They better get started soon if they hope to find anything on the shelves...

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Information Resources Survey Highlights Consumer Y2K Concerns; Canned Foods Lead List of Stock-up Items 11:33 a.m. Dec 02, 1999 Eastern CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1999--

Retailers and manufacturers filling pipeline to meet

anticipated demand, but store-level planning a necessity

According to a recent survey conducted by Information Resources, Inc. (IRIC on NASDAQ), over 40 percent of U.S. households plan to stock up on certain products in anticipation of Y2K disruptions. Moreover, three-quarters of these concerned households intend to buy a least a month's supply of products like canned food, bottled water, batteries and toilet tissue, likely giving consumer goods retailers and marketers a late-year sales boost.

In the survey, which interviewed a portion of IRI's Shoppers' Hotline 55,000-member household panel, 21 large categories were cited by at least half of the respondents as necessities for their Y2K preparation.

CATEGORIES MOST OFTEN CITED IN Y2K PREPARATION

% of Households Mentioning -------------------------- Canned Foods 95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bottled Water 91 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Batteries 87 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toilet Tissue 81 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Canned/Bottled Drinks 74 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashlights 74 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal Hygiene 71 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cold Cereal 70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Candles 70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Snack Foods 68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pasta/Pasta Sauce 67 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dental Care 65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plastic Storage Bags 63 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Matches 62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- First Aid Supplies 62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Prescription Drugs 61 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Laundry Detergent 61 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Disinfectants 51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Vitamins 51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Feminine Hygiene 50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Household Cleaners 50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Knowing which categories are likely to be in demand has clear implications for both retailers and manufacturers," said Kim Feil, IRI's division president for marketing, product management and business solutions. "However, it is crucial that this inventory build-up be carefully managed to avoid surpluses and sell-backs. One of the ways we are helping our clients is by identifying which individual stores have the highest sales rates for these products to insure that the right amount of each stock-up category gets to the right store."

IRI's customized Driver Store Reports help manufacturers be confident that products are distributed to the stores where they are most needed, reducing consumer frustration with out-of-stock items. In a time when uncertainty is running high, IRI and its partners are working to ensure that inventory levels at local stores will be sufficient to meet consumer demand.

Information Resources, Inc. is a leading provider of UPC scanner-based business solutions to the consumer packaged goods industry, offering services in the U.S., Europe and other international markets. The Company supplies CPG manufacturers, retailers and brokers with information and analysis critical to their sales, marketing and supply chain operations. IRI provides services designed to deliver value through an enhanced understanding of the consumer to a majority of the Fortune 500 companies in the CPG industry.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), December 03, 1999

Answers

Thanks Roland -

You and others here have given it your best shot, and I'm sure more than a few lives will be saved for your efforts. Unfortunately it appears the majority of those in the survey haven't truly GI'd. Snack foods, pasta, and vitamins won't sustain one for the long haul. They'd better hope we're all wrong.

God bless and end well my friend.

Respectfully;

Michael

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), December 03, 1999.

I want to know how we get 50 million of anything, to the right place in a 2 or 3 week time frame?

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), December 03, 1999.

Michael may call this 'giving it one's best shot', but it tends to provide a 'bandwagon effect' for the unprepared, portraying them as being not en vogue when it comes to preparations. Instead of this best shot, the article would probably do more to incite panic buying the procrastinating masses.

Point is, if preps haven't been done by now....and it seems a large segment of the population have not made preps....all we're going to have now is panic akin to the scenes one sees when you hear that a big snowstorm is on the way.

If this is the best shot an article like this can give, it's time to go back to the drawing board.

-- Bad Company (johnny@shootingstar.com), December 03, 1999.

"One of the ways we are helping our clients is by identifying which individual stores have the highest sales rates for these products to insure that the right amount of each stock-up category gets to the right store."

Every store will be the right store, Dec 26-Jan 1. I fear a certain percentage of these folks will loose steam as "Christmas Shopping" comes into play. What stocking will be done will come out of the last paycheck of December.

Roland, drop me an e.

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.

Thanks Roland.

FYI, my first reaction on reading that Joe Sixpack was prepared to admit to planning a 75,000,000+ month stock was "I need more! ".

I'm not deluding myself that they know something I don't, it's just herd response. Mock if you like, but it's foolish to deny that it exists, and remember that Joe knows squat about Y2K. When the stocking starts, he's going to think "Hey, maybe everyone else does know something that I don't!".

Of course, lots of these people don't really plan to stock this much (have they even thought how much space a month of their normal trash takes up?), but I'm willing to bet a small tin of Spam that there are a lot of folk who're saying "No worries" right now that will change their mind when they see the herd start to move.

:(

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.

