Hello, everybody.
Hello everybody. Welcome to the show the big show the most important and critically acclaimed podcast that is recorded in our Emmy powered naturally aspirated automobile show. Very guarded,
he only put it that way because he wants a blower, I think
probably more a supercharger than blower. But anyway, pressing right along,
as we record this podcast, we have just been picking up some groceries. And we kind of stocked up because we don't expect to be up this way for a while we don't expect to be out grocery shopping for a while.
And this is one of the places that we love to go. It's a run by Amish people. And it's basically they have a lot of slightly out of date, and very cheap stuff and salvage stuff that comes off of out of stores that closed and there's a lot of those right now. So there's a lot of really good deals out there and we were buying stuff, you know, pennies on the dollar that's still in date, the packaging looks great. You know, we love to shop there, we get
out of there. With a massive pile of groceries, I mean, just a massive pile for $36. And if we paid full retail for it, we probably would have been over 201 thing
that kind of struck me is they had a big box of those little bottles of hand sanitizer for 25 cents apiece. So that's what's in overstock at the moment is the little bottles of hand sanitizer.
And you're going places are starting three or $4, let's say little bottles today. So
yeah, at the height of the buying craze, they were six. And now they're 25 cents apiece there. And, well, the cycle doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, because right now there's as many cases of disease in our area as I've ever seen.
In fact, the statistics say it's the highest we've ever had. Now one of the case one of the reasons that they may be that way in Iowa, which is where the story is, is because they were selling these big, large boxes full of Twinkies cereal,
a whole case of cereal, cereal,
dollars, people, okay, Twinkies cereal that make anybody say, maybe that wasn't it? I just couldn't. I was actually I didn't see that she saw the Twinkie seriola Ooh, we actually have a little routine we do. There we go. The grocery store we call it cereal of the day, is I generally pick out one of the most ridiculously cartoony, horrible, super sugary looking, designed to sell two kids cereal and chili reads The
list of ingredients. So we both got grown and go, Oh my goodness, people feeding this stuff to kids. And there ought to be a law or anything,
people do it. There we go.
You're just just get a bowl of sugar inside it in front of them is probably healthier. But anyway, pressing right on
same place. You could have always been able to get canning supplies for cheap,
but they have and they have wide canning lids right now I saw some on the shelf. You cannot find wide canyonlands anywhere and haven't been able to for nine months.
Step two where I started out stocked and the ones I used over the summer I replaced because they were always available in those kinds of stores.
Yeah. Because you just got to know where to shop to find the stuff we've always been able to get. I mean, when everybody else for something they had that craze about six months ago where you couldn't find toilet paper anywhere. Nowhere could you find throw the paper and by the pallet because people there are not tied to the news is Amish. They don't listen to the news. They don't pay attention to the news.
They didn't realize they were supposed to panic and buy toilet paper.
Exactly. They didn't realize listening to news they were supposed to panic and panic by
at the worst of the canning supplies. Pinch. There was one week where they had a sign out that you they would only sell you two dozen at a time. Which for some of these canning production factories that are Mennonite and Amish kitchens is not that many, but still fairly generous.
When you have 456 acre garden. You can can all watch.
Yeah, and when you've got that many kids you can go through a lot. Trust me we did when I was a kid had whole shelves things downstairs. She
is the youngest of name nine.
But I can't say my parents should have stopped earlier.
No, but I do know what her mother once told me. She said I wouldn't take a billion dollars for any chill child I've got or give you a plug nickel for another
flavor on that one. So I would have also been noticing The some of the prepper forums that we go to where we are now is it is November of 2020, mid November. So there was the big drama about COVID earlier on, and then people kind of forgot about it, but it didn't go away because virus don't care. And now we're seeing another major upswing in cases bigger than ever before. Especially in our rural areas, it's actually infiltrating, which it did not do the first time around,
really. And now we're starting to see local hospitals with no beds, and things like that. So that's where we are. And it's been interesting to me to watch the forums from people from the more urban areas, talking about what they can and can't get, because our shelves never got there. They never got better of anything, something's got a
little bit thin. But it was never like you couldn't find what you needed, especially if you went to the farming home store or one of the Mennonite stores or something like that. But I was noticing that a lot of people were talking about, okay, this is the low we expect it to get bad again this winter, now is the time to go online and buy all that never used stuff that
panic buyers bought. And now they've decided it's not going to be a thing and they're trying to sell it or they're harder for money and they're trying to sell it. And you can pick it up for really cheap now before the next wave hits. And it got me thinking about buying cycles and emergencies, which I've learned something about in the past year.
