# People Quitting or Slacking off.....



## SGT E (Feb 25, 2015)

I was in a nice discussion with a young lady that runs a Prepper related business this morning about things going on in politics and the state of things going on in the world and I asked her if she had noticed a drop off in people prepping activity. She got dead serious and told me a lot of her regulars that lived the lifestyle 100% had just slacked off to almost nothing...Sales are down 60 % or more. (I was buying a trunkload LOL)

I have noticed the same thing with some people I know...Signs of hundreds of pounds of brass laying at the ranges and its like people forgot shortages of everything just a few years ago...dehydrated food prices are starting to fall and will drop further. Gun sales are slowing since Trump got in even though I wonder about him sometimes. Several AR-15 Makers have shut their doors and filed for bankruptcy!

I talked to another lady I know that runs the local food bank for the Methodist Church and donations have actually went up of foods running out within a month or two. She said some people pull up with several hundred cans to donate all within anything of a week to a month or so of expiration or use by dates. .22 ammo at Wal Mart is clogging the shelves as is every other caliber and they cant seem to give away their Keystone meats and other long term food.

I have slowed down at times I admit but not to the point of what a lot of people these days seem to be slowing down or just plain quitting..I'm taking advantage of 10 to 15% off #10 cans of mountain house through Wal Mart and other places. Laying in more Keystone meats and even looking at a freeze dryer.

Have "Ya'll" seen any signs?


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

bound to be prepper downside to Trump's revitalization of the US - the domestic hasn't looked this good since Reagan took the Soviet Union down and chances of a nuke war to the lowest ever ...

and - most preppers don't follow the international SHTFs closely or not at all - they wait until the first shots are fired >>>> if the FULL realization was known it would be a totally different story ....


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

Since Trump is going to start WW3 and he acts like a fascist dictator I would think Prepping businesses would be booming. Or maybe the Liberals dont actually believe all the nonsense they spew.

I would guess most preppers (conservative) have become complacent now that things are going better for the country. 

Personally I think now is an important time to prep with traitors trying to bring down our country, openly communist politicians, illegals overrunning the borders and Iran, China and Russia still in the game. I haven't stopped myself but because of my current situation I have put prepping on hold a bit.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)




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## jimcosta (Jun 11, 2017)

I feel that all those inclined to react to our strange new world, investigate and question it, and then conclude the family needs to be prepped have already done so. 
Even those who decided to prepare but were slow on the draw have completed their preps by now.

That might explain why very few newbies have joined the Prepper Forums with basic questions.

For the most part there are only sheep left out there.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Second on the slow guns sales. Haven't really sold anything or even been asked for a quote in the last 7-8 months. It's like nobody cares or is concerned anymore. Trump is turning out to be the worse POTUS for gun sales in history. Unlike Obammy, kind of miss him and Hildo. Sure helped the bottom line. 

People are stupid for not taking advantage of the current situation. They all must be lulled into a state of denial cause all is well. Forgetting our enemies are more numerous and emboldened. Trump won't be POTUS forever. Then watch the panic.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Well, SGT E, I have a theory. I dawned on me when I stopped to top my wife's SUV off with fuel and found premium was under 3 bucks.

Yeah, I know I'll sound like your average baby-boomer, but I blame the millennials. The only stuff they consume is from their parents. One of my best knife customers bought his teenage son a sports car. The car gathered dust. The client asked the kid what was the matter with the car, and the kid says, _"It's easier for me to take the bus. I can chat on my phone, I don't have to find a parking place, and someone will always come along headed my way..."_

The father now has a sports car.

The fact is that I think we should cut off their food and water and start rampant breeding in this country for a better race of people. The millennials won't notice they are starving until most of the pizza rolls are consumed. These soft boys need to get their butts kicked more often, and a stretch in the military. They need to quit laying their problems off on other people. This is why they want to be socialists--other people have to work and be taxed so they can have everything for free.

