Using, trading or selling what you have....WTSHTF..... by me......V

[Ponce]

I wrote about this before......use what you have like it is the last one that you have, sell or trade only what you don't use....if you don't drink coffee, tea, smoke and so on it is then ok to get rid of it.......but.....if you wipe your ass, drink hot chocolate, soup and so on then keep it....someone comes to you and offers you $5.00 for a can of soup, would you sell it?, that would be one less meal that you would have because...where would you buy another can? and if you can find one then...how much would they charged you? $10.00? $15.00? $25.00?...and beside that...people would know what you have and would go after it.....your "best" friend will become your worth enemy because he hnows what you have and where.

Weird dream last night: the president of France was killed, something related to food and fire.

[Sparky]

Thinking of this in terms of current ammo availability. Interestingly, there hasn't been much price gouging. When available, prices seem the same as before Sandy Hook. It seems reasonable (and justifiable) for retailers to bump their price by 10% or so. But maybe that would be too clearly perceived negatively by their customers. There has been "gouging" on the secondary market though.

In the spirit of Ponces OP, can anyone think of other consumables with prolonged shortages within the last 20 or so years? By prolonged, let's say more than 3 months. (Interestingly, ammo availability has only bee restricted for a couple of months so far.)

[agnut]

Hi Ponce, wise recommendations. I’m in the process of finalizing food preps but that is only part of the whole picture. There is so much to do that one can become immobilized unless one takes one task at a time and finishes it. However, some tasks are complicated and have to wait on others who have skills I do not. I have a big “to do” list and when one task is held up I go to the next one. This way time is not wasted in waiting.

I have been reading at Timebomb2000 since 1998 and only in the last couple of months it seems that they are at fever pitch about things falling apart any day now. I believe that they are right; this is no false alarm. The dangers are real and imminent. Doesn’t mean that a collapse has to happen in the next few days/weeks/months but we all better finish up what we want to accomplish. There won’t be any “time outs” for us after TSHTF.

You wrote about selling food and other things not needed. I have a huge inventory of items that could be sold which are not likely to rouse the buyer to later attack me. Things like tools, firewood, appliances, DVD movies and much more. I have been wanting to find a vertical mill and metal lathe but have to first cement in a back room in the barn. This probably won’t get done soon as there are so many other things of higher priority.

Isn’t it interesting that no matter how long we have been prepping that when collapse is imminent, a whole lot of new things appear that have to be done ? At least that is the way it seems to me. I know that you are prepped beyond anyone I can think of. We all have to do what we can with our best abilities. Problem is, lack of abilities and now lack of time are pressing at our backside. Sure, we who have prepped will have a better chance but will it be enough ? Only time will tell….

If I go down, it will not be for a lack of trying to better the situations of those around me. No man is an island….

Your dream about the president of France made me think of this Bible quote :

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams
Acts 2:17

Best wishes,

Agnut

No one has to change, but if they don't, they must be willing to accept that things will pass them by

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[midnight rambler]

When available, prices seem the same as before Sandy Hook.

That's simply not true. Prior to 12/14/12 7.62x39 could be had everyday for <$250/case delivered. Now you're lucky to find it for $359/case plus shipping. .308 used to be available everyday for +/-$700/case - now when you can find .308 it's over a dollar a round shipped. I don't keep very close track of .223 but from what I've seen when you can find .233 it's running 2-3 times what it was pre-12/14/12. Pistol ammo is very spotty right now, as is 12 ga., with both pistol and 12 ga. going up much more than 10%. And forget finding .22 ammo unless you're willing to pay THIRTY CENTS/round.

*yeah, you can find a SINGLE BOX AVAILABILITY of ammo at some retailers, but forget getting deals on bulk anywhere

[Sparky]

That's simply not true. Prior to 12/14/12 7.62x39 could be had everyday for <$250/case delivered. Now you're lucky to find it for $359/case plus shipping. .308 used to be available everyday for +/-$700/case - now when you can find .308 it's over a dollar a round shipped. I don't keep very close track of .223 but from what I've seen when you can find .233 it's running 2-3 times what it was pre-12/14/12. Pistol ammo is very spotty right now, as is 12 ga., with both pistol and 12 ga. going up much more than 10%. And forget finding .22 ammo unless you're willing to pay THIRTY CENTS/round.

