# Thousands of people try to become avid preppers



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Some were unhappy...









Shelves are empty at a Walmart in Coral Springs, Florida, as people prepare for potential Erika impacts.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

It cycles through the same every time.
People never learn.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

These people are not real preppers, they are panic buyers. To avoid being caught up in such behavior or missing out, we prep.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

Some of the people who got there late and saw the shelves bare are more likely to become preppers. The ones who "got theirs" are more inclined to repeat the behavior.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

There is a time honored tradition for Florida preppers to watch the stampeding sheep on the local news the evening before the hurricane arrives.
It is really comical.
And no, I don't feel sorry for them. Anyone living in a hurricane zone should know to have AT LEAST 72 hours of food and water. And, besides that, it's not like a storm arrives suddenly without warning.


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> ... Anyone living in a hurricane zone should know to have AT LEAST 72 hours of food and water. And, besides that, it's not like a storm arrives suddenly without warning.....


So very true! I guess they are planning on waiting for the Red Cross or other government agency, because as we all know they will swoop in and help everyone.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> There is a time honored tradition for Florida preppers to watch the stampeding sheep on the local news the evening before the hurricane arrives.
> It is really comical.
> And no, I don't feel sorry for them. Anyone living in a hurricane zone should know to have AT LEAST 72 hours of food and water. And, besides that, it's not like a storm arrives suddenly without warning.


Same logic should apply to any living in "tornado alley", and those storms *CAN* arrive suddenly and without warning.


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## Dirk Pitt (Apr 21, 2015)

In the past I have seen all these people buy up a bunch of stuff, not just food, but other items, generators, tools, propane, plywood etc etc. And then the storm or whatever passes, and then they SELL it all. I just don't get it. And then the folks complaining that there are no snow blowers, snow shovels, salt, generators tools etc when that storm is coming. They wait until the last minute _and then complain!_


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Like I said on another thread it's to late to start preparing now. National news showed the empty shelves this morning on a report. Storm is a 1000 miles away and the path is still unknown for sure. But the sheep already emptied the stores.

How long before a restock shipment?? Especially if the storm does come through and takes out roads, electricity, fuel and the buildings. 72 hours sounds a little short.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Dirk Pitt said:


> In the past I have seen all these people buy up a bunch of stuff, not just food, but other items, generators, tools, propane, plywood etc etc. And then the storm or whatever passes, and then they SELL it all. I just don't get it. And then the folks complaining that there are no snow blowers, snow shovels, salt, generators tools etc when that storm is coming. They wait until the last minute _and then complain!_


When I worked at a retail lumber yard/Ace Hardware in South Florida so many people would try to return hurricane supplies for full refund that we ended up putting in place a no-refunds policy.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

The bread goes first, then the milk, and I will bet you that there is not a loaf of white bread on the shelves. It always goes before the wheat.:joyous:
It is just something that I have noticed. Preferences die a hard death, especially when it comes to panic stricken people.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Meanwhile, Ol' RPD meanders out back to the chicken area and gathers some organic free range eggs to cook up.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Meanwhile, Ol' RPD meanders out back to the chicken area and gathers some organic free range eggs to cook up.


EXACTLY ! When the situation is such that everyone else is losing their minds, the prepper can relax and THINK, the most important prep of all.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

The Wife told me yesterday that this is the first time in decades she does not feel stressed out by an approaching storm because we are "ready" (her word).


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

This is where we are different. No hurricanes here but if other storms were to cause such a rush here those of us that are prepared would have no need to rush out a stock up on anything. We are ready have plenty.


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## Hemi45 (May 5, 2014)

No doubt! I live in South Florida. Guess what I ran out and bought this week ... not a damn thing. Having your ducks in a row everyday of the year is peaceful feeling!


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## dsdmmat (Nov 9, 2012)

Hemi45 said:


> No doubt! I live in South Florida. Guess what I ran out and bought this week ... not a damn thing. Having your ducks in a row everyday of the year is peaceful feeling!


Not even, Beer? You should always have room for more beer......


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

dsdmmat said:


> Not even, Beer? You should always have room for more beer......


I would assume that's a part of your normal preps! Tequila!!! Whiskey!!


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## dsdmmat (Nov 9, 2012)

Mish said:


> I would assume that's a part of your normal preps! Tequila!!! Whiskey!!


Well of course but when disaster is bearing down on you and everyone is in a panic it is just common decency to join your fellow man in the panic buying frenzy. This way you get more beer and you get to show your kids what zombie food really looks like.


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## Suntzu (Sep 22, 2014)

Live on the space coast, Bought a 2-pack of bartender style bottle openers. No need for anything else today.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

It is sad...When I was in Okinawa, Japan we had a storm coming in and I stopped to get some milk and bread on my way home from work.... There were people with shopping carts full of chocolate ho ho's and ding dongs and chips... like they could get caught without chips for 4 days and they might have to resort to raiding the neighbors...