Truth be told, if I saw a guy in colors dramatically hammer a millennial who was squealing like a little girl, I'd turn my back and ask the biker what brand he was drinking.

I don't even blame the female millennials who try the lesbian lifestyle. They have nothing to lose...


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

Chipper said:


> Second on the slow guns sales. Haven't really sold anything or even been asked for a quote in the last 7-8 months. It's like nobody cares or is concerned anymore. Trump is turning out to be the worse POTUS for gun sales in history. Unlike Obammy, kind of miss him and Hildo. Sure helped the bottom line.
> 
> People are stupid for not taking advantage of the current situation. They all must be lulled into a state of denial cause all is well. Forgetting our enemies are more numerous and emboldened. Trump won't be POTUS forever. Then watch the panic.


Iran is hell bent on provoking a war - the US got lucky with Iraq that Saddam didn't have his agents go into sabotage mode >>> probably won't get that lucky with the Revolutionary Guard - with their activity will come with all kinds of revenge on the muslims around the country - gun sales should spike nicely with the domestic turmoil ...


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

*@Illini Warrior*, I feel your pain, and I have all the defensive devices and ammunition Elfego Baca needs to shoot his way out of the next tight squeeze.

But it galls me think about using nice, shiny .45 ACP hardball on some frickin' *******. I earned all my money, and it would seem to be a better investment to just behead them (with a knife that can be used again and again) or just some fuel and a torch--gasoline prices are dropping. We don't have to torpedo their ships, just set them ablaze and plink the survivors--that would a tremendous savings in ammunition.

Hey, David Farragut wasn't much of a fan of torpedoes, and I believe you should not have to reinvent the wheel. Kill the rags with an eye to domestic taxes. The Republicans have the White House, and cutting taxes is a noble thing.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I hear you @SGT E

We ebb and flow with our preparedness like many others but so far in the past few months I've got a lot accomplished;

Framed up and added Siding to the Barn

Acquired 2 more Firearms (...then promptly lost them at Sea! :vs_smile...

Added another few thousand rounds of various calibers at extremely competitive prices I might add...

Added Plywood Flooring to the attic for more storage of long term non perishable items as well as a couple of new 32 gallon metal garbage cans and filled with T.P. :vs_blush:

Our garden is much larger and more productive than the last couple of years and we have plans to continue to add a few more raised beds.

As well as a number of other things. My point is that its a lifestyle and sometimes we are more diligent and other times stuff just happens...


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Hey, Slippy, how much of a drive does it take to get you to south-central Wisconsin? I got some stuff...


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## Yavanna (Aug 27, 2018)

I do not know, people do not always need to buy more stuff, sometimes you just have to figure out what to do with the stuff you already have 😅 
Basically I am trying to make my garden better, since the food I can provide for myself is way cheaper than anything I buy. 
As many of you said, it looks like the prepping business was doing very well a few years ago, people have bought a lot of things and now they are not even sure if what they got would actually be of any use.


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## shooter (Dec 25, 2012)

I think this also might be more complicated then a yes people have given up and no they have not. 

I personally am not buying a lot right now for many reasons. I will break them down.

guns- I have a bunch. Do I really NEED a few more no, are there some I would like to own yes. But in reality I own guns in most the common calibers and really don't need any more. After all guns are not cheap and I could spend my money in other ways that will provide skill or better bang for the buck in a shtf situation. I think many other people have hit this as well. How many AR's do you need? I feel you should be able to own as many as you want but in reality I think a lot of people bought a lot of gun during Obama and in the lead up to the Trump/Clinton election and now they don't feel like they need any more. key word being need.

ammo - I live in CA, for 2 years I have known this stupid ammo law is coming so I have bought an amount of ammo I feel I can safety store. I then took some time bought some reloading gear and components and have learned to reload. I think just like guns people bought a lot of ammo under Obama and in the months leading up to the election and since most people probably only shoot a few hundred rounds of ammo a year they feel like they have enough or maybe they don't feel they can store as much.