I should have been more specific. Most of the store front retailers and ranges that I am familiar with locally, which already charged a premium for ammo, seem to have remained steady, as well as the big box retailers. Is that your experience as well, or do you mostly follow on-line/delivery retailers?

[midnight rambler]

I should have been more specific. Most of the store front retailers and ranges that I am familiar with locally, which already charged a premium for ammo, seem to have remained steady, as well as the big box retailers. Is that your experience as well, or do you mostly follow on-line/delivery retailers?

I posted in another thread what is happening here locally with retailers - it's so bad that people literally start forming a line at Academy Sports at 1 AM EVERY weekday just for the 20% chance of buying a single box of ammo. Granted, some of these people are networking with others camping out at other Academy locations and are turning around and selling those single boxes of ammo on TexasGunTrader for double what they paid (which I cannot see the point of since that's hardly worth all that effort).

[Sparky]

Isn’t it interesting that no matter how long we have been prepping that when collapse is imminent, a whole lot of new things appear that have to be done ? At least that is the way it seems to me. I know that you are prepped beyond anyone I can think of. We all have to do what we can with our best abilities. Problem is, lack of abilities and now lack of time are pressing at our backside. Sure, we who have prepped will have a better chance but will it be enough ? Only time will tell….
...

It's interesting how our modern perspective has evolved. 150 years ago this would not have been considered "prepping". It was "living". Most every day they focused on things that would allow you to see another day.





"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think this, too, makes the distinction between "prepping" and "living". The subject has come up before, that we be cautious that prepping not interfere with the very living that we are trying to preserve in the first place. I think often about what it is that we as preppers are trying to preserve. I think much of it is contained in the above Emerson quote.

[agnut]

It's interesting how our modern perspective has evolved. 150 years ago this would not have been considered "prepping". It was "living". Most every day they focused on things that would allow you to see another day.





I think this, too, makes the distinction between "prepping" and "living". The subject has come up before, that we be cautious that prepping not interfere with the very living that we are trying to preserve in the first place. I think often about what it is that we as preppers are trying to preserve. I think much of it is contained in the above Emerson quote.

Sparky, you couldn’t have been more on the mark. I was privileged to have spent the summers on my grandparents’ cattle ranch just south of lake Okeechobee, FL. They had lived through the last Depression and had a storage room full of canned fruits and vegetables from their enormous garden. We ate fresh chicken and rabbit. My grandmother had a box under her bed full of scraps of cloth that she hand sewed into crazy quilts. And the sewing machine didn’t have electricity; treadle operated. I learned to sew from my aunt Patricia who was in her teens at that time, the 1950s. Now you know why I wrote “privileged” ; maybe blessed would be more appropriate.

I have two ladies who want to join me in canning up fruits and veggies at our ranch. I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if it were not for having had such a rich upbringing.

The quote from Emerson is what I live by. Also “We are our brothers’ keeper”. There is nothing to fear if we are in the service to our fellow man. We are at our best when we get outside of ourselves, thinking of others’ needs; family, friends, neighbors. Yeah, I may well go down because I will be doing what I believe needs to be done rather than pulling up the drawbridge and holing up. But that is the way I choose.

Best wishes,

agnut

"Is it reasonable to expect wisdom from the ignorant? Fidelity from the profligate? Assiduity and application to public business from men of a dissipated life? Is it reasonable to commit the management of public revenue to one who has wasted his own patrimony? Those, therefore, who pay no regard to religion and sobriety in the persons whom they send to the legislature of any State are guilty of the greatest absurdity and will soon pay dear for their folly." --John Witherspoon

"The rights of the people come from God. The powers of government come from the people."
Joe Sobran

When you are hard and disciplined, you can be principled. People fear you because they have no leverage against you. It's the truest form of Liberty.