Here is a good article that denotes what's behind a lot of whining about the state of Y2K worry or lack there of in the U.S.A today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/reports/millennium/y2k/19991031/t000099238.html

Wonder how many here are whinning for similar reasons?

-- ANON (anon@wherever.now), November 05, 1999

Answers

I watched the preparedness 'market' from July, 1998 till this very moment. July was when it started to rise and it peaked about December 1998, with strong sales till February.

In March (same time the "were y2k ready" campaign came about) the market dropped like a freezed-dried hot potato! Preparedness Show attendance dropped about 50-75% overnight.

Many of the people mentioned in the above article, from small one owner businesses to the giants were hurt by this. For your information, the 'official' Preparedness Shows (Expo) out of Salt Lake has been in business for over 10 years!

It's possible that there will be one last surge before rollover, but it may take a public event (such as giant company having huge problems) to inspire people to do anything. The NBC movie may or may not do anything.

I assume that grocery store sales and kerosene heaters will jump during December - but otherwise, people appear too lazy, to complacent and mostly uninformed to do much of anything.

So - either all the hundreds of thousands of documents on potential y2k related problems are incorrect and next year will be a bump in the road - or - Americans will be in for a real suprise.

I guess the other options are a "death of a thousand cuts" that Jim Lord stated and there will be a renewal of preparedness type goods in early 2000.

Who knows?! It's a wierd and confusing mystery.

-- dw (y2k@outhere.com), November 05, 1999.

dw,

I don't know if there will be any "last minute rush" for preps or not. But one factor is the amount of money people have to spend on preps. Sure, there are lots of folks with lots of money. And lots of folks with ready credit. But many many folks are "prosperous" -- yet working paycheck to paycheck -- and are pretty much broke come payday. My sense is the vast majority of Americans spend whatever money they have -- and can't remember where it went. They look at their take home pay -- and it seems a lot more than the list of "monthly expenses" they MUST shell out for every month -- but somehow all that extra money just dissapears. Where it goes? A little here, a little there -- no need to worry about it -- another payday is right around the corner...so I'll blow a few bucks on THIS....it's convienent...

I'm thinking that lots of "poll results" should be viewed in light of actual discretionary funds available to "prep" with. As we all know, what people say and what people do are two different things! Like all those 1999 new year's resolutions to lose weight! I'm thinking that while some folks might do a last minute "grab" for preps if the media scares them, the vast majority -- not having the funds to spend -- might blab about it, fret about it, then just say what the heck -- and DO NOTHING. Plus, people figure...if it's TEOTWAWKI, then a small amount of preps is worthless, so I might as well not bother at all...

I also note from the article that the "average" prepper is just buying extra food and stuff from conventional stores -- not "long term survival food". This bodes for a likely cleaning of grocery store shelves maybe -- if there is something that spooks people -- but after the shelves are bare, what is there for the next person to do? Nothing...just go home, or to a bar or party, and not worry about it...and rationalize it won't be a big deal...and they didn't need anything extra anyway...

One things for sure....it will be interesting...and probably surprising to all of us...no matter what does or does not happen.

-- ANON (anon@wherever.now), November 05, 1999.

There's a paragraph in this article that makes me question the motives of whoever wrote it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/reports/millennium/y2k/19991031/t000099238 .html

Link

More damaging for the preparedness industry, Sen. Robert F. Bennett changed his mind. The Utah Republican, who chairs the Senate special Y2K committee and whose Mormon upbringing gives him special credibility with survivalists, traded in his grim predictions in early March for more upbeat assessments.

In my humble opinion, the first Senate Y2k report -- and for that matter, the second one in September -- were not 'upbeat assessments.'

-- Emergency preparedness (and@grocery.shopping), November 05, 1999.

For those of you that have been around the preparedness industry for many years it should be noted that many of the old time stable companies have gone out of business. Canneries of storage food systems spent a great deal of money to ramp up for the perceived demand, only to see sales plummet and leave them with debt loads they could not service. Should the demand for these products return, the suppliers will not be there this time around.

-- Food (will@be.scarce), November 05, 1999.