A month of food does not really take up THAT much space! I always have enough food to last 2 months with the exception of produce and dairy products. I have two freezers and both are always packed before the winter months. Most people in my area buy a beef in the fall, chickens from the farmers, etc. Deer hunting season is on now, and everyone around here makes deer sausage. The meat and frozen veg's in my freezer could easily do my family for 6 months. Also, I buy flour, sugar etc. in large quantities and store in pails as it is by far cheaper. In addition to my normal stock, I prepared for Y2K by making sure I have the stuff I don't normally have large quantities such as powdered milk, frozen egg beaters, canned soups, juices etc. etc. It just floors me that anyone should only have a weeks worth of food on hand, even if you do live in the City. Benefits of having a good supply on hand at all times: 1) You save mega bucks by buying bulk (food is our biggest expense) 2) You don't have to shop as much except to purchase fresh fruit, veggies, dairy etc. 3) You are always ready for any emergency - When the roads are blocked in the winter or if severe weather conditions occur, I don't have to worry about running out of anything. I live 20 miles from the nearest City and we don't have a grocery store in our village, however when I lived in the City I still had my freezers restocked in the fall, etc. - something ingrained in me from my upbringing I guess.

-- Val (vjones@cableestevan.com), December 03, 1999.

Have already seen limits being put in place -- down here both Bashas and Safeway have instituted limits of numbers you can purchase on sale items, pretty much all their sale items.

-- claurann (claurann@aol.com), December 03, 1999.

--Roland.

I am sure your aware but the "key word" is PLAN . To plan is not necessarily to do. The best layed plans.........yada,yada,yada

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.

Kevin,

I'm not saying they will or they won't prepare. Personally, I doubt most will stock up, let alone for a month.

I'm just passin' along the news I find...

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), December 03, 1999.

A Y2Ker I know witnessed in Pasadena, CA a woman "preparing." It was all frozen foods.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), December 03, 1999.

Paula, frozen foods are not a problem where I live. It is VERY cold in Saskatchewan, Canada during the winter months. If the power goes out, simply move your freezer outside or an unheated shed or building for those who fear theft. BTW, I won't have to move my freezer if the power goes out. We have two coal stokers, one in the house & one in the shop, and of course the coal. I also have a wood stove in the house (given to me years ago), a large woodpile, 500 gallons of propane, an inverter, lots of deep-cycle batteries, and a generator. We had the coal stokers (coal is dirt-cheap here as we live within 15 miles of coal mines), and the wood stove and the gen set, but purchased the inverter, propane tank & batteries for Y2K purposes. Living in a colder area can be a bonus in my opinion, if you have some source of heat, as food storage is less of a problem. We also don't have to worry about bugs in flour or other dry goods as long as they are kept in air-tight containers. I always purchase my rice bulk as I do alot of stir-fry dishes. I am just getting to the bottom of a 5 gallon pail that I purchased two years ago and it is just as good as the day I bought it.

-- Val (vjones@cableestevan.ca), December 03, 1999.

Xmas is around the corner and the sheeple are asleep. Most people I know have poo-pooed Y2K and are confident that nothing is going to happen. In the meantime, the price of goods are rising and I'm struggling to find the best prices. But when the mad rush begins, the price will not matter to the sheeple because they will be left out in the cold. Something has to happen first to get everyone's attention, but it will be too late.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), December 03, 1999.

Mostly too late. To stock a month now means we'd have to double the food pipeline flow for the next month - a month to eat and a month to store. That means twice as many deliveries, twice the hours for truck drivers. Twice the flow through warehouses, twice the number of worker hours in warehouses. Twice the amount processed by canneries, twice the whatever you can think of.

Too late to store a month. Can maybe get a week's worth, on average. People seem to think in terms of what's on the shelves, never about what the pipeline can carry. 680 hours to go, and they want to buy a month's food. There will be some who go into the stores on December 26th and think they can buy a month's food. Ludicrous.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), December 03, 1999.

Paula,

It depends upon what the woman was going to do with those frozen foods. I bought a lot of frozen mixed veg and corn, etc. and dehydrated them, stored in mason jars. Frozen ---> storage. Good for adding to soups, etc.

-- (prepper@prepping.com), December 03, 1999.

I'm with you on this Roland...... I should have referenced the article~ ooops........

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.

Think about this. There is a shortage of truck drivers to move the freight that keeps JIT going even before y2k. The xmas season is normally one of the busiest retail seasons of the year. Retailers are responding by increasing their y2k prep stocks (canned foods tp etc). If all the food stores add to the traffic, how is all that extra freight going to get to the stores. Carriers are having problems meeting shipping demands today, try adding 10+ precentage demand.

Not going to happen.

-- squid (Itsdark@down.here), December 03, 1999.