this may be totally nothing but for the FIRST TIME ever, i noticed about 10 large rental storage trailers (about the size of the back of an 18 wheel truck/trailer) in the front parking lot of a KMart here in the DC suburban area? They were empty. Wonder if they will be getting full soon in anticipation of December?

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 12, 1999

Answers

Mobile "warming centers"?

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), November 12, 1999.

Hopefully, they'll be full of non-perishables already. See my previous posts on the >100% capacity of food distribution during a mid-year day, let alone a "normal" festive season. If they are betting on overstocking sometime in December, they'll have a hard time getting the goods to store, and in any case, they'd then have to transfer from one trailer to another. I'm betting they are full already. It would be really great if you could find out. Try asking!

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 12, 1999.

Someone here (one 2 blocks inside the Washington beltway) has one of these in their front yard. It stands out because they hardly have room for anything else.

-- KoFE (yankee@town.USA), November 12, 1999.

there are 7 large containers (used in overseas freight shipments) about 40 x 10 x 10 in front of the local wal-mart. have a sign on them "container for lease" asked inside and was told that there are thousands of excess ship containers and company had idea of selling or renting them for backyard storage $1200 or $18 per month plus delivery and pick up charges

-- don (don29681@aol.com), November 12, 1999.

Don't know if the your K-mart's intention is the same, but a K-mart in my 'hood did this about 6 months ago...they were tranaferring non- perishables and drygood inventory from the store into the containers for temporary storage while they re-tiled/upfitted the store's interior..took about 3 weeks, start to finish...we wuz all a- wonderin' about it too 'til we seed wut wuz hap'nin'.

-- Jay Urban (Jayho99@aol.com), November 12, 1999.

there are thousands of these containers available due to the financial crises in Asia. They come in full but the demand from Asia is so little that they don't return. Port cities like Seattle are having a hard time finding space to stack them. They can be VERY useful. You can put door and windows into them and make a nice shop. Back during WWII in California we would have thought we were in fat city had we had one to convert to a house. We and neighbors were living mostly in chicken houses divided into rooms with hanging blankets. If you have the room, they make wonderful storage containers and no one is going to get into them with a can opener. They would need a blow torch. They are available for about $1500 to $2000 for a 40 footer.

Taz

-- Taz (Taz@aol.com), November 12, 1999.

I saw those containers at K-mart Sunday November 7th and wondered why they were in the parking lot. Two weeks previously, the Marines were running a Toys for Tots collection point from a facility adjacent to that parking lot and thought that the containers might be for a similar purpose. As I drove by, I noticed that one (at least) of the containers was open and appeared to have boxes inside. I didn't recognize any markings on the few boxes visible nor did I see any writing large enough to read from 20 feet away.

I so offended the employees of that K-mart by criticizing their poor business practices that they wouldn't have dreamed of telling me anything about the containers had I thought to ask.

-- Tom (nomail@nomail.com), November 12, 1999.

Our K-mart and Wal-Mart do that every year to make room on their floor for X-Mas stuff. They store spring/summer seasonals in there until after X-Mas. Good eye though.

-- Greg (skipy1@prodigy.net), November 12, 1999.

Yes, there is a tremendous glut of these storage containers throughout the worlds major ports. One of the major reasons for this excess inventory took place over 15 years ago. Mid-level risk, limited partnerships for the leasing of shipping containers sprung up like wildflowers. As is normally the case, these containers were being built in large volumes and way exceeded the demand. As the leases expired there was no place to put all of these units so they started to store them in huge yards near the port areas. Currently, these containers can be purchased in large groups for bottom dollar prices. This has created yet another very active market for re- selling and renting theses boxes for long-term and temporary storage. They are also becoming extremely popular as a drop-off box that can be loaded on-site and picked-up by a roll-off truck and transported elsewhere. I know of many manufacturing companies that spot these in place for storage and in some cases use them as work shops. They are sturdy and give a lot of value for the cost. I really cant imagine K- Mart entering the container rental business but Im sure they use them as temporary storage during remodeling or for transporting inventory. Waste Management bought thousands of these containers and rent them out at each of their locations. A 40 unit runs about $140.00 a month. I dont think we have any conspiracies here but I might change my mind if they start painting them black :).

-- Truth (at@the.ready), November 12, 1999.

Nope...If they're like WalMart, it's just for storing lay-a-ways... get real people.....wallyworld has 250 each yr for the last 5 yrs this way... relax...on this anyway......forget layaway...i'm buying and storing my own.... need some good 55 gal new , once used , barrels, steel... i got 500.......helf with lockable lids....underground maybe.... jb

-- Jbob (cashflowking@hotmail.com), November 12, 1999.

one of the Kmarts by me took over the other failed businesses in the mall and turned into a "SuperK-Mart".

The containers stored product and also contractor's equipment and supplies during the expansion.

Every other KMart that I have seen turned into a "Super K-Mart" has done the same thing.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 12, 1999.

The containers will be used to store the dead bodies that will be piling up in January.

-- (clean@it.up), November 12, 1999.

Are they BIG WHITE CONTAINERS and can they be pulled by BIG WHITE BUSES?

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 12, 1999.

The K-Mart near me some time back became a Super K-Mart. The camping section is quite large. Super K also sells two and a half pounds of Castleberry stew for 1.99 I picked a number of those cans for my preps trying to fool myself it would add variety amongst the cans of Dinty Moore stew.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 12, 1999.

The containers are very useful for storing excess preps. I'd get a couple, but I have the bunker...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), November 12, 1999.