5 ms·

I don't think prepping is silly, but I can't understand why this pandemic would increase people's perceived value of prepping. The whole world shut down, and th

by ppod 6y ago

I don't think prepping is silly, but I can't understand why this pandemic would increase people's perceived value of prepping. The whole world shut down, and there were basically no serious shortages.

ericmay 6y ago
I think for some it reinforced the perceived (whether it's real or not I'm not convinced) fragility of the system. I actually think this showed a robustness to our system overall. Most people could benefit from basic disaster preparation. This could be some extra food/fuel, to having a bag in case you need to evacuate, etc.
ch4s3 6y ago
There were some local shortage of some things, and long lines to get into grocery stores in some cities. I've made a point to keep some extra dry goods and oil on hand just in case we couldn't get to the grocery store. It's been pretty helpful twice already. I'm not doing anything more serious than that though.
jjoonathan 6y ago
How does that constitute evidence that serious shortages couldn't happen? The whole world did not shut down. It voluntarily reduced non-essential in-person activities as a preemptive measure. It was the easiest possible test, and the shelves were still empty of toilet paper and grains for a month.
- alistairSH 6y ago
  TP in consumer packaging. I was able to get 4 rolls/week from my local catering company (who quickly transitioned to delivering a mix of prepped meals and basic raw ingredients, including TP that was packaged for commercial use). Against the ToS from their TP vendor? Who knows? But, there was TP out there, just not on shelves at the local grocer.
  - jjoonathan 6y ago
    Yes, the disruption did not exhaust easy work-arounds, but that's because the disruption was completely trivial by disaster standards, not because the system was robust.
Izkata 6y ago
Except for toilet paper, one of the most basic products out there. That definitely made people realize that yes, even in modern civilization, it can happen.
war1025 6y ago
> The whole world shut down White collar work shut down. All the people that actually make the supply chain function got labeled "essential" and got to go to work anyway.
- zarkov99 6y ago
  And got paid as such. Just kidding, of course they did not.
dopylitty 6y ago
The whole world didn't really shut down but there were (and are) signs that significant disruptions can occur. The grocery shortages were one sign but also think about the people who work at utilities and are responsible for keeping power/water going. Those companies typically have done some serious preparation such as segregating workers into different shifts or even having them live on site but the pandemic reminded (some) people that our modern living standards are held up by millions of people working for utilities, farms, waste disposal companies, etc. If a significant number of those people are unable to work you do need to be prepared to survive without power, running water, and fresh produce for a good amount of time. Typically middle/upper class Americans haven't had to contend with that fact but the pandemic has made it more clear that they won't always be able to just pop down to the store for whatever they need at a whim. Honestly waste disposal is one of the more frightening ones. I shudder at the thought of my area if the waste disposal companies stopped for any length of time. Those people who are willing to work in that job should be treated as heroes and paid much better than those of us who sit in front of computers typing relatively useless code all day.
disown 6y ago
> The whole world shut down It didn't. The essential people/work still had to show up for work. Butchers, farmers, supermarket workers, truckers, cops, medical workers, etc. The less essential workers either had to close shop ( barbers, restaurants, etc ) or WFM ( software developers, sales people, etc ). > and there were basically no serious shortages. Because the whole world didn't shut down. Just the non-essential stuff were shut down.
toast0 6y ago
When I went to stores over the past 6 weeks, there were several times where whole sections were missing. I recall one trip where the only chicken products available was party wings. Other times, other staples were missing. There were always substitute goods available (other than TP, I think bidets sold out, too), but with a little imagination, it could have been a lot worse. I imagine people who experinced delays in their staple foods (or TP) that impacted them negatively are going to build a larger buffer for the future.

by ppod 6y ago

ericmay 6y ago

I think for some it reinforced the perceived (whether it's real or not I'm not convinced) fragility of the system. I actually think this showed a robustness to our system overall. Most people could benefit from basic disaster preparation. This could be some extra food/fuel, to having a bag in case you need to evacuate, etc.

ch4s3 6y ago

There were some local shortage of some things, and long lines to get into grocery stores in some cities. I've made a point to keep some extra dry goods and oil on hand just in case we couldn't get to the grocery store. It's been pretty helpful twice already. I'm not doing anything more serious than that though.

jjoonathan 6y ago

How does that constitute evidence that serious shortages couldn't happen? The whole world did not shut down. It voluntarily reduced non-essential in-person activities as a preemptive measure. It was the easiest possible test, and the shelves were still empty of toilet paper and grains for a month.

alistairSH 6y ago
TP in consumer packaging. I was able to get 4 rolls/week from my local catering company (who quickly transitioned to delivering a mix of prepped meals and basic raw ingredients, including TP that was packaged for commercial use). Against the ToS from their TP vendor? Who knows? But, there was TP out there, just not on shelves at the local grocer.
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  Yes, the disruption did not exhaust easy work-arounds, but that's because the disruption was completely trivial by disaster standards, not because the system was robust.

Izkata 6y ago

Except for toilet paper, one of the most basic products out there. That definitely made people realize that yes, even in modern civilization, it can happen.

war1025 6y ago

> The whole world shut down White collar work shut down. All the people that actually make the supply chain function got labeled "essential" and got to go to work anyway.

zarkov99 6y ago
And got paid as such. Just kidding, of course they did not.

dopylitty 6y ago

The whole world didn't really shut down but there were (and are) signs that significant disruptions can occur. The grocery shortages were one sign but also think about the people who work at utilities and are responsible for keeping power/water going. Those companies typically have done some serious preparation such as segregating workers into different shifts or even having them live on site but the pandemic reminded (some) people that our modern living standards are held up by millions of people working for utilities, farms, waste disposal companies, etc. If a significant number of those people are unable to work you do need to be prepared to survive without power, running water, and fresh produce for a good amount of time. Typically middle/upper class Americans haven't had to contend with that fact but the pandemic has made it more clear that they won't always be able to just pop down to the store for whatever they need at a whim. Honestly waste disposal is one of the more frightening ones. I shudder at the thought of my area if the waste disposal companies stopped for any length of time. Those people who are willing to work in that job should be treated as heroes and paid much better than those of us who sit in front of computers typing relatively useless code all day.

disown 6y ago

> The whole world shut down It didn't. The essential people/work still had to show up for work. Butchers, farmers, supermarket workers, truckers, cops, medical workers, etc. The less essential workers either had to close shop ( barbers, restaurants, etc ) or WFM ( software developers, sales people, etc ). > and there were basically no serious shortages. Because the whole world didn't shut down. Just the non-essential stuff were shut down.

toast0 6y ago

When I went to stores over the past 6 weeks, there were several times where whole sections were missing. I recall one trip where the only chicken products available was party wings. Other times, other staples were missing. There were always substitute goods available (other than TP, I think bidets sold out, too), but with a little imagination, it could have been a lot worse. I imagine people who experinced delays in their staple foods (or TP) that impacted them negatively are going to build a larger buffer for the future.