Prescott, Arizona (pronounced press-kit) is home to a Costco and I thought that I’d recon the place this morning. We received more snow than they did, but it snowed in Prescott all the same. My mission was to see what was available at the Costco.
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| The first task was brushing off the snow and warming the truck up. |
Would the people of Prescott show up on a snow day?
I planned to be there 15 minutes before they opened at 10:00 am. And I arrived after a 100 minute drive at 9:45 am to find it open and doing business. They opened early for senior citizens.
The place was fully stocked with toilet paper, paper towels, bleach and everything else that my heart desired. $400 later, I left Costco, stocked with supplies, and headed up to higher altitude, where it was still snowing.
People were polite, but in Prescott, most of the people are packing handguns openly or concealed. I had two, but had concerns based on the news cycle that things could get ugly. Everything was normal except that the toilet paper packs (usual huge Costco packs) were by the front door so that you could just pick them up on the way in.
No panic.
No empty shelves.
Tons of food at the usual prices.
I wish I could say the same here. I had to run into town to get a few items for the better half. I was able to score everything but the powdered milk she wanted. Stock in most items was depleted though they were stocking some TP as I was there. At least everyone was polite. This isn't New Jersey and some of us pack.
Things are calm here, and most of the stores seem to have adequate supplies. I think everybody who wanted a big pack (or three…) of TP has probably got it by now.
My wife's mention of a possible dog food shortage had me scratching my head, though…
I didn't look for powdered milk, but they had fully stocked regular milk.
I realize that some areas have supply chains being overwhelmed, but eventually, everyone will have whatever they need. Nothing changed in the supply chain but people being greedy.
Costco had a lot of pet food. The pet food aisle was fully stocked. I did see people with shopping carts full of dog food, so maybe that's the next big panic item. However, I think this thing will work itself out within the next week or so.
That sounds much like our last shopping trip; except the Costcos nearest us were not yet open ( they hadn't yet received their daily shipments ) ( my wife called to find out when they might open ) and we did our shopping at a supermarket in the town we were in ( we live a 45-50 minute drive from there ) instead. We spent just a little less than you did, but we got enough supplies to last for several weeks. I didn't notice anyone packing, even though Oregon is an open carry state.
Thanks for the post.
Paul L. Quandt
Good news. People seem more sensible in Press-kit than Hill County.
People are panic buying luncheon meat here, curiously.
Other tan walking the dog, I'm indoors all day.The residents here that utilize the food bank (Wednesdays) said it was near normal.
Just asked SLW what stores she went to that were low/out of dog food, and she said all of them were.
She got the last 50lb bag from the King Soopers (Kroger) here, so even though we get it delivered from Chewy, and have 3/4 of the latest bag left, we now have some extra "preps" for the dog in addition to what I have put away in Der Boonker..
I think I had right at 4 inches near downtown Preskitt.
Good to hear AZ is not as nuts as the CO Front Range, then again weather here today looks like yours…maybe should have gone this morning instead of a nice day like yesterday. (Altho, maybe they saw you coming and got things in order!)
Pebbles the wonder dog should be able to synthesize her food out of thin air. After all, she is a wonder dog.
I bought more than usual, some items like potassium nodules that go into the water softener, and so forth. I stopped short of over buying, but all that was purchased will be used in the course of business.
Funny you should mention that. When I spoke to the Walmart store manager in Winslow about a week ago, now, he said that the lunch meat was blowing off the shelves. There was also a shortage of spam. I don't usually eat either, so didn't notice it.
I guess that if you want a ham sandwich, it's important to have ham?
There's no reason to go out in a blizzard unless you're insane….which may be why I did.
There was a lot of blowing and drifting on top of the rim. It's snowing now, at 4:30 pm and snowed all day. We have 6 or 7 inches in some places, and just ice on the ground where the sleet froze, that crunches underfoot. Prescott Valley seemed to have less snow. Lower elevation?
There was madness to my method by driving to the nearest Costco in the aftermath of a blizzard. I felt that only the strong would survive the Costco parking lot. I arrived early but it had opened earlier. There were people there but the place had all of the stuff that I wanted.
Correct. I’m not sure what the elevation of PV is though Wiki says 5000ft. Wherever that was measured. My luxe manse is 5500.
Darn, I'm running low on the larger Milk Bones, but just unzipped the 50# Kibbles.
Was just visiting Sedona last Sunday, packed with tourists, cool and partly sunny and zero snow.
No fuss, no muss and all the eateries were open. Had a nice beer from a deck watching the painted rock formations with wife, daughter and 2 grandkids. Guess we just barely missed the dip into craziness, flew back Monday, normal flight, no masks or panic then as of Tuesday this week all our eateries, malls and other hospitality services were told to shut down in Michigan and Indiana (I live just north of the border).
Costco was normal last week, and local supermarkets are still pretty well stocked with some surprising exceptions – chicken gone, most processed meats – thinned out and breads thinned out. All the rest plentiful. Strange times.
Yep, 'some' common sense is coming back.
The "I had two" comment made me smile. I almost always do when I'm not on the homestead.
I live in the mountains east of Sedona, so you get the general vibe.
Yeah, things went crazy all of a sudden and it's surreal. Normal to weird. Human beings adapt (and overcome) with remarkable skill. We're seeing that. The supply chain is strong and the death rate isn't insane so far. We'll bounce back, but the economic trouble will remain with us as people cope with the changing landscape.
