# Do sheeple see preppers??



## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Do sheeple even notice preppers? OR do they just think the big load of groceries is for a big family, or that you are some kind of hillbilly that only comes to the big city once in a blue moon (and if they think that about me they would be fairly correct) Do they even notice? are they too wrapped up in what the royals or the pro sports or hollyweird is doing to even see a prepper??:scratch


----------



## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

I am a prepper and I have a large family. I rarely get comments about the amount of food I buy. At Aldi's and Sam's Club it is not unusual at all to buy in large amount. I only get eyebrows at Walmart once in a while.


----------



## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Tirediron said:


> Do sheeple even notice preppers? OR do they just think the big load of groceries is for a big family, or that you are some kind of hillbilly that only comes to the big city once in a blue moon (and if they think that about me they would be fairly correct) Do they even notice? are they too wrapped up in what the royals or the pro sports or hollyweird is doing to even see a prepper??:scratch


I also thought about that a few times..but, think of those homes for elderly, and also, I had a daycare/preschool for 4 years..I bought bulk.

Noone ever asks me or even notices; now, cashiers don't like me; but, my smile and bubbly personality wins them over EVERY time...:ignore:


----------



## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

Tirediron said:


> Do sheeple even notice preppers? OR do they just think the big load of groceries is for a big family, or that you are some kind of hillbilly that only comes to the big city once in a blue moon (and if they think that about me they would be fairly correct) Do they even notice? are they too wrapped up in what the royals or the pro sports or hollyweird is doing to even see a prepper??:scratch


 I think people notice and like me they always do this.
When I see people with a couple carts full of edibles, the first thing I look at is theitems, are they healthy storable foods or just few cases of soda and chips,candy bars ect?. the next thing is how they pay for the stuff, food stamps or cash. I notice preppers most always use cash.


----------



## SaskDame (Aug 27, 2010)

We do most of our buying at bulk food stores, so everyone there is pretty much buying bulk, or case lots.


----------



## BasecampUSA (Dec 26, 2010)

SaskDame said:


> We do most of our buying at bulk food stores, so everyone there is pretty much buying bulk, or case lots.


We walked out of Sam's last Monday with 600# of rice and 300# of sugar all in 50# bags on flatcarts with some other bulk stuff and nobody batted an eye...

If someone followed me out to the pickup in the parking lot and wrote down my license plate number, I might worry.


----------



## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

They have cameras for that now. No need to chase you into the lot or follow you home.


----------



## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

My mom told me I could not do that on her Sam's Club card. She did not want them knocking on her door if things went south! She has got phone calls from Sam's in the past, over the peanut butter stuff, because she purchased it there and it was recalled. So she knows they keep a list of everything you buy from there.


----------



## IrritatedWithUS (Jan 9, 2011)

PamsPride said:


> My mom told me I could not do that on her Sam's Club card. She did not want them knocking on her door if things went south! She has got phone calls from Sam's in the past, over the peanut butter stuff, because she purchased it there and it was recalled. So she knows they keep a list of everything you buy from there.


This is why you use disposable debit cards from Walmart or something that you just buy like a gift card and load money to it right at the cash register


----------



## wolfrem68 (Feb 6, 2011)

*Food for thought*

It truly would not matter if you used a credit card or cash at Sam's Club. You are tracked and what you purchase is noted each purchase since you have to show your Sam's card at check out time. Unless you give false information at time of getting the card - they have all your personal info. Just a thought.


----------



## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Tirediron, I'm a hillbilly to, an folks don't really notice anythin different bout us cause we generally buy the same amount each time we go. 

Cashiers all know us an never even ask questions lessin we got less then usual!

Regular folk er to busy textin somebody ta care what's goin on around em. I can usually spot somebody with either a big family, a daycare er who has a couple a brains an be puttin some food back.

Now right before a storm ya can tell the folk what ain't prepared cause there tryin ta buy everthin! Were perty much set up fer next years storms already an it keeps gettin better ever week.


----------



## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Irritated: Sam's more or less deals with all cash. You are required to buy a membership to shop there for an annual fee and they scan your membership card every time you ring out at the register. They don't need credit cards etc to track you; they can do it in house.