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

well think this is only Florida, think what it would look like if it was all or 1/2 the USA -WOW would be about the only word that I could say.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Hemi45 said:


> No doubt! I live in South Florida. Guess what I ran out and bought this week ... not a damn thing. Having your ducks in a row everyday of the year is peaceful feeling!


Well, we did go out and top off the fuel tanks in the two trucks and the old Buick. While at the station we also filled a 5 gal spare with gasoline and four 5 gal spares with diesel. 
I'm signing off now to take the two 5's we keep non-ethanol in to fill up. I run non-ethanol in all our small engines. The chainsaw mix is standing at a little over a gallon - that's plenty.

What a lot of new comers to the area don't understand is no electricity = no open gas stations.

See ya later.


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## Swedishsocialist (Jan 16, 2015)

Here in Sweden we never have any kind of disasters or anything else that makes the shelfs empty in the stores from people trying to prepp. Nature is kind to us. It is a good thing but people dont always understand that prepping is important for other reasons, we are by and large as dependent on a working distribution network as the rest of the developed world.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Ok, you live on the Atlantic coast. In the US you can live as far inland as the Appalachian Mountains. You just heard about a huge volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands. What do you do?


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

PaulS said:


> Ok, you live on the Atlantic coast. In the US you can live as far inland as the Appellation Mountains. You just heard about a huge volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands. What do you do?


Run for the hills, literally.


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## dsdmmat (Nov 9, 2012)

PaulS said:


> Ok, you live on the Atlantic coast. In the US you can live as far inland as the Appellation Mountains. You just heard about a huge volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands. What do you do?


If it is Monday through Friday I go to work, if it is the weekend I go to the range.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

pauls said:


> ok, you live on the atlantic coast. In the us you can live as far inland as the appellation mountains. You just heard about a huge volcanic eruption in the canary islands. What do you do?


sit back and relax.
I am 50 miles inland and 1,000 feet above sea level.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

The wave generated when La Palma collapses will be 2000 feet high.
It will devastate England and the areas north to Scandinavia. It will travel at speeds between 500 and 600 miles per hour and in just eight hours hit the east coast of North America. An hour later it will hit South America. It will be 40 times as strong as the Tsunami that hit Japan that caused the Fukashima disaster. It is likely that in some areas it will travel inland as far as the Appalachian mountains.

SOCOM, you need to get to higher ground!


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## Robb_b (Aug 3, 2015)

I live in what is considered the Appalachian foothold of S.C. There is a bona fide mountain in my town. Yes we're proud of our barely qualified mountain. Where I live I'm not to worried about a flood. I live high up and can go higher quickly. Like I've always said. I'm not worried if a flood gets this high. The rest of the community is gone anyway.


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## beach23bum (Jan 27, 2015)

a week from now is when I start shopping on Craigslist for stuff on the cheap.


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

Why is La Palma collapsing?


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## Prepp(g)er (Feb 18, 2014)

Auntie said:


> So very true! I guess they are planning on waiting for the Red Cross or other government agency, because as we all know they will swoop in and help everyone.


cmon auntie, when has the us government ever let down its people after a hurricane...:bs:

ok there was katrina...and sandy...and...


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I see stripping the shelves bare as a form of conditioning. Can you believe that is some peoples survival strategy?
A bit short sighted if you ask me.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Seneca said:


> I see stripping the shelves bare as a form of conditioning. Can you believe that is some peoples survival strategy?
> A bit short sighted if you ask me.


Here are some classic survival strategies...


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Slippy, how is it I can't send you a PM?


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Auntie said:


> Why is La Palma collapsing?


Auntie,
La Palma is an ocean (island) volcano in the subduction zone. The rock is very dense but is basically a bunch of slabs partially locked together by the lava welds. Water soaks into the spaces between the rocks an builds up until it is superheated by the rising lava of the next eruption. All that steam forces a slab to peal away and crash into the ocean. The last eruption was a mild one that didn't cause any problem for the inhabitants (it's a resort community and heavily populated) but the western face shifted a couple of feet. It has been slipping about a centimeter a year since that time, pealing away from the supporting structure. One of the sister islands has started into an eruption phase and these islands always erupt together - as shown in the past. It is getting ready to go again and the geologists and vulcanologists all seem to concur that this is going to be the time for the island to split.

The stangest part of this whole deal is that travel agents are pushing tourism to this "garden paradise and selling property for homes. How stupid can people get? (rhetorical question)


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

PaulS said:


> Ok, you live on the Atlantic coast. In the US you can live as far inland as the Appalachian Mountains. You just heard about a huge volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands. What do you do?


Nothing, I am 1000ft above sea level and the closest ocean to me is the pacific which is 2000kms away with the Rocky mountains between, the Atlantic is over 4000kms away. Yellowstone could be a problem though.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Yellowstone is going to be a problem for the entire northern hemisphere. I will be one of the last affected but it will affect me too.

I am designing an underground farming method that might keep me alive - I just hope I have the time to build it!


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Denton said:


> Slippy, how is it I can't send you a PM?


No clue. They usually work.


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