Freeze dried foods/MRE's/canned food - I have enough to last well over a year, maybe even 2. I can't easily store any more. I have never really bought this stuff in bulk. I will buy a few freeze dried meals at a time here and their. Canned food I buy a few at the time when at the store. However I don't like to eat canned foods and they are high in salt and I don't like the way they tend to make me feel after eating a canned food meal. I do try and eat 1 canned food meal a week to keep my body used to eating them so if shtf my body will not be in shock from going to a very heavy canned food diet. However I also don't buy much canned food as I have been working hard in my garden and bought a pressure caner to can meats and stocks. Its cheap for me to do this then to buy canned foods and I can control what goes into the canned food. I have a feeling a lot of people might also be doing this. As for people getting ride of canned food about to expire, I am not surprised. If you are not rotating your stock you will run out of space at some point. So they will dump the older stuff. 

Camping, survival, hiking gear - This would be stoves, flashlights, backpacks, bug out stuff. I have a lot of this stuff. I have several stoves, too many flashlights to count, a few different sized backpacks, lots of TP, towels, fire starters, ect. Do I have everything ever made or even everything I want no. None of us do. However I am at a point where I feel comfortable with what I have and how to use it. I would rather take to money I would be spending on this and either taking classes to learn new skills or go camping/hunting/fishing/hiking/4x4ing/farming to got more time outside to prefect my outdoors skills. After all it does me no good to own a ton of stuff if I don't have skills to use them or survive if i have to bug out. I i think to many people put high priority on material goods over skill sets. Those goods do me no good if I don't know that I can hike 20 miles a day with a full backpack, or read a map. I should know the capabilities of my bug out vehicle. What do I really need to survive 5 days with just my backpack alone in the woods. Those are things I would never learn if I just bought things. And I think after 6-8 years of people getting into prepping they might be in similar situations. Look at how overlanding has become so popular. May of the people in that group started out as preppers and wanted to learn more about camping and driving off road and now they are doing it a lot. 

Moving more to buying stuff at hardware stores - I know I have been spending more time buying screws, nails, bolts, simpson ties ect now days over things you would buy at a surplus/survival/outdoors store. If I need a box for screws I buy 2. If I am buying some latches for gates I buy extra ect. If I bug in these types of things will do more then many people plan for. boarding up windows, fixing fences, fixing walls, building a tree house, or what ever you suddenly find yourself needing. I have a feeling if something becomes a long term event screws, nails ect will become very valuable, as peoples houses and shelters become run down with age and lack of repairs. 

Reaction to what people see in the news. Being in CA and knowing people who had to escape the Sonoma and Napa fires 2 years ago and a camp fire last year it changed some of my plans. Many of them had just 2-3 minutes to get to their cars before the fires over took their houses. Seeing some of the flooding in the south and midwest people also saw how being mobile was more important they having large preps. So people might have changed their strategies based on what they are prepping for. Some people are prepping for short term problems others are prepping for the end of the world. 

And lastly talk of the economy. We keep hearing how the economy is going to crash. While I don't think there will be a 2008 market crash I do know that the market is over due for an adjustment. I have also noticed that my line of work has become much less consistent then 3 months ago. there are parts of how things are that remind me of how things where before the 08 crash. What does this mean? well it means a lot of people will hold on to there money rather then spend it. It becomes a self for-filling prophecy. People stop spending money the investor see companies making less so the stocks drops which causes people to spend even less which causes the companies to make less and around and around we go. I am in a save money mode and only spend when I have to. I am sure I am not the only one. does this mean I am no longer prepping. No it just means I am finding ways to prep that don't cost as much money. 

I think people are just prepping in new ways. When you 1st start its all about food/ammo/guns ect but at some point you need more. And people have limited amounts of money so at certain points they refocus the spending to what they need. If someone has been prepping for several years they might feel they have all the material stuff they can store and now have moved onto skills and other preps that may be less noticeable if you are working in a survival store. 