We belong to Sam's and my folks to Costco, which basically works the same way, but I don't like this system at all. It's creepy.


----------



## unclebob (May 14, 2010)

I bought 7 packages of 3 boxes strike anywhere matches today at the farm store.
You would have thought it was a crime.
I was asked "what in the world I needed that many for."
The lady may just have been nosey but it was werd. 
I simply said half of them was for a friend that can't find the strike anywhere type in his area.


----------



## SaskDame (Aug 27, 2010)

'Round here we are considered weird, so they pay little attention to what we are or are not buying most of the time. Occassionally someone will ask about a particular product and what we use it for, such as my asking what the discount on a pallet of sugar would be.

We also split purchases between a number of bulk stores to spread the tracking out a bit.


----------



## BasecampUSA (Dec 26, 2010)

If Sam's wants to track, I'm not worried either... my ol' lady has a caterer's license and her Sam's card is the "Business" level with more priveleges. The 600# of rice could have been for a Chinese New Year's bash for all they know


----------



## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

I've never heard comments from strangers before, only family. When I happen to be shopping with my Mom or sisters, they just roll their eyes at me. The cashiers are never happy with me, especially during the annual "can can" sale. I just make sure I do all the bagging so they don't hate me as much!!


----------



## ajsmith (Feb 1, 2010)

In my area we have a lot of ranches that are any where from 15 to 40 miles out of town so it's kinda normal to see a couple with two or three shopping carts full. It's the same for the next three towns to the south (Redmond and Bend are much bigger cities, Bend is 50 miles south). We used to, and will again this year, wait till we got our taxes back and go to the discount/bulk store in Bend. For about three months about 50% of there customers are doing the same thing. The cashiers don't mind cause with our counties unemployment rates running around 15% for the last three years, we're there job security.


----------



## kolob (Jan 14, 2011)

There are a number of polygamous families that live near here and the men all dress alike with long sleeve shirts. When I need to make a large purchase I wear a long sleeve shirt.


----------



## Moose33 (Jan 1, 2011)

One of the advantages to being single, I can buy for four and look "normal." Nobody gives my cart a second glance. That said, I think I could purchase for the whole of Cox's army and still not get a second glance. 
Take it easy,
Moose


----------



## IrritatedWithUS (Jan 9, 2011)

I was at a thrift store the other day. I saw a man with a cart FULL of lanterns and oil lamps along with candles. I gave a thumbs up and smiled.


----------



## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

kolob said:


> There are a number of polygamous families that live near here and the men all dress alike with long sleeve shirts. When I need to make a large purchase I wear a long sleeve shirt.


That made me laugh!


----------



## Sonnyjim (Sep 17, 2009)

My buddies think I'm a bit weird when it comes to my prepping even though it's on a small scale and nothing even close to what some people on this site do.


----------



## LadyIvy (Jan 16, 2011)

kolob said:


> There are a number of polygamous families that live near here and the men all dress alike with long sleeve shirts. When I need to make a large purchase I wear a long sleeve shirt.


:lolsmash:



IrritatedWithUS said:


> I was at a thrift store the other day. I saw a man with a cart FULL of lanterns and oil lamps along with candles. I gave a thumbs up and smiled.


I keep combing my thrift stores every payday but I never find anything as good as lanterns and oil lamps.  The best I've done so far was score a good tent and some mason jars with handles so I can make my own veg. oil lanterns.


----------



## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

On the rare occasions I am asked, it's normally because I have hundreds of cans in the cart. I just say I'm helping a local food pantry. It's partially true as I do stock their shelves (as it's in the same Church we use for Cub Scouts and the pantry is right off our meeting room. If it's low, we get it stocked right back up to the degree of overflowed).


----------



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

I've only ever had one check out clerk comment on a purchase. The Dollar Store had 3lb bags of pasta for, you guessed it. $1. I took 25. As I was checking out the girl said: "Looks like someones getting ready for a church spaghetti dinner". I just smiled and said: "Yeah, something like that".


----------



## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

The only time someone commented on my purchases was just before the Christmas hollidays and a local grocery had flour & sugar on a really good sale. I had one buggy full of flour and one of sugar. All that was said at the checkout is you must do a lot of baking. I just smiled and said yes I do. And that is true during the holidays I bake cakes, pies and cookies to sale.


