Y2K is OK by them Supply firms see a boom

http://www.amcity.com/seattle/stories/1999/05/03/story4.html?h=y2k For Kurt Rumens, Y2K means just one thing: the best year he's ever had. Rumens' company, Travis Industries Inc., is the nation's largest producer of wood stoves, and these days it can't make enough of them.

He is running his factory around the clock with three shifts, and he's looking to add 50 more employees to his workforce of 350.

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Eagle Hardware & Garden president Rich Takata is planning a Y2K corner in many of the chain's stores

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Rodi Power Systems Inc., a Renton developer of a new type of two-stroke diesel engine for heavy trucks, has found that Y2K worries made a joint-venture deal with a Chinese company doubly attractive. As part of a deal giving the Chinese company exclusive rights to distribute the Rodi engine, Rodi will receive exclusive rights to distribute Chinese-built Kama diesel generators. A container full of the generators is arriving next week, and two more will swiftly follow, said Rodi chief financial officer Win Bennett.

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In Kirkland, the owner of Purified Water to Go, Doug Fletcher, said sales of water containers and related water-storage equipment are increasing rapidly, as customers become more concerned about storing water safely. Regular tap water can only be stored about six months because of bacteria growth, but purified water will keep as long as three years, Fletcher said. The situation is similar at Country Stoves Inc. in Auburn, where demand for wood stoves has kept the factory in full production.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), May 09, 1999

Answers

Cherri:

All of my family and most of my friends live in the Puget Sound/San Juans area. In addition, my work takes me to the Seattle/Portland area. My wife says I might as well move there. You are correct. My experience is that people in the part of the country are significanly more concerned about Y2K than people in the rest of the country. Maybe its because I meet with so many people in Redmond. Who knows if they are right and everyone else is wrong. Best wishes!

Z1X4

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), May 09, 1999.

The island of Kauai is also highly motivated for preparation. Perhaps having two major hurricanes in the past 15 years gives some credence to the thought that "it can happen here." Fortunately, we don't need wood stoves, and many of the households already have generators. Now if we could do something about that supply line...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), May 10, 1999.