Lengthy but interesting story.

Is Survival Only for The Rich?
Anne Stanton

Tiny Pellston--known as the “ice box of the nation”--is now steeped in a controversy that is heating up the nation.
Pellston is courting a Chicago area company that promises badly needed jobs, but strikes some people as bad news. The young company is called Sovereign Deed and plans to provide emergency supplies and services to wealthy clients who are caught in a major catastrophe, such as a pandemic, an earthquake, or terrorist attack. Clients will pay $50,000 to join, and $15,000 thereafter. It’s a tiered service; those who pay most have the greatest chances of survival.

Full article here.

Not much different from the private fire fighting/protection companies around here. If there's a fire they rush to your home and douse it with fire retardant. Or the private companies that offer emergency evacuation/medical services from wherever you happen to be traveling in the world. Survival isn't only for the rich but money can sure come in handy.

I worked at the ranch of a celebrity actor. And it came to pass he held a big outdoor reception at his ranch. A very well known catering outfit was contracted to put on a big 'cowboy' spread. On the day of the soiree said company burned down. The food and staff failed to show. I fired up my dutch ovens and made a fast run to our local restaurant geared market and bought 60 bottles of $4 champagne, 5 gallon tubs of sherbert and disposable tableware. Next stop was a kosher deli and then the local vegetable and fruit stand. the Folgers was in a rapid boil when the first Beemer rolled in.Nobody went hungry and this lady of Oscar fame asked for my biscuit recipe. I handed her the emptied box of Bisquick with my compliments. The point, yes there is one of my story is this: Companies make lots of promises. I wouldn't bet the horseranch on them fullfilling such promises in a disaster when they can't even seem to manage in good times.

I was up in Corral canyon yanking horses out during the second recent Malibu fire.Those outfits failed to make it up there.

well, it is the American style that encourages fee base system for medical & emergency services. Money buys the best of everything in life.

Frankly, I don't buy that, at least not in this situation.

The only way this deal could work is if all the 'subscribers' hung out in a designated bunker for 6-9 months. That would cost a lot more than 50K. Heck, the champagne alone ...

Chris's comment is right on the money: the odds of these companies delivering is pretty questionable. In most of these scenarios, mobility would be severely restricted; in some cases, by quarantine enforced by armed police/military personnel.

If these companies provide resources that let people 'bug in' effectively, and do it beforehand, there may be value. Otherwise, the rule is: you can't outsource preparedness.

uh or u can pay like $200 for your preparedness items.?!

No, the "American style" is that there is one born every minute. This scheme is proof of that.

The other posters are basically all correct. If it sounds too good to be true, then it's probably a lie.

The caveat emptor is probably that the company receiving the money will probably do quite well until catastrophe occurs, then they will silently slip away with the remaining goods.

Considering traffic on the PCH, I always wondered how those guys made good on their promise without being stationed right next door. I guess that answers my question.

What is promised and what is delivered can be two different things. Also, Moore, the creator, looks to be in the habit of starting businesses and then selling them.

What could get in the way is that the rich expect to be treated differently, and that may clash with what actually happens.

Another question that arises is that if you have a cluster of wealthy people clients all in one area, will they all expect to be picked up at once, babied and waited upon. Does Soverign Deed have that number of employees that are willing to cater to rich babies at the expense of their own families? Or, like the Pony Express, do they only hire orphans?

Sue

In the Military we have been called out as aid to civil power on a few occasions when the SHTF here in Canada. Things like the Quebec ice storms, Manitoba floods and the Forest fires in BC. We would be deployed as manpower to help evacuate people, bring supplies, build fire breaks or build water barriers etc. You would be surprised at how many times we would be tasked to the rich neighborhoods first, or to protect the summer home of some politician!! It made me sick.........

Were you involved with Operation Peregrine?

As someone who helped with the 2003 fires in Kelowna BC Canada, I can rest assure you that I or anyone I know in the emergency services field never heard of, nor seen any persons(s) including the military, professional fire service or Forestry directed to save any particular neighborhood regardless of financial or political stature....

Yup, during op peregrine, one of the first places we were sent was some politician’s private summer home/vineyard to build a fire break. Along the way, we passed a lot of places where people needed our help a lot more. I am not referring to the whole army, but that is where my unit was sent.

Hmmm...interesting.

Running a fire break on any persons property is not unusual, however if what you are stating that this was done only because it was a politician's property is quite different....and I am sure that there a few people in the Kelowna area who are still fighting the insurance companies and gov for $$ would like to know this...


As for passing people who need help this unfortunately happens all the time in wildland/urban interface fires. Manpower is always limited and as such "triage" procedures are needed in order to fight the bigger overall threat

Insurance is all about people avoiding fear. Offering people the illusion of security for a price. Profits are made by denying coverage.

Sounds like the makings of a fine, and quite profitable, scam. Write up a boiler plate contract that says in obscure language that:

We will immediately come out to rescue you when your in danger. (Unless we have something else to do.)
We will make every effort to protect you and your property. (Unless we just don't feel like it.)
You have an iron-clad guarantee that everything possible will be done on your behalf. (As long as it doesn't interfere with out recreational activities and financial wellbeing.)


Stuff the contract with exit clauses, in very fine print of course, that exclude any chances of there ever being a claim. If the contract is for fire protection demand that the house have nothing flammable in or on them. If evacuation is the promise demand that the person never enter into any area that contains any hazard.

Write it up so that it seems to promise everything while, in fact, promising nothing. A classic case of: 'The big print giveth while the small print taketh away'.

Wait for people to be panicked and vulnerable. Like when a fire or storm has just missed them. Dress respectable and use the right terms in a reassuring tone, half of any con, and get them to sign up for a nice five year minimum contract with a substantial early-release cost.