Just my 2 cents...


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## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

When your SHTF plan is to remain mobile...killing, taking and eating your victims stuff...eating your victim too. You don't need to prep that much. That is our liberal friends method...I find it works for me too...I'm just gonna do it to them first. Its not bad....just got a real earrthy smell to them...and taste like mushrooms. You just gotta burn the hair off of em first...specially the female ones.


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

I'm investing heavily in a steel barn to put my camper in. I'm also erecting a CB/Channel master antenna, building a bathroom, installing a septic tank and doing all sorts of other expensive things at my remote farm. I also need solar panels, a charger, batteries and an inverter for the building. We are all just going broke, thats all.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

*@csi-tech*, sadly, my guess is that when the time comes, I'll just shoot the people who own all that stuff. Yikes, just making a list drives me to distraction...


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Russia, China, any country in the middle east, the fat kid in NK. War clouds gathering. Millions of free loading, disease ridden, criminals, and terrorists crossing the border. The ever present terrorist threats, Trillions and trillions in debt, a failing healthcare system, Indoctrination centers churning out brainwashed sheeple thinking socialism is a good idea, crime on the rise, racial tensions and politically correct bull shit at every turn. And to top it off, a gridlocked, dysfunctional, bloated, corrupt, government. 

Yeah, the great Trump is in office, time for me to take a much needed break, smell the unicorn farts and enjoy the rainbows


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Prepared One said:


> smell the unicorn farts


That's a nice word-picture.

I think what you actually discern is the libtards making a stink over Trump...


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## stevekozak (Oct 4, 2015)

Prepping ebbs and flows. A lot of people need a specific thing to prep for. The couple of years leading up to 2000 saw massive amounts of prepping. The year or so leading up to the end of the Mayan calendar saw a big surge in prepping. Then.....nothing happened. People saw nothing happened and deduced that nothing was likely to happen in the future. False logic, perhaps, but that it what happened. Get a few hard rumbles or some unexpected releases out of Yellowstone and you will see prepping ramp up 10 fold again. The real preppers keep prepping for.....life.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I also slack off, but not for the obvious reasoning.

Sometimes an event happens, and the wire service picks it up. A jumbo jet might have crashed, and all souls were lost. After I hear that news blip seventeen times, I start shutting the radio off.

It's the same with preparation for serious prepping. I don't want to see the USA burn, and I know the libtards and the millennials will just be pesky "eaters" I might have to shag off--or shoot--in the future. My wife need thyroid medicine, how will that effect her? Will she live?

Then I'll polish a Boker switchblade--and while that's a hobby--it might also be tomorrow's weapon. That sinks me to despair.

At those times, I flip on the Brewers' game, or go to Cabela's to the find that evasive .22LR SIG Sauer 938.

That, or I take a nap...


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I prepare based on history and current events more then who is president. We dodged a bullet with Trump over the Beast but I always considered him a stop gap measure at best, at worst.............

Trump isn't going to fix what's wrong with this country or mitigate world threats 100%, if at all. So, I prepare based on what I see in the world as whole. I am more motivated by some world events then others and priorities will change accordingly, but always, I am steadily trying to improve my advantage. 

For the record, I have been very engaged in adding to my survival capabilities lately.


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Slacking off? Not here, no sir. I'm obsessed with it. Not full on panic mode, I'm just keeping up doing a little at a time week by week, pay check to paycheck. Knowledge is free thanks to the interwebs.


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## Marica (May 5, 2019)

Reflections. Years ago I was very active with another prepping group. Really into it. Then we bought the Farm and got busy. Then I had a question and found this site and realized I had sort of slacked off, but not really because, after all, we have a farm, but yeah, I have.