Yes, the Costco run demonstrated that for me. I think that the strange times just spook people. I have to admit that the unfolding events are disturbing because plans have to change.
Under the doctrine of "Two is one and One is None", you should always have a little extra something. The two is one is how I try to run everything. I means that I'm prepared.
It's a shame about the Boy Scouts and the "Be Prepared" motto. Damned shame. The losers are the boys that would have benefited.
I tried to find out if our Costco was doing that senior thing. I have to make a regular run on Monday. I'll put the word out on some of my local groups and should be able to find out.
I do know that they're only letting in a certain number of peeps at a time.
The picture of your truck with all the snow made my skin crawl. We've been sitting out on the deck in the sun shine. We've earned it after last year!
I'd just call the Costco if I were you. They can give you whatever details that you need. Then you go in, pick up your stuff, pay for it, and you're clear. Which is pretty much what I did today, without the senior thing going on.
Where's the knife?
No food here. People a re stark- raving mental. Can I borrow a gun?
The knife would be ILLEGAL in England. I think that you guys have even made kitchen knives illegal – when the real problem is Mohammedans with knives.
The only food shortages in the US have been caused by hoarding in specific locations and at this point, it should be diminishing as the massive supply chain fills the shelves back up. I'm sorry that there are problems there in Nottingham. I expect that the situation will return to normal quickly for you.
And I'm happy that you seem to be recovering from COVID-19.
You need (at least) one firearm of your own. I would say that you need a rifle, a pistol and a shotgun as baseline armaments. Maybe the UK will change the rules?
Same scenario here in corrupt Illinois: store shelves are stocked, just busier than usual. Some masks here and there, along with surgical gloves.
Don;t sweat the weather too much LL – it's going to be 69 degrees here in Rhode Island today, and we're only about 7 degrees of latitude north of you!
On the other hand, people are WAY crazier here. The stores all seem to be out of things, but it's different things at different stores? The stuff people are hoarding is bizarre too – Milk? What're they gonna do, freeze it? Water? Most of the State is on city water, which works on… gravity…
They're all still being polite, anyway.
The snow's nice in a way – the run-of-the-mill bad guy will show up much better against it. Arctic-camo Commandos will still be a problem, but enough of those guys can be a problem for anyone.
-Kle.
smalltown va top-off run. no paper products what so ever. cheese decimated, as well as bacon and butter. plenty of milk, go figure. zero ground beef, chicken or chops. most other things stocked. way busier than normal, hushed almost silent though. beer cooler was about like a snow forecast. the lost look on some people's faces was…idk, weird. bars and rest closed. …i'm with you, extend unemployment and business coverage not another gimme.
The stores are doing better than ever and so are the people who are supplying the stores. I wish I owned a company that sold "prepper freeze-dried food" just about now.
I bought surgical gloves and I can wear them in the garage, working on machines and such once the Chinese Plague has ended.
To be honest with you, Fredd, and I'm always honest with you…most of the time…ok, occasionally, living rurally, there's no difference between before the plague and during the plague.
It's supposed to be in the 50's here today and the snow will start melting.
I try to look harmless wherever I am. It's legal to sling your AR-15 here but it makes people nervous.
You may need to find a larger town to go to in order to harvest what you need.
Something like that, and now I'm thinking of Hillary.
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Repost of above due to poor grammer:
As I may or may not have previously posted here, Walmart stocks packages of 3-5 loaves of frozen bread for under 3-5 dollars.
Ya take one out of the freezer, stick it in a buttered (I use Pam for ease of use) 5×9 bread pan (I use metal as glass doesn't brown the sides properly for me) overnight in the fridge covered by plastic wrap, drop er on the counter for two/six hours as she rises if the temp is 75 or above however, I stick that baby in a warm oven to expedite. Stab er with a knife after she rises, twice, if you don't want 2 inches of an airborne top crust which drops er down to a nice consolidated bread loaf and bake that witch at 350-375 for 20 minutes depending on altitude.
After she has baked, place a moist washcloth or dish towel on top of it to re inject moisture into the bread. I usually use a dry towel with a heavy bilateral hand of the sink sprinkling that sucker until it is moist enough. This will ensure you get a good bread top quality that is soft. If you like your bread tops crunchier, use less moisture on your towel.
Ala- fresh bread and it stores well in the fridge for up to a week or two if placed in a plastic bag without mold. You gotta put er in the bag warm to preserve the moisture. I use empty, washed and dried previously used store bought bread bags which I of course have consumed the bread therein because I must help support the economy of the local bakeries.
Most nitwits don't have a clue about this so it is almost always available.
I bought 40 loaves in June 2017 and baked the last loaf on Monday for a stew. Perfect loaf as always with a slather of 5 year old frozen butter on er.
I just restocked last night with another 8 bags (40 loaves). They only had 8 bags left but I ain't greedy. It must come in a case of 16 but who knows.
Good for emergency bread or when you just don't want to go to the store or grind your own wheat, which I have done and it is a pain in the ass.
Outside the box and LL, this might be a goody for you and others up in the Outer-lands and Netherlands of America, in which I also live up in N Idaho/Montana.
Regards, Jeff in Idaho
Yeah – I decided to blow off the senior thingy. First of all I do not like being referred to as "elderly." F that!!
So I will just head in on Monday as planned.
I always have gloves for around the house tasks.
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