An example that was a couple months ago, we it made actually cut went viral a little bit but somebody was having a yard sale in Moberly, which is so 5075 miles from where we live. And they were selling a table full of toilet paper tables that they had panic bought, or bought here bought profiteer bought, I'm not sure which, and everybody was mocking them for having all of those tables full of toilet paper.
I wasn't saying anything, but I was mocking them on the inside. Because we have plenty ourselves, but we never had to clear out garage storage space for toilet paper.
We have plenty because, you know we buy a case full of stuff. And we're two people and we're not you know the kind of people that go through. You know, you don't do the makeup thing which goes through a lot of toilet paper. Be honest with you. And, you know, we just doesn't
either do the makeup thing.
I don't I don't I I'm a natural person when it comes to that. But anyway, pressing right along the I have a gun guy you all know I'm a gun guy, I kind of see a lot of the gun panic buying. And you can pretty well tell when the gun panic buying seasons are on because you can't buy ammo. And you can't know unless you know where to look, you can't generally find guns like the air fifteens. Remember in the last big post, post school massacre one, the one
it's it doesn't matter. But the the one that caused the big gun buying panic, there was a store. It was in Colombia at the time it's moved to boonville called the Black rifle. All they do is basically ar 15. So if you're familiar with the CMM g brand, they're basically the factory store for the cmmg brand. This is what they do. And the factory store for cmmg could get ar fifteens. During the panic time they sold they had a whole wall of ak 47 because that's all they
could get. And the ones that say well, I mean they could get era 50 but they were just selling out of them when they came in. Because obviously the factory is still making them. And it's the factory store more or less. So they were just selling them left and right. And by the way, in case you're wondering cmmg is a good gun. You're looking for an AR 15 you could do a lot worse than a CMT. They're good, good firearms. Okay, kind of beside
the point. For a long time during that panic, Sandy Hook, that was what I was looking for. You couldn't buy nine millimeter, which you could pick up pretty much everything else then the other calibers started going away and then the 22 went away. It was the last to go. But what's the 22 went away on the shelves. It
was gone for a year. Closer to two. Well, we were still well stocked we, we actually found one place that was selling whole buckets of the 22. Practice rounds. And pick those up to supply our plinking.
We bought a couple bucks. Yeah, but we, it was crazy. Now I will tell you, what was happening was the gun show guys were going into the places like Walmart, which was selling 22 ammunition at the time. They're going into places like Walmart, standing there waiting for the orders to come and they were buying them out. And they're taking them and profiteering by selling them at the gun shows. It's happened all over the country. And it got people know
that they were doing this. And right now, I mean, there's a shortage as a speaker, there's a shortage of 5.56, and nine millimeter and a lot of other things right now. And people who are getting them and putting on the shelves are doing so at double or triple the prize, a friend who's again, who has a gun store, and he's been getting blasted for you know, putting, put an ammo out there. And he's putting it out there and his cost. He's just doing it. So his guys. He's literally putting it
out there at cost. But he's having to pay double for it.
I've seen signs on some places, we assure you our profit margin has not increased. These prices are up because our supply prices are up. And as soon as our supplier prices go down, so will our prices again, we're not making extra money off these things. We saw one of those safety equipment at Harbor Freight I
think I prefer Yeah, it was nitrile gloves. Yeah. And Harbor Freight. I mean, everybody knows Harbor Freight if for nothing else is cheap, right? I mean, if nothing else, Harbor Freight is cheap. And you know, I look there nitrile gloves for like 20 bucks for a box, it's usually five. But that's the science of gouging, it's just that's the prices up, because there's a shortage of the stuff to make it and there's a lot of shortages, apparently that are out there.