----------



## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Moose33 said:


> One of the advantages to being single, I can buy for four and look "normal." Nobody gives my cart a second glance. That said, I think I could purchase for the whole of Cox's army and still not get a second glance.
> Take it easy,
> Moose


I'm in the same boat. I can easily add some extra items and draw no attention. Slowly but surely I can build up the storage.

I have received a comment from an ex-coworker who is now checking out groceries. She mentioned that I always have the most interesting cart. One week 6 or 8 bottles of clorox, the next week 5 - 12 packs of TP and so on. I am always buying a lot of something or other. I just pointed out that it is on sale and I am saving money on stuff I normally use.


----------



## FreeNihilist (Jan 28, 2011)

I use automated checkouts as I hate that the clerks are always trying to force small talk, and often screw up or improperly bag items. About every 2nd or third time I was using a regular clerk I was getting some items double and even triple scanned and I have no clue how they managed to do that especially consistently. 

I also dislike chemicals being bagged with food products and etc so overall its best to simply checkout myself at an automated station.

I dont shop with people I know and any stored items stay out of sight, so no one is any the wiser to what I buy or dont buy and have stored or not.


----------



## glendasplace (Dec 9, 2010)

Where we live I generally take in only what needs to be brought in. I don't have a garage and I have alot of nosy neighbors. I just wait til the next morning to bring everything else in before I leave for work.


----------



## BadgeBunny (Nov 2, 2010)

FreeNihilist said:


> I use automated checkouts as I hate that the clerks are always trying to force small talk, and often screw up or improperly bag items. About every 2nd or third time I was using a regular clerk I was getting some items double and even triple scanned and I have no clue how they managed to do that especially consistently.
> 
> I also dislike chemicals being bagged with food products and etc so overall its best to simply checkout myself at an automated station.
> 
> I dont shop with people I know and any stored items stay out of sight, so no one is any the wiser to what I buy or dont buy and have stored or not.


This tickled me! I am NOT going to use the automated checkouts ... If I wanted to work at Wal-Mart, or Home Depot, etc. I would have gone in and filled out an application and gotten myself put on the schedule! :gaah: (Yeah, self-checkout is a pet peeve of mine! )

As far as "hiding" my purchases ... How many people do you think those checkers see every day?? Unless you are a regular (like me) there is probably nothing to worry about ... Sam's and Costco are easy fixes ... Like other's say it is for the local food bank. The business membership is a good idea ... I may upgrade just for the built in excuse ...


----------



## 41south (Dec 4, 2010)

I hate the self checkouts too, and it never fails at chinamart here, there will be one and sometimes two employees, standing there explaining to me that I can use the self checkout. What in Hell is management thinking? If I was paying someone to be there, I would be paying that someone to run a damned cash register and not harass my customers to be a cashier. 

That pisses me WAY OFF, not at the employee, they are doing what management tells them. And I told one goofball manager EXACTLY what I thought of the process, him and chinamart. Come to think of it, chinamart fired him some time back, right before he was due his 25 year retirement, as it seems they do every higher end almost to retirement employee. I don't go to chinamart but maybe once a year at the most, I hate the place and their tactics.

Back to the original thread and off the rant, I got the police called on me twice at a dollar store, once I bought six or eight packs of coffee filters, they were on sale, but the meth cookers use them for something and that turned the clerk into Dumbo wannabe Columbo routine.

The other time I ran in grabbed 10 bottles of peroxide and some other first aid stuff, I had a horse that had got tangled in fencing and tore her leg up, it took more than one bottle to wash this cut out, it was a bad cut, we could have lost her and her baby Mule from it. The good part was the deputy that followed me in my driveway on the calls, just happened to be some of my kinfolk. 

He went back to the store and instead of explaining to the lady that I wasn't a meth cooker, he told her maam, I checked that guy out and he aint making meth, but it looks like he may be making some kind of weird bomb or something. Here is my card, and you call me directly anytime you see that nutjob back in here. We had some fun with that for a month or two.


----------



## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

Only been questioned a few times... once on a 25lb bag of rice. Just gave the "it's a lot cheaper than buying a little bag every month or so" seemed to be a well accepted answer.

