The ethics of being a "Prepper" or "Stockpiling" supplies

In My Humble Opinion
1

Youtube has started serving me up with vids about what to in case SHtF or society goes into a major breakdown. Everything from what supplies to amass, where best to go, how to turn your ordinary suburban house into a fortress, what weapons you should have…. Apparently there is a (large?) minority of people who are really worried about this currently.

I’ve got nothing against people amassing supplies ahead of time, like they think the price of whatever will go up, or the supply of whatever is going to be impacted by tariffs, and so forth. If you have the ambition and space and money, fine. Stores are happy to help you. You want to have 16 jugs of your favorite laundry detergent squirreled away? Go for it. The guy in charge of keeping the shelves stocked (or possibly a computer algorithm?) will notice that their sales of Tide jumped this week so they’ll order an extra case, and within a few days the shelf will be just as full of Tide as usual. No harm to anyone.

But…. what happens if one of these SHtF scenarios really happens? What are you, you personally, going to do if there is NO milk or cereal left in the store? And your neighbor has three hungry children and you have an entire shelf of powdered milk and cartons of oatmeal stashed away in your basement?

Yes, it was your money/foresight/effort that created your safety supply. Yes, they could probably have created their own stockpile. Will you still be able to live with yourself if they come begging to your door and you turn them away?

What if you turn out to be two months into the crisis, and have eight more months of whatever packed in the garage? If you don’t share, and then the crisis goes away after four more months – and there you are with tons of whatever still on hand and people you know severely suffered or even died?

2

I’m not a prepper, I have no means of protecting my home either. There is prepping against a week or two supply interruption and then there is survivalist.

If you’re preparing for months of disruptions and you live in a neighborhood, a city or suburban sprawl, you’re doing something wrong. You need to have a remote cabin with a renewable power source. Or at least a secure bomb shelter.

People get hungry and desperate, some will get violent. So having 6+ months of supplies and still being near others in a standard house makes little sense to me.

My plan, if things get that bad? I don’t have a plan, I don’t really plan to survive such a situation.

3

Well, as it happens I’ve been the sort to try to be prepared for the slings and arrows of existence and have had one foot in the “preppersphere” for quite some time.

First - a lot of those videos the algorithm is feeding you are probably AI generated clickbait intended to scare people. A number of other ones are created/run by real people but they are very, very interested in selling you lots and lots of gear and stuff, for which they get a commission, that is, income.

The percentage of people actually interested in producing content to get you prepared for natural disasters or whatever is actually fairly small, and they tend to be channels with few subscribers that are not heavily promoted by YT unless you’re subscribed to their channel. And sometimes not even then.

Oh, yeah - computer inventory is standard these days.

Although stockpiling laundry detergent is…weird. But hey, whatever makes the guy happy, right?

That’s going to vary a lot between people. Some will happily let the neighbor’s kids die of starvation. Some will share.

Yes, there are people out there who would have no trouble doing exactly that. Or worse.

You and I are not those sorts of people but they are out there. Hell, there are people who’d first strip the parents and kids naked before turning them away. There are some very mean, evil people in the world.

There’s a high probability at that point that you will become a target for other people who don’t have stuff and now want your stuff.

Heck, there are so-called preppers whose plan is not to stockpile their own stuff but to kick down your door and take YOUR stuff.

One reason to share with the neighbors is because you can’t stay awake 24/7 to guard your stuff. Share with your neighbors in exchange for them helping you mount a watch and keeping everyone safe(r).

Personally, I’m interested in being able to cope with a couple weeks of interruption/chaos more than surviving the Zombie Apocalypse. Some people just get crazy on the topic.

4

Or someplace to go to that’s away from the problem area. Not a “bugging out” to some random patch of woods or whatever. Which only works if the problem is contained to a relatively small area of the planet. For a truly global catastrophe there really isn’t much the average person can do.

That more or less paints a target on your back. Numbers matter in those situations.

5

I think that most of the folks who describe themselves as “preppers” would let the neighbors starve. Which is part of the reason why the “preppers” would be the first to die, in an actual disaster situation. The absolute most important resource to stockpile in case of a disaster is allies.

