at by my teacher to the tune of "YOUR DEAD - DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? YOUR THE ONLY STUDENT WHO IS DEAD!". The schools were showing First Aid movies that were pretty graphic, paranoia was government supported and very wide. I had nightmares for years and still remember the day when I opened a issue of Air & Space with a long exposure of test warheads impacting the test range at Kwajalein. I broke into a cold sweat, heart racing and started to shake as my nightmare was on display and I was in my late 40's.

I grew up in Wyoming where I carried a stove and freeze dried food, blankets, rain coat and water in my car simply because if you are out in the boonies and break down you need at least three days of food if you expect to walk out. In winter you better make it last longer and trying to walk out in the winter is a simple way to die. This was decades before cell phones and GPS was pure science fiction. Even at home we had two weeks of food and water in the crawl space because Civil Defense said we had too. Having a week or two of supplies just makes sense. As I live in the PNW with the thread of big earthquakes we have a three day backpack for four people (Red Cross) a three day bag for two people in the car and a county supplied four gallons of drinking water in the closet. We are pretty well set up for "the big one".

What was the biggest issue with this crisis - Toilet paper - go figure. When we were getting low I went to Costco during the old folks time and picked up another 30 pack, so I am set for another 4-5 months. We are getting low on Soft Soap, another thing in short supply, but I won't die if I don't have that stuff around. The food supply is running along nicely, power is on, water is flowing and the internet is on, so far. I can get booze, plywood, studs and gas. Remember, the ultimate gotta have is Beer, Bait and Gas. Sometime next week, we will be able to go fishing in WA state so all will be well.

[brewmaster15]

Don't get me started on Prepper's. While I was growing up there was the almost real threat of Nuclear War. The schools were sending us home early with the idea that we should get our parents to sign a note referring to the time .. we got home. When I got home my parents were at work or out and about. The next day I was yelled at by my teacher to the tune of "YOUR DEAD - DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? YOUR THE ONLY STUDENT WHO IS DEAD!". The schools were showing First Aid movies that were pretty graphic, paranoia was government supported and very wide. I had nightmares for years and still remember the day when I opened a issue of Air & Space with a long exposure of test warheads impacting the test range at Kwajalein. I broke into a cold sweat, heart racing and started to shake as my nightmare was on display and I was in my late 40's.

I grew up in Wyoming where I carried a stove and freeze dried food, blankets, rain coat and water in my car simply because if you are out in the boonies and break down you need at least three days of food if you expect to walk out. In winter you better make it last longer and trying to walk out in the winter is a simple way to die. This was decades before cell phones and GPS was pure science fiction. Even at home we had two weeks of food and water in the crawl space because Civil Defense said we had too. Having a week or two of supplies just makes sense. As I live in the PNW with the thread of big earthquakes we have a three day backpack for four people (Red Cross) a three day bag for two people in the car and a county supplied four gallons of drinking water in the closet. We are pretty well set up for "the big one".

What was the biggest issue with this crisis - Toilet paper - go figure. When we were getting low I went to Costco during the old folks time and picked up another 30 pack, so I am set for another 4-5 months. We are getting low on Soft Soap, another thing in short supply, but I won't die if I don't have that stuff around. The food supply is running along nicely, power is on, water is flowing and the internet is on, so far. I can get booze, plywood, studs and gas. Remember, the ultimate gotta have is Beer, Bait and Gas. Sometime next week, we will be able to go fishing in WA state so all will be well.

Sorry you got traumatized ..I dont know anyone that grew up at that time and didnt. You definitely arent alone there.. I had nightmares as well.

Other than that you sound like you are pretty well prepared for what you might encounter where you are ...

[ChrisPlatt]

Preppers all seem to have their own pet scenarios.
I wonder how many were planning for a pandemic?

Chris

[monochrome]

Nothing about this is different - it is just actually being used.

Have plenty of cash savings.
Have plenty of real folding money

My Debit Card was hacked so I was without access to my bank account for several days (fraudulent charges reversed after ten days)

Have a month of freeze dried food on hand
Think ahead - I bought paper supplies and canned goods in January, long before the TP and Amazon food panic. Before we were sent home I set I up another hard-wired router port and a second Wireless Access Point on a different channel. My WFH office works on the new port just like my WFO Office, and mrs monochrome has a Wi-Fi channel to herself. My personal computer remains independent of my WFH Office.

Observations:

1. All suburban prepping assumes electricity.
2. Consider a Generac. If we lose juice and natural gas, bug-out
3. Assuming electricity, freeze more meat

Otherwise the changes are pretty much limited to getting really tired of my basement WFH office. Move it somewhere else

[PDL]

Preppers all seem to have their own pet scenarios.
I wonder how many were planning for a pandemic?

Chris

They were not thinking of a pandemic unless it was of the one where they had to use up their ammunition.

If there is something that triggers a full on Apocalypse and even though the stereotyped Prepper's have all their stuff set up, they have a very limited supply of fuel and lubricating oil. Once their hoarded stuff runs out, they would have no means to "gather more". If they think that they will make a run on a big box store for food or lumber they forget that there are literally millions of potential survivors moving out of city's looking for the same things. If your pistol holds 15 rounds, you better hope that there are not 20 people coming at you and to assume that only you are armed is really foolish.

