Couple of weeks ago, I blogged my surprise at buying freeze-dried and dehydrated storage foods at Wal-Mart.
Well, today I went back and bought a couple more #10 cans. This time the shelves (nearly denuded at last visit) were chock full and topped with placards that could be seen several aisles away: “Prepare for Emergency.”
As I was checking out the selection and prices, a man wandered by, looked at the big buckets of rice, concluded he didn’t need that much, and headed off. A few seconds later, a woman’s voice said, “I wish they had these in smaller cans so I could try them.”
I explained, “Oh, they do on their website. The prices aren’t as good as here, but they’re really nice people and the foods are good quality.” Augason Farms should pay me a commission for the sales pitch I gave the lady. Packed in the U.S. Family-owned company. Most items preservative-free. Etc. etc.
As I went on, I realized that the woman was a Wal-Mart employee. So I told her it was uncommon for Wal-Marts outside of Mormon country to carry storage foods and that I’d even written a letter to thank the manager for doing so. She seemed proud that “her” store was pioneering.
At that point I noticed that the rice man had circled around and was listening in. “They’re probably doing some market testing,” he said.
“It must be working, then,” the employee nodded, “The product is really selling.”
The man, who had dismissed rice buckets minutes earlier, picked up a can of butter powder and remarked, “With what they’re doing to the dollar, we’re all going to be needing to eat this sort of stuff soon.”
I swear, I’m constantly surprised at these little encounters that reveal so much interest and awareness among ordinary folk.
If fedgov paranoids want to hunt for anti-government subversives, they don’t need to do it in woodsy militia enclaves, at protests, or among sovereigns or Tea Partiers. Or tattoo parlors, surplus stores, hobby shops, or banks, for that matter.
Just stand in the food aisles at Wal-Mart.
I love this kind of happy stuff! Makes me feel hopeful.
I agree with Kent. Make me feel like not all is lost. I’ve noticed time and again over the last year that in the most surprising circumstances someone will bring up prepping and others will chime in with positive comments.
Alas, still no sign of these products in Walmarts back east. I know lots of preppers but I guess they don’t shop at Walmart. Neither do I for that matter but I might start doing so occasionally if they start stocking this stuff.
Walmart doesn’t just “test markets” they track and predict purchases from their stores based on calculations and data from world events and history. I saw a show on Wal-mart that was on some MSM channel. During Katrina Wal-Mart had their stores stocked with Strawberry Poptarts weeks in advance of the storms. The show explained that based on Wal-Mart analysis of past shoppers’ purchases that during heavy storms these same pop-tarts fly off the shelves. And it worked for them with Katrina. Given Wal-Mart’s techniques for figuring out what to sell, combined with the comments Claire got at the store there is certainly something to all of this.
I think the government already stalks the aisles of Walmart. If you had money to waste, you could go to Walmart buy a couple of stuffed animals, several prepaid cellphones, packages of small nuts and bolts and a few propane cylinders. If you looked “middle easternish,” or like a media/DHS stereotyped “miliatiaman,” there would be alerts on the radio and possibly tv about someone buying parts to make bombs targeted at children. Walmart and their employees will faithfully report anything that might be suspicious.
Fascinating stuff, BE. Wonder if Wal-Mart pops up the Pop-Tarts in the south before every hurricane season? They couldn’t have known about Katrina that long in advance, but they could definitely have prepped for storm season.
Pop-Tarts? Whodathunkthat, either?
Well, I suppose from your standpoint, Kentucky is “back east”-and stores other than Wally World are stocking “prepper” items, usually labelled as “emergency preparedness items”-I suspect that will pick up some since the series of tornadoes hit the area recently. Still, you hear people talking about prepping seriously now, from the local Dollar General to the flea market, and none of them appear to be Planet X/2012 Mayan Doomsday/ End-O-The-World types..there just seems to be an undercurrent of “You Better Get Ready”..
Scott — Funny, National Geographic did a survey (I assume as part of their recent series on doomsday preps) and they seem to agree that people are worried about pretty reasonable things — not the Mayan apocalypse.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/why-are-millions-of-americans-preparing-for-doomsday
I, too, have been seeing an increase in preparedness items. But usually these include the sorts of things you’ve mentioned before: bottled water, flashlights, first-aid kits, etc. Wal-Mart selling #10 cans of dehydrated and freeze-dried “Mormon foods” and big buckets of wheat berries … that’s a whole different level.
Oh, along these lines, I’ve been saving up this “9 Frugal Tips” article & might as well use it here, since it involves using “pantry storage” to get through something less than the apocalypse — just a spell without income.
http://www.businessinsider.com/9-frugal-money-hacks-for-the-unemployed-2012-3
BE and I must have read the same article. I remember reading how WalMart monitors the weather and stocks up on PopTarts before bad weather:
From WalMart on DataMining “We didn’t know in the past that strawberry Pop-Tarts increase in sales, like seven times their normal sales rate, ahead of a hurricane,” Ms. Dillman said in a recent interview. “And the pre-hurricane top-selling item was beer.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/business/yourmoney/14wal.html
Beer and freaking Pop-Tarts. My lord, what priorities!
Still, I guess one could look at Pop-Tarts as a sort of handy emergency food, never mind the lack of nutrition, OD of sugar, and basically chemical composition.
Interesting article. And BTW, this seems like one of the legitimate uses of data-mining — to figure out what your customers will want so you can stock it and they can get it and everybody benefits.
Ya know, when I turn off the incessant cable tv/msm internet feeds and step out into the real world, I find a different world altogether. And it aint half as bad as the loud voices would have you think.
I saw a small section (regular isle) of this stuff in a southern Oregon super wallyworld last week and thought of your post. I’ve yet to check in more urban areas of NW Oregon. I’m now tempted to check the regular walmart vs the super versions. I usually like to run by the sports departments to see what stores carry guns/ammo and in types/quantity.
The megamart chain FredMeyer in the NW actually sells guns now in some markets, usually rural areas.
Thanks, JFP. I think yours is the first confirmation I’ve heard of Wal-Marts (other than my local one) selling the storage foods outside of Mormon country. Both in the rural NW. Interesting.
Hmmm…how much is a pallet of pop-tarts?
shhhh .. you are giving away my hiding space lol
LOL, elli … talk about “hiding in plain sight”!
Just checked the website for “My Store”, and the local Walmarts don’t seem to carry any of this.
I’ll have to go with my wife (groan!) next time she goes. There’s a couple of “surplus” places out here (SoCal) that sell it, along with cases of MRE’s, but their prices are high.