Sit back and watch the checks come in. Make regular visits to the bank to cash the checks and move the money offshore.

When disaster hits delay, make excuses and explain that if they had just gone to the next coverage level they would have been home-free. Cultivate your ability to sound genuinely concerned and overworked while sipping a Pina Coloda and puffing a Padron Serie 1926 #1 while a cute, young girl applies suntan lotion.

If they sue make sure everything is documented and covered in legal boilerplate. Keep a couple of high priced lawyers on retainer. Base your LLC in Barbados and keep your profits in a Swiss bank. If you make enough money consider buying a senator or two.

In other words, it is pretty much like any other insurance business.

As far as survival, I think very much it is not for only the rich.

First, rich is a relative term. if all you money is in currency that turns out to have little value, you are not rich. if your money is in stocks or accounts to which you cannot get access or find a market, then you are no longer rich. One who is rich today may not be in the near future.

Second, it is very much the thinking of many with wealth that they can always get someone to do all the dirty work for them. I have a home in a very wealthy area. I think I have seem two people who live there, other than myself (a part time resident), doing any yard work. I doubt many of my neighbors are mechanically skilled. If you do not use skills, you do not have skills. Many, many people who are wealthy simply have put no effort into learning the skills that they will need in many survival situations.

IMO, a real survival situation is one in which you need to think your way through it, in order to both survive and do so in good condition. Somethings that someone with a lot of experience would deal with little difficulty could be life threatening for someone with no skills. For person who never so much as lights their own gas grill, how capable are they going to be of starting a fire with a fire steel? How capable are they going to be when it comes to keeping something mechanical running?

Wealth hinders many from being prepared.

I've been hemming and hawing about replying to this since it was posted.

In response to the question answered in the title, no. *beep* no. I've seen people set up a week of food and water, with cooking ability, for less than fifty dollars per person. If you are dead broke, that might sound like a lot, but that is about what a week of groceries works out to for me, myself and I, and I don't buy expensive food. Yes, OK, you can spend more than that if you want to be able to put your show on the road or on foot, but if your plans always are to hunker down and sit tight or evac to a familymember/friend withing a few miles, you can do this pretty cheap.

As for services like those described in the article... I pity people who have to use that kind of service. To me, they are like a bodyguard or a maid- most people get by fine without one. (Well, to be fair, I might need a maid...) I feel sorry for people who's lives are so detached from the world that they have to hire someone to do this for them- I'd rather do it myself, and know the plan and the gear becuase I made it or bought it myself and have played with it until I know it inside out. Employees can always blow you a razberry and walk away if they decide they don't like working for you any more, even if they do take a hit from their contract. If the stuff really does hit the fan, a lot of these guys are going to laugh at their overly monied clients and go take care of the people they really do care about.

Those that depend on others for thier survival are already doomed. Like people who go into the woods with only a cell phone they are relying on others ability to get to them in time to save them instead of practicing a few skills and buying a few inexpensive items and takeing responsibility for themselves. They are going to feel foolish when they are starveing at home cause they gave someone 50grand when they could have spent a couple hundred and ate well. Heck look at katrina the gov has all the money it can print and the resources of the military, national guard, state police, fema, red cross and thousands of volunters and they all knew what was coming for an f'n week beforehand. Now picture this a company with maybe a handfull of employees with probably alot of clauses in your contract that says if you die your family cant sue is going to:

a. Wade threw a mass of rioter/looters after a terrorist hits your city to save you.

b. Go into your city against a gov quarantine and face off with the national guard and military to pull you out after a nuke/bioweapon goes off.

c. After major hurricane/earthquake/flooding they are going to spend a small fortune on a search and rescue team to go in and resque you.

d. Point out that in your contract they used the clause "if possible" or some other legal bs and say better luck next time.


now I'm betting it would be d every time and thats assuming after he gets a few hundred suckers that he doesnt leave the country or go into bankruptcy or something.

Way back when fire departments in some cites were run on a subscription basis. You contracted with the private fire service for a set amount of time. They then gave you a plaque that you mounted on the gable end of your house. The idea was that if the house caught fire people would call that fire service who would come out and put out the fire.

many districts had multiple fire services. Each catering to its own customers. Often, in part because there were multiple services, multiple companies would be working on one fire. Each only concerned with fighting the fire that threatened the buildings they had a contract with. Fist fights over who held the contract, who would get the glory of rescuing endangered people, and how to fight the fire were pretty common.

In theory all firemen had a duty to rescue trapped people. This was a lot easier to do in those days because fires were mostly wood burning and not very toxic. This was well before plastics and the deadly fumes they produce. There were no respirators.

These were the iconic days for firemen. Firetrucks were pulled by horses. Dalmatians really did ride on the trucks and pumpers were either pumped by hand or by steam engine. Firehouses were a mix of mens club, quasi-military order, fraternal order and outlet for young mens heroic impulses. There was a lot of competition for the glory of rescuing people and firemen were widely revered as heroes.

Problem was the system was not efficient. There was a lot of duplication of effort in rich districts. While the poor districts were neglected. Fires would sometimes start in buildings without contracts and grow too big to put out by the time it clearly threatened contractually protected buildings. Sometimes people died in houses while firemen fought over who would get the glory of rescuing them.

Also there was the small matter of fire companies getting their contracts based on reputation and threat. Competing fire companies sometimes resorted to setting fires to embarrass the competition. Some companies operated what amounted to a protection racket. People who didn't buy protection tended to see their houses burn.

In the end it became very clear that in some situations private, selective and for-profit services just aren't a good deal. Some problems are better handled by a more united collective effort. which is why the municipal fire service came into being.