Are doomsday preppers just wasting money on gear?

Are doomsday preppers just wasting money on gear?

WWW III won't happen in our lifetime at all. I just shake my head watching TV show about doomsday preppers. These people spend so much money that could be used for savings.

So what if they are? Spend money - stimulate the economy - create jobs - benefit all mankind.....

We all make choices in how we handle our resources. I doubt you would agree with all my choices, nor would I with yours? So what?

Sometimes even Mrs. Hikermor disagrees with the learned decisions of her wise and benevolent husband....

I would say that maybe they spend it unwisely. The one episode I watched was about the guy in Arizona who just about blew his thumb off on a "practice shoot" with the boys (wasn't following the safety rules - you can't prepare for stupid). Anyway, this guy had at least four different caliber rifles (not including sidearms and shotguns) in his collection. I personally would just have two - .22 and either .308 or.30-06 plus a 12 gauge shotgun. You can get those anywhere. Too much diversity makes for complications. That was about as much as I remember. The blowing off the thumb thing pretty much blurred out the rest of the show. I haven't watched another episode since.

First, I hear what you're saying, Picard, and I'm sympathetic. What comes next is probably not the kind of answer you were expecting but here's my "big picture" answer to your question.

The unfortunate reality is that without a consumer-driven, buy-buy-buy attitude, our economy would crumble. There would not be enough jobs for most people if everyone really did just buy "essentials" and saved the rest. You hear that statistic all the time that 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending. Subtract all that "unnecessary" spending and you have a much, much smaller economy. That's a crazy economic model, but that's what we have at the moment.

Also, our money is being debased every second by our country's monetary and fiscal policy (and that's as much politics as I'll mention). Or, in other words, inflation is eroding the value of our savings every second. $20 today doesn't buy as much as $20 did five years ago. The official US inflation rate is like 2%--what a joke! Everyone who actually spends any money knows that prices have been rising significantly for a while now, and yet the most recent Social Security cost of living adjustment is one of the smallest ever. Madness!

If the government continued to measure inflation the same way as back in 1980 (back when we DID have monster inflation around 15%), we would all be groaning about a 10% inflation rate in the US now. I'll say that again, 10% inflation, not 2%! What interest rate are you getting from your bank for your savings? Now subtract 10% from that interest rate (heck, or even use the official inflation rate) and that's what is happening to the actual value of your savings these days. People who depend on their savings or Social Security, like the elderly and retired folks, are being hit hard in the last 5 years. From a purely financial standpoint, an argument can be made that saving your money is not the smartest thing in today's crazy upside-down world.

So, really, one "smart" thing people should be doing is converting your rapidly depreciating money into tangible things of value--food, housing, tools, education/training, etc. Hmmmm, when you think about it, isn't that essentially what so-called "doomsday preppers" are doing with their money? I don't know about splurging on an underground bunker or a dumptruck full of MRE's, but they're actually doing the smart thing with much of their money, even if you may not agree with everything they're spending their money on.

If I choose to buy 10 years worth of TP, and I have the room to store it - what did I waste? I actually have saved time and maybe money (inflation) as I won't have to buy TP for 10 years.

Same same if I buy anything that is pretty much static and won't degrade over time.

Stupid no, smart maybe.

And if times get tough and there is no zomie applesauce, I can pawn my guns/knives/tools if need be.

It's very timely that you bring up Doomsday Preppers as the National Geographic TV channel in the UK is beginning a series called 'Preppers UK, Surviving Armageddon'

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-11-14/doomsday-preppers---usa-versus-uk

http://natgeotv.com/uk/preppers-uk-surviving-armageddon/galleries/british-preppers

armouredcockroach is I believe the star of the tonights show, who gives the BBC an interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gKdF7YDwIg

Gear can make life easier, but I think that the emphasis should be on skills and common sense. Usually its the malfunctioning grey matter between the lug holes that gets most folks into trouble as with Paramedicpete's thread ' Some People Never Learn.

Oh and savings can quite literally disappear over night!

Any specific "gear" you are referring to?

I've bought several fire extinguishers in my life. Haven't needed any of them.

Could've bought some Apple stock with that money. So that fire extinguisher money was wasted.

I have some firesteels. Won't need them unless my Bics and matches disappear or don't function. Have a fleece blanket in my car, chemical heat packs and a host of other stuff in case I were ever stranded.

Probably won't ever happen. Geico road service will come to the rescue before frostbite sets in.

I have a bunch of water stored that I'll probably never need and will someday dump out. Ditto for the Micropur tablets.

I have maybe three months of food on hand for peops and pup -- will eat most of it, eventually. The dog will eat her food.

I don't have an arsenal but I do have an art collection. The former at least has some utility and is fun for target practice. Well, the art collection could be fun for target practice, too.... but old milk jugs filled with water suffice.

We do have periodic power outages and we camp for recreation so the flashlights, headlamps, batteries and candle lanterns get used.

If it turns out you are not Nostradamus and "doomsday" happens in our lifetimes (which for some of the young'uns among us could be another 80 years) then the preppers will have seemed pretty shrewd.

In the meantime, it is a harmless hobby - if they have the money to spend.


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Adverse conditions will never wipe you out. Good planning!