Ran into another store for just a few things so I didn't get a cart or basket and stumbled across a good deal on pasta. Got an armload. While waiting at the register the elderly woman in front of me looked at the pasta and then at me with a strange look. I simply mentioned that I wasn't planning to buy but they had it for a good sale price. She seemed surprised that she missed that and commented that maybe she'd go check for some for herself.

In general, avoiding "store club cards" and using cash seem to be good advice when possible.


----------



## BadgeBunny (Nov 2, 2010)

41south said:


> **snip cuz we are kindred spirits in a hostile environment! LOL**
> 
> Back to the original thread and off the rant, I got the police called on me twice at a dollar store, once I bought six or eight packs of coffee filters, they were on sale, but the meth cookers use them for something and that turned the clerk into Dumbo wannabe Columbo routine.
> 
> ...


Man ... those are some stories there. Some people just have all the luck, huh? 

The regular kids at the local grocery store I shopp at have commented from time to time. They all went to school with my boys and know the hubby and I are empty nesters now so it confuses them that I buy sale items by the case. 

I have talked to them casually about needed extra food that you don't have to heat to eat, etc. but none of them know the extent of my preps. It does my heart good that more than one of them has come back to me and said that they think that is a good idea and so now they have a little extra stuff on hand. It's probably just candy bars and energy drinks, but HEY!! it's a start.

They tease me unmercifully and tell me they are gonna call that show "Hoarders" and see if they can get me a show! LOL

Kids ... gotta love 'em!!


----------



## brucehylton (Nov 6, 2010)

I buy for a restaurant. They use a lot of food. OR We are having a reunion at my house. Wholesale restaurant supply places, everybody buying huge.


----------



## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

This tickled me! I am NOT going to use the automated checkouts ... If I wanted to work at Wal-Mart, or Home Depot, etc. I would have gone in and filled out an application and gotten myself put on the schedule! (Yeah, self-checkout is a pet peeve of mine! )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHOA---Amen sister---if I wanted to enhance the billion dollar a year profit of this company, I'd check out myself also!!!

Did anyone here know that Chinamart has higher prices on many items..than Aldi's and Sav-A-lot and Dollar General?? Chinamart is the LAST place I shop.

Case in point, just yesterday:
Coleman fuel...chinamart, 9.50...Ace Hardware, 9.00

And another pet peeve...here at Chinamart...the azzholes cut out the front of the vegetable cardboard, so......IT IS REALLY HARD TO CARRY CASES OF THESE TO YOUR CAR....

I shop at another discount store and get better prices than Chinamart for several reasons..


----------



## vn6869 (May 5, 2010)

JayJay said:


> This tickled me! I am NOT going to use the automated checkouts ... If I wanted to work at Wal-Mart, or Home Depot, etc. I would have gone in and filled out an application and gotten myself put on the schedule! (Yeah, self-checkout is a pet peeve of mine! )
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> WHOA---Amen sister---!!!
> ...


I noticed that too, guess it's easier to display with the fronts cut out. P**s me off.


----------



## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I have to think of it like this--every time you use one of those automated check outs that is putting a real person out of their job. If we could get folks to stop using them and just line up for the 2 or 3 cashiers then they might get the hint to hire more cashiers.
Like having buffet restaurants-while the kids were small it was a blessing to be able to get them something to eat right away, but now they not only want you to get your own food, they expect a tip cuz they cleared the table for ya! And they do kinda encourage overeating. And huge food waste.


----------



## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

BadgeBunny said:


> Sam's and Costco are easy fixes ... Like other's say it is for the local food bank. The business membership is a good idea ... I may upgrade just for the built in excuse ...


I upgraded so that I could go in at 6am and avoid sheeple...


----------



## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

The_Blob said:


> I upgraded so that I could go in at 6am and avoid sheeple...


6AM??? Oh my! I would have to get up at like 4:30 in the morning to make it there at that time since it is 45 minutes from me! Uhhh...that's not happening! :nuts:


----------



## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Come on Pam...where's your sense of adventure?


----------



## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

Jason said:


> Come on Pam...where's your sense of adventure?


My sense of adventure is laying on my pillow at 6AM!! 
The only day of the year that I get up at that time is on Black Friday! Now that is an adventure!


----------