So my thought was buying off cycle. If you're listening to this podcast, it's likely that you're a prepper and maybe have been a prepper for a while or will be will be a prepper after it's no longer fashionable again, which probably won't be terribly long these things come and go. So when things are really hot, well, that's when you are already have that stuff on your shelf and you chill out and let the panic buyers have
it. And then right after the panic for that passes, and the supply catches up, there's a temporary oversupply and super sales, and then you go and stock up again. It's been working for us, we haven't been shopping very much. But that's what we've been doing for the stuff we are shopping for.
Almost everything we buy right now is food. That's pretty much it. And I'll admit we are we are stuck to the gills on the right.
Yeah,
we're really got, we've got a we've got a stop one of these days. Of course, some of us that one of the things about us in food, though, is a lot of what we eat is fresh. And so you get it doesn't last for a week, we wouldn't have to eat fresh because plenty of stored stuff, but we like it. So we do. And I
barely got the last I think I've got one more picking out of my garden, which is silly because it's mid November. But it's been good this year. And I've got one more picking probably of lettuce and he beans out of it before it's done for the season. But then that'll be that until spring rolls around except for grabbing the occasional bit of garlic. So long as the grounds not frozen, I can always find some of that.
So yeah, if you're a serious prepper and you've got your immediate needs for the short term met, then it's important not to get spooked by what everybody thinks we need right now or think that because it's scarce, now is the time you must rush out and pay up for it. Because unless it's immediate and immediate need, what that usually means is now is the time when you should chill out and let other people pay up for it. And buy on the backside when the prices go back down again.
Okay, now I'm going to use gun terms because a lot of you guys are good guys, too. So this translates really easily. You know, a lot of gun guys will say you should have for every gun you should have plenty of magazines for it. And plenty of rounds. A lot of guys will say something along the lines for every gun you should have, have at least six magazines or more. A lot of people say way more than that, but six magazines and 1000 rounds. I'm just throwing these out here as an example.
I'm not saying that's what I recommend. I'm just saying that's an example of 1000 rounds in it. You should have six magazines, well, if you only have two magazines, and if you only have only if you only have a couple hundred rounds, you know, you may get the feeling that I've just I've got everybody's says I gotta have this other, I gotta go pay up, because that's what it's gonna take for me to relax and feel comfortable. I get that. I
totally get that. But I don't necessarily think it's very good idea. And I would encourage anybody wanting to do that, to look for alternatives, look for a different way you can go about it look to trade with somebody, trade, something you don't need for us for a guy who may have an extra, you know, extra magazines, or go and look for other options. Let's say for example, I sauna, a sauna, forum post the other day guys said, well, all I can buy is, is a 12 gauge. Right now all I can buy
is 12 gauge ammunition. Nothing else is out there. I have a 12 gauge, but I don't plan on using it. Like, my response was, what 12 gauge is a fantastic prepping gun. So if all you can buy at a regular price is 12 gauge ammunition and you feel like you need to buy ammunition. That's a reasonable purchase. And of course this this goes across the board for any item. I'm just using guns as an example. Because I happen to be fairly up
on that at the moment. The tendency is and I've done this, I admit it is to say, Man, they're selling out I'll never be able to get it. Yes, you will. The stuff isn't going out of style.
And the other flip side is what if you don't, of course. There's a lot of wildlife in northeast Missouri.
So while we just had a close encounter with a deer,
so it is yeah, they were spooked this morning,
this first day of shooting in Missouri. Now
there's people running all over shooting him.
And he was not happy.
This is his first hunting season.
Yeah. And might be as less. I hope not even a little guy.
Yeah, it'd be tasty.
Pressing right?
