Last weekend we drove to Ogden UT to do some shopping. I made a point of going to Smith and Edwards(A HUGE Surplus/Hardware Store, several acres of goodies).I wanted to get a pair of artic white pants. A friend at work wanted me to pick some 50. caliber ammo cans for tool boxes for his vehicles. When we got to S&E I found the pants but guess what? All they had for 50 cal cans were rusty/beatup/bad gaskets, in short junk. They had many 30 cal cans and none of the big 20MM cans? I asked a saleslady WTF, she said they just couldn't keep the cans in stock. Then she said "Y2k you know",and gave me a wink. I also saw a man loading several 55 Gallon Steel drums with the locking lids into his truck. His wife was asking him if he was sure the storage wheat would fit in those drums or should they get 2 more. He gave her the why don't you just blab it on TV look. Really wierd. So, locally at least in Ogden they have a shortage on ammunition cans. We did find a 20 ounce can of whole egg solids.Good price too. I haven't seen any of those in a while.(on the shelf at least.) I also saw a woman with a shopping cart and she must have had 20 wool blankets on it.She did not fit the profile. Looked like well heeled business woman and not a wild eyed loon. You could see she was ill at ease being with the great unwashed.Lastly, the parking lotwas full and people were parking on the shoulder of the highway out front for 150 yards on both sides of the highway.

And the snow ball rolls down the hill.

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), February 09, 1999

Answers

I've been looking for shortages too, but here in South Florida, things seem pretty good. A few weeks ago when I first GI, I called around to find a generator, and found all the Home Depots were sold out (as well as Northen Equipment). But in several trips to Sams lately, I've seen no problems with generators, bulk foods or anything else. The people here are clueless. I wonder how the Spanish media is covering this - it's times like this I wish I spoke more then rudimentary Spanish. Having seen the procrastination (and then the frenzy) every hurricane season, I can only imagine what it would be like here when the panic starts.

One more trip to Sams, and then I won't have to worry too much about it...lol

-- Online2Much (all@thetime.com), February 09, 1999.

Went to our local surplus store today and they had hundreds of the metal ammo boxes. They shipped 100 of them to Kentucky, evidently there's a big shortage of them there. They said people were going crazy with this Y2K stuff. They had plenty of blankets, survival gear, generators, etc. I should have told them not to complain that they were making some fast money.

-- rusty (rusty@well.com), February 09, 1999.

The Wal-Mart within 1/2 mile of my house has not had lamp wicks for a month. Yesterday there was an empty box on the shelf which made me think some had come in and were sold immediately. There was one box of book matches and maybe ten boxes of the longer wooden type. There was no Stabil on the shelf, although they expect some by tomorrow. I plan to get there early in the morning. There also has not been any lamp oil for a few weeks. My theory about this is not that many people are becoming aware, but that the few who GI are buying large quantities of everything. Mary

-- Mary (SWEEP6@prodigy.net), February 09, 1999.

As far as gernerators go, yes the cheaper gas moderls are still availabe at Sam's etc. Its the quality diesel and propane gennies that are dissapearing. I just took delivery of my John Deere 40 kw diesel genny after a nine week wait. My dealer told me they are now back ordered a full six months. BTW, John Deere makes one magnificent trailer mounted genset complete with battery and 150 gal. fuel tank and all the other bells and whistles for a very competitive price. They also have excellent financing. I put the house on it when I got it and we turned on everything we could think of all at once, and it didn't even tax this mother! But if you want a quality genset, time is running out! Also, if you haven't got your guns and ammo, better hurry before general secretary Clintax closes the gun shops down.

-- doktorbob (downsouth@dixie.com), February 09, 1999.