Stockpiling Sams Club?

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Interesting observation... Went by sams club today... no panic, just christmas shoppers, very few y2k shoppers... BUT WHAT I SAW INTERESTING was that the grocery shelves were the fullest I've ever seen them in over 12 months... They even had 18 pallets of bottled water stored overhead. The rice bin was full. Can stuff was everywhere stacked to the ceilings. And not just stuff for thanksgiving. Its like they are preparing for a 3day hurricane? --- Even the local grocery's seem to have more canned stuff displayed. Is it just something i never noticed before, or is this happening in a lot of store?

-- A Guy (waiting@y2kgetit.com), November 28, 1999

Answers

Ah, yes, this reminds me of the "pimple equation."

What is that? Well, remember when you were a teenager and had a pimple on your face? AND you became acutely aware of anyone who ALSO had a pimple?

I think we need a social psychologist to adequately answer this question.

In fact, it would be nice to have one as a regular poster to this board! :)

For me today, it was a trip to the supermarket and noticing the bare shelves. Particularly, a gaping hole in the "dry milk" section of the store. Another hole in the toilet paper aisle.

Many moons ago, someone told me that one would be able to judge the general public's disposition on Y2k by monitoring bottled water sales, liquor sales, and sales of six inch bolt cutters.

For me, of course, it's toilet paper. There's just something about toilet paper, ya know.

Happy holidays, folks!

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), November 28, 1999.


I'm in the NorthWest..

I see exactly the same thing. It looks like the stores are doing most of the stock-piling.

I suppose this is good and bad. The Just In Time systems will stay up just fine if there is no rush..

It's starting to look like the big 'panic' is just not happening. Just a Bump In The Road. The panic is one of the major components that could cause problems related to Y2K.

I'm concerned about the embedded chip issues. I don't care about application systems (banks and such have BILLIONS to re-write this stuff). I'm a software engineer and I'd appreciate some of their money. If they were not so cheap, Y2K would not have been an issue.

If the rollover goes well (big if) then Y2K is dead.

We shall soon see..

Bryce

-- Bryce (Bryce@nospam.com), November 28, 1999.


Hello FM: Speaking of TP,how much would a family of 5 need?

-- reg (rhogg@hotmail.com), November 28, 1999.

Reg,

Ahem...

I'm no expert with regard to THAT aspect of TP!

However, there are plenty of folks on this forum who are, and I'm sure they will be most happy to offer calculated opinions!

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), November 28, 1999.


---rough calculations based on one (1) female in household, about 50 times more than you think you need...............

storage rack builder zog

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), November 28, 1999.



Don't ask me why I bother to think about weird things in life...

ONE ROLL PER PERSON PER WEEK.

On another note, I spoke with a couple of employees and the produce/bulk foods manager at Overwaitea (local chain food store in BC) all of who advised that Overwaitea is aware of people's needs and is ordering extra of essentials, as well as facilitating special orders as quickly as possible--they've been doing so for about 8 months.

Canadian Tire also is aware of this issue, and is stocking up on extra propane bottles, outdoors and canning gear, etc.

Not rumour to me folks, I asked the questions.

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), November 28, 1999.


One roll of TP per person per WEEK?

Are you kidding?

After a diet of beans, pickled eggs, venison jerky and whole grains....you're talkin' ONE ROLL PER DUMP!

....GOD BLESS CHARMIN and SCOTTS!....may the rolls continue to roll!

Corn cobs look mighty painful.

-- INVAR (gundark@sw.net), November 28, 1999.


I've been looking for 15 gal water barrels for some time (easier to move around than 55 gal barrels) and found them...at Albertson's! I noticed a lot of stuff there. Right by the doors, pallets of firewood and fake fire logs (ok, it's winter, but the piles look larger than normal). Just inside the door, stacks of kingsford bricketts and coleman propane bottles (little ones, like you use on a camp stove). These are summer items, and here they are on display in November. The big item, though, was the row of water barrels stacked on top of the freezer section, right next to a row of 3 gallon water jugs (a big row, several dozen jugs). I've never seen these kind of items at a grocery store, but I'm glad they were there. The barrels weren't as cheap as I'd have liked them ($19.99 per), but they're competitive with the ones you can order on-line or out of catalogs, plus you can take immediate delivery, a big plus for me.

-- rob minor (rbminor@hotmail.com), November 28, 1999.

My husbands obsession with TP started long before our days of prep. He learned that living with three women meant you just can't ever buy enough!

-- Sheila P (Sheilamars@aol.com), November 29, 1999.

FM,

There were some great and funni TP threads some time ago.

(Someone ought'a write a book).

Got leaves? As a back-up?

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.



As a certified, big-time TP stockpiler, I'll let you in on my calculations. If you're using 1000-sheet rolls of Scott, you might get by with one roll per person every two weeks.

Unless of course, you've got lots of females like my wife, sister-in- law and neices as part of your group. Then you will find consumption of rolls of Scott averaging one roll per week per person.

Now if you're using the "soft stuff" the consumption goes up tremendously. On days where we've had the family over with the soft stuff in use, we've seen usage rates as high as THREE ROLLS PER DAY.

A lotta females in the family making lots of trips to the toilet. Maybe Y2K will slow down the toilet visit rate, maybe not. Of course your milaage may vary.

But it can't hurt to buy extra, that's what I've done. To the point that local Wal*Marts have all started removing the plastic wrap off the cases of individual rolls so some certain individual doesn't start stacking cases on top of a shopping cart (My personal best is four at once. Any more and I can't see out the back window of my Explorer).

My advice is to buy all TP you can and then buy more. It isn't like it's something you'll never find a use for. And If you've ever had to use some of the REALLY PRIMITIVE alternatives such as leaves or corn cobs (those are uncomfortable), ever dollar spent on TP is well worth it.

And if the value of TP rises to that of gold for bartering purposes, so much the better.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), November 29, 1999.


Toiletpaper was the one item that Sams did NOT seem to be abundant. Must be all you toilet paper users are active customers?

-- A Guy (waiting@y2kgetit.com), November 29, 1999.

Rob I live in W.Tx, and it is funny you should mention the Kingsford charcoal. My husband and I went Sunday to our local Sam's (my husband very rarely goes with me) and that was the first thing he noticed was the huge stack of charcoal and starter. I know this is not normal. Several times last winter I went in Sam's to buy them and was told they were a seasonal item. I wanted them for part of my preps..

-- Marli (can'tget@it.duh), November 29, 1999.

I finally got around to figuring out how much TP I use.

I use 6 sheets.

I figure twice a day, this makes a 300 sheet roll last 25 days....for me.

Don't count "rolls" , count the sheets. Some of these "rolls" have only 100 sheets or so on them.

Also- I was at Sam's today too. I don't generally see people buying more than 1 "brick" of TP in my area.

Today there were at least 3 carts moving about with more than 1 "brick" of TP. One was this older looking couple that had FOUR different "bricks" of TP in their cart.

maybe they were buying XMAS gifts for their DGI kids?

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 29, 1999.


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