SHTF: Last Minute Shopping A Bad Idea

If the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF)… and I mean REALLY hits the fan, not some event like a storm… last minute shopping at a big-box or warehouse store is a really bad idea.

The Bread & Milk Brigade

If you live in a part of the USA where it snows often (say, the midwest, northeast, etc.) but not where it snows all the time (i.e. Buffalo, the mountain states, etc.) you will know all about the Bread & Milk Brigade (BMB) of last minute shoppers.

Every time there’s snow in the forecast, the BMB members rush to their favorite grocery store and quickly empty it of bread & milk. Eggs also become impossible to find. 

Early on in the rush, people are laughing and joking with each other and talking about the potential snowfall amounts, but as it gets closer to the event and the shelves empty, tempers start to become nasty. 

Last Minute Shopping / Defined Period Shopping = Panic & Violence

You can see it every year at Black Friday, as people rush into stores to get “bargains”… there’s often panic, people are trampled, arguments and fights break out, it’s insane… all over an extra few dollars off of a flat-screen TV or a tablet.

Can you imagine what it would/will be like if/when people realize that the Stuff has Hit The Fan (SHTF) and they don’t have enough food to last a week, let alone longer?

Panic.

Anger.

Violence.

The SHTF Moment, As A Prepper

As a prepper, the last thing you want to do is be out in public with a lot of people who have become desperate, angry and violent.

The SHTF moment, when it arrives, is NOT the time to gather supplies… that time has passed… it’s the time to execute your SHTF plan for whatever SHTF event is happening. 

If it is a true SHTF event… one that’s going to bring a lot of pain to people… that extra package of toilet paper of gallon of milk or case of canned carrots isn’t going to make any difference to your preps.

If it IS enough to make a difference, then you need to fix that NOW, not after the SHTF.

Prepping vs Hoarding

I’ve read it in prepper fiction, not exactly sure what book/series but I can’t take credit for this, that the difference between prepping and hoarding is when you buy the goods.

If you buy them way ahead of time, when the goods are readily available, and store them for a time of need… that’s prepping.

If you buy them during a shortage in large numbers at the last minute, and continue to make mass purchases keeping the goods out of the hands of others during the shortage, that’s hoarding.

I think that’s a really good way of looking at things.

A good example of this was the recent .22 ammo crunch.

Following Sandy Hook, there were many calls for gun control and guns of a certain type, standard capacity magazines and some types of ammo became nearly impossible to get at any reasonable price.

Strangely enough, one of the types of ammo that became nearly impossible to find was .22LR. Last minute shoppers cleaned out the stores.

Why? I don’t have a clue, .22LR sure isn’t the type of ammo one uses by choice in crime or terrorism. In the end, though, they why doesn’t matter all that much.

Even though .22 manufacturers were going full tilt, they could not keep up with the demand. 

And Then The Hoarders Came

Hoarders came out of the woodwork, and started waiting in line at big-box stores for the trucks to arrive with new loads of .22LR… in some cases, the stores put the rounds out on a first-come, first-serve basis with limits… while in other cases, there was a lot of shenanigans as employees made themselves a lot of money selling cases to gun-show dealers. 

You could still get .22LR at gun shows, because the hoarders would sell it to you at 3-5 times the retail price. 

Is that wrong? I’m not here to pass moral judgment on anybody. 

The truth is that a seasoned prepper shouldn’t care… because a seasoned prepper should already have all the .22LR ammo he/she needs & wants. 

The way to win the Hoarders game is to not play it.

But what if I’m not ready?

I get it… I’ve been prepping for 25 years, and I still find holes in my preps.

You may be new to prepping, and you just haven’t had a chance to get very far in your prepping plan. That’s totally legit, and a real concern.

So what do you do?

Here’s my plan: Go do your panic shop this weekend.

Huh? Panic shop this weekend? Why?

Because, with the exception of bread, milk & eggs, almost every good item on any SHTF Last Minute Shopping list is durable. Just go get them now. Store them away.

That way, if the S does HTF, you can just go to your home and implement whatever plan, while everybody else is caught up in the last minute panic shopping idea. 

Again, a gallon of milk, a couple of loafs of bread or a couple dozen eggs are not worth dying for. They are not worth risking injury for… not for a prepper.