I haven't seen the show, so I'm just going on what my coworkers have told me. The main issue I have with the folks on the program is that part of being "prepped" in manner and mindset they espouse is that showing your preps on a national TV show sort of defeats the purpose. Aren't your preps supposed to be under the radar?

Tim seems prepared, he even owns a chain saw!

Haven't seen the show and am not interested.

But the issue is real. Are $$$ spent on prepping "wasted" and, who decides?

I think of "prepping" like insurance. We insure against our home burning down. Unlikely, but still very possible. (Years ago, a home near us did burn down.) Is the money wasted because we (so far) have not needed it? I don't think so.

So, IMO, its an individual (or family) decision to look at the risks and how much time, money and effort they want to spend to "insure" against the worst, whatever they think that may be. Let individuals and families decide for themselves.

Personally, we expect to sleep through 12/21/12 and enjoy the day. life, with all its problems, will go on. I also don't expect or prepare for a comet/meteor/nuclear event on or near my home. Fires, floods, power outages, riots, yes. TEOWAKI, no. YMMV.

You have to look at the odds. The USA powerball lottery is now up to 550 million. Odds of winning, 1 in 175,223,510. Sales are booming. Odds of being killed by lightning, 1 in 79,842, odds of being killed rushing across the street, 1 in 701. See: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/...ll-jackpot?lite
So we aren't making retirement plans on winning. I think a TEOWAKI event is far less likly then our winning the Powerball.

It's their $$ to spend, so they are welcome to do as they please. Heck, we even bought some powerball tickets.

When the show was in the beginning stages I was asked by someone helping with it if I wanted to talk to producers. I said no - it was clear they were looking for the sensational and would make every prepper look like a nutjob.



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Thought you were talking about TV news there for a sec...

Yup,Im a prepper (prepared) and think the show is patently ridiculous.

if they are prepping for "doomsday",yes.if for a earthquake or major storm of some type then no.

Couple point. First, Tim did not get off to a good start on that show w/ the thumb deal. but i have since met him and he is a good guy, bit of a salesman but im comfortable with that. He owns his own prep business now in AZ. in fact his invention, the Crovel, just became the #1 must have prepper in Maxim Magazine. take that for what its worth but its not nothing. His newest version is on my Christmas list. He also has an invention that coverts a shogun to fire ten different calibers of ammunition.

be that as it may, i scan the show off my DVR if only to change or defend my own thought process and actions. I couldnt imagine spending 2.5 million on preps like that chiropractor did in Texas, but i could see myself buying G.O.O.D. land and burying a couple mini storage pods under a decent cabin

Got a link to this? Thanks.

10-x-caliber-shotgun-gauge-adapter-system-pre-order

these preppers seem to have obsessive compulsive disorder. They have hoarder mentality instead of actual prepping for disaster.

This thread easily evolves into the questions, "What are you prepping for?" Clearly we do not all have the same events on our radar. For much of my life I have been going into more or less wild places, both as part of my job, volunteer work (SAR) and recreation. For some time I have been concerned about the mix of skills and gear that would return me and my group to home and hearth, and that is still my focus today.

Now that I live in southern California, I definitely need to concern myself with earthquake and wildfire preps, but I don't envision the end of civilization and if that happens, I will just have to cope and muddle through. I am sure others have a different mix of scenarios of concern.

I think we ought to be careful in bandying about terms like "OCD." As Izzy rightly states, my legitimate concern is your OCD; most likely a mental health professional would point to yawning gaps in the diagnosis.

I worry about the price of base metals getting prohibitively expensive so I bought lots of brass, lead and copper in various sizes and configurations. That's not hoarding, it's investing. Definitely not wasting money.

...and steel, lots of steel ...

mine came dressed in Ironwood and leather

Oh, the kit is for a single-shot 12 ga. shotgun. That changes the desirability of such a kit, even if it works, considerably.

I guess this kit is for the sort of survival situation where the local gun stores are all closed (Lord, no!), Midway and Brownell no longer deliver the toys to you every week, and you have to rely on found ammunition to hunt as you roam from gas station to gas station, looking for what little is left in the reservoir.

No, I don't think I'll get it.

As for the question in the thread title, to me emergency is like preparation: you have x% change of y happening, so you do z to make things easier for yourself if y happens. There is a cost to this (your insurance premium). Based on your financial situation, you have to decide where the cut-off point is. Do I prepare for stuff that has a 0.1% chance of happening? How about 0.001%? How much am I willing to pay for insurance? Some models insure their body parts, and they may have a legitimate financial reason to do so.

I think what gets weird is when preparation becomes "a way of life" rather than an insurance policy. It is no longer a rational strategy for helping to continue your normal way of life in the event of disasters. That's when preppers could become millenarians.

Some of the people featured on the show may be trying to make a living from it. One of them is apparently selling products already. Well, that means he's becoming a professional. I guess he can do that for himself, but I hope that his customers can find rational uses in the tools.

For me, preparing is partly for insurance, but it's partly a hobby, too. I like gear. I like acquiring skills. The last thing I did was acquiring the Red Cross certificate for "professional rescuers." (I'm putting this in quotes because it wasn't that hard.) I'd prep for the end of the world just for fun, but I don't have the budget for it. In the mean time, life goes on, I work, I eat, I work out...