We are all preping for the rollover by buying extra food, storing water, etc... What if businesses build stockpiles of inventory, parts, fuel, etc... Could this contingency planning help smooth the transistion and buy them some time to find compliant suppliers? I know if the power goes down all bets are off, but with electricity, could businesses survive the same way we plan to, by using a stockpile strategy?

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), August 31, 1999

Answers

* * * 19990831 Tuesday

Bill:

My family Y2K prep strategy is having an essential stockpile to muddle through to the first non-hybrid crop harvest in July 2000. IMHO, the only objectively practical (i.e., security, financially feasible, on-site storage capability, etc.) strategy.

While Emergency Management protocol calls for private homes to have priority "dibs" on essentials ( e.g., water, food, heating fuel, etc. ) over businesses, the reality is likely to be quite unpredictable.

For 260,000,000 U.S. citizens to prepare as I've indicated is impossible at this late date. Pestilence and social chaos--ergo, population attrition--will be the unavoidable prospect.

The least of our worries should be the economic engine that got us into this Y2K mess in the first instance. However, rest assured that an "Economics of Necessities" will emerge out of the shambles of Y2K!

We will each need to figure out how, where, and what we will want to do with our skills and efforts as the unknown Y2K history unfolds.

Be creative and don't lose your copy of the U.S. Constitution!

Regards, Bob Mangus

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-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), August 31, 1999.

My compnay is already doing a y2k buildup. They have been producing extra Advil, Anacin, ect... to prepare for any potential problems due to y2k. If none of the other companies like mine do this, we will have a very good year 2000.

-- Ned P Zimmer (ned@nednet.com), August 31, 1999.

The more stockpiling by businesses and consumers the better. The more people "buy" now the lesser chance they will steal and riot later. Depending on the size and location of your business, you may also want o stockpile some weapons and know where roof access is in case you have to defend your store like some Koreans did in the Rodney King riots.

-- ratt (round@and.round), August 31, 1999.

* * * 19990831 Tuesday

Ned wrote:

"My compnay is already doing a y2k buildup. They have been producing extra Advil, Anacin, ect... to prepare for any potential problems due to y2k. If none of the other companies like mine do this, we will have a very good year 2000."

Well, Ned, just how does this "compnay" {sic} expect payment and distribution of product in the market? How many "sane" employees will stand guard to protect product in lieu of protecting their family and loved ones? The stockpiled product will only wind up in the black market as fodder for bartering by those in close proximity to the "headache remedy" motherlode.

Paper don't {sic!} care what Contingency/Consequence Plans are written on it! If they ain't {sic!} viable, their neither due diligence or worth the paper they're written on! This is the nettlesome psychological denial aspect of the whole Y2K scenario. Unless the plans are actually executable, management is better off not wasting staff time, diverting efforts from REAL Y2K REMEDIATION EFFORTS!!

{sigh}

Regards, Bob Mangus

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-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), August 31, 1999.