If everyone in your neighborhood is looking out for each other, they’ll probably get through, somehow, even if none of them hoarded canned goods. If none of them are, then the canned goods will end up riddled with bullet holes and they’ll all be spared starvation only by bleeding out first.

6

This is a valuable insight. Humans might cooperate because they’re “good,” but more realistically we cooperate because it is better for us and our survival. Putting that front and center points to a better way forward.

7

Nothing unethical about stockpiling. Just not practical. You cannot predict the disaster you will face. There’s only a few things you can rely on:

Reliable transportation - whether it’s a Subaru, Ford 150, Land Rover or whatever, a well maintained vehicle with a full tank of gas is number one. It has to be housed in a secure (fire, flood, theft) building.

Cash - Credit cards, gold, silver and such don’t work in a disaster. Good old US greenbacks are the medium of exchange.

Paper maps: You need immediate access to information and you get that from an atlas of maps even if it’s old.

Pet food: Definitely something you can confidently stockpile.

Instant food products: Concentrated stuff that you can prepare in a motel microwave like Cream of Wheat.

A plan: You need a number of escape routes and you need to drive them recreationally. You cannot know what you will face so just know the territory.

Nothing above violates ethics.

8

I remember a previous time, decades ago, when there was a similar “fad” about survivalism. A woman in my church group confided in us about all the moves her husband was making to keep their family safe when the disaster hit. I don’t think she defined exactly what disaster they were expecting. Her husband was all in on it, including buying a ‘garden shed’ which he was packing full of food and such, as well as what she called ‘trade goods’ like cigarettes and booze – lots and lots of cheap booze, better than gold coins she declared. But mostly they focused on stockpiles of food with long storage lives. Especially bags of dried beans and ten pound bags of rice.

We mostly listened to her politely – that’s what groups of church women do, I think, but I couldn’t help wondering what her husband thought of his wife announcing to a couple dozen women that “Hey! We have all sorts of food piled up!” Not that we were exactly the stereotypical marauders, or that many of us actually knew her full address, but lots of us were mothers of families that might be starving in those evil times and we all knew at least which town she lived in and phone books used to be common things….

Oh – one of the other things he did was acquire defunct chest freezers from a handyman type who repaired them. They’d patch up the electrical outlets and such openings, then he buried them in their way back yard, after filling them up with whatever. Just a couple of inches below the surface, so they’d be out of sight but accessible when needed. And I was thinking, you don’t think your neighbors noticed you turning your back yard into what probably seemed like a private cemetary???

9

And in exchange for them not just killing you and taking your stockpile. In actual sieges and famines being a hoarder is the sort of thing that gets you killed; whether by a mob or executed by the government. People only tolerate preppers because they aren’t actually starving other people.

10

I tried to stock up a while back, but it requires professional storage. Three days after Hurricane Sally I had 150 pounds of rapidly rising, fermenting flour in the garage. That was a challenge. We couldn’t use most of the other stuff because we were commuting from a motel two states away. Over time I gave what didn’t go out of date to food drives.

11

I have a hoarders heart.

I think it comes from living so far out in a remote are.

You’re not hopping over to the store for a can of tomato paste. That is why I buy in bulk, where it’s possible. I have lots of storage space and four freezers.

And I get a tiny tickle in my brains buying in multiples.

12

There is definitely a meme of someone sitting atop a year (or ten) of supplies but it’s nonsense.

First, I’m not riding out a long-term disaster in my current apartment. For certain types of problems maybe 3 weeks (that actually happened to me back in 2017 and led to me getting my current place to live). There’s no way in hell I’m piling up more than 3 months of anything. Anything beyond that is wasted money, effect, and storage space.

If the whatever it is lasts longer than a couple weeks I’m leaving. Unlike most people I even have a destination in mind, a place to go TO.

The myth of running out to live in the woods, hunting and fishing to survive, is just that: a myth. First, the “go-bag” or “bug-out bag” proposed for that is usually way, way, way too heavy. Some of the ones being promoted are 70-100 pounds. Or more. Just not going to happen. Second, ask anyone who has gone hunting and fishing - you’re going to have a LOT of bad days where you get nothing. That’s why we domesticated critters we like to eat, they’re a lot easier to turn into dinner when you don’t have to go looking for them and they’re in a pen where they can’t run away from you. You’re not going to be able to do that while building shelter, chopping wood, etc.

