One business sector is doing VERY well: the "survivalist" sector

[Plot Device]

People from all branches of the socio-economic spectrum are jumping onto the "diaster preparedness" bandwagon. I personally think it's partly due to three key reasons:

1) Katrina
2) the lousy economy and fears of the Second Great Depression
3) The History Channel (I'm not joking about that one)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1224/p02s02-ussc.html

or (same exact story, different publications):

http://www.fultoncountynews.com/news/2009/0101/local_state/014.html


Survalist Businesses Surge In Uncertain Times

Increasing numbers of mainstream Americans are preparing for disasters, many of these companies say

By Josh Allen CONTRIBUTOR TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Four years ago, after years spent working in construction administration, Viola Moss wanted to leave Florida. She was looking for a home that offered her and her family a chance to grow their own food and live free of dependence on society. But realtors kept showing her homes in retirement communities.

Moss finally found what she was looking for in a home in remote Libby, Mont.: room to raise crops, distance from big-city crime, and proximity to good hunting and fishing, just in case hard times - or a disaster - made food hard to come by. Knowing she wasn't alone in her desire to live a "prepared" lifestyle, Moss decided to turn her interests into a business and set up shop as a realtor herself.

[...]

Lehman's, an Ohio retailer of home self-sufficiency equipment, has recorded large sales increases, with water-pump sales up 95 percent and sales of home agriculture equipment up 50 percent from last fall. The growth is coming from across the preparedness spectrum, from the curious buyer to the serious die-hard, says Glenda Ervin, the firm's vice president of marketing.

[...]

Minnesota-based Safecastle, which markets home shelters for protection against disasters like hurricanes and chemical attacks, has seen revenues more than double since 2007, says founder Vic Rantala. KI4U Inc., a Texas-based seller of products like meals ready-to-eat, personal radiation-detection devices, and potassium iodide, a compound known to protect the body from some effects of radiation exposure, has seen business surge after the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, a month ago.

"If most people think of a survivalist as an armed loner with extreme views - there are folks like that out there, but there are many more in America who are simply involved in preparing for down times, lean times, or disaster," says Rantala, a former U.S. intelligence analyst. "It's logical. It's common sense."

[...]

"We have seen an increase in survival-related businesses," says Doug Ritter, executive director of the Equipped to Survive Foundation, a consumer advocacy organization that has been assessing survival gear since 1994.

Popular interest in survivalism took off in a big way in the late 1990s, amid concerns about the much-discussed Y2K computer bug said to threaten world information technology. Since then, Ritter says, newer businesses have entered the disasterpreparation market to provide a variety of goods and services to survive a range of crises.

[MaryMumsy]

One wonders how many of the people puchasing these items would actually know how to use them. To me it is like people building their own fallout shelters back in the sixties (yes I remember the sixties). Most of them didn't have a clue what they were doing. That said, I wonder if I could get a manual pump for the well at my Dad's summer house. Would be handy if the power went out for more than a couple of hours at a time.

MM

[Tirjasdyn]

Popular shows like survivorman or ::shutter:: man vs wild promote this kind of thing.

Though really buying beware. Survivorman is actually pretty neat and has good advice. Man vs. Wild...following that guys advice will get you killed. The fact that they present Bear as an expert is frightening.

[Meerkat]

The real irony of this trend, and in fact of history itself, is that the folks who make it are the folks whose lives are already not enviable. The CEO jumps off the roof of the skyscraper, while the sharecropper switches from Chef Boyardee to Ramen.

Yet it precisely those of us with the most unenviable lives who gradually and actually assemble survivalist toolkits...perhaps simply out of habit.

[Plot Device]

The real irony of this trend, and in fact of history itself, is that the folks who make it are the folks whose lives are already not enviable. The CEO jumps off the roof of the skyscraper, while the sharecropper switches from Chef Boyardee to Ramen.

Yet it precisely those of us with the most unenviable lives who gradually and actually assemble survivalist toolkits...perhaps simply out of habit.


Part of me agrees with about 99% of that. However, there are rich people also making their preparations.

I'd like to direct your attention to the following YouTube video which is less than 3 minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcCfkKziWa8

It's a clip from a movie called "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price." This clip starts off with footage of Lee Scott--the CEO of Walmart-- and the video clip tells us what Lee Scott's disgusting annual salary is.

Then the video tells us what each member of the Walton family is worth (in the billions).

Then, at about mid-way through this 3-minute clip-- the video switches to an interview with a former Walmart manager named Jon Lehman who drives us in his car to the front gate of what he calls an "Apocalytic bunker" built by the Walton family after 9/11. It's a bunker excluisvely to help the Walton family survive a societal meltdown. It's sort of a "panic room" on steroids.


The rest of this clip tells us how much money the Walton family does NOT give to charity each year.

[johnnysannie]

There's a lot of this survivalist mentality going around. I know a law enforcement officer who bought hand guns as gifts for his teen children at Christmas. I know some others who are stock piling everything from ammo to bottled water.

And from the heart of the Wal-Mart empire, corporate headquarters in Northwest Arkansas, a real gem about Wal-Mart's corporate benevolence, just over $42,000 to seven local charities during the holiday season. That's about like me tossing pocket change into a Salvation Army kettle, dontcha think?

http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/69021/

[Joe270]

This story implies doom by focusing on only the survivalist business doing well right now.

In fact, many sectors of the economy are doing very well now, when they weren't in the boom times.

For a couple examples:

Auto repair shops. As people keep their vehicles longer, they need to pay to keep them road worthy. Include auto part stores, auto body and paint, tire and battery suppliers, etc. in this category.

