I hope this trend continues...

R.

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Y2K business activity picks up USA Today

Tuesday, August 10, 1999

Attention Y2K shoppers: just 144 days until the millennium.

As Year 2000 computer glitches threaten to wreak havoc on everything from bank ATMs to water treatment plants, sales of Y2K-related products by catalogers, the Internet and traditional retailers are heating up after a six-month lull.

``Sales were slow, but people worried about Y2K are no longer procrastinating,'' said Sandy Picou, founder of Y2K Merchant (www.survivalunlimited.com).

Among Y2K winners:

- Surplus stores. Long suppliers to outdoor enthusiasts, survivalists and assorted New Age pilgrims, military surplus purveyors are enjoying one of their best years. ``It's not ethical to profit off of fear,'' said Kyle Rovinsky of Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet in Dallas. ``But Y2K has definitely increased sales.''

The family-run business launched a Website in 1997. So far, sales are up 700 percent from 1998, mostly due to Y2K. Rovinsky expects sales to surge higher in autumn. Who's buying? ``The demographics are across the board,'' he said. ``Wives whose husbands don't know they are preparing for Y2K. Senior citizens. White-collar workers. You name it.''

About 20 percent of Kentucky-based U.S. Cavalry's sales are Y2K-related. The company has five southern stores and an on-line shopping site (www.uscav.com) ``Food is blowing off the shelves,'' owner Randy Acton said. His firm normally sells 250 cases of MREs (meals-ready-to-eat, freeze-dried meals made for the military) a month. Now it sells 600.

A Y2K home preparedness video ($24.95) also is a steady seller. ``People are 80 percent convinced nothing will happen, but they're buying stuff as insurance,'' he said.

Florida-based Outdoor Depot is selling scores of water purifiers and bottles of potassium iodate, a chemical that helps shield the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine in case of a nuclear accident, according to owner Mike O'Meara .

-- Food suppliers. Alpine Aire, a Rocklin, Calif., marketer whose clientele was mostly backpackers and outdoor enthusiasts, will likely double 1998 sales to $20 million this year. Most of the increase is due to Y2K, company president Rich Spindler said.

Especially popular: a $3,000 packaged food cache that can feed four for three months. He said he's fielding inquiries from supermarkets for $33, three-day food packs.

- Battery-free radio and flashlight manufacturers. Freeplay, a South African maker of solar and hand-crank powered radios and lanterns, was already experiencing sharp sales increases through retailers such as Dillard's and Sharper Image. International relief agencies were already supplying them to remote regions without electricity.

While four-year-old FreePlay refuses to capitalize on Y2K, 25 percent of 1999 sales will be Y2K-related, said Joe Vittoria, chief executive officer of Freeplay USA. ``Y2K has been a great way to get our name out,'' he said. ``But a one-time event was never part of our marketing effort and isn't our future. We've quadrupled sales every year without it.''

- Power generator makers. Honda, better known for cars and motorcycles, added production to its portable gasoline generator production plant last year to accommodate consumers seeking alternative power sources. About 15 percent are Y2K buyers.

- Y2K experts. Software entrepreneur Michael Adams ' advice Web site (www.Y2Ksupply.com) is getting about 12,000 visitors a day. Paid subscribers are able to access hundreds of Y2K product reviews. His ``must have'' Y2K preparation list includes water filters, flashlights, food, water, cash, medicine and portable heaters.

As Dec. 31 nears and fear grows that computers won't be able to distinguish the year 2000 from 1900, Y2K purchases should intensify.

``It's on everyone's mind,'' said Michelle Roem, a Wake Forest University professor who specializes in consumer behavior. ``This is one of those rare times when you can pinpoint exactly when something is going to happen and prepare for it.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), August 10, 1999

Answers

Just think...

If all the people that have already prepared,

had waited until now, or are still waiting...

we'd really be hearing the reports of massive stocking up,

and stores WOULD be empty.

so, who do you have to thank that there's still stuff on the shelves? not the people that, back in january, called us Alarmists for telling people to prepare.

HA!

-- The artist formerly known as Superlurker (slfsl@yahoo.com), August 10, 1999.

I wonder how many people will read this article in USA and realize it's significance?

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), August 10, 1999.

zzzzz zzzzzzz honey? zzzzzz zzzzzz maybe we should start a shopping list zzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzzz OK dear, whatever zzzzzz zzzzzzzz

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 10, 1999.

I am becoming hopeful this week for the first time, from observations at two supermarkets and WalMart. What I have seen in the baskets can be nothing else but Y2K preps. Even the fact that a pushy checker knew what he was seeing means that he is seeing it enough to be aware. And some really great men on my church's Vestry "get it" and are working on it, despite our polly! People at church eagerly accepted the Consumer Digest handout. And my two elderly neighbors saw through the spin at our County Y2K meeting and became GIs. So perhaps many more than one of every five Americans will prepare in time. Each of us who has been trying to alert others should take heart in this.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), August 10, 1999.

To the top for Linda A who is having trouble accessing this thread

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), August 10, 1999.