Yeah. So of course, when you're prepping, there is always the knowledge in the back of your mind that things do not always go back to normal. And you actually may not have the opportunity in the future to do stuff now. So I'm not talking about the things you absolutely have to have. I'm talking here about the things that it would be good to to improve your preps or you've got needs in this area. But you've also got needs in other areas. I'm saying Don't let yourself be spooked by what
everybody else is buying. And what you're not seeing on the show goes to creating a feeling of urgency in you that isn't there based on your real circumstances. Assess your own needs, and absolutely take care of your own needs. But don't let other people's perceptions of needs, spook you or Stampede you into paying up for stuff you don't need. prepping dollars, you're limited. There's always a lot of different directions you could go. So go with what you
really need. And if there's a choice between things that are easily available now and things that are aren't good like to have them both in your preps. Why not go for what you can get and not be spooked.
Got a good example of that. I almost guarantee that during the toilet paper crisis a few months ago. It's true. You could go to a big box store like a Walley world. And you could buy could not buy toilet paper, which could buy were five or six different types of water filtration systems like the Sawyer filters, the live straws, that kind of stuff. You can buy those, but you couldn't buy toilet paper,
the better water filtration you have, the less need you have for toilet paper from diarrhea.
Exactly. I mean, frankly, you can live just fine without toilet paper. People did it for thousands of years.
Even before the Montgomery Ward analog
analog. They didn't live nearly as well or as long without the water filters. That one really killed a lot of people. Oh, a lot of people
still kills a lot of people just not in our neighborhood.
So water filtration much more important than toilet paper. So you got to keep the priorities you know line.
And frankly, guns and ammo are one of those things that people like to think about like to buy. Pardon me if I'm being sexist here, but I think it's a macho thing to some extent, to focus on that kind of stuff, even when it is not the greatest need you've got.
I'm not all macho about it. I say the words pew pew. I got I got me a new pew pew.
I'm not macho? No, but you do not exhibit some of the most annoying flaws that some people exhibit. Oh, put it that way. Well, okay. He started to mansplain something to me. A couple days ago, he got half a sentence into it. And he stopped himself and said, What am I doing? You know perfectly well how to do that. I said, even Thank you, sir.
Even worse, I'll go ahead and admit what it was. It was how to cut up vegetables properly to make a stew. I'm seriously telling her how the how the proper way is to cut potatoes to make do and I got about a sentence into that. Not only this man's planning, this is just stupid. The woman has made stews for years. And what are you doing? shot you trap? You're not impressing anybody. not admitting water was a problem that I did. And I have to stop myself from mansplaining
from time to time. Because man splain
Yeah. But he's good about it. And the good about stopping himself. And that makes a big difference. So the point here is Yeah, just because it's you know sexier than buying something to filter your own water or making sure you've got an extra can opener for all that canned food, or thinking about how you're actually going to cook. That stuff. if the power goes out this winter are checking on your backup heat source for the house
for the winter. Those aren't nearly as cool as making sure you got enough guns and ammo, but might be a better spending of time and resources. There are cycles of buying associated with hard times and 20 is certainly has its share of those so far. But you can make best use of them by being on the off cycle. Not being part of the hoard of lemmings stampeding toward the cliff at the moment.
I'm holding my thumb up. Yep, look, that's gonna do something. I'm holding my thumb. Good job. Like you can see that on the podcast. I'm holding my thumb up.
I'm glad you communicated that to me, but until you said something about it. I'm pretty sure you weren't communicating it very well to our listeners.
I didn't want to mansplain to Oh,
well there you go.
Thumbs plain. Here we are. Which is not nearly as bad as it's better than thumb draining
there's just nowhere to go with that so okay, drop and move on. You
know, it's just like we're gonna go with the B movie thing here. Where the creature dies, roll the credits well the creature just died we're gonna roll the credits even though we don't have any credit so we so we came to do
Don't be a lemming.
Don't be a lemming see. What's your name is actually Fleming. I have a friend whose name floating by