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Ask HN: Emergency Preparedness as a Service

1 points by edgefield0 7y ago

With global warming, the environment is becoming much more volatile. Proper emergency preparedness is difficult. First you need to know what supplies to purchase based on your family composition and size. Second, items, such as OTC medicine, water purification, batteries and food, expire at different times creating a maintenance headache. Would you pay $20/month as an individual or $50/month for a family of four to build and maintain an emergency preparedness kit?

anigbrowl 7y ago
No. I'm very familiar with the preparedness community and while your proposal has value it's going to be tricky to market to a a demographic of self-starters. I think you'd have better luck selling curated 'go bags' for different use cases than with a subscription model.
- edgefield0 7y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. Is anyone providing curated go bags? How does a go bag fit within the context of hunkering down at home in an emergency without power, water, etc? This is more the scenario I was envisioning.
  - ThrowawayR2 7y ago
    > "Is anyone providing curated go bags?" Far more than anyone could ever hope to differentiate themselves from: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emergency+preparedness+kit https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emergency+preparedness+kit Granted, most of them are of dubious quality but anyone without the interest or foresight to hand-build their own is only going to care about price anyway.
    - edgefield0 7y ago
      Thanks. There seems be endless selection of kits, but not easy to judge quality or completeness (except if you trust the user ratings). Do you see any gaps in the emergency preparedness market?
      - ThrowawayR2 7y ago
        Off the top of my head, I'd say that the generic emergency preparedness kits don't account for cold climates or for age (young or elderly). It seems unlikely to be enough differentiation to make a viable business though.
wiseleo 7y ago
$600/year for what is essentially a once per year maintenance task doesn't seem reasonable.
zapstar 7y ago
Could the same goal be achieved by offering a curated "shopping list" on Amazon, with all of the various items that you recommend purchasing? It seems like this doesn't need to be a subscription service. Perhaps just rely on affiliate fees and link to the products that you recommend, with an option to add all of them to the cart? (Not sure if that last part is possible, but maybe!)

1 points by edgefield0 7y ago

anigbrowl 7y ago

No. I'm very familiar with the preparedness community and while your proposal has value it's going to be tricky to market to a a demographic of self-starters. I think you'd have better luck selling curated 'go bags' for different use cases than with a subscription model.

edgefield0 7y ago
Thanks for the feedback. Is anyone providing curated go bags? How does a go bag fit within the context of hunkering down at home in an emergency without power, water, etc? This is more the scenario I was envisioning.
- ThrowawayR2 7y ago
  > "Is anyone providing curated go bags?" Far more than anyone could ever hope to differentiate themselves from: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emergency+preparedness+kit https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emergency+preparedness+kit Granted, most of them are of dubious quality but anyone without the interest or foresight to hand-build their own is only going to care about price anyway.
  - edgefield0 7y ago
    Thanks. There seems be endless selection of kits, but not easy to judge quality or completeness (except if you trust the user ratings). Do you see any gaps in the emergency preparedness market?
    - ThrowawayR2 7y ago
      Off the top of my head, I'd say that the generic emergency preparedness kits don't account for cold climates or for age (young or elderly). It seems unlikely to be enough differentiation to make a viable business though.

wiseleo 7y ago

$600/year for what is essentially a once per year maintenance task doesn't seem reasonable.

zapstar 7y ago

Could the same goal be achieved by offering a curated "shopping list" on Amazon, with all of the various items that you recommend purchasing? It seems like this doesn't need to be a subscription service. Perhaps just rely on affiliate fees and link to the products that you recommend, with an option to add all of them to the cart? (Not sure if that last part is possible, but maybe!)