For me-- us, b/c John is involved in different aspects of prepping like getting to zero debt (almost, just one more chunk)-- there are three overlapping prepping states of mind. The first is lifestyle-- having a garden and deep freezers, putting up sausage, having a store of water, never running out of TP or gas in the generator tanks. These are just part of the fabric of how we conduct ourselves on a day-to-day basis. On these sorts of things, I wig out when I see we haven't replaced a can of chick peas in the pantry, but fix it next time we're at the store.

The second I'd call short-term deliberate. The twice a year check of supplies in the tornado / laundry room; Reassessing power outage provisions based on newer technologies; Servicing chain saws and tillers. Seasonal maintenance sorts of things. I once spent half a day taking an inventory of the batteries needed in all of the flashlights, lanterns, etc., and comparing it to my on-hand supply of batteries. (Turns out I needed a lot more C than I thought.) I'd put walking down to the range and practicing in this category.

Then there're long-term deliberate preps. Planting fruit trees, perennial veggies and such we've done, but this is where we fall down. For example, we've got a 250 gallon rain barrel, but nothing to filter it with. We don't have a whole house generator. We've got a structure that's 100' long (E-W) with a 30* pitch roof aimed perfectly south. Does it have solar panels on it? No. Somewhere on the property there's a well. Do I know where? No. 

Augh. That was depressing.


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## Hemi45 (May 5, 2014)

With Regard to G&A, I stocked it deep when I was sure of a HRC win ... all good there. As for the other goodies, I buy on the drop and love to see demand slacking. Win!


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## Tango2X (Jul 7, 2016)

A lot of folks stocked up during the muslime regime.
When our great President was elected, they relaxed some as they saw no panic on the horizon.
Not a good plan IMO, as we should never relax-- bad times are coming-- yes they are--


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

@shooter has a great idea regarding stocking up on hardware items; nails, screws, other fasteners, plywood, treated lumber, rebar, fencing etc.

I've got a little bit of a lot of things in my "Bone-Yard" but it wouldn't hurt to have more. I certainly wish I had some Antique Tools that don't require electricity like Hand Drills etc.

That's what I may focus on next...


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Not quitting or backing off. More in a normal way of life mode now more than ever.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

I'll be 75 come November, . . . my wife 70, . . . 

Health is fair to good for both of us. 

I'm not bugging out, . . . regardless of just about anything that can happen. Got my stuff here, . . . to old to run, . . . just have to fight.

My son and his wife will join us here if they can get here, . . . a great young couple lives next door, . . . we'll invite them and their young daughter in. She's a nurse, . . . son and DIL are both nurse practitioners.

Got enough food for 7 of us for close to a year if we have to go there (considering we will augment with hunting / trapping / finding / growing, . . . etc.)

Anything that stretches beyond a year with no "normal" brought back . . . probably won't survive that anyway, . . . so that's where we are.

Sometimes you just have to play the hand you are dealt, . . . this is mine.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

With the economy so strong the last few years the number of hours I work has gone way up so I don't have as much time to work on our preps.

We've already met our prep stuff (food ect.) goals but with so little free time we don't put much time in learning new skills because we have so little free time after the longer work hours and maintaining our current preps. Some preps take a lot of time to maintain, chickens, bees, garden, ect. 

I guess you could say we're "prepped out" with little time to expand our preps or develop new skills. Developing new skills often means buying supplies for those new skills, something we just don't have the time for now days.


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## Marica (May 5, 2019)

Slippy said:


> @shooter has a great idea regarding stocking up on hardware items; nails, screws, other fasteners, plywood, treated lumber, rebar, fencing etc.
> 
> I've got a little bit of a lot of things in my "Bone-Yard" but it wouldn't hurt to have more. I certainly wish I had some Antique Tools that don't require electricity like Hand Drills etc.
> 
> That's what I may focus on next...


From The Department of Redundancy Department, for tool / appliance that you regularly use that runs on juice, have the crappy old hand-cranked version.


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