Locksmiths. The millions of foreclosures have them scrambling. There is a waiting list for weeks here in Vegas. Include house painters, handymen, carpet layers, realty sign services, etc. in this category. Forget getting a house inspection in less than a month.

Underwriters. The number of people refinancing their mortgages is at a historic high. They're swamped.

Just think about what industries or services do well in a downturn and you can find thousands of examples which don't include sticking ones head in the sand with a collection of MREs and automatic weapons.

[StephanieFox]

[...]

"Minnesota-based Safecastle, which markets home shelters for protection against disasters like hurricanes and chemical attacks, has seen revenues more than double since 2007, says founder Vic Rantala."

This is for all the hurricanes we have in Minnesota.

[brokenfingers]

I think it's directly due to the media with its pervading sense of impending doom. Everywhere you look, headlines are screaming how things are going to hell and battles raging and wars looming, and there are people all over the place who incessantly chatter away the same thing.

So yeah, people are getting this subliminal urge to prepare for the worst while they can.

[StephanieFox]

I think it's directly due to the media with its pervading sense of impending doom. Everywhere you look, headlines are screaming how things are going to hell and battles raging and wars looming, and there are people all over the place who incessantly chatter away the same thing.

So yeah, people are getting this subliminal urge to prepare for the worst while they can.


Then how come most of us are preparing for the worst by saving money and being thrifty? How come we're not hiding in a bunker?

I know this guy who, during Y2k (remember that?) bought a piece of land (he wouldn't say where, except it was in Wisconsin) buried a huge bunker filled with food stuffs, water and guns, and took his family to hide out. He told us he'd be back in three or four months "if things aren't too bad." Well, he lasted two days and he missed some great parties. Even he's not goning to hide out for this one.

[brokenfingers]

Then how come most of us are preparing for the worst by saving money and being thrifty? How come we're not hiding in a bunker?

I know this guy who, during Y2k (remember that?) bought a piece of land (he wouldn't say where, except it was in Wisconsin) buried a huge bunker filled with food stuffs, water and guns, and took his family to hide out. He told us he'd be back in three or four months "if things aren't too bad." Well, he lasted two days and he missed some great parties. Even he's not goning to hide out for this one.Huh? Obviously people react differently to things.

The OP's assertion dealt with people who are being paranoid and offered possible reasons why. I posited alternative reasons as to why some people might be preparing for serious bad times or even the 'apocalypse'.

Some other reasons could be cuz they're very religious and truly believe the end times are coming.

So, if you're not hiding in a bunker, congratulations, you're in good company with the majority of people on this planet.

But it doesn't change the fact that the media feeds on fear and negativity. That's what sells. Just like conflict sells fiction, it also sells non-fiction.

[cethklein]

This story implies doom by focusing on only the survivalist business doing well right now.



I don't see where the story implied the survivalist business was the ONLY one doing well, it said it was ONE that was. you're reading too much into this I think.

[Angelinity]

no to hijack this thread.... (to the OP -- if bothersome, please ask me to remove.)

i'm curious how many (if any) here would choose the survivalist option if they...


came upon top secret information that several events of apocalyptic proportions were likely to occur within 2-4 years
at least one of the events is 25% likely to occur within 2-4 years and affect 30% of the geographical world
at least one of the events is 10% likely to occur within 2-4 years and affect 95% of the geographical world
at least one the events is 90% likely to occur within 3-4 years and affect 90% or more of the geographical world
at least one the events is 80% likely to occur within 4 years and greatly impact the Earth and 20% of the solar system


Would you want to / try to survive? What if you had children -- would this greatly affect your decision?

Which one of these 'predicted' events would have you most worried?

What steps if any would you consider taking?

[Plot Device]

I think this is fine. :) If it gets interesting, maybe a thread split??

no to hijack this thread.... (to the OP -- if bothersome, please ask me to remove.)

i'm curious how many (if any) here would choose the survivalist option if they...

came upon top secret information that several events of apocalyptic proportions were likely to occur within 2-4 years
at least one of the events is 25% likely to occur within 2-4 years and affect 30% of the geographical world
at least one of the events is 10% likely to occur within 2-4 years and affect 95% of the geographical world
at least one the events is 90% likely to occur within 3-4 years and affect 90% or more of the geographical world
at least one the events is 80% likely to occur within 4 years and greatly impact the Earth and 20% of the solar system
Would you want to / try to survive? What if you had children -- would this greatly affect your decision?

Which one of these 'predicted' events would have you most worried?

What steps if any would you consider taking?


I think if I had kids I would do whatever I could for my kids. I think that the relentless drive to preserve your own children pretty much takes precedence over everything else in the universe (so says the woman who has no chidlren).

As for "the most worrisome" I think that the event that will impact the whole solar system would have me the LEAST worried simply because we'd ALL be toast (let's all have one last hurrah of a party and say good-bye to each other). But the one that has me the MOST worried is the one that would cause LOTS of devastation and yet leave TOO MANY people still alive -- so the "30% of the geographic world" thing would be the messiest one. Nothing live roaving hoards of hungry people to ruin your whole week.

[DamaNegra]

(responding to Angelinity's post)

Look, if the whole world is destroyed and the whole human race is wiped out, would it really make a difference? The only reason death is tragic is because of the people and things left behind. Take them out of the equation and it doesn't matter at all.

[Komnena]

It has been only five months since I had to throw out everything in my freezer because the remnants of Ike knocked out my electricity for nearly a week. I think it is a very good idea to have a supply of nonperishable foods you don't need to cook and enough water for several days put back.