Article in this weekend"s issue of USA weekend written by Phil Lambert states:

Many people are stockpiling food in anticipation of worldwide shutdown from the y2k computer bug. One told me he's already gathered a year's supply. Other's won't even buy a loaf of bread.

Quote: "Stores will be open with an ample supply of food on Jan 1," promises Tim Hammonds, CEO of the Food Marketing Institute, the trade association representing food retailers and wholesalers. By year's end he reports,96% of supermarket checkout scanners will be y2k compliant.

The concluding paragraphs of this article read: You may want to have on hand extra candles and supplies you typically have available during weather emergencies, writes Phil Lempert. My Y2K shopping list includes little more than these necessities: caviar,Godiva"s chocolate covered cherries, champange.

"The bottom line," says Tom Oleson, research director for the International Data Group in Framingham, Mass., "is that if anyone is hoarding food the result is that they will wind up with a lot of spoiled food that won't be needed."

Comment" This article was read by millions of readers that get the Sunday paper. Is this yet another example of responsible Media reporting?

-- Foxrun (ardrinc@aol.com), July 12, 1999

Answers

Quote: "Stores will be open with an ample supply of food on Jan 1," promises Tim Hammonds, CEO of the Food Marketing Institute, the trade association representing food retailers and wholesalers. By year's end he reports,96% of supermarket checkout scanners will be y2k compliant.

That's right... encourage people to think about the immediate and the obvious (like checkout scanners)... but don't mention things like international trade and supply lines.

Hey, Mr. Hammonds... how come almost nobody from your industry wanted to testify before the Senate Y2K committee?

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), July 12, 1999.

Oh great - we're going to have food on the shelves because the scanners are 96% compliant. We're not worried that we can't pay for the food (well... a little), we're worried that food won't even be there. How is a scanner going to get the transportation industry ready?!?

Then we might want to be able to *see* after 6pm (candles), but don't worry about *eating*!!!

Oh, and about the spoiled food, he might be partially right, but who cares! Remember, it's the *stakes*, not the odds. I like how he says *will*, not *might* - now he can predict the future too.

-- Jim (x@x.x), July 12, 1999.

Hey, the guy's from Framingham ! All csy2k-ers know what that means!! 8^)

-- Rich Miller (rmiller2@ix.netcom.com), July 12, 1999.

"Stores will be open with an ample supply of food on Jan 1"

That's just great, I for one hope it's true! He fails to mention that for a lot of reasons "stores anywhere could be wiped out in a matter of hours and not replenished for days (or?). And that insult from Tom Oleson about "spoiled food" is saying nothing more than "supermarket profits will be crap next year when people are living off their (perfectly good)food they stocked up on last year".

We still have a tremendous amount of people that do not even have a few days worth of food! Be like Grandma people! FILL up that pantry just in case your store isn't open during *any* period of the rest of your life.

-- BiGG (supersite@acronet.net), July 12, 1999.

The worst advice I've seen so far is to AVOID

-- bw (home@puget.sound), July 12, 1999.

The worst advice I've seen so far is to AVOID buying food because all the hoarders will quit shopping after 1/1/2000 and the stores will be running big specials!

Thanks, guys, that's really helpful.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), July 12, 1999.

I have followed Mr. Oleson's comments periodically for a year: they have been consistently misinformed at best and cockeyed at worst. Apparently he thinks that any stored food = "hoarding" = spoiled food, and he is so ignorant as not even to know the standard FEMA and Red Cross recommendations for having 3-7 days worth of supplies at all times. Furthermore, as even John Koskinen recently admitted, personal preparations for Y2K should vary according to local and regional assessments of the situation: Mr. Koskinen noted that in Miami, the official (govt.) prep recommendation is now for 7-10 days, and in LA it is for 5-7 days. Mr. Koskinen recommends that citizens consult with local govt. and emergency services managers in their particular locales in determining their own preparation needs. I recognize that many folks on this forum might consider these recommendations absurdly minimalist, but I am simply making the point that even Koskinen, in addition to FEMA and the Red Cross, recognizes the need for SOME preparations--a fact that has gone right by Mr. Oleson and Phil Lambert, the writer of the above article.

-- Don Florence (dflorence@zianet.com), July 12, 1999.