The ONLY way to survive is to gain allies and pool resources and skills.

13

No ethical issue IMHO.

But we “prep” for normal emergencies- earthquakes, wildfires, etc.

And IMHO people are foolish if they do NOT prep for such potential emergencies.

Yep, generally few of us can survive in the Great outdoors for any length of time. When I hike, I prep for a couple of days- until rescue. Thinking you are gonna survive off grid in the wilderness without a home etc already there is silly.

14

No ethical problem buying a little extra and storing it when times are good, or at least somewhat sane/normal, and storing it for later. No ethical problem buying more than a little extra as long as you can pay for it and others can continue to buy what they need/want.

Ethics of hoarding when people around you are starving? Well, when law and order break down that gets dicey. But that’s a different set of circumstances. Not just “might makes right” but “we vastly outnumber you makes right”. To anyone in that situation - good luck.

15

Of course our modern problem is the population. If you are heading for the hills, so are a million and a half others. Lack of skill is one problem but the shear volume of humans is the greater. A friend of mine tried to evacuate Huston TX years ago. After 8 hours in stopped traffic she turned around and went home.

16

A lot of the preppers I’ve met seem to relish the idea of surviving while their unprepared neighbors perish. I mean the ones who are just as excited to show you their armory as their food and supply inventory. It’s that dark fantasy that makes the, well, hobby of prepping so attractive.

17

I’m a semi-prepper, somewhat less so than say, @Broomstick’s examples.

Full disclosure, my tendencies in the direction began for the silliest and least practical of reasons. Because I’m an avid, multi-genre TT-RPG player, there’s always various back of the head scenarios “What would I do if XYZ really happened!”

But I didn’t put any money into it.

Realistically I started after the first time wildfires hit the edge of Colorado Springs. After that, I made some minimal effort into an evac bag. More got added to it after the second time it happened, and my in-laws were in the “next zone to be evac’d” list.

But that was as far as I got as an apartment renter.

Once I got a home, doing more prepping is far easier with the storage space. Personally, I consider prepping to have three main categories. The evac bag, say to take care of yourself for 3-7 days (three is much more portable and workable on foot, 7 you’d better plan on a car) - adequate for a short term disruption, where you expect shelter somewhere, and may or may not have food and water.

The second is “in-place” prepping. Say up to a month. You expect some major disruption (once in a century storm, major blackouts/power disruptions, massive riots, or something else where it’ll take a good while until whatever the situation is ends, and then longer before the aftermath is dealt with). So mostly some power generation/storage equipment, more heat sources, more pantry stable food, and lots more water.

TEOTWAWKI? I’m not mentally or physically equipped to survive it.

So those are the two categories I prep for. And given those scenarios, yeah, I’d share. In the first, I have enough chub to go some time, a week’s fast isn’t going to kill me, so sure, I could give up to half my food away. In the second, making a big pot of rice and beans isn’t much of an issue to share, as long as there’s sufficient water and fuel. And it’s better to have goodwill than seething anger, even if you’re armed.

I’ll leave off the discussion of firearms and ammo stocking, because it’s secondary, and waaaaay too emotionally driven.

As to the ethics of doing it at all, I spend less than $50 per year of cycling through the supplies, it’s waste, granted, but far less than the people I know who get fast food once a week.

18

Yup. And you’re a lot more likely to be safe from the neighbors.

Also yes. I’m not likely to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. I’m very likely to survive a short term disaster; and far more likely to do so in reasonable comfort if I’m prepared for one.

This is certainly true. Nobody’s got much chance of surviving any long term disaster without allies. The chances of a group are much greater.

Having a reasonable amount of extra supplies stashed, if you’ve got the money and storage space to do so, can help keep those allies alive (as well as help keep them well disposed towards you.)

19

Those are the folks I worry about. The ones dreaming of quickly killing their neighbors and taking their supplies. And when the crowd from the city gets out to them, gleefully mowing down their fellow citizens like some zombie movie or Halloween scary hayride. But for real.

That’s the wet dream of a lot of our fellow Americans. And it ain’t pretty.

20

They will probably already have been killed for their weapons.