Where will they get ammunition after they shoot up all that they have. Where will they get 87 octane gas or Diesel when they use up their supply. Where will they get their 10-30 oil they need for their 10 mpg trucks. Are they really going to be able to have electricity once the grid goes down? How is their water supply and do they know enough chemistry to clean it up and do they have adequate supplies of the chemicals necessary to keep their water drinkable? What are they going to do if they need surgery? (Appendicitis anyone?) Where are they going to get the seeds to grow their crops ---- in two years since the seed companies no longer exist.

From this pandemic we have seen governments unable to supply medical professionals with the necessary materials to run a hospital safely. Guidance, government and non-government, on what to do has been spotty, in some cases "questionable" and in the rare cases deadly in its own right.

Preppers tend to be reasonably well off people who can remove themselves from society at the drop of a hat. However, they will be back as soon as the next big 4x4 hits the market.

[mkgd1]

Preppers all seem to have their own pet scenarios.
I wonder how many were planning for a pandemic?

Chris

My current pet scenario is that the dirt road to my house gets washed out. Which happens a couple of times a year. In the 4 years I've been here, the county has fixed it within three days and even then I could have got through in my jeep.

[reeftool]

I just read a story on line originally from the LA Times. People from Las Vegas were driving up to the small towns of Alamo and Caliente to buy toilet rolls from the small stores there. After the big panic was over in Vegas and TP came back to the stores.
The owner of a hardware store in Caliente drove down to Las Vegas filled his truck with the stuff and brought it back to supply the locals.

The toilet paper thing was a little crazy but predictable. There is a standing joke meme among locals in the southern Adirondacks aimed at transplanted downstaters. It's an elderly lady with 2 shopping carts, one full of TP and the other full of milk and the line 'OMG, the forecast says it's going to snow tonight!". We have all seen it. OK, I do buy those large bundles of TP at our BJ's Wholesale Club twice a year but that's the way I shop. We didn't buy any in March because we had just bought a bundle around the holidays with a $4 or $5 dollar off coupon.

In a way, the panic buying has probably been a blessing to the small local grocery stores around here. Most rely on the summer tourists to survive and that probably isn't happening this year. People were driving from Saratoga and Glens Falls, the larger towns, and pretty much cleared the shelves in our local markets. The little IGA in Lake Luzerne just bought a new walk in cooler he needed but couldn't afford previously. The local paper ran a news story on his business. Enough people left the city to ride this out in their summer homes which helped. But all the motels and campgrounds have been ordered closed so the summer isn't looking good.

[rogerstg]

If your pistol holds 15 rounds, you better hope that there are not 20 people coming at you and to assume that only you are armed is really foolish.

All you really need is 6 that don't want to get shot . Besides, I suspect that none of the 20 would want to risk getting shot when there are plenty of defenseless folks like you for them to victimize.

[normhead]

What the heck? I haven't run out of anything. How were they "correct" about anything?

There is not a single shortage of anything important that wasn't caused by over reaction by those following "prepper" mentality.

I have to admit, at one point we were down to our last 6 rolls of TP because I didn't like the rough stuff at the store. But that was my choice, not because there wasn't any.

Aesop: "The ants and the grasshopper";
Jesus: "The wise and foolish virgins".

[normhead]

Aesop: "The ants and the grasshopper";
Jesus: "The wise and foolish virgins".

Ya, well then is your house built on rock? Do you wear diverse fabrics (like cotton and polyester?) How much of this wisdom do you buy into?

I'll stick with my Grandmother's wisdom. 'Nawman, eat your peas." And "waste not want not." But I did used to benefit from preppers" I used to buy those 100 pound bags of grain in resealable plastic bags for $30, then hand ground my own flour and make sour dough bread for a year. Those vacuum sealed bags of grain were made for preppers. Their stuff was economical, so I'll thank them for that.

Ya, well then is your house built on rock? Do you wear diverse fabrics (like cotton and polyester?) How much of this wisdom do you buy into?
....

I define "wisdom" as a matter of living in accordance with the way the Universe really is, regardless of what I'd like it to be, to the extent I can understand it. Living wisely is the key to living the best life one can. As to these specific issues, I have to say I've never understood that thing about putting plant and animal fibers in the same piece of cloth. And, while my house is not built on the rock, it is more than 450 feet above 1992 sea levels, not located in a flood plain, has a very low probability of seismic accelleration, almost no risk of damage from tornadoes or hurricanes, and well protected by mountains on three sides. A frame house, the studs are actually 2x4 (as opposed to "nominal dimensions"), made of oak, not pine, and located 12" on center. "They don't make 'em like that anymore."

Oh, and I do sin in one respect: I sometimes violate the provision, "neither shalt thou trim the edges of thy beard."

But as to the original issue, I do think it wise, when one can reasonably predict the natural and probable outcome of a particular situation, then wisdom dictates advance preparation. I'm in complete agreement with @Monochrome and @Brewmaster15. As Isaac Newton said (second law of thermodynamics): "Change is."

[Just1MoreDave]

... A frame house, the studs are actually 2x4 (as opposed to "nominal dimensions"), made of oak, not pine, and located 12" on center. "They don't make 'em like that anymore."

Too bad about the oak; you might not have any nails left. Longleaf pine would have been better.